A Personal finance blog to get rich
The United States of America is a land of vast opportunities. With each dawning day, many individuals travel to America to make their dreams a reality. However, it’s quite unfortunate that these USA immigrants face a challenging financial situation.
It’s often a result of a lack of credit history. It becomes hard to build an identity in a country where they want to meet their goals. It’s why building a credible credit history is essential for setting up a life in the USA.
Credit cards offer convenience and security to consumers, especially those who don’t want to carry a lot of cash around. A typical consumer in the US is not usually satisfied with having just one credit card. In fact, a 2018 Experian report says that Americans tend to have an average of 3 credit cards.
In fact, I currently have 10+ active credit cards, Signing up for credit cards for rewards and churning them is my hobby. I like reward travel. I travel at a nominal cost. Even after applying and canceling cards frequently, I have an 800+ credit score.
One of the perks of owning credit cards is the ability to earn more cash or points through card referrals. We will talk about the chase card referral today. I’ll share my referrals and encourage you to share your referrals through comments so that each of our readers takes advantage of this opportunity. As my reader, you’ll earn some money on the side.
Earlier we talked about credit card rewards and travel hacking, where you can travel for free with accumulated miles and points on your credit cards. Referrals are an additional way to accumulate more points.
Credit card scam is a pretty broad-ranging term that encompasses theft as well as fraud which are committed by credit or any other payment mechanism that is similar to it. You will learn many tips to prevent credit card fraud and scams here.
If a card is used to obtain goods without the intent to pay for it or to obtain illegal funds from another account, then that is a credit card related scam.
This post is towards Canadian readers. All of us want to improve our credit scores to borrow money at a lower interest rate when we buy a home, refinance the home or buy our cars. One way to improve the score is by having credit cards and using them well. But to have a credit card you need to have a good credit score. It’s a vicious cycle, how to get approved for a credit card with bad credit?
Each financial decision you make has an impact on your credit score. In general, your credit score is a reflection of how well or how poor you manage your finances. In recent times I applied for 3 different credit cards, total 4 in this year alone. I got approved for all of them. I apply for cards in a bunch of 3-4 every 6 months. This ensures I get sign-up rewards and bonus constantly, they are free money.
Credit card debt is the worst type of debt. People fail to pay off credit card debt. Most of the time the debt relates to retail purchases that do not retain resale value, which is why the debt is so hard to shift, and why it builds up so fast. Credit cards usually have higher rates of interest than almost any other kind of money lend – this is another reason the amount you owe seems to rise almost faster than you can pay it back.
Today on my way back from work, on NPR radio I heard about declining credit card delinquency rate in the US, in fact, delinquency is at 7 years low right now. That was very good news for us. and a sign of recovering the economy but if you see deeper, the problem is still intact. Problem with paying only paying the minimum due amount every month.
Managing your money can seem like a complex thing to get right. Indeed, one in six adults is said to have financial worries in the UK. And, in the USA, that is one in every three adults. The key to keeping on top of things when it comes to your finances is to understand all of the options open to you and when to use them best to your advantage.
One clear example of this comes with the use of credit cards. These little pieces of plastic are, according to the UK Cards Association, used to make almost 300 million purchases a month in the UK. But how to best manage a credit card?
This post is dedicated to my Indian readers. As the government takes a landmark decision for demonetizing the existing Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 banknotes, while leaving the use of plastic money unaffected, it is sure to affect the way people look at plastic money. The decision will have a lesser impact on people who already use credit cards and debit cards while greatly affecting those who rely heavily on cash.
Though the use of credit and debit cards has increased in the last few years, a majority of Indians still prefer to transact in cash. While most of the people do not like the idea of using credit cards due to a fear of overspending, some of them shy away from as they believe it would harm their credit history and bring down their credit score.
There are a thousand credit cards available in the market. Whereas, individual carries, on average, 2 credit cards. So, how to shortlist? How you’d zero in on a few credit cards from seeming an infinite number of options? Choosing a right credit card has become one of the most important topics of personal finance. But, I haven’t written up on this earlier. Let me cover every step that one must take to pick the best credit card fitting to their need.
Having a credit card helped me establishing my credit when I first landed in the US in 2005. I started from no credit to 800+ FICO score in 7 years. Having 4 credit cards (starting with a secured credit card from BofA) and one car loan helped me reach there, along with on-time full balance payment throughout. So, credit cards help in increasing credit score.
In this article point the how you can secure a credit card to better your score. While reading this, do keep in mind that credit cards are fool’s poison. A wrong use can ruin your life. Especially if you have had problems paying credit card dues, I’d advise you not to use credit cards again. Else, continue with the article and I’d help you securing a credit card even if you now have a bad credit.
