Beating The Rica

Archive for January 19th, 2012

Cash back credit cards are simply credit cards with which you earn a little money every time you use them. The current leader in the field is the American Express Platinum Cashback card, which pays 5% during the first three months. Afterward it drops, but overall, it has the most generous program. With American Express, you can choose to have the cash back as a credit on your credit card statement once a year, or to have a check sent to you. One problem with American Express, however, is that fewer merchants take it than MasterCard and Visa.

The “catch” with these cards is that unless you pay off your bill in full each month, interest and fees will quickly dwarf any cash back benefit you gain. So if you carry a balance each month, then searching for a lower interest rate is your best strategy for choosing a card.

Most of these credit cards will offer 1% rebates on purchases made with the card. But some of them have different “tiers” of rebates based on how much you spend. For example one of the American Express cards (Blue Cash) pays 5% rebates, but only after you spend $6500. But if you do a lot of traveling and put that kind of money on your card, then that’s quite a generous rebate.

There are cards that pay greater than 1%, but only on certain kinds of purchases, like gas, groceries, restaurants, or drug stores. On these “preferred” categories, you may get cash back of 2 to 5%.

Different card issuers have different ways of letting you redeem the cash rebates. Some put it directly on your statement monthly, while others put it directly on your statement yearly. Still others allow customers to call a toll free phone number to request that a check be sent instead. Most of the time to do this, however, you need to have earned a minimum cash rebate amount, usually $50, or more.

Cash back cards may or may not have limits on how much you can earn. If you spend a lot regularly, then you should look for a cash back card that has no cash back limits. But if you keep your credit card spending well under the amount that would cause you to reach the cap, then you should go with the card that gives you the best rebate percent from the first dollar you put on the card.

Some of the reasons to take bank secured loans are: poor credit history, having problems obtaining an unsecured loan or because they’re easier to get when you want a larger amount of money. The flexibility of the lenders is bigger when secured loans are involved, so you have a better chance of getting them, even if you were rejected for an unsecured loan.

You can use secured loans for improving your house, getting a new car or going on a luxury holiday.

Bad credit is not that important when it comes to secured loans, as they are secured on property. That’s why defaults, CCJs and arrears don’t count that much. That’s why secured loans are favorites for those that usually aren’t approved by their local banks for loans.

A bank secured loan can be taken even if you don’t own your home outright. You can use a mortgaged house in the amount you own as a security.

The amount that can be borrowed varies between