Barclaycard has revealed the first retailers that will be part of its Freedom rewards scheme.
LA Fitness, YO! Sushi, Firebox.com, Goldsmiths and Nationwide Autocentres will be among the partners that will give points straight to holders of the card at the point of service.
Sarah Newman, managing director of Barclaycard Freedom, said that, with 30,000 physical and online outlets participating, the scheme is the best available to customers.
She said: “Barclaycard Freedom incorporates all of the best elements of loyalty schemes with the rewards, quite simply, in pounds and pence.
“We are delighted that well known high street and online brands will be part of Barclaycard Freedom. We will be revealing many more participants in the weeks before launch.”
To be launched in March, the Freedom scheme, available to all eight million Barclaycard customers, will reward points straight to the card at the participating retail outlets.
The points will then be redeemable at point of service through the card instead of vouchers, which are offered by other credit card companies . Read more…
In this series, we’ll walk you through some of the steps of choosing the best credit card offer for you. Before you even look at a single offer you must determine your needs. What are you looking for in a credit card? What types of features do you want? What don’t you want in your next credit card?
Until you can answer these questions and more, it’s impossible to effectively compare offers. Why? A good deal for one person might not be a great deal for someone else. Let’s explore why that is by asking a few questions to help you gauge your individual wants and needs.
Answer the following questions before comparing credit card offers:
Do I plan on financing purchases over an extended period of time?
If you answered “yes” to this question, then a low interest rate should rank high in your list of credit card needs because financing purchases means you’ll be subjected to interest payments.
When the new credit card rules go into effect on February 22 (Credit Card Bill of Rights), perhaps one of the most exciting changes will be the way payments are allocated.
In the past, credit card issuers applied payments over the minimum payment to balances with the lowest APR because it worked in their favor.
Let’s look at an example:
Total credit card balance: $5,000
Purchase balance: $3,000 @ 18% APR
Balance transfer balance: $1,500 @ 0% APR
Cash advance balance: $500 @ 20% APR
In the scenario above, credit card issuers would apply any extra payments to the balance transfer balance set at 0% APR.
That would leave the balances subject to the highest APR and associated finance charges intact, costing you more money.
It wouldn’t be until that $1,500 balance transfer balance was paid off before the purchase balance and finally the cash advance balance would be paid down.
The practice meant big money for credit card issuers, and never-ending debt for struggling card holders.
Fortunately, lawmakers said enough was enough, and stamped out the negative payment hierarchy.
Going forward, the reverse will be true when you make more than the minimum payment.
So in the above example, any extra payment(s) will attack the cash advance balance first because it has the highest APR, and thus the most finance charges.
The last balance to be paid down will be the balance transfer set at 0% APR, which benefits card holders because it’s not accruing any interest (at least during the promotional period).
The rule change is good news for card holders looking to pay down debt; of course, it should have always been this way, but better late than never.
A lot of credit card holders aspire for a higher credit card limit.
But: credit card holders need to remember that to get a higher credit card limit, they must abide by the terms and conditions of the credit card company or their bank.
Here are 5 ways to get a higher credit card limit:
1. Prove your credit worthiness
The most important thing to do for getting a higher credit card limit is to prove your credit worthiness. This is the first thing that banks and compa…
A lot of credit card holders aspire for a higher credit card limit.
But: credit card holders need to remember that to get a higher credit card limit, they must abide by the terms and conditions of the credit card company or their bank.
Here are 5 ways to get a higher credit card limit:
1. Prove your credit worthiness
The most important thing to do for getting a higher credit card limit is to prove your credit worthiness.
07 Feb
Posted by Admin as Credit Cards
A report regarding consumer credit in December showed that people are making further strides regarding trying to pay off their credit cards in an attempt at debt management.
According to the Federal Reserve Board, revolving consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 11.7 percent during December. Overall, revolving credit – which is mostly credit card debt – declined from $874.5 billion in November to $866 billion in the last month of the year.
The drop in revolving consumer credit may come as a surprise to some, especially since the numbers reflected the time of the holiday shopping season, where people may bust out their credit cards to make purchases. Along with the decline in December, November saw an 18.6 percent drop in revolving consumer credit.
However, given financial constraints, many consumers may have shied away from using credit in order to make purchases. Rather, they could have relied on debit cards and cash. Read more…