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Discover® More Wildlife
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
10.99%. |
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Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Rewards
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 16 Months, APR:
7.99%. |
|
Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 6 Months, APR:
11.24%. |
|
Blue from American Express®
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 15 Months, APR:
4.99% (for life on transferred balances). |
|
Advanta Life of Balance Platinum Card
Intro Rate: 2.99%, Time Period: Until Paid, APR:
9.99% (for life on transferred balances). |
|
Chase Platinum Visa®
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
11.99%. |
|
Discover® More Card
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
10.99%. |
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In This
Issue
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Cool Quote |
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Getting Rid of Annual Fees |
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Statistic: Mortgage Crisis Will Leave Many
Children Homeless |
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Tips for saving money on gasoline |
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Amazon Kindle |
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Motivational Comments |
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Government launches crackdown on unfair
credit cards |
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"Good Book--five stars" |
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Federal Auctions |
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Household Math: Future Savings |
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Stop Pumping Gas: Ten Hot Home Office Jobs |
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Cloned credit cards are stealing you |
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Why Consumers Should Cheer if the Fed Stops
Cutting Rates |
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Zombie debt is hard to kill |
Cool Quote
"When you're driving, your foot is connected to your
wallet. The faster you step down, the more money comes out of your wallet."
--David Champion, Director of Automobile testing for Consumer Reports
More cool quotes from past issues
Hi Scott,
I was referred to you by Justin Harelik, bankruptcy
columnist for BankRate. He had me read your book, which was well-organized and
full of excellent and useful techniques. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an
answer to my question. I know you are busy helping so many people, but if you
have time to get back to me, that would be great.
Here's the situation:
I am not carrying debt of any kind. My credit is good.
Currently, I have four credit cards with high limits and no balances. Two of
them have annual fees: a United mileage card from Chase, and an American mileage
card from Citibank. The American card is what I use all the time. I'm based in
LA, American's hub, so I fly American, and I use the American card exclusively.
I've had it for five years or so. I use the other cards once a year because that
maintains my relationships with the banks and gives me another 60K or so in
available credit. The United card from Chase is the one I've had the longest. My
father co-signed it for me in 1990 when I was in high school, and I've had it
since. It has a 28K limit. However, it has a $60 annual fee.
I'd like to get rid of the annual fee, so I tried calling
them and asked them to waive it. I used your technique and said that I would
cancel it if they did not, and they didn't budge.
Basically, I'm anticipating that at some point in the next
five years, I'm going to buy a home. My credit will be important. But I don't
know if spending the additional $60 per year is worth it.
What do you think? Should I keep the card and pay the $60
per year? Should I cancel the card completely because I don't technically need
it? Or should I ask them to give me a new card with no annual fee, which would
retain the 28K in available credit, but which would remove my 18-year
relationship with that account?
Thanks for your time. I look forward to your response!
Sincerely,
E. in Los Angeles
Finish reading this article
A new report released reveals that an estimated 2 million
children will be directly impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis as their
families lose their homes due to foreclosures. As the first comprehensive
analysis of how the crisis will impact kids, the report explains that this
number will rise even higher when accounting for other populations, such as
children being evicted from rental units that are going into default and those
children whose parents default on conventional loans. These foreclosures will
happen primarily during 2008 and 2009.
More credit card and debt statistics
Tips for saving money on gasoline
I ran across a great site for help you save on gas. It's
the U.S. Government's site,
FuelEconomy. They have compiled an incredible amount of information designed
to help us save money. Other tools include comparisons of specific cars by gas
mileage, how to drive more efficiently, alternate fuels, and much more.
Check out the site here
Amazon just released a new device that makes reading a
breeze. It's the iPod of books--Amazon Kindle. You can buy and download books
and newspapers anywhere. So if you're looking to carry fewer books and
newspapers on that daily commute, then this is the perfect solution. Check it out
now.
More about Kindle here
Motivational Comments
"Very wonderful, I took a whole day and read the many
interesting stories regarding lowering APR rates, and voila 32.2% down to 24%
and 22% down to 16%. I should get two letters in the mail pretty soon. Thanks so
much!!!"
--DebtSmart Reader
"Thank you DebtSmart for all the tips I found on this
website. It really gave me lots of ideas for getting through that rough period."
--Linda
More readers comments
The Federal Reserve Board proposed rules to prohibit
unfair practices regarding credit cards and overdraft services that would, among
other provisions, protect consumers from unexpected increases in the rate
charged on pre-existing credit card balances.
The rules, proposed for public comment under the Federal
Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), also would forbid banks from imposing interest
charges using the "two-cycle" billing method, would require that consumers
receive a reasonable amount of time to make their credit card payments, and
would prohibit the use of payment allocation methods that unfairly maximize
interest charges. They also include protections for consumers that use overdraft
services offered by their bank.
Finish reading the article
Following suggestions, one phone call got a 10% discount.
But, since that's not good enough, will transfer to competing 0 balance, still
lower interest rate cards. Also, some helpful chapters at the back for dealing
with disputes, calculating rates, etc.
Book is concise, straightforward and well organized. Good
information for anyone with a credit card to know.
--Amazon.com Bookreader
Learn how to
"Talk Your Way Out of
Credit Card Debt"
Federal Auctions
Buy low; sell high. Easier said than done. However, you
have great chance of buying low when you buy from government auctions. You've
probably heard about the great deals you can get from government auctions, but
where can you find out what's for sale? Here are five places to look: (1)
Bid4Assets; (2)
IRS; (3)
USAgov; (4)
Govsales; (5)
GovVehicleDirect
Kelly wins $25,000 in the lottery and decides to put this
money away for the future. She deposits the cash in a money market fund and
expects to earn an average of 4% APR for 10 years. Kelly's younger sister,
Audrey, wants to accumulate the same amount of money as Kelly in 10 years, but
Audrey doesn't have $25,000 lying around. Audrey decides to make monthly
deposits at the same bank as Kelly and she, Audrey, expects the same rate of
return. How much does Audrey have to deposit each month to have the same amount
as Kelly in 10 years?
Answer this math problem
Stop Pumping Gas: Ten Hot Home Office Jobs
With fuel prices topping four dollars per gallon in some
states, many Americans want to keep their paychecks in their pockets and out of
their gas tanks. Thanks to cheap Internet access and fast computers, some
workers can perform their jobs just as well from home as they can in the office.
Government analysts recently identified ten fast-growing jobs that combine
higher-than-average hourly wages with the benefits of working from home.
Read article
Crooks can easily copy the information from the magnetic
strip of your credit card. It is a simple process to take that stolen data and
create another credit card--a clone card. The cloned card functions exactly like
the original card allowing thieves to buy what they want or empty your bank
account. Watch this ABC news video to see exactly how easy this is to do and why
you need to be extremely careful when letting others handle your cards.
Finish reading this article
Why Consumers Should Cheer if the Fed Stops Cutting Rates
The Federal Reserve has been lowering rates recently.
That's great news for anyone with debt because it will eventually trickle down
to savings for the consumer. However, there are always two sides to a story--a tradeoff--a cost--no free lunch.
Read article
Zombie debt is hard to kill
by Liz Pulliam Weston
Companies now buy ancient bad debts for pennies and
squeeze you to pay. Here's how to get them off your back.
An identity thief victimized Nancy Rose 10 years ago,
running up a $5,045 bill on a credit card account in her name.
Rose, a Baton Rouge saleswoman, battled collection
agencies for years over the bogus account. They harassed her by phone and
trashed her credit report. She'd no sooner convince one that the debt wasn't
hers than the account would be sold to another and the calls would start all
over again.
Read
article
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