Credit Cards Tips for You

Dear Creditnet: I know that my credit utilization ratio makes up a large part of my FICO credit score.  I’ve also read that it’s important to keep my ratio under 30%, or preferably at 10% or less.

My question is would it be better to keep my credit utilization ratio at 0% or 10%?  If I pay my balance off every week and my credit utilization is reported at 0%, is that hurting my FICO scores?

Answer: A 0% credit utilization ratio certainly isn’t hurting your FICO scores. Technically, it’s the best credit utilization ratio you can achieve, which means it should also translate to the best possible FICO credit scores.

However, even if you never carry balances on your credit cards, a 0% utilization ratio can be difficult to achieve.  Credit issuers all report balances at different times each month, which means keeping track of when your balances are reported and trying to pay them off in advance can become quite tricky for many cardholders.

If you have just one card and wish to pay it off each week in order to keep your available credit as high as possible, keep doing it.  Your FICO

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Living with poor credit conditions make things worse and more expensive too. It not only hampers your prospects of obtaining a new credit with better terms and conditions but it also makes purchase of many financial products and services more costly. For instance, if you are willing to purchase a car insurance policy but have poor credit record, the car insurer will charge more premium amount from you. Again, if you are purchasing brand new utilities, the utility provider will scrutinize your credit history and then decide upon whether you have to make any security deposit. The credit card issuer or a loan provider will check your credit history before sanctioning you a credit card or a loan. Given these, it is important to have the necessary credit repair strategy in place.

Good credit is very important in accumulating money through loans, insurance and credit cards. But that is not the single reason to maintain a good credit. A good credit score can have several other benefits too. Read more…

The American Express Platinum card is widely recognized as being the most feature filled premium rewards card available to the general public the only other card that bests it is the elusive, invitation only Black/Centurion Card. Despite carrying a lofty $450 annual fee, Amex Platinum card devotes are more than willing to ante up as those who take advantages of this card’s perks can reap significantly more than that in benefits. Like their consumer version of the card, American Express has endowed the Business Platinum Card with nearly every imaginable feature to allow cardholders to realize the maximum savings from this ultra-premium product.

American Express Business Platinum members earn one membership rewards point per dollar spent, and two points per dollar spent when booking travel through American Express. The Membership Rewards program allows cardholders to redeem points for a myriad of gift card and travel related statement credits at a rate of one cent per dollar spent. There is an extremely valuable 20% bonus when points are redeemed for travel (I’ve personally focused on redeeming my points for travel since this perk was added in early 2011. Not o

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If you’re thinking about using a debt consolidation or debt settlement service to help you get out of debt faster and save money on your monthly payments, make sure you do your homework before choosing a company. There are definitely shams and scams out there.

First let me say that debt consolidation is *not* the same as debt settlement/negotiation, which most people don’t realize.

Debt settlement companies charge hundreds of dollars as an initial “admin fee” to set up your account, plus a monthly service fee. The fees vary depending on the company and the amount of your debts.

Such companies take your money every month, but don’t make monthly payments to your creditors! Instead, they put it in a trust account, negotiate your debts with your creditors, then make a lump-sum payment when there’s enough in your account to pay a creditor in full.

That can take *years* depending on the amount of debt you have with each creditor. Meanwhile, you can be sued by your creditors and your wages can be garnished! (Or just don’t make payments to your creditors. You’ll end up

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If you’re interested in the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card, but missed out on the big 50,000 sign-up bonus that quickly came and went in November, Southwest hasn’t left you completely hanging.  There’s still a 25,000 point bonus to be had after making your first purchase.

This is actually the same deal Southwest and Chase were offering new cardholders back in August, so it’s nothing new.  As I said when I reviewed the card offer back then, it isn’t a bad deal for a $69 annual fee, but it’s not superb either.  And based on what we’ve seen in the past, I think it’s fairly safe to say that we’ll continue to see sign-up bonuses for the Rapid Rewards Card bounce back and forth between 25,000 and 50,000 points (maybe more?) in the coming year.

So my recommendation stays the same.  If you really need to take advantage of the free Southwest flight now, go for it.  The 25,000 bonus points you’ll receive after your first purchase are worth over $400 in Wanna Get Away fares.  Factor in the 3,000 point anniversary bonus, and the $69 is definitely worth it.  However, if you can mana

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