- - Page 2 of 6 The Finance Gourmet

How Do Rising Interest Rates Affect Credit Cards?

March 17, 2022 by Finance Gourmet

How Does The Federal Reserve Raising Rates Affect My Credit Cards? You heard that the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. How does the Fed increasing interest rates affect your credit cards personally? It’s actually pretty easy to tell. First off, your credit cards are most likely tied to something called the prime rate, not the federal funds rate. The rate the Federal reserve raises is the rate the Fed charges banks for overnight loans. The prime rate is the interest rate that banks charge their most valuable (wealthy) customers. The prime rate moves in step with the Fed Funds rate. Before the Fed raised rates, the fed fund rate was 0% (technically 0% – 0.25%), now it is 0.25% (technically 0.25% to 0.50%). The prime rate was 3.25% and now it is 3.50%. How do rising interest rates affect your credit cards? Simple. Your credit card interest rate is the prime rate plus another amount. The other amount is made up by the credit card issuer and you agreed to it when you signed the credit card application. Finding out how much your interest rate is, is easy. Just check your statement or log on to your credit card’s website. …

Credit Karma Review – Complaints Accuracy Legit?

November 10, 2022March 2, 2022 by Finance Gourmet

Earlier we discussed how I first found out about Credit Karma and how, as a seasoned financial professional, I was inclined to think that Credit Karma is a scam offer for free credit scores. I decided to do a review after seeing some Credit Karma reviews that don’t really answer my questions (or the questions others seem to be asking.) Most importantly, I want to know is Credit Karma safe. Is Credit Karma legit? Update: Read here about an opt-in service Credit Karma review credit monitoring as a free additional service. Update #2: There is a free Credit Karma tax offering now available. Here is our Credit Karma tax review. Before we get started, there is one very important thing to be aware of. There are scam websites out there that take advantage of people thinking they are going to CreditKarma.com. Remember, Credit is with a ‘c’ and Karma is with a ‘k’. If you somehow end up on either KreditKarma or CreditCarma chances are you are in for a scam. If you get asked to enter a credit card number, be sure you are on the right website first. Second, this review is only about CreditKarma’s free credit score service. …

Southwest Airlines Rewards Credit Card Review

November 28, 2022January 10, 2022 by Finance Gourmet

Is the Southwest Airlines frequent flier credit card a good deal. We analyze the details to find out.

Is Capital One Quicksilver Card Worth It?

September 28, 2021 by Finance Gourmet

Capital One sent me a marketing mailer for the Capital One Quicksilver Card. Lately, I’m about racking up points or miles in order to travel first class for free, but a good cash back card is useful for many people. So if Capital One is going to send me credit card offers in the mail, I’ll write up a personal finance article about it. Win-Win! Capital One Quicksilver Cash Back Card So, unlike the Capital One Venture Card, or the Capital One VentureOne Rewards card, which are travel rewards cards where you earn Capital One rewards points and redeem them for items on the Capital One rewards chart, the Capital One Quicksilver card is a cash back card. Current Capital One Quicksilver Offer Different people get different offers from credit card companies based largely on their credit report and credit score. That’s why it is important to get a look a your free credit score and keep an eye on how your credit is doing. The offer that came in the mail is a $200 one-time cash bonus and 0% interest rate until December 2022. It would also offer unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, along with no annual …

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Benefits

August 17, 2021May 4, 2021 by Finance Gourmet

I don’t need more credit cards. My Capital One card has something like a $35,000 credit limit. I pay it off every month. So, why am I getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred rewards credit card? However, while the easiest thing to do is to just get a good credit card that earns cash back, I like earning points that I use on travel. Up until now, I haven’t really hacked travel rewards points like this guy does, but after reading through some of his stuff, I feel like I should. Money is fungible (that means money is the same no matter how you use it), but people aren’t robots. I don’t care that the spreadsheet that is my net worth says that earning $2,000 cash back is the same as getting a $2,000 hotel stay for free. The thing is, I have money, what I want is that hotel stay, and I don’t want to feel like I’m paying for it. And, voila, travel rewards are better than cash back, for me. Credit Card Miles Hacking Why should I get a Chase Sapphire Preferred card? I’ll re-up my article about how getting cash back, or cash equivalents is often as …

What Is Your REAL Credit Score?

April 27, 2021March 18, 2021 by Finance Gourmet

One of the latest trends in online personal finance is the idea of getting a free credit score. This plays so well because we all know how important our credit score is, but it is still relatively difficult for the average person to get and see their credit score. (Note this is different than getting your free credit REPORT, which you are entitled to each year by law.) FICO and Real Credit Scores The big problem with the concept of a real credit score is that there are lots of available credit scores, and none of them are fake scores, per se. After all, anyone can setup some math and calculate a number they call a credit score. The credit bureaus themselves created their own credit score called the Vantage Score. It’s a real score, created by real companies, and sold as a real product. It is also the actual credit score you get from Credit Karma if you use the Credit Karma free credit score service. However, very few lenders, relatively speaking, actually use the VantageScore when making their lending decisions. That doesn’t make it a fake score. It just makes it one that probably won’t get used. When most people say, “real …

Citibank Rewards Catalog

September 16, 2020April 12, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

There are tons of Citibank rewards credit cards. Like most other credit card rewards programs, there are a wide range of items that you can redeem your credit card miles for, ranging from travel items like free airline tickets to discount car rental or free hotel room nights. In addition, you can redeem your Citi rewards points for merchandise, gift cards and even get cash back from your Citibank MasterCard or Citibank Visa rewards card. One popular card is the Citibank Rewards Premier Credit Card. The Citibank Rewards catalog is a great way to look through what you can redeem your miles for. Citibank Rewards Catalog Travel A while back, the Citibank travel rewards were changed from flat-rate awards to awards based upon the actual cost of the airline ticket. The current rate is approximately 100 points for every dollar the plane tickets costs. So a free airline ticket reward for a round-trip fare that costs $300 would require redeeming 30,000 points. Note that in order to redeem Citibank ThankYou rewards for free airline tickets, you must book the plane tickets through the Thank You rewards website which always seems to have fares that are slightly higher than the …

Capital One No Hassle Rewards Catalog

August 24, 2021April 2, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

Capital One No Hassle Rewards Credit Card Catalog information.

VentureOne Card Review from Capital One

May 10, 2021March 9, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

Capital One has different types of Venture rewards credit cards. One of them is the VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, which is similar, but different from the main Capital One Venture card that Alec Baldwin pitches on TV. This VentureOne credit card is yellow instead of the Venture card which is blue. Earn VentureOne Credit Card Miles The VentureOne credit card is a travel rewards credit card, so cardholders earn miles instead of earning points, although in practice, it is the same thing. Owners of this credit card earn 1.25 miles per dollar spent on every purchase. There is also a one-time bonus for new cardholders of 10,000 miles if you spend $1,000 during the first three months you have the card. The amount of miles you can earn each year is unlimited and the miles do not expire. Redeem Miles for Free Travel The best feature of the VentureOne card rewards catalog is that there is no need for a rewards catalog. Unlike getting the Capital One rewards catalog for the Miles Plus program, there is no need for this card’s reward catalog to come in the mail. Instead, the number of miles needed to earn free travel is equal …

Capital One Miles Redemption Chart

December 3, 2020January 13, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

I promised a look at the value of the Capital One No Hassle Miles Travel Rewards after looking at the value of the the Capital One Miles Rewards Catalog for gift cards in a previous post. One of the nice features of the Capital One Miles program is that you can both purchase travel with your miles, or you can get a “statement credit” for travel that you have already taken. The great thing about this feature is that if you don’t have time to sift through the usual rewards catalog website and redeeming rewards process, you can just book your travel like you normally would, pay with your Capital One No Hassle Miles Reward card, and then use your points after the fact to pay for your trip. Do it before your payment is due, and it is just like you went through the usual booking process to use your miles or points costing you no interest payments. Capital One Miles Redeem For Travel Rewards Chart Number of Miles Ticket Value 15,000 Miles Up to $150 Ticket 35,000 Miles $150.01 to $350 60,000 Miles $350.01 to $600 Ticket Price X 100 Above $600 The basic Capital One No Hassle …