Posts Tagged ‘credit card’

Expect a different statement this year credit card holders

April 2nd, 2012 Kevin Martinez

On the anniversary of opening a credit card account cardholders can expect to receive their first annual statement that includes spending, fees and costs incurred over the past 12 months.

The UK Cards Association in partnership with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has developed the new annual statement.

For the first time, customers will be able to see at one glance how much they have spent in the previous 12 months and what costs and charges were made.

Credit card owners are likely to receive their first annual statement on the date the account was opened. Some credit card companies have already begun sending new statements to card customers.

Melanie Johnson, Chair of The UK Cards Association said: “Annual credit card statements will help empower customers by giving a clear view of how they’ve each managed their plastic over the past year.

Johnson continued: “By clearly setting out costs and charges this industry initiative could help customers get a better deal either by being more savvy about how they use their current card, or by changing to another account that’s a better fit.”

The new annual statements contain the same information to help customers compare cards. T

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Tags: credit card, Holders

Bank Credit Card Customers May Soon Turn To Payday Loans

March 25th, 2012 Paul Smith

UK banks may soon be creating a stir with customers who are credit card holders. Virgin Money recently increased its interest rates by 50 percent on credit cards held by more than 15,000 customers.

The bank seems to have forgotten its recent commitment to “provide value to customers,” instead issuing an interest rate ultimatum to thousands of credit card holders. More banks are expected to follow suit to make extra profit while the Bank Rate is low.

According to Andrew Hagger with Moneynet, deposits are becoming more expensive for lenders. Leading building societies and banks recently increased mortgage rates and Mr. Hagger expects that more increases are forthcoming.

MBNA manages Virgin credit cards and a Virgin spokesperson stated that MBNA determined the criteria regarding which customers would receive the interest rate increase.

Customers can either accept the Virgin rate increase or reject it and cancel their card. However, many may not have anywhere to go. Kev

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Tags: credit card, May

How Your Credit Card Can Save You When You Least Expect It

February 17th, 2012 Paul Smith

This is a guest post from Ally who works and writes for homeloanfinder.com.au, a free home loan service in Australia.

With all the negative press that credit cards have been getting, people have tried their best to stay away from it as much as they can. But getting a credit card is one of the most important things you can do for a good financial health. It plays a vital role in shaping your financial condition which can help you extensively in the future.

Your credit card is the foundation in which you will establish a good credit record. This is especially essential since having none is just as good as having a bad credit. Financial organizations consider people with no credit history as a risk because they have no basis on how capable you are in managing your finances. In other words, an unknown credit risk is a liability and will be charged higher in comparison to those with credit history. With a credit card, it allows you to build a reputation and give you a chance to prove that you are responsible with credits.

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Tags: Card, credit card

CBA To Launch Credit Card Payment App

November 12th, 2011 Travis Brown

Credit cards may soon go the way of the dinosaur as increasingly mobile smart phones usurp plastic for instant payments.

The most recent innovation that is helping credit cards on their way to extinction is Australian banking major CBA introducing a new application is calls tap and pay, which allows smart phones to connect to payment devices such as cash registers, and also allows for facebook and email payments.

CBA has named the app Kaching, and it works by taking the information that is coded into into the magnetic strip of a credit card, and storing and transmitting it by phone instead.

The app makes use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and has already been introduced in America, where its use already encompasses the replacement of keys, passports, receipts and business cards.

Users of the application need not be customers of CBA in order to be able to receive payments made using Facebook or by email, and are instead taken to an external collection site.

A CBA spokesperson said the lender would like the app to be able to penetrate across all payment gateways in Australia from businesses to individuals.

“Mobile and online social payment is the next step in transaction technology and now Australian consumers will no longer have to rely on cash or cards to make payments to family, friends or businesses, the spokesman said.

He added that Kaching would also enable businesses to reduce their reliance on cash.

The application was designed in close collaboration with Apple, with security of the system being the key ingredient in its development.

The app will make use to password encryption technology, so that if a user loses or has their phone stolen, their personal data including banking information could not be compromised, since it is not stored locally on the phone.

He said the app would also help businesses reduce the need for cash.

Receivers of payments would also be protected with any funds that had not been credited, restored after 14 days.

Kaching will be available before Christmas to Apple iPhone users with iOS4 and above.

Tags: credit card, Payment

NAB Dares Its Rivals To Match Its Credit Card Reforms

June 25th, 2011 Travis Brown

Australian banking major NAB, is adding fuel to the competition war fire, challenging its big four rivals to match it, as the lender applies credit card changes to both new and existing accounts, that will save its customers a combined $225 million.

Credit card reforms proposed by the federal government were passed by the lower house of parliament’s yesterday and also received support from the opposition. Under the proposed changes, unsolicited credit limit upgrades will be banned, while over-the-limit fees will be scaled back. Banks will also have to alter “payment hierarchies”, which effectively direct customer repayments to the credit card debt with the highest interest rates.

The reform proposals still must pass the Senate, but are likely to do so without amendments.

The changes are meant to be applicable only to new accounts, despite an attempt by the Green Party to make the law applicable to existing accounts. NAB h

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Tags: Card, credit card

Citi Credit Card Data Hacked

June 13th, 2011 Travis Brown

Last week, while I was away on vacation, I received a call from Citibank about my credit card. Since I wasnt keeping up to date on the latest financial news and gossip, I wasnt aware that Citi had been hacked. Normally, when systems get hacked like this, Ive dodged the bullet. This time, I wasnt so lucky because my Citi mtvU card was a victim, part of the lucky 1% of North American credit card holders. While on the phone with Citi, they agreed to ship out a new card to me as soon as possible, which is standard procedure.

What gets a little annoying is that replacing a card, especially one so intertwined in my financial network map is time better spent elsewhere. This does, however, force me to update my map to reflect its current state something Id been too lazy to do. Thankfully, due to my desire to simplify our finances, the updated map has fewer lines on it.

Whats not cool is how Citi allegedly knew about the hack for weeks before going public.

Tags: Card, credit card
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