I’m delighted to report that I’ve had my first article     published in EzineArticles.com. About  balance transfer   problems, it’s reproduced below. Plus I get to display their   cool logo.

Credit Card Balance Transfers – 6 Disasters To Avoid

Before looking to transact a balance transfer on a new credit card, be aware that a number of unpleasant consequences can occur to your finances should a miscommunication occur between you and the credit card agent who is facilitating the transaction. This article discusses six balance transfer disasters to avoid.

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  Tens of millions of credit cardholders have   received notices that their interest rates are   being raised. Depending upon the company   and the account, credit cardholders are being   given between 15 and 90 days warning of pending interest rate increases. 

My last post discussed the option that credit cardholders have to exercise an ”opt out” provision.

Once chosen, the opt out provision freezes the account at the rate in place at the time of the opt out, and closes the account for all other purposes except repayment. (Note that the opt out provision must be chosen BEFORE the date on which the increase in interest rates takes effect.)

In this post I want to clarify and emphasize that there is a BIG difference between exercising the opt out provision (which freezes the rate and closes the account for everything but repayment) and simply choosing to close the account and then pay off the balance.

The first option will freeze your interest rates. The second option won’t. [Read more →]

Looking for good deals in credit cards despite the credit crunch? So are my friends.

They’ve been asking me if there are any good deals on credit cards, and for some info on how the economic crisis is affecting the credit card business. So I’ll give you the inside scoop I’ve been sharing with them.

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Credit cards and Christmas are as inseparable as bacon and eggs or Great and Expectations. It has become tradition to overspend and bury ourselves in credit card debt “for the sake of Christmas.”

Yet, when we cannot pay off those bills in January – and perhaps not in February, March, April, or May either – that isn’t a gift, but self-abuse. So maybe it’s time to adopt a new tradition.

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Do you know that a purchase can be transacted as a cash advance?

Because credit cardholders who have been traveling in Europe sometimes return home to find  an  expensive surprise on their credit card statements: the purchases they made using their credit cards were processed as cash advances rather than as normal purchases.

But how is this possible? Easy. [Read more →]

You probably use a credit card when you travel but, unless you are an experienced overseas traveler, you may not be aware of how to prevent being gouged by foreign transaction fees.

Yet the foreign transaction fees that will be assessed against your credit card for every purchase you make outside the country in which your credit card was issued can escalate the cost of your overseas trip dramatically.  [Read more →]

If you have a credit card that you have not used in a while, look out. Your credit card may be about to disappear. You may be getting a letter from your lender any day that says your credit has been revoked and your credit card account is going to being closed – just like that.

The customers that I have been dealing with are often quite surprised when they get this news. Many of them are used to leaving credit cards with lots of available credit just sitting in a drawer, maybe waiting for a better deal and lower rates. But those days may be drawing to a close.

Lenders are closing credit card accounts for inactivity in ever increasing numbers. As an excuse, [Read more →]

Let me give you two warnings about balance transfer deals on credit cards.

Even if you are not planning on using a credit card for regular purchase transactions, but only to do a balance transfer, you should still make sure that the card is activated. If the card is not activated balance transfers usually will not transact. Even agents who are helping you to do the deal can fail to notice this problem because it can appear that the deal was approved only to be declined later.

Why does this happen? [Read more →]

Tim Ramsey (whose blog is My Debt Relief Plan) left a comment on my last post; so I went to check out his site on credit card debt reduction.

There I found a link to a non-profit debt counseling service in the UK. Curious as a cat, I explored its links, read through a dozen FAQ’s and then checked out the user forum.

And that’s where I got hooked.

One snippet after another just grabbed me. Little stories that are probably no longer than one hundred or two hundred words unceremoniously tell tales of reversed fortunes. Their authors are civil and understate their problems, but they come across to me like deer in headlights.

They are stunned, most of them, to find themselves in such a situation of danger.

Coping with mounting credit card debt and giving just a hint of the worry and anxiety that’s plaguing them, these nice people are trying to figure out how to get out of something we each have been encouraged to do for years: get into debt. [Read more →]