Sunday, August 17, 2008

Most Credit Cards Have Affiliations With Specific Airlines Or Carriers

Category: Finance, Credit.

Let s talk about the most common questions asked about frequent flier miles credit cards. Generally, points are earned based on the amount of purchases charged on the credit card.



Know the answers to the questions before you start choosing your own frequent flier mile credit card issuer: How do you earn miles points on these credit cards? For instance, most credit cards give one point for every dollar spent on the card. As the card holder gathers his miles points, he must reach the minimum number of miles in order to qualify for the free travel ticket. One point is equivalent to one mile. In some cases, miles points can double depending on the credit card issuer. ow do you redeem your miles points? In this case, the card holder can only claim his free travel ticket or get a discounted rate if he purchases his ticket from the affiliated airline.


Most credit cards have affiliations with specific airlines or carriers. That is why it is important to make sure that your frequent flier miles credit card has affiliations with the airline you usually fly with. This condition depends on the terms of your credit card issuer. Will your points expire? Some credit cards impose a blackout date where the card holder must claim his reward or collect enough points within a given period. It is recommended to look for credit cards without blackout dates so that you can be sure to claim your reward without hassle.


There are frequent flier programs however that do not impose blackout dates or expiration. Is there an annual fee? Some credit cards do require an annual fee so it s important to check if the cost is reasonable enough for you to pay every year. Again, this particular condition depends on your frequent flier miles credit card issuer. The best travel reward credit cards are ones that have low annual fee so look for them in your search. Generic mileage credit cards are different from credit cards with frequent flier miles programs in the sense that it doesn t restrict you with just one specific airline or carrier. What about generic mileage credit cards?


This means, you can choose the airline you want to purchase from or avail of your free ticket. It also gives them more choices so waiting for available airline seats does not become a problem. Some consumers prefer to get generic mileage cards because it allows them to buy travel tickets that are sold at a discount. Generic mileage cards also do not require an annual fee from their holders. The advantage of frequent flier miles credit cards over generic mileage credit cards is that you can get more perks and additional travel privileges such as more discounts in hotel accommodations, etc, car rentals. What is the advantage of frequent flier miles cards from generic mileage cards?


Some frequent flier programs also allow its holders to double their miles points so you can collect more miles on your account.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

What The Credit Reporting Agencies Are Legally Required To Do On Your Behalf When You Ask

Category: Finance, Credit.

I want to explore the one of the most important action you can take to increase your credit scores: removing inaccurate negative information from your three credit reports.



What the Credit Reporting Agencies are Legally Required to do on Your Behalf when You Ask. Be warned: should you decide to tackle this process yourself, it can be time consuming and frustrating. The credit reporting agencies are required by federal law to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports free of charge. Because the credit reporting agencies can t charge you to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports, they make you jump through hoops. climb over walls. and inconvenience you in any way possible to accomplish this. However, nowhere in the law does it say they have to make it easy for you. And just try calling them and getting through their phone menus.


How to Increase Your Credit Scores by Removing Inaccurate Information from Your Credit Reports. Sheesh! The concept is quite simple. you want to make sure there is no inaccurate, misleading, outdated, incomplete, or unverifiable information on your credit reports. especially if it s negative. And by dramatic, I mean bad. Any negative inaccurate information that appears on your credit reports can have a dramatic impact on your credit scores.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

When Credit Repair Was Relatively New, It Was Easy

Category: Finance, Credit.

When credit repair was relatively new, it was easy.



It gave you the right to dispute credit and often times it worked. The Fair Credit Reporting Act( FCRA) was created to ensure and enforce your right to fair and accurate credit reporting. That was then, this is now and these letters are a waste of time, so are the credit repair companies that use them. They then have 30 days to prove the debts accuracy. One of its provisions states that a consumer may request in writing validation, or proof of any debt with the Credit Reporting Agencies( CRA's) . If they cannot provide the necessary proof in the given time frame, the debt has to be deleted from your credit report.


As you can imagine 30 days is not a long time to gather the necessary documents when you consider CRA's are responsible for millions of account files. Sounds easy right? It didn' t take long for opportunists masquerading as credit repair agencies to surface capitalizing on this loophole. A full frontal attack on the credit bureaus and the strategy was an overwhelming amount of dispute letters, so many that the credit bureaus had no chance of responding in time. For a while it worked and the concept was simple yet affective. As a result, millions of trade lines were deleted. This abuse of the system forced CRA's to create systems that allowed them quickly verify debts.


They still are today, just not nearly as effectively as they once were. They did, and can now verify debts in a matter of minutes. Not only is this method outdated and ineffective, it makes your situation worse. Can you blame them? Once a debt has been verified, any further attempts of the same debt become near impossible and that applies to legitimate inaccuracies. If you believe anything, believe us when we say these dispute letters are that last method in which you want to repair your credit.


Had it been disputed properly, and for valid reason, there's a great chance it would have come off legally and permanently the first time. It doesn' t take a whole lot of common sense to realize Credit Bureaus, collection agents or the original creditors are not going to let millions of people dodge debts over a relatively minor detail like this. Nearly every single credit report we see, has some form of violation of your rights committed by collection agents. The key to successful credit repair whether it is on your own, or choosing a legitimate company to do it for you, is research. Learn the FCRA& The FDCPA and you will find the violations. Why Credit Repair Mills Stink: When credit repair was new, it was easy. Find them and the debts will come off legally and permanently.


You wrote a letter to the credit agencies" disputing" items you wanted removed. Sounds easy don' t it? They had 30 days to verify the debts and if they couldn' t do it in time, the item had to be removed. So what's wrong with this method today? As a result, they created systems to quickly verify debts and once they do, further disputes are considered frivolous and returned un- investigated. As you can imagine that cost creditors millions. Can you blame them?


If all that is required of credit bureaus is to respond to these letters in 30 days, you can bet they will. I' m sure we can agree that common sense dictates the following. With the exception of a few that slip through the cracks, (the hope of other credit repair companies) your letters will be answered and your job harder. As we discussed previously, credit bureaus validation system is completely automated. To error is human- To capitalize on error is smart! What's not automated is the method in which your credit history is input into the system.


If something is erroneous, it will come off permanently and you could even be awarded damages. It is put in by hand, by humans and we all know the phrase" human error. " This is the best kept secret of credit repair. Think about it. It's easy to spot a company that depends on these credit repair letters. What makes more sense, luck and relying, trickery on loopholes, or violations of your rights where the law is there to protect you? Look at their sign up process. Think about it, if they know nothing about your alleged debts, what more could they possibly do then send the old generic" this is not my debt, please delete it" letter?


If it instructs you to send them your credit reports, tell them which items to dispute and that they do the rest, save your money and do it yourself. You might as well just send that worthless letter yourself and save yourself the money. Credit repair works and as long as consumers have the legal right to question items on their credit, it always will. The Bottom Line. What doesn' t work is the tired methods these so called credit experts are charging you for. To effectively repair your credit, you need to arm yourself with information and you need a lot of patience.


There is no secret and no magic letter.