Archive for July, 2009

Exclusive credit cards exist in many countries. However, one of the world’s most elusive cards is offered by Coutts & Co (a.k.a The Queen’s Bank), the private banking adjunct of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Only a select few have this card, and it’s no easy task to acquire.

One of England’s premier private banks, Coutts & Co. caters to the needs of the United Kingdoms most affluent citizens. With a rich history that predates the formation of the USA, Coutts & Co. is no stranger to servicing the elite of the Western world. In fact, Coutts & Co. is the issuer of one of the world’s most exclusive credit cards: The Coutts World Card MasterCard.

One of the most exclusive credit cards

Perhaps all you need to know is that the Queen of England proudly carries this World Card MasterCard. The World Card is strictly available by invitation only. In fact, if you are not a Coutts private banking customer, your name will never be in the pool to receive an invitation for this exclusive credit card. Not only do you have to be a client of Coutts, but also you must have at least 1 million pounds in assets, or roughly $2 million US dollars.

The elegant look of this credit card comes from British tailor Ozwald Boateng. World renown, and possessing celebrity clientele, he was commissioned by Coutts in 2004 to design the super-premium credit card. Boateng discarded the typical World Card branding and used modern elements, like his trademark purple, to craft a unique and elegant way to spend…royally.

Concierge service to satisfy the most discerning tastes

One of the perks of the exclusive World Card is its 24-hour concierge service. Cardholders have a team of multi-lingual specialists to assist them with requests such as hotel reservations, event tickets, travel information and interpretation services. The concierge service can also hook clients up with last minute services such as shopping, tailoring, chartering a yacht, selecting personal staff, even with hiring a nanny. What more could anyone ask for?

Fees do apply with the World Card

Even one of the world’s most exclusive credit cards is not without its fees: 350 pounds/$700 annually. Coutts advertises that this fee is waived when certain conditions are met. On the fees page, it says this fee will be refunded if a client spends $100,000 annually using the card. (Remember it always pays to read the fine print.) Outstanding balances must be paid within 15 days of receiving the statement or a 2 percent late payment charge will be assessed. If a card is going to give one as much as Coutts’ World Card, lines have to be drawn someplace.

ShawnTe Pierce

Fox’s new hit “Lie to Me” is based on the work of research scientist Paul Ekman, who has studied and written books about the concept of “microexpressions” and the ways in which people behave when they don’t tell the truth.

In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman is the “human lie detector” who leads his staff on journeys of discovery in corporate, governmental, military and private sector cases, sniffing out the liars in each and delving psychologically into the minds of those they distrust.

From Researcher to Entrepreneur

After forming the Lightman Group to market his ability to catch people in the act of lying, Lightman has done well for himself. He works in an almost ostentatiously modern office with stark, institutional lighting and the latest in technology.

However, before he formed the Lightman Group, Lightman was a research scientist who traveled the world to study the psychology and sociology of different cultures. This was likely not an inexpensive undertaking; he had to finance his research somehow.

It is possible that Lightman secured government or private loans for his research, but more likely he relied on credit cards for things like living expenses and travel. He would need a low-interest credit card so he wouldn’t have to worry about doubling or tripling his balance from month to month, and he probably needed excellent credit so he could increase his credit limits.

Lightman likely uses credit cards quite often in his business for employee expenses and his own travel to visit clients. He might prefer rewards credit cards that allow him to earn things like free airfare and other travel perks, though he might also use business credit cards for his employees.

Financing the Biz

After concluding his research, Lightman returned to Washington, where he started the Lightman Group. Even if the meager beginnings of the operation were housed in a less generous office building, Lightman would need capital to get his business off the ground.

The Lightman Group uses many different forms of technology to isolate microexpressions, record interviews with witnesses and facilitate communication between staff members. The plasma televisions, video projectors and post-processing equipment alone would cost a bundle, and that doesn’t take into account the rent or purchase of office space in Washington.

Personal Obligations

In addition to a career, Lightman also has an ex-wife and a teenage daughter. Most likely, he pays spousal support to the former and child support for the latter, increasing his monthly expenditures.

The financial issues in Lightman’s life are not necessarily related to his present, but more to his past. How did he finance his research and extensive travel? And how much support did he receive from his father after his mother died?

However, Lightman is most likely raking in the dough as a human lie detector. His precise income is difficult to pinpoint because his is not a common career path, but his business generates sufficient cash to support a full staff, a gorgeous and spacious office, and all the technology required to assist his clients.

Steve Thompson

Trips to Europe might get a bit more complicated for Americans if European financial institutions have anything to say about it. American Banker reports that the chairman of the European Payments Council, Gerard Hartsink, has suggested that once a switch by European financial institutions to the EMV integrated circuit card is completed in 2011, a recommendation could be made to stop accepting magnetic swipe credit cards. This news could bode poorly for American travelers, who often use their credit cards to both withdraw spending money in local currency and to make purchases while traveling abroad.

Rather than using magnetic swipe strips on the backs of credit cards to read customer information, EMV credit card chip enabled credit cards are inserted into a handheld device. The customer then types in a four-digit PIN to confirm their identity. Deemed more secure than traditional credit cards, EMV technology is set to become the new industry standard throughout Europe.

While Europe has emphatically supported credit card chip technology, and all financial institutions will be switched to it by 2011, America has lagged behind, with consumers and retailers still utilizing magnetic swipe credit cards. Herein lies the issue for American travelers: If European banks choose to eliminate their support for magnetic swipe credit cards (current handheld machines in Europe have the capability to accept them), American travelers may need to find a new way to pay for things while overseas.

While credit cards with chips are hard to come by in the US, there are other options. A few prepaid credit cards offer PayPass—a chip system used by MasterCard. The Exact MasterCard is a prepaid debit card that offers PayPass as well as direct deposit.

Evidence of trouble between the EMV and magnetic swipe systems is already creeping up for some travelers. According to EuropeForVisitors.com, newer self-service machines at railroad stations in France won’t accept magnetic swipe credit cards. In addition, those traveling with magnetic swipe credit cards may have to explain their use to smaller retailers, something difficult to manage if a language barrier exists. While problems are relatively small now, expect them to expand once the EMV switchover is completed in 2011.

If you’re planning European travel between now and 2011, you should still be able to use your traditional magnetic swipe credit card. However, a phone call to your credit card company may give your more insight, as these issues are certainly set to take center stage for them within the next two years.

Kelly Herdrich

It is hard to make ends meet as a mural artist. It’s especially difficult if you also have dissociative identity disorder like Tara Gregson in Showtime’s “United States of Tara“. Tara has three alternate personalities named T, Alice and Buck. T is a rebellious teenage girl who loves to wear short skirts and go on shopping sprees at the mall. Alice is an old fashioned homemaker who loves to bake. Buck is a male personality who smokes and drinks. The question quickly becomes How do you support all of these personalities on an artist’s salary?

According to Payscale, Tara’s annual income as a mural artist can average around $43,000. Her husband runs a small landscaping business and probably earns $30,000 a year. They have two teenagers and live in the suburbs of Overland, Kansas. House prices in their neighborhood start at $215,900, and the average monthly mortgage payment is $1,658, according to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau. The census also states that the median household income for a family in Overland is $91,806. The Gregson family is estimated to make almost $20,000 less than the average, and most likely has plenty of medical bills and credit card debt.

Adding it up
If the Gregsons rely on credit cards to pay for the basic living essentials for a family of four (seven including T, Alice and Buck), there is no “best credit card” to use. Should Tara’s condition stabilize, depending on the size of the family’s debt, transferring high interest rate balances onto balance transfer credit cards would be the best step to take. But as soon as the debt is consolidated, the newly-empty accounts should be closed to prevent further spending.

Tara’s alternate personalities are not cheap either. T frequently steal’s Tara’s credit card and goes on shopping sprees with her daughter, Kate. Buck goes out to buy beer and a pack of cigarettes whenever he can, and his costly habit is coming out of Tara’s pocket. The family would have to rely on credit cards to keep up with Tara’s lifestyle and live as comfortably as they do.

Throughout the series Tara visits a therapist once a week, which can cost up to $200 an hour. The series does not address where the family is getting the money to pay for Tara’s medical treatment, but Tara did comment that she hoped to get better before their car insurance quotes ran out. When she admitted herself into an inpatient treatment center to figure out what triggers her alternate personalities, her husband mentioned that it was costing them $6,000 a week. She and her husband are self-employed and would have to pay out of pocket, use credit cards or purchase an insurance plan to cover her medical expenses.

Paying for medical bills with a high interest credit card can result in serious debt for the Gregson family. Tara only has one freelance job as far as we know: to paint a mural for an acquaintance. Tara was then fired because one of her alternate personalities ruined the mural. Her family cannot afford to lose any income when they have a mortgage and car payment to pay.

Stephanie Armstrong

For years, American Express ran a series of “membership has its privileges” commercials, which were intended to show potential cardholders the benefits of having one of its cards in your wallet. As much as the company likes to advertise and use celebrity endorsements, American Express keeps most details about its mysterious “black card” hidden from the general public.

Urban Legends Make the Black Credit Card Real

On one episode of the television sitcom “Frasier,” Niles Crane and his radio psychologist brother kept trying to reach the most exclusive levels of a new local day spa, which had became the stuff of legend among Seattle’s movers and shakers. Frasier and Niles would not be satisfied until they were eligible for every perk the spa had to offer.

American Express credit cards have always had the same allure as that Seattle spa, so much so that rumors about an ultra-elite American Express credit card began circulating during the 1980s. Waving that piece of black plastic around allegedly could give the über-rich unlimited access to secret floors at major department stores and tickets to sold-out concerts.

The mystique surrounding the American Express black credit card became so great, in fact, that the myth finally became reality. In 1999, the company unveiled its new Centurion card, according to the marketing blog Branding Strategy Insider. Named in honor of the company’s corporate logo, American Express made the black credit card so exclusive that only a select few are invited to apply for one.

Benefits of the Black Credit Card

A call to the American Express media relations department about the Centurion card was not returned, but a few hours of Web surfing uncovered some fairly consistent details:

• The black credit card is made of anodized titanium, according to AdSavvy.org, which makes it heavier than the average credit card.
• Unlike other American Express products, you have to be invited by the company to apply for the black credit card. To even be considered for membership, you must have a near-perfect credit history and spend at least $250,000 per year on an existing American Express Platinum or Gold card.
• American Express charges a one-time membership fee of $5,000 for the black credit card, followed by an annual fee of $2,500, according to BlackCardSource.com. You also have to have the financial credentials to show that you can afford to spend a quarter of a million dollars each year.

Besides the prestige of carrying a titanium card in your wallet, American Express offers several benefits and perks for those who carry the black credit card, according to BlackCardSource.com, including:

• A personal concierge and travel agent. The company offers similar benefits to American Express Platinum cardholders, but these personal assistants are reportedly the best of the best customer service agents in the company.
• Automatic first-class upgrades and companion seats on several airlines.
• Personal shoppers at the finest stores in the world.
• After-hours access to shops.
• Membership points that can be redeemed at upscale merchants.
• Thank-you gifts from American Express such as digital cameras and expensive gift cards.

Keeping Company with the Centurion

Despite its exclusive nature, the American Express black credit card has become a part of popular culture. Britney Spears casually mentioned giving it to her then-husband Kevin Federline in 2006. Singer Kanye West even refers to it as “African American Express” in his song “Last Call.”

The American Express black credit card is only one of several credit cards for those with impressive financial resources. Competitors also offer exclusive black cards, but few can achieve the aura that surrounds the Centurion card.

Steven Bryan

The formula might be old, but the story is still capturing teenage audiences across the nation. Today’s “90210,” a remake of the ’90s series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” follows the Wilson family, which has recently relocated to Beverly Hills, Calif., from Kansas. The family moves in with Grandma, a retired actress, while dad’s the principal at West Beverly High School; mom’s putting her photography career on hold to get the family settled.

With classmates driving fancy cars and wearing designer labels, will Annie and Dixon Wilson fit in with the teen crowd at West Beverly? Can Harry Wilson really support his family of four on a principal’s income in one of the most expensive regions in America? Or should viewers suspend disbelief as they watch the Wilson family shop, spend, and charge it all on their credit cards?

What’s the deal with Beverly Hills?

The Beverly Hills lifestyle doesn’t come cheap. According to Yahoo Real Estate, Beverly Hills has a median home value of $3,236,076, a median income of $85,398, and a cost of living index of almost triple the national average.

How much does Henry Wilson earn as a principal?

A principal in a California high school does well compared to the national average. According to the California Department of Education, Harry Wilson could earn anywhere from $82,898 to $109,001, depending on the size of the fictional West Beverly Hills High School.

Can the Wilson family make ends meet in Beverly Hills?

Assuming that they arrived in Beverly Hills with little or no debt, they might be able to do well in Beverly Hills. If Harry Wilson’s mother has handled the mortgage on the home that the family lives in, and they were able to pay off their house in Kansas, it’s likely that they are able to enjoy a decent lifestyle in an extremely expensive region.

Keeping up with the neighbors
To save for their children’s college tuitions, keep the family well clothed and well fed, and continue to go out and do things as we see them doing, the Wilson family would be better to keep their credit cards in their wallets when they can. For convenience, debit cards or charge cards (such as American Express cards) would keep the family from overspending.

Though the Wilson family might be able to stay afloat in Beverly Hills on Harry Wilson’s salary, they would certainly be on the lower end of some of the other inhabitants of the famous ZIP code. If Annie and Dixon, or their parents, start to feel the need to keep up with their classmates or friends, they could quickly get themselves into some serious credit card debt, or even financial ruin.

Thanks to Grandma, the Wilson family can stay afloat in “90210.” But don’t expect every high school principal to be able to raise a family of four in Beverly Hills and still be able to put food on their (very expensive) table in their (very elaborate) Beverly Hills mansion.

Kelly Herdrich