Credit Cards

Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard Review

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barclaycards-rewards-mastercard

The folks at Barclay Card are nothing if not persistent. A buddy of mine is overseas. I picked up his mail, and there are at least a dozen Barclaycard MasterCard mailers in here. It got me wondering, is the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard good or is the Barclaycard MasterCard a waste of money? Without further ado, here is the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard review. Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard Reviews The Barclayscard MasterCard rewards card is issued by Barclays Bank Delaware. Barclays Bank Deleware was originally Juniper Bank, but was bought by big British bank Barclays in 2004. There is no actual bank, it only issues credit cards in the U.S. In addition to the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard, the bank issues co-branded cards, such as an American Airlines credit card, the JetBlue credit card, and a Priceline.com rewards card. As always, different customers can get different terms and conditions for the same cards, but in this case, it looks the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard is setup as a points rewards credit card. For every $1 you spend on gas, utility, and grocery stores, you earn 2 point. Note, that Target and Walmart are specifically excluded as grocery stores for the purposes of 2x points. Then, …

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Credit Score Differences

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real credit score numbers

It’s hard to get real, hard data on various finance things sometimes. After all, for “real world” data, I can only go on what I have most of the time. That’s hardly definitive for everyone. There is always data “out there,” of course, but it’s hard to know what to trust. Even when people are honest, they aren’t necessarily accurate. That’s why scientists hate research that depends upon participants self-reporting data. Even when you have real data, there is often fine print that renders it moot. For example, I have a credit score that gives me my credit score for free each month, but it says right there in small letters that this is not the score they use for making lending decisions. That hardly makes it my “real credit score” then. Credit Karma has free credit scores that are not FICO scores. Credit Sesame offers similar non-FICO based credit scores, also for free. Which Credit Score Is Real, Really? However, recently, I had a friend, who I trust and know well enough that he let me see some interesting data regarding his credit score. (Mostly, he wondered, what was going on.) It turns out that he has a credit …

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What Does Credit Card Fraud Look Like?

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credit card theif

You can do all the right things, and you will still probably, eventually, be a victim of some sort of credit card fraud. Sometimes, a person you give your card to willingly will somehow steal the information. You may lose a card, or someone may compromise your credit card another way. Or, like me, maybe a merchant will be compromised and your credit card company will call you, telling you that your card needs to be canceled. Credit Card Fraud Detection I have a Capital One Rewards card, among others. I like using it because the points seem to add up pretty fast, and I can always use them instantly just by logging in and using them to “erase” a travel purchase instead of having to get a Capital One Rewards catalog and pick some sort of reward out of it. Another reason I like it is that they seem to have pretty aggressive fraud protection. This annoys some people because it always seems to kick in when you are on vacation and their computers notice that you are buying a lot of stuff in Chicago all of the sudden when you live in Dallas. Recently, however, all that happens is …

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Real Credit Score or Fake Credit Score

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After investigating is CreditKarma.com legit or not, we got a lot of questions about credit scores and credit reports. Hopefully, this can help clear up some of the most common credit score misconceptions. Update: A Credit Karma tax review is here looking at the new free tax returns offering by CreditKarma.com. Update: Now CreditKarma.com offers free credit report monitoring. Check out the Credit Karma review of free credit monitoring service. Credit scores are confusing to many people. This is not the result of ignorance or being naive. Credit scores are not consumer products. They were (are) meant to be used by financial institutions. These lenders are the ones who pay for the credit scores. Banks and lenders are credit score customers, not the people who are being scored. Credit scores are not a free, open system. Rather, they are a product, sold by Fair Issac. They charge money for each credit score calculated. Fair Issac’s customers are banks, mortgage companies, and other lenders, not you. In fact, a quick look around the Fair Issac website should show you that this is not a company concerned about selling products or services to individuals as customers. Fair Issac has a separate website …

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PayPal Debit Card Worth It?

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paypal debit card

PayPal is a popular way to pay people online and also a useful resource for freelancers to get paid electronically. Funds can be transferred electronically from your PayPal account to your linked bank account at anytime. However, there can be a significant delay between when you initiate a PayPal transfer and when it shows up in your account. To help alleviate this issue, PayPal offers a debit card linked to your PayPal account. I recently got my own PayPal debit card and have had a chance to use it and see how all the little tricks work. Technically, I got a PayPal Business Debit Card, but I don’t see any differences from the regular one. Is a PayPal MasterCard Debit Card a Good Deal? PayPal is no different than any other for-profit company, they want to make money. They take a commission on certain types of payments and charge fees for things like receiving international currency in your PayPal account and for letting customers or clients pay you via credit card. The PayPal debit card is another way for PayPal to make money while giving you more ways to access the funds in your PayPal account, which the company hopes …

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Debit Card Fraud Protection Gets Better

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One growing method of card fraud and theft is stealing credit card or debit cards and their PIN numbers. Unlike swiping a credit card, not all financial institutions that issue debit or credit cards offer a zero-liability guarantee to users who enter a PIN number. The idea is that the PIN number itself offers security. Unfortunately, that is becoming less true. Today, sophisticated reader devices are attached by thieves to ATM machines, gas pumps, or other devices that accept cards. These attachments do not impede the ability for the real machine to read the card. That way, you have no idea that your transaction did not go as planned. However, your card information has been copied, and coupled with a small camera that watches you enter your PIN, the thieves have everything they need to empty your account. Although it was eventually revealed that the recent breach at Target did not compromise PIN numbers, no one was very sure of that fact in the beginning. In other words, having your card information and PIN stolen is a real risk. MasterCard Steps Up MasterCard announced on May 28, that it will offer (and by extension everyone who issues MasterCards) the same zero-liability …

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BillGuard Safe and Legit?

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BillGuard is an online financial services company that monitors your credit cards for fraudulent charges. On the surface, this sounds like something you don’t need. After all, if you see credit fraud on your bill you are going to do something about it. However, in this fast-paced world, it is all too common for people to neglect to verify all of their charges, especially the smaller ones. BillGuard Scam? First, I like to see if something is a scam before looking further. After all, if you are throwing your money away, it really doesn’t matter how good of a job they do. In this case, there are some concerns, but it would be hard to call the service a scam. No credit card number or PayPal account is required, so there is no way for the company to charge you for some subscription or offer. Second, the company never asks for your Social Security number either. It does ask for some usernames and passwords, but we’ll get to that in a second. Finally, the company just raised $10 million from some well-known venture capitalists. That doesn’t mean, in itself, that the company is legitimate. However, there are a lot of …

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Granite Credit Card Review

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Getting a credit card with poor credit is no easy task. Credit card debt is easily wiped away in bankruptcy. Furthermore, because most credit cards are unsecured, banks and card issuers have little recourse to collect the unpaid balance other than reporting negative information to the credit bureaus. People with poor credit aren’t as likely to see that as a motivation to pay up. Be sure to monitor your credit score on an ongoing basis so you know if it is getting better or worse. Residents of the U.S. can use online credit score reporting services like Credit Karma to monitor credit scores free. Check out the CreditKarma review here on Finance Gourmet for more details. Granite Card Review The granite Credit Card is available to residents of the UK who are not legally restricted from obtaining credit. The card is issued by Vanquis Bank, which bills itself as a financial institution that can help with credit repair. It is a Visa card which ensures wide acceptance at most retailers that take credit cards. As you might expect from a credit card for people with low credit scores, the Granite Card is not cheap. The variable interest rate is currently …

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Latest Citibank ThankYou Rewards Premier Card Offer

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Over at one of my favorite deal news websites, I noticed that Citibank is offering a bunch of bonus points for people who sign up for their ThankYou Premier rewards card as its latest Citi rewards card offer. As regular readers know, I don’t recommend that people go chasing after credit card rewards or applying for new credit cards just to get credit card points or miles. If, on the other hand, you are currently in the market for a new credit card AND you are looking for a rewards credit card, this offer might be interesting. First, off, be sure to read all of the fine print in the credit card agreement as well as my Citibank ThankYou Premier rewards card review. On of the big things you will want to note is that this card comes with a very steep annual fee. That should knock it out of the running for most people, but if you tend to rack up a lot of spending on a card for whatever reason, you might be able to make money by earning more rewards than you pay for the annual fee. Second, although the ad claims that you can get $500 …

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Citibank Rewards Credit Card Offers: Premier Card

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Citibank updates its credit card rewards programs from time to time and when it discontinues an old rewards program like the Citibank PremierPass rewards card, it moves those customers to one of its current Citibank rewards credit cards. One of the many cards that offer the company’s branded rewards program called Thank You Rewards, is the Citi ThankYou Premier card. (Note: Citibank is the official name, although some people look for City Bank MasterCard or City Bank rewards when trying to find out more information.) Is the Citibank Premier Card a good rewards card? Let’s take a look. First, the Citi ThankYou Premier Card comes with a $125 annual fee PLUS ANOTHER $50 fee for each authorized user. That means a husband and wife credit card account with Citibank for this card will run an eye-popping $175 per year just for the annual fee. It’s waived for the first year, but otherwise, that is a pretty solid strike against any credit card offer unless it has a lot of benefits to back it up. Don’t look for a great interest rate to offset that big annual fee. The terms and conditions list the rates as 13.99% , 17.99% , or …

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