The Win Report

Every time that someone looks at your credit report, the inquiry is noted. If you have lots of inquiries on your report, it may appear that you are shopping for several loans at once - or that you have been rejected by lenders. Both make you appear a poor credit risk and may affect your credit score. This means that you should be careful about who looks at your credit report. If you are shopping for a loan, shop around within a short period of time, since inquiries made within a few days of each other will generally be lumped together and counted as one inquiry.

You can also cut down on the number of inquiries on your account by approaching lenders you have already researched and may be interest in doing business with - by researching first and approaching second you will likely have only a few lenders accessing your credit report at the same time, which can help save your credit score.

Be careful of online loan rate comparisons.

Online loan rate quotes are easy to get - type in some personal information and you can get a quote on your car loan, personal loan, student loan, or mortgage in seconds. This is free and convenient, leading many people to compare several companies at once in order to make sure that they get the best deal possible.

The problem is that since online quotes are a fairly recent phenomenon, credit bureaus count each such quote estimate as an “inquiry.” This means that if you compare too many companies online by asking for quotes, your credit score will fall due to too many “inquiries.”

This does not mean that you shouldn’t seek online quotes for loans - not at all. In fact, online loan quotes are a great resource that can help you get the very best rates on your next loan. What this information does mean, however, is that you should research companies and narrow down possible lenders to just a few before making inquiries. This will help ensure that the number of inquires on your credit report is small - and your credit rating will stay in good shape.

Cornelius P Crumpacker

More than 100 tips to improve and repair your credit score
http://www.usacreditinfo.com

What’s a credit card?

A credit card is an agreement between you and a financial group, such as a bank, that you will pay them back in the future so that you can spend the money first. The financial group lends you the money you need and in return expects you to pay them back over a period of time. A credit card is a great financial tool. It can be more convenient to use and carry than cash and it offers you valuable consumer protections under federal law.


How to Qualify for a Credit Card
If you’re at least 18 years old and have a regular source of income, you are well on your way to qualifying for a credit card. If you’ve financed a car loan or other purchase, you probably have a record at a credit reporting bureau. This credit history shows how responsible you’ve been in paying your bills and helps the credit card issuer decide how much credit to extend.


How to choose a credit card?
The first thing to consider is the interest rate on your credit cards. Low interest rates credit cards are always the best choice. Shop around to find the credit cards that offer lowest interest rates. Once you have a low interest rate card, get rid of your higher interest rate cards.


Getting a reward card. Reward cards offer the same purchasing ability as regular credit cards but also allow you to enjoy rewards from points earned or immediate discounts on purchases at select retailers. The secret to finding the best reward card for you is to get a card that offers rewards from a vendor you normally shop at anyway. For example, if you buy a lot of petrol, get a card from a vendor that gives you points for filling up your car with petrol.


Annual Fees. Many credit card issuers charge an annual fee for granting you credit. But there are also many issuers charge no annual fee.


Establishing a Good Credit History
After you’ve received your credit card, pay your bills on time - you’ll establish a good credit history.

Tony Reed is the author of “Credit Cards 101″ , visit his website “http://www.funinusa.com” for more credit card information.

This article is a concise, informative tell-all explaining what exactly a credit report is, and what that means to you. It will NOT inform you where to get a cheap, or free, credit report. Rather, this article will explain what types of credit reports are available, and why they are used.

A credit report is a retelling of your credit payment history. It can be provided to companies by one of the four credit bureaus in the U.S. as designated by law. Usually, this information is only shared when credit is being extended, although this is not always the case.

A credit report is used to tell a potential creditor about your ability to repay your debts, based on past experiences. All credit reports are hosted in databases housed by the credit bureaus.

If you are one of the 210 million people in the U.S who has a student loan, credit card, mortgage or another type of loan, then you probably have a credit file, somewhere. The information gathered to create your credit file is garnered from the companies with which you have credit extended to you. Also, the government or legal system may provide information as well.

Whenever you apply for more credit, a credit report is usually created which contains all of this information from one of the four credit bureaus in the U.S. (Innovex, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). There are quite a few other, smaller credit bureaus around the states; however, most credit granting agencies will only look at information from one of the big four.

There are several different kinds of credit reports that an agency can request about you:

- Consumer Credit Reports (what we have discussed most of this article already);
- Property Manager Credit Reports: These reports are used by landlords to determine your credit history with regards to your rental payments, and are essentially the same report as the consumer credit report.
- Business Credit Reports: These reports are used by credit agencies to determine if a business is credit worthy. Information gathered can include company background, number of employees, estimated yearly sales, public records, payment trends and how the company compares to others in the same industry.
- Employer Credit Reports: These reports are similar to the consumer credit reports, but are used in addition, and include such information as employment history, education, criminal records checks, and motor vehicle registration and history.
- Mortgage Broker Credit Reports: These credit reports are quite different than the others, as they bring together information from more than one database at a time. These are used to determine if a client is a good credit granting risk for a mortgage, and can include information such as your name, living situation, and employment and educational history.

Credit bureaus collect information about the people who have credit, and then maintain that information for any reports as discussed above. Although credit bureaus are not affiliated with the government, they are strictly regulated to protect the privacy of credit issuers, granters and consumers.

For more more information about credit reports please visit http://www.moneytipsdaily.com/Money-Tips/Keep-Your-Credit-History-Clean-Remove-A-Negative-Credit-Record-From-Credit-Report.html

As the credit card market becomes more competitive than ever, banks and lending institutions are coming up with new marketing and financial strategies to obtain more customers. One of those strategies used to acquire more customers is through the use of a cash back credit card.

By definition, those are credit cards that will return a fixed percentage of cash back to the customer according to the amount of purchases charged on the credit card. Usually, the cash back rebate is typically anywhere between 1 to 2% and is computed within a given time frame. Therefore, cash back credit cards might result in a good saving tool if used properly and conscientiously.

Let’s assume that a given person will use his/her credit card and will also carry a monthly card balance. If the ongoing interest rate is very high, the finance charges will or than likely offset any of the savings gained from the cash rebates. On the other hand, if the card balance is paid in full at the end of every grace period, the cash back rebates earned from the credit card will usually end up earning the cardholder money back and sometimes a significant amount depending on how often the card is used.

Cash back credit cards will payout the cash rebates earned either by crediting the actual earned rebate back against the existing card balance or will pay the cardholder with a rebate check, usually in $50 to $100 increments.

With the notion of accumulating cash with card purchases, people will psychologically tend to use their credit cards more than other payment options. Very often, cardholders will set a specific time frame for their card purchase activities in order to accumulate the most cash rebates possible. As more and more companies accept credit cards, cardholders are becoming more and more comfortable with using their respective cards to pay virtually everything including utility bills, mortgages and rent payments. With a 1% to as high as a 5% cash back bonus on all purchases, cardholders anticipate some hefty savings from a cash back credit card.

Not surprisingly, cash back credit cards are very popular with consumers. But cardholders must be wary of using them correctly, if they wish to derive maximum benefit. Banks and credit card issuers typically design the cards to maximize their own profit not the consumers profit because card issuers anticipate the cards will not be used efficiently by some, if not many of the cardholders utilizing these cards.

Cash back credit cards are among the many financial tools that can be truly rewarding for cardholders that use the cards effectively and look beyond just the pure attraction of receiving cash back. If cardholders are vigilante about paying off their card balances each and every month, they can potentially rack up significant savings from a cash back credit card. But if not, they might end up paying out significantly more in finance charges over time than their old credit card.

What is a contactless credit card and how does it work?

For decades, credit cards have relied on magnetic stripes located on the reverse side of the card to store data. To transmit this data, the card must be swiped through a magnetic reader, making physical contact with the stripe. A contactless credit card, on the other hand, stores its data on a chip embedded in the card’s plastic. This data is transmitted not magnetically, but rather via a tiny radio signal when the card comes in close proximity of a special reader at the checkout stand. This works through radio frequency identification technology, also known as RFID. When the chip comes close enough to the reader, an antenna on the chip is jolted to life by the electromagnetic field created by the reader, and transaction data is sent to into the system.

What are the advantages of contactless credit cards?

For starters, these RFID credit cards are much faster and more convenient than traditional magnetic stripe cards. A cardholder simply waves the card over the reader, waits a moment for the acceptence signal from the machine, and that’s it. There’s no need to fumble for cash, and with transactions under $25, there is no need to key in a PIN code or sign a receipt. Just wave and go. Also, since the card never leaves the user’s hand, it is considered by some to be more secure.

What are the disadvantages of contactless credit cards?

Some opponents to contactless credit cards have contended that there are security risks with using these RFID credit cards, as the radio transmission could potentially get intercepted by a criminal with malicious intentions. The good news, however, is that the actual credit card number is not transmitted via radio wave. Rather, it is a unique encrypted code only good for RFID transactions. Also, just like ordinary cards, cardholders are not liable for any fraudulent charges.

Where can contactless credit cards be used?

Currently, Visa Contactless, American ExpressPay, and MasterCard PayPass are available at select retailers in certain locations in the United States, including 7-Eleven, McDonald’s, KFC, Arby’s, Walgreens, Sony Style, Wawa, Sheetz, CVS Pharmacy, and a variety of movie theaters. Retailers capable of handing contactless credit card transactions will have a special symbol on their credit card reader located at the checkout stand. RFID credit cards can also be used at any location that accepts ordinary credit cards, since the new contactless cards will still have a regular magnetic stripe on the back.

Who offers contactless credit cards?

All new American Express Blue and Blue Cash cards now come equipped with the contactless feature. Also available from American Express is an RFID key fob that can be linked to most existing credit card accounts. Chase has teamed with MasterCard and Visa to offer Chase blink cards in a variety of styles.

Joey Loma recommends Find Credit Cards to apply for a contactless RFID credit card.