Rants and Raves

Have you seen that Bank of America has become the first financial institution to issue all of it’s card holders a one page statement that explains their rates and fees on their credit card.

The really funny thing is the news media is applauding this like something new and different and patting BofA on the back.

Hell, I can issue a one line statement that will tell card holders from every financial institutions clearly and concisely what their relationship is with their bank…

YOUR BANK WILL SCREW YOU OVER EVERY CHANCE THEY GET.

I’m just not sure what I’d do with the rest of the page.

Honestly, why is the news media treating a lack of “double speak” like something that should be applauded and not treating the rampant abuse almost all financial institutes exercise on a daily basis as something to be put in the fore front?

Admittedly I don’t have much respect for banking institutions (nor do I have much respect of the news media in the United States) — but give me a break, how stupid does the media think the average American is?

Tags: Credit Cards, Finance by roger
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Once again I’ve been disappointed with the “service” and “products” provided by an Amazon merchant.

I’ve ask Amazon how to inhibit the display of any and all items except those sold by them; I don’t care to deal with the questionable merchants that use Amazon’s sites.  And obviously Amazon doesn’t stand behind them either (look over their A-Z Guarantee, and notice that a person who buys an item every day has the same lifetime limits as one who rarely buys — sounds to me like Amazon is afraid to offer a real guarantee — why should I have more confidence).

Anyway, rather than play the game with Amazon I’ve just opened a charge dispute with my credit card company (which in this case happens to be an Amazon credit card).

If Amazon doesn’t have a way to block the display non-Amazon merchandise I’ll close my account (and credit card).

Tags: Computers, Credit Cards, Finance, Hardware, Shit List, Shopping, Technology by roger
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Many financial institutions that issue “cash back” or “rewards” debit cards and credit cards are in poor financial shape at the moment.

As a precaution you may want to cash in your points now in order to insure that the institutions don’t make a change to the program that greatly diminishes your value.  In addition you might want to find another financial institution that isn’t in precarious financial condition with a rewards program to use in the interim until your current institution stabilizes.

The two largest banking institutions that have liberal rewards programs that are in financial trouble are Citi Group and Bank of America.

The largest banking institution that has a liberal rewards program that isn’t in financial trouble is Chase.

Tags: Credit Cards, Finance by roger
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Citibank has rolled out a mobile banking application for many phones on most major cellular carriers.

Personally I’m not sure why we’ve gone to a model where vendors seem to believe we need all kinds of applications to do simple things that could be done through a web browser… perhaps that’s an unfortunate side-effect of the iPhone craze (or perhaps better said as crazies).

I think it’s great that banking institutions are thinking about ways to provide services to individuals who have cellular data plans, but I think it’s unfortunate that we can’t just use simple standards — after all, the point is to enable the flow of information, not to make an application that people play with like a game.

To use the Citi Mobile application, you need a supported handset on a supported carrier, and you have to sign up, download, and activate it through the Citi “My Account” web portal.

Tags: Cellular, Communications, Credit Cards, Finance, Software, Technology by roger
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I’ve mentioned the Internet Crime Complain Centerbefore, but the US Government also sponsors OnGuard Online with the slogan

STOP • THINK • CLICK

While most savvy internet users should be aware of most everything on the site, there’s no harm in taking a minute out and visiting it to see if there’s any suggestions that might make your online experience safer.  You may also want to recommend that your bank, credit union, and credit card company link to them.

Tags: Communications, Credit Cards, Finance, Shopping, Technology by roger
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Many credit cards offer cash back awards (or other awards) just for using the cards.

You should familiarize yourself with each card’s bonus cash back, and try and use the card that pays you the most back (yes, consider the closing date and how long you will get the use of the credit card company’s money as well, but at the moment you can’t really get much interest back on your money, so the only real concern there should be cash flow).

Many credit card companies also offer bonus points if you use the shopping links on their web site (generally you have to sign into their online account management, and often you have to explicitly register you card).

Some credit card companies require you to always launch the shopping experience through their web site, others will recognize the merchant once you’ve registered the card — and may of those will also pay you bonus cash back at brick-and-mortar stores once you’ve registered your card.

The bottom line is, you have to read and understand each card’s reward program, and you have to be diligent in exercising the program.

So how much cash back did I get last year?  $1981 — and no,  most of that was not at 1% back; over half of it was at 3% and much of it was at 4% and 5%, and a little was at 10%!   And the really great part of it was, a lot of that was from paying cell phone bills, telephone bills, gasoline, groceries (all at least 3%)… or money I would have spent regardless.  The fact that much of my discretionary spending was done at places offering great prices and bonus cash back just sweetens the pie!

Tags: Credit Cards, Deals, Finance, Shopping by roger
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If you have a bank issued “check card” — that’s an ATM card that bears a VISA of Master Card logo merchants will always try and get you to authorize a PINned transaction, DON’T DO IT.

Why?

There are several reasons not to perform PINned transactions…

• When you do a transaction with a PIN, you’re allowing the merchant to immediately remove money from your bank account.  They likely use a transaction network to do this, but there aren’t as many safe guards or controls on that network as their are a credit card authorization network.
• When you do a transaction with a PIN, you’re not protected by VISA or Master Cards ZERO LIABILITY guarantee, you’re subject to the rules imposed by the merchant, processing network, bank, state, and federal laws.  If you’re defrauded you might find it’s a long and tedious process to get your money back, and you might find that your bank freezes assets in your account until the matter is resolved.
• When you do a transaction with a PIN the money is immediately removed from your account (and sometimes immediate means instantly — but certainly within 24-hours, often even on non-banking days); however, when you go through the credit card processing system you’ll see at least an extra day, and generally those transactions are only posted on banking days.
• When you do a transaction with a PIN your PIN could be intercepted (either electronically of through surveillance) and put you at risk of fraud (which may be hard to prove it’s fraud).

If your bank doesn’t offer VISA or Master Card logo’d check cards, change banks.

If you have access to a small local bank, or better yet, credit union open an account there (after making sure they have VISA or Master Card logo’d check cards and offer totally free services).

It’s your money, make the most of it… and protect it.  As the economy get’s worse and worse we’re going to see more and more “clever” schemes to try and take your hard earned money; start fighting back now.

And remember, if you are a victim, immediately contact your financial institution and any merchant you believe may be responsible via telephone and follow it up in a letter sent via the United States Postal Service (referring to the phone call) to preserve your rights.  You may also want to send an email (possibly using a DEA — disposable email address) as well; but you must send a letter via USPS!

Check cards are also called ATM Debit Cards or ATM Cards, the important thing is that you can use them as a credit card by signing the transaction form (they will have a VISA or Master Card logo).

It’s fine to use those cards at your bank’s ATM as long as you take reasonable precautions.

While using a check card through the VISA or Master Card network is preferable to a PINned transaction, if you can get a credit card, and can use it responsibly you’re even better off to use a real VISA or Master Card and simply pay the balance off every month (transfer the money from your checking account weekly if you need to, and track the expenses on your credit card as you would transactions from your checking account, your bank can probably provide you with online access to your credit card to help you — if they don’t find another credit card issuer).

NOTE:

I haven’t gotten confirmation yet, but it appears Lowes is responsible for leak of bank card numbers and PINs that are currently being used to defraud consumers.  If you have performed a PINned transaction at Lowes within the last several weeks call your bank and have your bank card terminated and re-issued with a different number (tell them you lost it).

Tags: ! ALERTS !, Credit Cards, Finance by roger
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Virtual credit card numbers are numbers that you generate (through your credit card issuer) to use for purchases on line.

Most of the companies that support these allow you to set time and amount limits for charges against the cards, and allow you to terminate the card at will (you cannot prevent a charge that has already been authorized, but you can prevent any future charge).

These financial institutions support virtual cards:

• Bank of America (acquired from MBNA)
• Citi Bank
• Discover

These financial institutions do not support virtual cards:

• Chase
• Most credit union issued cards

Citi Bank and Bank of America have very similar systems; the each allow you to set limits and the card immediately binds to the merchant who first authorizes a charge against the number (no other merchant can use the number, which can create issues on PayPal, Yahoo Shops, Google Checkout, and Price Grabber to name a few — the solution is create a new card each time you want to buy something on those sites and destroy the old one).

Citi Bank and Discover have an applet you can download to your PC which will create numbers and auto-fill web forms.

Virtual credit cards give you a great deal of control over your finances, you set the limits of who much a vendor can charge and for how long they can access your credit card account.  While your liability is always limited (zero liability with VISA, Mastercard, and Discover) virtual cards help you avoid hassles.

When you say NO MORE, you end it… you can’t be caught by surprise by horrendous shipping and handling charges, you can’t be over-billed… and you don’t have to worry about recurring charges.

I use virtual card numbers to pay my utilities (electric, water, gas, cable, telephone, cellular); tolls (FastTrak); purchases on line; basically any time I give someone a credit card number via phone, mail, or internet… and I encourage you to do the same.

For one time purchases, terminate the card immediately after the charge is authorized, and THAT IS THAT… for recurring charges, re-authorize the new amount a little before the charge, or go ahead and setup for a year at a time (you can always terminate the card before an authorization).

Tags: Credit Cards, Finance by roger
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Discover has the “Open Roads” card that gives you 5% cash back on gasoline and automobile maintenance charges.  There is a catch, you only get 5% on the first $100 per month, and after that you don’t get very much cash back at all.

The card still makes sense for gasoline purchases since as long as you’re careful to use it for the first $100 in qualifying expenses per month and then pocket it until your next billing cycle.

The rewards are paid by crediting to your Discover account, check, or electronic deposit in $20 increments (so every four months if you maximize your benefits); or you can elect to “double” your rewards by selecting gift cards — which makes sense if you’re going to be something from one of the retailers anyway.

The application process is quick and simple (like most credit card companies, they don’t really want you to tell them anything, they get it all from the credit reporting agencies).

http://www.discovercard.com/

Tags: Credit Cards, Deals, Finance by roger
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From July 1, 2008 until September 30, 2008 Chase is offering 5% cash back on eligible travel and entertainment purchases.

So beyond the 3% cash back on certain categories they always offer; and 1% on all other purchases you can now get 5% cash back for a limited time on airline, hotels, rental cars, and fine dining when you spend more than $300 per month (that should be easy to do with any of those in the mix, particularly if it’s business expenses).

You do need to opt into this program, and if you haven’t gotten a letter from Chase inviting you, I’d say just go ahead and call 800-603-2265.

If you don’t have a Chase Freedom MasterCard or VISA, then maybe you should consider taking advantage of their services and rewards.

NOTES:

• If you want cash back, you maximize your reward by waiting until you have $200 because you get a check for $250! Other than that some of their travel and give cards are pretty good deals if they would save you money that you would have spent otherwise.
• Discover is apparently running a promotion as well. I’m not a Discover card holder so I don’t know the specifics of it.
• My picks for cards are: Citi Rewards Dividend (Citibank); Chase Freedom Rewards (Chase); and Citi Cash Returns (Citibank). There are also a few other cards that give good rewards provided you do a great deal of business with particular vendors.
• I would stay away from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One — their cards generally don’t pay bonuses or use some lame bonus programs.  And while you might want a credit card from your credit union, it’s unlikely they will have a decent reward program.
• Beyond rewards, many credit cards also provide rental car insurance, warranty extensions, lost/damage protection on items you buy, etc.  It’s always advisable to read the benefits that come with your credit card; many financial institutions off great benefits just because very few people ever bother to read the literature that comes with their cards and take advantage of the programs, so it really just makes them look good in all the comparisons and doesn’t end up costing them much at all.

As always, remember you can use credit cards to your advantage as long as you use them wisely.

Tags: Credit Cards, Dining Out, Entertainment, Finance by roger
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