Credit Cards Weblog

Technological advancement often comes with a price attached to it. The new blink cards launched by Chase are designed to make the transaction a more customer friendly experience. Blink cards do not need to be swiped, nor do they need signature verification or a PIN.

While, this adds to convenience and reduces the transaction time, it also takes away key security checkpoints in the system. Signatures and PIN, both added to security and critics are of the opinion that in doing away with these, Blink cards will increase the chances of fraud.

There was a time when closing a credit card account reflected negatively on the consumer’s credit history. This applied not to cards that were in the default zone, but to cards that had healthy accounts. This may seem to defy common logic, however if one were to consider it from a credit reporting agency’s view point, they would probably believe that the customer’s aggregate ability to pay for credit was dwindling, hence he was closing healthy accounts.

However, of late, with the influx of a large number of credit cards, consumers today end up holding several cards and may find it prudent to give up a few. Having recognised the fact that the number of credit cards in the economy is far too many, potential lenders also expect consumers to have closed a few accounts and do not mind seeing it on the consumer’s credit report.

According to the Federal Credit Union "there was a time when having closed credit card accounts made it harder to get credit. Now with so many credit cards being offered to consumers, it’s not unusual for customers to close accounts."

Hey, but don’t dash off in a hurry to close just any account. According to experts, you need to be careful in selecting the accounts that you want to close and when you want to close them.

First, do not think of closing an account that still has a balance. If you inform your card provider that you were going to close such an account, he will in all probability, jack up the interest rate applicable to your account. Hence, you should plan to close an account that does not have any outstanding balance.

Secondly, inform your card provider of your decision by phone and also send a written card closure request. Also ensure that the closure statement issued by the card provider states that the account was closed on your request.

Good luck with your credit cards and financial management.

Have you ever felt the need to hold those crispy green backs in your hand and say, ‘I am rich’! Perhaps, some of us from the older generation still have that craving, but this is changing very fast, especially for the younger generation. They are all for plastic money; credit cards and debit cards. For them, the old feeling does not hold much water.

The younger generation is shunning cash to such an extent that if they reach a place that does not accept cards, they rather not go there a second time. Visa USA has actually created a brand identity for this new breed. It calls them Generation Plastic or Gen P. According to Visa, 50 percent of Gen P’s payments are in one or another form of plastic money. Gen P’s extensive use of plastic money is also forcing merchants to start accepting credit and debit cards.

While, plastic money makes transactions easy and swift, it has a down side as well. Due to the ease of transaction, and Gen P’s insatiable appetite to consume, plastic money is leading to rapid depletion of an already low savings rate for the American economy.

America is the world’s most indebted nation and has a huge current account deficit, and plastic money is only making this worse.

For Gen P, ultimately left with low or no savings, plastic money may not be so real after all.

The credit-card companies that are quick to punish you for being late with your payment or going over your limit are offering a nice array of rewards for using their cards. Card issuers have already blanketed the nation with credit cards. The growth of these cards reflects the fierce competition in the industry. The City Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard gives you 5 percent cash back on gas, grocery and drugstore purchases and 1 percent on all other purchases upto a maximum of $300 a year.

Chase Bank launches contactless credit cards. To readily increase the speed and convenience of credit card usage,Chase Bank of USA has begun the rollout of its new Chase contactless credit cards with "blink" technology in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area. Merchants that currently accept Chase blink card include 7-Eleven, AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group. Chase bank expects the number of merchants accepting the credit card to grow steadily throughout the year. The new cards also feature the traditional magnetic stripe and can be used anywhere and Visa and MasterCard are accepted to make purchases.

The dependence of the young generation on plastic money has led to the coining of the term “Generation Plastic or Gen P”.

Although the younger generation depends more on debit cards, credit cards still are the number one choice of the consumers. Consumers spend more using credit cards as is evident from the fact that about two trillion dollars was spent using credit cards. In an attempt to appeal to the youth, payment of credit card balance using cell phone is on the cards.

It is for all those travelers who are traveling abroad and carry their credit cards away with them. It is this summer that they can rest this summer as it is slightly easier with the good mews that Apacas. The body which represents credit card issuers has revealed that credit card fraud on UK cards abroad last year was at its lowest level since 1999. it has seen a sudden twist this year. Therefore before carrying your cards abroad check out for credit cards.

In an article appearing on nydailynews.com, shoppers are being advised to not let their holiday spending get the better of them.

Mastercard has released a few tips for helping credit card users control their finances. The step people are advised to do is to set down and calculate the amount of money they owe. Some people avoid looking at credit card bills because the sum seems like a lot to pay back.

However, after calculating the amount owed, the next step is to determine the monthly payments that can be paid. This number is always higher than the minimum required payment.

When you have determined the amount of the monthly payment to make, money should be put aside for groceries and other bills. Regardless of what arises, the payment on your credit card bill should be paid monthly.

This week Visa USA, displayed the new logo that they will be using for the first time in 30 years.

The old blue, white, and gold logo has gotten a facelift to better reflect the changes Visa has made over the years. According to Visa, they wanted a new logo that “better reflected the range of electronic payment products provided by Visa”.

The new Visa logo has already been released in other parts of the world, and will offer many new security enhancements such as moving the dove hologram to the back of the card and embedded into the magnetic strip. Another feature of the new card is that it will show the 3 digit security code in its own panel.

Visa has a total of 488 million cards issued worldwide.