Credit Card Gist

The right card builds credit while the wrong card slaps you with penalties. Here’s how to tell one from the other.

You will need time to investigate various offers. Read the fine print on each offer. Then find a card with no annual fee and make sure it comes with a grace period of 25 – 30 days. Make sure the APR is as low as possible.

(Via YouTube.com)

Accept card payments quickly and safely

Accept online payments via credit and debit cards and electronic checks at the lowest processing costs. You will get:

• Free merchant account and Authorize.Net gateway set-up.
• No monthly merchant account or gateway fees.

The third and final installment of provisions of the CARD Act of 2009 take effect Sunday, August 22, completing the most comprehensive overhaul of the credit card industry ever.

These latest rules will regulate penalty fees, over-the-limit fees and inactivity fees, as well as require regular re-evaluation of rate increases. New rules on gift cards will also be enacted.

(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).

Say goodbye to those overdraft fees. You are waking up to new rules that are supposed to protect you from excessive bank fees, but that doesn’t mean that your bank is going to try to stop making money of you.

From now on, when you try to make a purchase or a withdrawal with your debit card and there are not enough funds in your account, the transaction will be denied.

(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).

The average national interest rate on credit cards with fixed interest rates remained unchanged at 13.74 percent for the sixth consecutive week, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey of large banks and thrifts conducted Aug. 5, 2010.

The average interest rate on credit cards with variable rates this week was also unchanged at 14.31 percent after falling by 0.08 percent a week ago, according to the survey.

In other news, the Federal Trade Commission published last week new rules regulating the way “debt relief” firms market their services over the telephone. Once the rules take effect in October, debt relief companies will no longer be allowed to charge a fee before services are provided. Additionally, new disclosure rules and other restrictions will take effect in November.

Bankrate.com is a personal finance website that allows consumers to compare rates on mortgages, home equity loans, credit cards, automobile loans, checking and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and online banking and ATM fees.

(Via Bankrate.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).

The average U.S. credit card interest fell rose slightly this week, after rising by a couple of basis points last week, according to the latest CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report, released Wednesday.

The average interest rates on new credit card offers for this week was estimated at 14.37 percent, down 0.07 percent from last week, but 0.25 percent higher than six months ago, when it stood at 14.12 percent. The highest average recorded by CreditCards.com was 14.70 percent, reached in April 2010.

The slight dip in this week’s average was caused by the reintroduction of Walmart’s Discover card, issued by G.E. Money. It replaced in CreditCards.com’s database the Walmart’s fixed-rate credit card, which had a 22.9 percent APR. The Discover card, on the other hand, is offered with a variable rate in the range of of 13.9 to 22.9 percent. As CreditCards.com’s algorithm uses only the lower end of the APR range, the average went down.

CreditCards.com has estimated that, if a consumer borrowed $5,000 on a credit card today and made regular monthly payments of $150, at today’s average interest rate the consumer would have to pay $6,420 to pay off the debt – $186 more than what would have been required on Jan. 1, 2010.

(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).