The Advantages of Using a Credit Card in Canada

credit cardMethods of payment such as credit or debit cards have become the popular alternatives to cash, as a way of paying for pretty much all goods and services. Now, nearly everyone in Canada will own at least a debit or credit card. 9 out of 10 will own a credit card. These are high numbers, and this is a testament to how many outlets in this part of the world are accepting this convenient method of payment.

However, not everyone will qualify for a credit card. This is not just due to age but also financial circumstances, and this is where credit cards for bad credit canada will help. You are not necessarily excluded from owning a credit card because of your credit history. Continue reading

Who is most likely to use credit cards?

credit cardCredit cards can be a helpful source of finance for anyone, as long as they know how to borrow money wisely.

Exactly who uses them though? More importantly, why? And where do they get them from?

We explore the key facts about this financial source here:

Who can apply for a credit card?

Typically, UK residents that are over 18 are eligible for a credit card. Most of the time, prospective card holders will be asked to provide evidence of employment and although not always the case, some providers will require applicants to earn over a specific amount, too. Continue reading

Tips to Improve Your Credit Score

credit cardThe best rule for using a credit card is to pay bills on time. However, the story doesn’t end there. You need to protect yourself from credit card fraud and find personally gratifying ways to use any rewards offered by card issuers.

In addition it’s imperative that you protect your personal information from cheats and scammers. Fortunately there are things you can do to secure your credit.

Switch from magnetic strip cards to embedded chip cards – they’re safer

Most retail merchants have acquired the technology to process chip-based cards. Chip-based cards help in fraud prevention. They prevent third parties from stealing and misusing your info by perpetrating fraudulent transactions in your name. Continue reading

Will You Read This Article About Terms And Conditions? You Really Should Do

TheGuardian  April 24 2014

Keanu Reeves as Neo in Matrix Reloaded. 'Each time you tick any website’s terms, you’re signing a set of invisible terms – code so deeply encrypted in the alphabet soup of GCHQ, NSA and Prism that Neo himself couldn’t crack it.' Photograph: AP
Keanu Reeves as Neo in Matrix Reloaded. ‘Each time you tick any website’s terms, you’re signing a set of invisible terms – code so deeply encrypted in the alphabet soup of GCHQ, NSA and Prism that Neo himself couldn’t crack it.’ Photograph: AP

We live in a time of terms and conditions. Never before have we signed or agreed so many. But one thing hasn’t changed: we still rarely read them.

According to a Fairer Finance survey, small print for some companies now runs to more than 30,000 words (the length of a short novel) and, unsurprisingly, 73% of people admit to not reading all the fine print. Of those who do, only 17% say they understand it.

For a few years I was one of the 27% ploughing through the turgid fine print. Researching a book about a lawyer, I became obsessed with contracts. Then one day, after reading reams of legal gobbledygook, I experienced something similar to the moment when Neo sees the cascading Matrix code: I saw that below our day-to-day lives runs a confluence of tiny rules shaping our reality. This underworld only bursts to the surface when things go wrong. Like when you crash your scooter in Bali and realise that your travel insurance doesn’t cover scooter accidents. Or in my case, when I misread (ignored) the fine print of my New Zealand residency and was almost deported.

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Usurious Returns On Phantom Money: The Credit Card Gravy Train

GlobalResearch  February 16 2014

The credit card business is now the banking industry’s biggest cash cow, and it’s largely due to lucrative hidden fees. 

creditCardYou pay off your credit card balance every month, thinking you are taking advantage of the “interest-free grace period” and getting free credit. You may even use your credit card when you could have used cash, just to get the free frequent flier or cash-back rewards. But those popular features are misleading. Even when the balance is paid on time every month, credit card use imposes a huge hidden cost on users—hidden because the cost is deducted from what the merchant receives, then passed on to you in the form of higher prices.

Visa and MasterCard charge merchants about 2% of the value of every credit card transaction, and American Express charges even more. That may not sound like much. But consider that for balances that are paid off monthly (meaning most of them), the banks make 2% or more on a loan averaging only about 25 days (depending on when in the month the charge was made and when in the grace period it was paid). Two percent interest for 25 days works out to a 33.5% return annually (1.02^(365/25) – 1), and that figure may be conservative.

Merchant fees were originally designed as a way to avoid usury and Truth-in-Lending laws. Visa and MasterCard are independent entities, but they were set up by big Wall Street banks, and the card-issuing banks get about 80% of the fees. The annual returns not only fall in the usurious category, but they are returns on other people’s money – usually the borrower’s own money!  Here is how it works . . . .

The Ultimate Shell Game

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