Low Interest Credit Cards

These days, banks and credit card issuers have been vilified.  With interest rate hikes, increased fees, government bailouts, and high CEO salaries; customers seem to be fed up with the financial industry as a whole.  JD Powers and Associates 2009 Credit Card Satisfaction Survey questioned 9,000 credit card customers on their overall satisfaction with their credit card issuers.  The survey focused on 6 main areas: customer interaction, fees and rates, billing and payment process, rewards, benefits and services, and problem resolution.  The results reported the lowest level of customer satisfaction in the three year history of the survey.  But there is some good news.  The banking industry is trying hard to improve its battered image as many banks and card issuers are developing innovative ways to give back to the community, their customers, and the environment with the creative use of credit cards and credit card-based programs.

Giving Back

If you are looking to donate to a charity and purchase a gift card, you can do both with the new United Way Charity Gift Card.  American Express, the card issuer, will donate the $3.95 card purchase fee (up to $250,000) to the United Way. The ca

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Forget the score of the Super Bowl. Your most important score is your credit score, and one of the most widely used scoring models, FICO, is making changes to provide lenders a more accurate evaluation system.

Fair Isaac’s new scoring system, FICO 08, helps lenders assess what kind of credit risk you are. This determines how much interest you pay when you take out any kind of loan. The new system has the same scoring range, 300-850, but it is expected to increase the accuracy of lending decisions by 5% to 15%.

According to FICO, the former credit score evaluates consumers based on the worst performance on any credit obligation. FICO 08 will evaluate consumers based on the degree of negative performance across all credit obligations.

“This will be helpful for creditors. The more accurately they can predict the consumer’s borrowing and payment behavior, the more accurately they can control the terms and amount of the loan and reduce their lending risk.

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Tareq and Michaele Salahi have catapulted themselves into the public spotlight with their “uninvited” appearance at a White House state dinner on Nov. 24. It was President Obama’s first official state dinner and the gate crashers sadly showed how easy it is (or was that night) to walk in off the street and stand within steps of two world leaders (Obama and India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh).

In an interview with NBC’s “Today Show” host Matt Lauer Tuesday morning, the Salahis insisted they weren’t party crashers and said the truth will come out in the Secret Service investigation.

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Giving gift cards for the holidays is a popular option for many Americans, but the downturn in the economy has had a negative effect on the gift card industry.  According to a new survey conducted by the National Research Network and the Hartman Group: “1/3 of consumers who buy or receive gift cards plan to buy few gift cards or spend less on gift cards this November and December holiday season due to the current economic situation.”  Consumers are looking to spend wiser this season.  There are fees and expiration dates associated with using gift cards that have recently come under federal scrutiny in the Credit Card Act of 2009.  While most of the provisions of the Credit Card Act take effect in February 2010, the gift card portion does not take effect until August 2010.  So in the meantime there are things the consumer needs to know to avoid fees and get the most out of their gift cards.

General Purpose Cards
There are two categories of gift cards used today.  The first is the general purchase card.  These are bank issued cards with the Visa, Master Card or American Express logo stamped on them. Consumers

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Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. — Mythbusters Host Retracts RFID Censorship – Mythbusters host Adam Savage is retracting comments he made at a hackers conference where he said an episode exposing security flaws in credit card RFID technology was squelched by credit card company lawyers. In a new statement Adam says, ” If I went into the detail of exactly why this story didn’t get filmed, it’s so bizarre and convoluted that no one would believe me, but suffice to say…the decision not …