Gas Credit Card Or Gas Reward Credit Card?
With modern day living and our dependence on mobility, buying gasoline for your car is a necessity. Aside from the grocery store, your single largest weekly expense is more than likely what you put into your gas tank.
Lets face it, those gasoline prices are going no way but up!
If youre one of those people whos heart begins to skip-a-beat each time you go to fill your automobiles gas tank, perhaps its time to look at the new gas credit card offers available. Gas credit cards are brand specific, but the savings percentage is higher than a gas reward credit card and most have no annual fee. If that particular gasoline company has a station near you, a gas credit card might be the right credit card for you.
The gas reward credit card may be more convenient for those who like to shop around for the best priced gasoline. The Discover Platinum Gas Card has the same reward features of Discovers other reward programs with the added bonus of 5% cash back on your first 1200 in gasoline purchases for the first twelve months you have the card. If youre planning a driving trip this summer, this would save you a great deal of money to use for those souvenirs.
The type of rewards given for the gas credit card and the gas reward credit card vary in that they are given either in the form of a cash back check or a gift card for specific merchandise. You should review the card issuers form of rebate before you apply for a new card.
A gas credit card or a gas reward credit card can save you money. Use the ease of the internet to compare credit card offers and pick the card that will work best for you.
Frequent Flyer Credit Cards
If you are a person who needs to travel often for business or personal reasons, you would probably benefit from using a credit card with frequent flyer benefits. Many airlines are currently offering their own credit cards to help travelers earn money towards travel tickets. Additionally, major credit card companies often have rewards programs in the form of frequent flyer miles, or discounts on flight packages, and sometimes even a buy one, get one offer for flight tickets.
Chase Visa offers a frequent flyer mile credit card called The Value Miles Platinum Visa Card. You can select your own travel dates and fly anywhere within the United States, to the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Mexico or South America. Whenever you use this credit card to make a purchase, you earn a value mile for every pound you spend. When you have accumulated 24,000 miles, you earn an airline ticket good for a flight anywhere within the continental United States. Youll also love the fact that there are never any blackout dates, meaning you can travel whenever you want to. Some frequent flyer credit card companies blackout the most popular travel dates (holidays, spring break, etc) so that you are not able to use your flyer miles during peak travel periods. You also get to enjoy the typical benefits of a Platinum card- including travel insurance options, travel assistance and easy reporting of a lost card. There is no annual fee to carry this credit card, and an introductory offer of 0% on purchases.
CitiCards also offers a popular frequent flyer card, called the Citi PremierPass Card Elite. With this frequent flyer card, you earn a flightpoint for every mile you are flying when you purchase your ticket using your Citi credit card. Additionally, if you buy a plane ticket for someone else, you can actually earn flightpoints for every mile that person travels as well! Like most rewards cards, youll earn a point for spending. This card offers a purchase point for every other pound spent on the card, and two points for every pound spent at drugstores, supermarkets and gas stations. It would be beneficial for you to use this card as your daily spending card, paying the balance off at the end of each month, in order to build up your flyer miles. When you first open an account with CitiCard PremierPass Card Elite, you will receive 15,000 bonus points when you make a purchase within the first sixty days of opening the account.
The Miles Card from Discover provides new accounts with 5000 miles after the first purchase is made using the card. As with most cards, you earn one mile for every 1 purchased on the card, so to get the most benefits from the card youll want to use your card for your every day purchases. Of course, with the Miles Card you dont have to redeem your rewards by purchasing a flight. You can also select from cash back bonuses or gifts. There are no blackout dates with this credit cards frequent flyer miles, and you can choose any seat on any airline. Best of all, this card features a 0% introductory rate for the first year on both new purchases and balance transfers, so while you are earning points and miles, you can also pay off old balances interest free.
Many other credit cards offering frequent flyer miles exist. The largest flyer rewards program, and the first company to offer frequent flyer miles, was sponsored by American Airlines. They call the program Aadvantage. The miles that are accumulated using this program can be used to buy airline tickets, obtain discounted or free car rentals, hotel visits, and upgrade your service class for your flight.
Fraud Prevention : Credit Card Do’s and Don’ts
What is better than cash? Stolen credit card is the answer. The situation worsen since the introduction of online shopping.
As such, it’s wise to be proactive in preventing such thing from happening to you. Furthermore, the responsibility always lies with credit card holders to safeguard their credit cards.
Here is a list of important Do’s and Don’ts to safeguard your credit card.
DO…
-Always treat your cards like cash.
-Keep your card number confidential.
-Sign up your new cards as soon as they arrive and cut up the old cards when they expire.
-Sign your credit card in permanent ink as soon as you receive it.
-When making a purchase, ensure that the salesperson processes your transaction in your presence.
-Check your card when it is returned to you by the cashier to ensure that it is yours and that it has not been tampered with any way.
-Total your charge slip before signing in, as blank spaces serve as an invitation for unscrupulous individuals to ass additional amounts.
-Always retain your receipts so that you can check them against your statement.
-If unfamiliar transactions are posted on your statement, inform your card issuer straight away.
-Keep your statements in a safe place – they contain sensitive information.
-Before discarding old statements, even of closed accounts, shred them into small pieces.
-Inform the card issuer when you are travelling overseas.
-Notify card issuer of any change of address, so new cardsstatements are not sent to the old mailing address.
-Should your card be stolen or is lost, inform card issuer immediately. Always keep card issuer contact number at hand.
-Only provide your SSN(Social Security Number) and credit card information to parties with whom you have initiated the call.
DON’T…
-Never allow anyone else to use your card. It is yours and yours alone.
-Never write your personal identification number(PIN) on your credit card.
-That way you can avoid any unauthorized cash withdrawals from the automated teller machine(ATM)
-Do not give any credit card information to individuals soliciting sales over the phone.
-If you receive calls from a party claiming to be your card issuer and the caller requests for your account number, do not give it. If the call is from your card issuer, the caller would know your account number.
-Do not sign a blank charge slip, draw a line through the lines above the total amount and destroy any carbon and cancelled receipts immediately.
-Do not leave expired card lying around.
Fraud On Credit Cards
Credit card fraud has become a major problem in modern society and it continues to steadily worsen. Credit cards are used in such a variety of ways, it makes it extremely easy for an offender to steal your card. There are precautions that can be taken, however, to prevent yourself from falling victim to credit card fraud. You should have your credit cards always with you for safe keeping. It is wise to tote your credit cards around in a vehicle besides your wallet.
Enclose them in something separate such as a business card holder, small container or little pouch. Here is a fact you may not know: Not every card involved in credit card fraud is actually physically snatched. Some thieves will use only the credit card number in their illegal ventures. Make sure you are alert with each credit transaction you make, and get your card back immediately after it is finished.Cyberspace has become a breeding ground for credit card fraud. You need to be cautious about the online companies and website that you supply your credit card number with.
Refrain from entering your credit card information into websites that you are linked to through emails. The best thing to do is to avoid giving out your credit card number online at all costs. If you must make an online payment, there are several reputable services that will allow you to pay without supplying your credit card information to a third party. Some larcenists will sink to any level to gain entry into your credit card information file. Many will rummage through garbage cans searching for credit card receipts or bill stubs with the complete account numbers on them.
These numbers are then used to purchase things over the internet or to create a new credit card using your number and credit information. Any document containing your credit card account number should never be left lying around, and although it seems a bit extreme, should never be thrown away unless completely destroyed. Checking your credit report periodically will alert you to any unusual activity happening with your credit cards. If you do find that unauthorized charges have been made to one or more of your credit cards, there are choices to be made and steps to be taken.
First off, you should call your credit card company and let them know that your credit card or credit card number may have been stolen and you want the card canceled. Now, the person who has taken your card cannot make any further purchases. Calling immediately will lessen your chances of having to pay for the charges made to your card and limit the amount of harm that has already been inflicted to your credit.
For Reality: What Is A Low APR Credit Card
Shopping had never been lousy since the advent of credit cards. Since then, people had always been indulging into various cashless shopping due to the convenience of the credit card.
However, most people get credit cards only for the sake of shopping. They do not even read the fine print on their credit card and the least that they have considered is the one with the low annual percentage rate or APR. Most of them did not even know how interest rates could affect their billing.
On its general since, low APR credit card are those that have lower APR. This means that the cost of the interest rate will be according to the purchases obtained by the customer.
Normally, APR vary from 6% to more than 30%. Of course, it would be clear that the card with the lowest APR credit card is those that have 6% or lower.
But consumers should remember, that APR can be very tricky especially if the consumer have no idea what interest rates mean.
Basically, credit card companies would offer the consumers very low APR credit card so as to get the consumers on the hook. In fact, credit card companies could lower their APR to as much as 0%.
Low APR credit cards are usually expressed during the introductory rate so as to entice new credit card holders to sign up to them; and once they are all hooked up, the credit card company would start changing and increasing their credit cards.
People should know what makes a low credit card really low and the best option for retaining that low APR even if the introductory offer is over.
First, they should know that APR has two faces: the fixed and the variable.
The fixed APR has more stable interest rates than variable rates. Variable rates, on the other hand, can start really low but it all depends on the prime rate of the Federal Reserve. This means that at any point in time, it may increase.
Needless to say, there are really quite a few credit cards that have low APR. The reason behind it is that APR is actually where the credit card companies get to earn a living. If they continue to give people the low APR that they used to claim, chances are they wouldnt be in the business for so long.
The bottom line here is that consumers should be really conscious on their APR and other interest rate. Low APR credit cards will not be very beneficial if it will only last for 6 months or so.
