Archive for the ‘Credit Cards’ Category:
How can I get AmEx to stop sending me so much junk mail?
3-5 times a week, every week, I receive promotional offers from American Express (with whom I am a current cardholder). How do I get them to stop? The mailings vary, mostly they’re offers of new cards. I don’t even open them anymore- I just tear them up and throw them away, because I have supposedly gone ‘paper free’ on my billing. It’s really annoying and an enormous waste of paper.
Original text: How can I get AmEx to stop sending me so much junk mail?
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Help me fix my credit score.
Should I dispute the adverse item on my credit report or just pay it off? Also, will a balance transfer help or hurt me? Last July I moved and closed my account with my old cable company. I returned the equipment and paid the balance. I got a notice saying I owed them $69 but I figured my check had crossed in the mail. I called them and the rep said my account was at $0. So, I forgot about it and ignored the mail they sent me. The cable company itself never called me to get the money. A collection company started leaving messages for me about a month after closing my account, but they didn’t say for whom they worked and I never called them back. This company is also notorious for calling the wrong person and as they never said my name, I assumed they must be calling the wrong number. Now the $69 is on my credit report and I’m pissed because 1) I was never told it was going to collections and 2) I don’t really owe them the money (unfortunately I have no proof of returning the equipment). I don’t have the energy for a drawn-out battle with them – I just want it off my credit report. Should I just pay them or won’t it matter?
Another thing hurting me on my score is that I have two credit cards that are maxed out. The interest rates are absolutely obnoxious (28% and 29%). The third one has a really high credit limit and a low balance, and it could easily accommodate the balances of the other two. The balance transfer rate is 9% and the fees would amount to $200. The rate is only good until May 2009 and there’s NO WAY I will have them paid off by then, but then the rate just jumps to the normal APR of the card (25%) which is still better than the other two. I have had this card forever and only paid late once. I am likely to be adding another $5000 to the card soon because of the wedding/honeymoon (I’d still have room for the other two balances.) Should I do the balance transfer?
Original text: Help me fix my credit score.
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Why bother trying to sign electronic signature pads?
Electronic signature capture devices are not designed to allow someone to accurately sign them. So why not switch from using my signature to an easy to draw secret symbol? Many stores now have electronic signature capture devices on their Point of Sale devices. I find it silly to try and use my actual signature on these devices because normally they’re at a funny angle, there is no where to rest your hand, the stylus pen does not accurately track, etc. Over the last few years as I see more and more of these my signature has transformed from something slightly resembling my actual chicken-scratch of a signature to some random squiggly lines.
In the spirit of the ZUG credit card prank, why shouldn’t I start drawing a little symbol instead of signing my name? I’d always draw the same thing. It’d be something I could accurately and easily replicate on the silly little pads. If someone actually did steal my credit/debit card and tried to forge my signature it’d be easy to show that I always draw a hash mark with a circle around it (or whatever) while the thief actually tried to sign my name.
To do such a thing would I need file a copy of «my official ‘signature’» with my bank? This is all in theory of course. Though what possible issues might arise from using my squiggly line signature on electronic pads instead of making an attempt to actually sign my name as it looks (or at least at one time looked) on my card. Not that anyone could tell because the sig on my card is smeared and unreadable.
Original text: Why bother trying to sign electronic signature pads?
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Not money-laundering, I swear!
Seeking e-commerce partner that supports funds disbursements (and Ruby on Rails). I’m building a (Rails-based) website for intramural sports teams, and I want to offer teams the ability to collect credit card payments from members for things like jerseys and parties. Essentially, each team would have its own merchant account; but all transactions for all teams would go through our website front-end. Another option would be to have a single merchant account for our organization, then we’d disburse funds to each team on a regular basis; but this option seems messier and more suspicious.
We’d like to use Shopify’s well-tested ActiveMerchant library for RoR, and it has a long list of supported payment gateways. So far, I’ve spoken to authorize.net and they said they couldn’t support the disbursement side; so before going down the list and calling each of the gateways, I thought I’d check here! Any suggestions?
Original text: Not money-laundering, I swear!
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How much is too much?
How much credit card debt is too much? I’m a freelance guy in the arts at the beginning of a big (read: expensive) personal project which will almost certainly NOT earn me my money back, although it is definitely related to my work. I have a good new job coming up in a few months which, while there are no guarantees, looks likely to provide me with steady work for some time to come. As such, I’m considering relaxing my usually strict credit card practices, in order to better complete my project. I’m not sure how far I should go with this. Mind you, I’m not talking about trivial purchases (expensive dinners, clothes, etc) – things that will directly (albeit luxuriously) help me practice my craft. So – am I just rationalizing my desire to go on a spending spree? Do you have any personal rules of thumb that govern your credit card usage?
Original text: How much is too much?
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Which Visa card is best
What is the best Visa card to have? I need a new Visa card. I recently cut up my Chase Amazon credit card. I was happy with the rewards (1% back in the form of Amazon gift certificates) but over the last 6 months their customer service has been hassling me nearly incessantly – «security locks» for no reason, ridiculous fees and charges for no reason. When they refused to waive the latest of these I cancelled the card.
I never carry a balance, I won’t pay an annual fee, and I have no debt. I have perfect credit. I use the card for convenience and for Internet ordering and I pay the full amount every month. I will not use a debit card.
I have an Amex Blue Cash that I like, but Amex isn’t taken everywhere that Visa is. (If it were, I wouldn’t be asking this question; this is also why I’m not interested in Discover, DC, or other similar cards.) I don’t fly much and I buy gas on my corporate card (5% off) so I don’t need those benefits. But I did like getting an ‘all-purpose’ reward.
Given the above, which Visa card is the best for me?
Original text: Which Visa card is best
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Where can I get an anonymous pre-paid Credit Card in the UK?
Where in the UK can I get a pre-paid Credit Card or Mastercard/Visa-based Gift Card? I need to be able to use it online and I’d like to purchase it anonymously.
Original text: Where can I get an anonymous pre-paid Credit Card in the UK?
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Accepting Credit Cards On The Go
I need a solution to accept credit cards on the go. I’m starting a side-business as a computer geek, and because of the size of projects that I hope to get it would be useful to accept credit cards. I know that there’s e-shop options like PayPal’s virtual terminal, but I’d like to find something that I can access via my cell phone (Blackberry 8320) to accept credit cards at a job site.
Any recommendations/alternatives that I should consider?
Original text: Accepting Credit Cards On The Go
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Why don’t electric companies take credit cards?
Why do electric utilities either not take credit cards for payment or charge ridiculously large surcharges ($5) to do so? I’ve gotten into the habit of paying most of my bills via credit cards due to the cash back/skymiles. Every single company (phone/cable/etc) gladly take them, EXCEPT the power company. They send you over to some 3rd party who wants to charge $5 for the privilege of paying your bill with plastic. I did a quick check of the major power companies I’m aware of in Florida and all of them have similar services, although most charge $3-$4 instead of the $5 my local power company wants.
I’m fully aware of merchant fees & such, but find it odd that only power companies in this state seem to do this.
Original text: Why don’t electric companies take credit cards?
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Is there a credit card virtual account number service out there that is usable via a mobile phone browser (i.e., a browser w/o Java or Flash support)?
I need to be able to generate virtual credit card account numbers (ala the service provided by DiscoverCard or CitiCards) via my mobile phone browser. The DiscoverCard and CitiCards web services seem to require either Java or Flash support in a browser, neither of which my phone supports. I’ve got a V3XX, and can use the built-in browser or Opera Mini. Any services out there that would support this configuration?
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Credit Card Ugh
How to get a new credit card with a high limit to transfer a bunch of smaller balances to when your FICO score looks more like your bowling score? Well, not quite as bad as a bowling score. I have a handful of cards, adding up to about $5000 total in balances, with no single balance more than $1500. I’d like to get a new card to transfer all these balances to, with ideally a lower rate (below 20% would be nice 
), so I can stop trying to keep track of all these payments dates, simplify my money management a little, set up automatic payments, and forget about it.
I’ve made a few months of late payments on everything due to everything being a little crazy because of my wife’s health, so my credit rating has taken a real dive.
Personal experiences, ideas?
Original text: Credit Card Ugh
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Has my friend found a way to make free money?
Has my friend found a way to make free money? My friend thinks he has found a loophole in using credit cards and never paying them off…
He gets two credit cards. He buys something on Credit Card A for $500. He then pays off Credit Card A (in full) using Credit Card B. When Credit Card B comes due, he pays it off with Credit Card A. When Credit Card A comes due again, he pays it off with Credit B. And so, forever. Since both credit cards have automatic payment systems that you can setup, this is all done for him. And since he is paying off the full amount each month for each card, he never builds interest.
This sounds pretty brilliant, but I know there has to be something wrong with this idea. He’s already done this once, but plans on doing it again with more credit cards. What are we missing here?
Original text: Has my friend found a way to make free money?
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