Washington Post recently ran some required reading for all credit card users entitled “Five myths about America’s credit card debt.” Don’t be deceived by the somewhat banal title – this piece is actually very illuminating …
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If you grew up in an egalitarian society with a loving family, you’ve probably been told over and over to reach for the stars and set your sights high. You can achieve anything if you believe in yourself! Well guess what, that’s all a bunch of B.S. – at least when it comes to credit cards. It doesn’t matter how swell of a guy or sweet of a gal you are, there’s one major thing holding you back from the credit card of your dreams: your credit score. So, instead of getting your hopes up and then having them dashed into a billion little pieces, let’s be realistic. Set the bar low, if necessary. Go get your free credit score and then come back and we’ll show you the credit cards that are in your league whether you have bad credit, average credit, good credit or excellent credit.
A FICO score between 500 and 580 is in the range of bad credit. (Anything lower is worse than bad and you really have no business getting a loan or revolving credit account until you repair your credit.) Your primary goals as a cardholder with bad credit are to:
A cursory search for credit cards for people with bad credit will turn up a plethora of “prepaid” credit cards. However, these are essentially the worst of both worlds of credit and debit. High fees, restrictive rules (you have to pay money in to get a credit line) and you’ll be walking on thin ice the entire time. A better route is to choose a secured credit card, which is slightly different, but in very important ways. For one, secured credit cards aren’t prepaid, rather, they require you to put up a cash collateral. This is different than prepaying because you’re not depleting the balance of your collateral, you’re borrowing against it. They only take that money if you default. This eliminates the risk for banks and puts you on a leash short enough that you won’t likely hurt yourself but you’ll still have enough freedom to begin building up some credit. The downside: high up front costs to get your collateralized credit line going. Read the full story »
In its ongoing efforts to protect consumers, the Federal Reserve rolled out a preliminary ruling that aims to limit credit card fees, particularly the troublesome over-the-limit fees which have received much media attention in the …
There were no words minced when the credit card companies let the world know that it’ll be tough for them to be so generous in the post-CARD Act era. And now, they’ve followed through. Our …
This month’s Wired has a great article entitled The Future of Money: It’s Flexible, Frictionless and (Almost) Free which focuses on how technology is helping cut institutional interlopers out of the equation when moving money …
Nine months later, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 is finally going into full effect. We’ve seen banks slowly react to the new laws by working the loopholes, rather than complying ahead of time, but …
Credit cards are far from one size fits all and the big names in lending know it. That’s why they’ve devised each credit card to target a specific demographic and income level. Whether it’s so …
Washington Post recently ran some required reading for all credit card users entitled “Five myths about America’s credit card debt.” Don’t be deceived by the somewhat banal title – this piece is actually very illuminating …
February 2010 is almost upon us, which means the CARD Act is about to kick in to full effect. Of course, the credit card companies haven’t been resting on their laurels, waiting for the government …
If you haven’t seen the movie Maxed Out, go watch it now (you can stream it on Netflix). Not to say that there’s anything completely revelatory about it – we all know that the credit …
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been noticing an increasing trend lately that I’m not completely on-board with yet. Retailers who use rebates to lure us in are moving from a paper check …
Sound familiar? I was recently asked this question by one of my clients and figured the question warranted discussion.
The average American has anywhere from 5-10 credit cards, though with the recent financial crisis, that number …
At last, a sign that the credit crunch may be on its way out? The Discover® More(SM) Card now has a 0% interest offer on balance transfers for 12 months! There’s also 0% on purchases …
In personal finance there is a constant list of things you hear in order to get started on the path to saving money and reducing your debt.
Skip the Starbuck’s coffee
Brown bag it during the …
What with the more conventional investments under-performing over the last couple of years, it may be time to start thinking about putting some of your money towards a few ‘less orthodox’ ventures. This, presumably, is …
What with rising interest rates, cancelled accounts, and slashed spending limits, it’s looking like many credit cards won’t see the light of day this Christmas, shunned in favor of the trusty (and ever more popular) …
This is a guest post from Matt B. Matt writes about all aspects of personal finance at Financial Methods. Please visit the site and let him know what you think.
If you are at …
Happy Black Friday, shoppers. Did you go out a-spending this morning? Are you still waiting in line as you read this post? We hope you’re having fun and took some of our advice for retail …
If you’ve ever signed up for a free credit report, you’ve likely been pitched on TransUnion Credit Monitoring. Like most people, I declined this option and opted instead to save my $11.95 a month. But …
Last March, we did a breakdown of debit cards vs. credit cards to show you the differences between the two plastic doppelgangers. Fast forward two years, and suddenly, the ying is starting to look and …
Hey MYC readers, I’m ba-ack! Miss me? I know I’ve been away from the site a little while, and as I told you a couple months back, I’m on a part-time basis now. However, my …
