Archive for February, 2010

Did you know that you can pay your tax bill with a credit card? Here are some benefits to doing so.

Convenience. Imagine this: It’s April 15, 3 p.m. There’s no way you can make it to the post office in time. You don’t get paid until April 25 and you don’t have enough money in your account to cover your payment. What do you do? Don’t write the government a bad check — that’s illegal. Instead, pay your taxes online with a credit card.

Safe and secure. Worried that Uncle Sam will wipe out your credit card? Don’t sweat it. The IRS uses third-party service providers that store your credit card information on secure servers. The IRS never finds out your account numbers, so you can rest easy.

Earn rewards. Paying your tax bill is a great way to earn rewards. Whether you have a cash-back credit card, a credit card that pays down your mortgage or earns airline miles, you can rack up the benefits and pay a critical bill at the same time.

Confirmation number. When you pay your taxes with a credit card, you will be given a confirmation number. This confirmation number will allow you to show that you did indeed pay your tax bill should a dispute arise. This is extremely useful.

Paying taxes isn’t the highlight of anyone’s year. However, paying your tax bill with a credit card is an easy way to make sure that your debt to Uncle Sam is paid on time. In addition, you will have a confirmation number to show that you did pay your bill and you will even earn rewards through your credit card company.

Meg G.

You already share your mood status and your thoughts on current events on sites such as Twitter and Facebook, so why not share your latest credit card purchases, too? That’s what Blippy.com is helping people do. The service offers a real-time snapshot of what people are buying, where they’re buying from, and how much they’re spending.

Shoppers can now link their credit and debit card accounts to their Blippy.com account. The site automatically updates each time a purchase is made from online merchants including Blockbuster, Netflix, Amazon.com and the iTunes store. Blippy.com has tracked more than $4.5 million dollars in transactions to date and reports that the average purchase amount of its 5,000 users is just over $40 per purchase.

Blippy describes itself as a “fun and easy way to see and discuss the things people are buying.” There are currently 16 stores listed on the site but users are encouraged to recommend a store they don’t see on the list.

Yet why would people want to share what they’re buying at any given moment? One benefit of joining Blippy is that the public time line of posts will give friends and followers a chance to see what the current price is for certain products from their favorite merchants. Blippy users can essentially compare purchasing notes with the world, and perhaps make more informed decisions about their next purchase.

People can also connect with other savvy shoppers with similar interests. Users sign into the service using their Facebook or Twitter accounts and handles, can leave comments on other users’ purchases, and they can indicate whether they “like” a certain buyer’s activity. Blippy is a live, interactive display of buyer habits across some of the most popular Web merchants, and ultimately creates an online shopping community with very specific price information.

Blippy assures users that all consumer credit card information and identifying information is confidential and takes security measures to make sure account information doesn’t enter the community in any way. As the site moves out of beta testing, more people will be able to participate in this emerging community to post their thoughts about friends’ purchases and send out updates about their own.

Sabah Karimi

Everyone is familiar with the credit card advertisements people receive in the mail, but direct mail marketing has declined in response to the struggling economic climate.

However, according to DM News, credit card issuers have ramped-up their direct mail marketing efforts recently. They are now sending out more advertisements to consumers, raising awareness about new cards and renewing interest in their popular cards.

The total amount of direct marketing sent out by all banks rose 47 percent between the third and fourth quarters of 2009, which is a significant change in only a few months. Chase led the pack by increasing its efforts by 87 percent.

Banks are becoming more optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, and are once again encouraging consumers to take advantage of credit card offers. DM News reports that banks sent out far more direct mail before the recession hit, but a steady climb could bode well for the credit card industry.

Of course, credit card offers sent through direct mail might not be as enticing as they once were. Annual fees, shorter grace periods and higher interest rates are still common among current terms. It is important for consumers to pay attention and to make smart decisions about which credit cards they decide to obtain.

New changes to the CARD Act of 2009 will take effect in February, which might have an impact on direct mail marketing by credit card issuers. Banks will be keeping tabs on delinquencies and monitoring consumer activity to determine where they should take their efforts from here.

Staying abreast of credit card news and paying attention to direct mail advertisements will help you make effective decisions about your finances. If this trend continues, it could mean that card terms will steadily become more favorable as well.

Steve Thompson

Have you ever tried to read a piece of legislation only to ask yourself, “What the heck did that even mean?” Official decrees from Washington are notoriously verbose at the best of times. The latest credit card bill, the Credit CARD Act of 2009, is no different. Fortunately, the kind folks at CreditCards.com have created a far more user-friendly guide to understanding just what the credit card bill is all about.

The Credit CARD Act of 2009 multimedia guide breaks down each title, section and legislative reference into digestible chunks just about anyone can understand. The guide also allows credit card holders to find the sections that apply to them directly through an easily navigable list of subtopics.

A multimedia breakdown of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 is ideal for this credit card bill because, let’s face it, the same text pasted into a PDF document would be almost as difficult to wade through as the legislation itself. By designing the guide with clickable links and breaking down the text into terms, quotes from politicians and even links to related stories, the site ensures that consumers will not be overwhelmed by impenetrable text. Even better, CreditCards.com has also included the original text of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, so those who believe in thorough research will be able to relate the simplified information to the transcript of the law.

Credit CARD Act of 2009 Multimedia Guide: A Closer Look

The major sections of the credit card bill are broken down into five simple headings:

• Rates, terms and fees
• Youth and credit
• Disclosure
• Studies
• Other

Each of these is further divided into numerous subheadings to help you navigate the text.

Many are unfamiliar with the jargon of the credit card industry — from double-cycle billing to grace periods — terms that the Credit CARD Act of 2009 understandably references frequently throughout its text. Naturally this means many consumers are unable to understand the credit card bill even if they can manage to wade through the wordy transcript. Fortunately, the multimedia breakdown of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 defines all of these terms as you roll your mouse arrow over each one.

This type of legislation affects everyone differently, depending upon spending practices and credit history. This handy tool can help consumers understand the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and, more importantly, comprehend what the credit card bill means for them.

Now, if only someone would do this for every other piece of national and local legislation, perhaps there would be a better understanding of our government throughout our great land.

Steve Thompson