Limited Time Opportunity: Download Credit Card Hacks For Free on Amazon

Credit Card Hacks:

What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know By Award-Winning Author Ahmed Dawn

This is a special post to let you all guys know that my latest book Credit Card Hacks has been published and currently available on Amazon.

There is a promotional free download offer, which will expire on December 12, 2020 midnight. Grab your free copy here:

mybook.to/CreditCardHacks

Credit Card Hacks is a must-have guide for digital-age credit card users and delivers simple steps to use credit cards for savings and travelling the globe for free or paying very little.

If you are not using the right credit card, you are losing an opportunity to earn a free point or mile. To help you get started with credit card benefits, this book will show you:

 - How to Pick the Right Credit Cards

- How to Use Promotional Rate Offers

- What Credit Card Feature You Should Never Use

- The Hidden Credit Card Perk No One Uses

- How to Travel for Free/Fly Business Class Using Credit Cards

- And much more

How Credit Cards Work

Credit Cards

First Published Date: January 11, 2009

With the amount of talking that is done about credit cards, very little pertains to the actual details of how they work, how they should be used, and the different kinds of cards available. It is known more or less by everyone that when a person is in a lot of personal debt they tend to owe large amounts on credit cards – what are less widely known is how this situation comes about, how to avoid it and how a borrower can use a card to their advantage.

As short a description of how credit cards work as possible, first. A customer looking for greater spending power enters into an agreement with a bank, where the bank issues a card allowing a certain amount of spending (a credit limit). Any purchases made go on the balance of the card, against which a payment must be made every month. Should the balance reach or exceed the credit limit, no further spending will be possible until a payment is made to bring the customer in line with the agreement.

Debt problems with credit cards occur when a customer borrows beyond their means or their circumstances change. In theory, the bank will not lend an amount that the customer will not be able to pay back. However, the checks put in place to prevent this happening are not foolproof, and circumstances are always liable to change. A credit agreement is given based on a customer’s earnings, but should they suddenly lose their job they may find themselves unable to make full payments to their card. For this reason, it is wise to have some savings should you take out a credit card.

There are now more choices than ever for a customer looking to take out a credit card – these different options take into account the varying circumstances and needs of customers. A popular type of card is the low-interest/no interest credit card, which allows the customer to borrow money for a large purchase and then use a “zero interest” period to pay off the balance over the course of a number of months.

Interest-free periods when they were first introduced tended to last three months, but as banks compete for an increasingly crowded market it is becoming the norm for banks to offer as long as a year interest-free. When this period is ending, a customer will often transfer the balance to a new card. If done assiduously, this can see the customer avoiding having to make a payment for years at a time.

Other cards take account of the spending habits of the customer by offering cash back on purchases, Air Miles when the card is used in certain locations, and reward points for frequent use. A recent innovation making it possible for the customer to use plastic even when they find credit hard to come by, the Secured Credit Card allows the customer to “load” money on to their card and use it like a bank account – meaning they never spend money they do not have. These cards also enable the customer to build a good credit rating through regular loading.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Jan 11, 2009

Canada Starts New Prepaid Credit Card Rules

New Prepaid Credit Card Rules

First Published Date: May 24, 2014

As prepaid credit cards’ popularity jumped, so did the various fees associated with them. Once credit card companies saw these credit cards were in high demand, they did not waste a moment coming up with innovative ideas to attach various bizarre fees that can be charged when you buy and use prepaid credit cards. Such fees include maintenance fees, activation fees, ATM fees, and possibly more.

As consumer complaints start piling up, the federal government had no option but to start restricting some of these fees. These new rules have come into effect starting in May. Let’s look at some of these rules.

– A ban on maintenance fees for at least one year once you start using it.

– No more expiration date.

– All the required info related to the fees and using cards will have to be clearly visible and simple enough so consumers can see, read, and understand them before buying.

– The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) will monitor and enforce these rules.

– All federally regulated institutions will fall under these rules.

Prepaid cards are similar to credit cards, except that you will have to pre-load funds before you start transactions like credit cards such as making purchases and buying online. Although prepaid cards are a relatively new concept, their popularity recently skyrocketed. According to an estimate, the prepaid card industry is worth $850 million.

These new rules imposed by the federal government are definitely steps in the right direction to protect consumers. However, these could have been done some time ago and there was no need to wait for consumer complaints to start piling up.

How to Take Charge of Your Debt

4 Things You Can Do Right Now to Manage Your Debt

First Published Date: December 22, 2011

If you have difficulty handling your debt, the very first thing you need do is to admit that you have a debt problem. It is our nature to not see the real picture and keep adding up debt – unrealistically thinking that our debt is still manageable. Today, let me describe these simple steps you can take right now to get rid of this vicious cycle of debt.

Admit and Stop – Admit that your debt situation is beyond control and you need to take steps right now to get rid of your debt. Stop charging more to your credit card or adding more debt into your existing balance. The most important thing you can do is to start your journey towards a debt-free world and you do it starting this moment.

Add Extra Money – Whether it is $10 per month or $50 per month, adding extra towards paying your debt can have a enormous effect on the life of your debt. By adding additional amounts, you are shaving off years from your debt-paying timeline and saving lots of money. So, if possible, pay extra money every month. For those months when you cant pay extra, stick to the minimum.

Stick To Reducing Your Debt – Yes, you can do it. You can have a debt-free life. Start visualizing how life will be and how much freedom you will have when you won’t have debt anymore. To make it happen, you need to stick to reducing your debt and continue paying off all your loans until they turn into zero.

Educate Yourself and Seek Professional Help – Learn about managing money to build your financial future. There are many independent personal finance websites, Canadian government websites, and U.S. government websites out there for free where you can learn about money and finances. Use these free resources to educate yourself. However, there will be times when these resources are not enough to handle your situation – in a situation like this, seek the help of financial professionals to walk you out of your debt situation.

How to Fix Errors on Your U.S. Credit Report

Errors on your Credit Report

First Published Date : June 4, 2011

It is estimated that about 75 per cent of all credit reports have errors on them. It happens and when it does, it is a big annoyance for many people. Often, errors can be something that you never had or bought, or it could be an account you paid off but which is not shown as paid off.

Thankfully, when there is an error on your credit report, you can fix it easily and all you need to do is follow these steps.

First of all, get your credit report. Without your credit report, how will you know whether or not you have an error on your credit report? If you live in the United States, then you are entitled to one free credit report a year. You can get a free credit report, every 12 months, from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can also get your free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1.877.322.8228.

If you find an error on the credit report, do the following:

1.    In writing, send a letter to the credit report agency detailing what information you believe is incorrect. When you do this, send copies of any documents that will support the position that you have paid off a bill, or that you never had that credit account in the first place. Explain why you dispute the error and that you want the error removed or corrected on your credit report. Make sure you send your letter through certified mail with “return receipt requested”. By law, the credit report agency must investigate the error within 30 days and then send you all date related to the error to the organization that provided the information or error to your credit report. Then, they have to report the information to you and tell you in writing whether or not the dispute has been approved or rejected.

2.    When you send the letter to the credit agency, send copies of the same documents and the same letter to the creditor that you believe is responsible for the error on your credit report.

If your error dispute is rejected, then you need to find more information to back up your claim, otherwise there is little you can do but pay whatever you are believed to owe by the creditor. Your other option is to contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1.877.382.4357 to state your dispute and that you want your credit report cleared. A last resort is legal action because often the legal action will cost you more than it will to just pay off the debt.

Credit errors are terrible things but often they can be removed very easily as long as you have the documentation proving that the item on your credit report is in fact an error. This is why it is so important to hold onto your receipts and any items relating to your credit so when an error does happen, you can clear it up very easily.