Credit Card Gist

If you are to have any chance of getting a bank loan for your small business or a high credit card line, you would need an excellent credit score in today’s economy, writes small business owner Rhonda Abrams. While not a guarantee, a high credit score is a prerequisite.

But what can you do if your score is less than perfect? After all, it only takes one late payment to damage it. Abrams offers three tips:

• Get help. If you can’t take good care of your bills, you should probably outsource them. “One of the big lessons I learned from my first go-round as a freelancer was that taking care of my finances was not one of my strong points – keeping track of invoicing, payments and taxes,” says one of Abrams’s contractors. “Quarterly taxes sneak up on you fast. I’d be all messed up,” she adds. What did she do? “I hired a small-business accounting firm. They make sure my invoices get out, I receive payments, that tax money comes out, and I pay my quarterly taxes. It’s a relief for me not to deal with that stuff, and I can stay focused on client projects.”
• Check your credit score. Small business owners are typically required to provide a personal guarantee for business loans, so you need to pay attention to your personal credit report. If you notice any mistakes there, contact the credit bureaus and take the necessary steps to correct them.
• Use different types of credit. You should rely on more than your credit cards, which can be a very expensive type of credit, if you don’t pay in full each month. Alternatives that may be available to you include lines of credit, term loans, vendor financing and SBA loans.

(Via USAToday.com)

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and fraud

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and reduce your processing costs. The Chargeback Management kit contains a video and an e-book:

• E-Book – Chargeback Manual (40 pages).
• Video – Card Acceptance Best Practices for Lowest Processing Costs (18 min).

One in four people now have a credit score of 599 or less, according to FICO, the provider of the most widely used credit score in the U.S. Such score prevents most consumers get any kind of credit, or get it at a high interest rate.

(Via YouTube.com)

Learn how to lower your card acceptance cost

Learn how to accept credit and debit cards at the lowest processing costs. The Payment Card Acceptance kit contains a video and an e-book:

• Video – Card Acceptance Best Practices for Lowest Processing Costs (18 min).
• E-Book – Payment Card Acceptance Guide (19 pages).

John Ulzheimer, of Credit.com discusses FICO’s recent report that 35 percent of consumers now have credit scores (650 or less) and how that fact may deliver a huge blow to an economic recovery.

(Via YouTube.com)

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and fraud

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and reduce your processing costs. The Chargeback Management kit contains a video and an e-book:

• E-Book – Chargeback Manual (40 pages).
• Video – Card Acceptance Best Practices for Lowest Processing Costs (18 min).

OK, this is fairly novel: a credit card company is denying credit to consumers with FICO scores of 800 or higher! The downsides of having a low credit score and the various strategies for improving it have been discussed ad nauseam, both on this blog and elsewhere, but who would’ve thought that a high score can lead to a declined credit application! Is it really true?

Well yes, according to CreditCards.com’s Karen Kroll. She reports that World Financial Network Bank, the underwriter of the co-branded store credit cards of Gander Mountain Company, a retailer of hunting and camping gear, is refusing to issue cards to anyone with a FICO score in excess of 800. The reason? World Financial says it is not making enough money from such high-score cardholders.

Now Gander Mountain Company is suing its credit card partner and it is not clear what the final outcome will be, but what can we take out of this story? Most of the money credit card issuers make from their cardholders come from charging interest on outstanding balances and penalty fees, with interest fees accounting to 70 percent of revenues, according to data from the Government Accounting Office (GAO). Considering that high-credit-score customers get their high scores precisely because they pay on time and often in full, avoiding both interest and penalty fees, it is easy to see why credit card companies would not like them.

(Via CreditCards.com)

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and fraud

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and reduce your processing costs. The Chargeback Management kit contains a video and an e-book:

• E-Book – Chargeback Manual (40 pages).
• Video – Card Acceptance Best Practices for Lowest Processing Costs (18 min).

It’s a very simple question and one that everyone should know how to answer, right? Well, when College on the Cheap’s street team asked students if they knew what happens when you enter into default on a student loan, sadly none of the students knew the consequences of default. Entering into default is a very serious blow to your credit score and financial future, so you must know the consequences of default and how to avoid it.

(Via YouTube.com)

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and fraud

Learn how to minimize chargebacks and reduce your processing costs. The Chargeback Management kit contains a video and an e-book:

• E-Book – Chargeback Manual (40 pages).
• Video – Card Acceptance Best Practices for Lowest Processing Costs (18 min).