Best Credit Cards for You!

The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India is soon going to convert all its debit as well as credit cards to combo cards. These combo cards can then be used for both banking as well as travel cards to be used in Metro rail.

If things materialise as per planning, it will be first implemented in Bangalore. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) has joined hands with SBI for such cards.

“The exact design, plan and execution of these cards are being finalized with the bank,” BMRC officials said.

The cards are most likely to be available to people before the first metro train starts operating in the city in December this year.

Tags: Cards, Combo Cards

Mortgage rates are near all-time lows – great news for young people looking to buy their first homes, right?Not so fast.According to a report released this week by real estate research site Zillow.com, would-be borrowers with less-than-stellar credit scores may be stymied if they try to apply for a home loan. Zillow, which has a mortgage-application portal called the Mortgage Marketplace, found that people with FICO scores of 620 or less did not qualify for the loans available on the marketplace.And the lowest rates – the ones reported by the media – are generally only available to the 47 percent of people with FICO scores of 720 or above. Scores higher than 720 are deemed “excellent.”Young people who don’t qualify for the lowest mortgage rates may still benefit from applying.

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Thanks to the credit crunch, the recent economic recession and the rising cost of education, student debt is more prevalent than ever. Between credit cards and student loans, many graduating seniors will have as much as $50,000 to $60,000 in debt that has to be repaid.

Here are a few strategies that can be used separately or together to curb your debt and get you on track to financial stability and better quality of life.

1) Get a free debt consultation.

There are tons of services such as Credit.com’s free debt consultation service that match you up with a licensed and certified financial professional. We always recommend that you consult with an industry professional because they will know all options available to help you get control of your debt.

2) Budget, budget, budget!

While most of us have a negative knee-jerk reaction to the word “budget”, the truth is it is ESSENTIAL to managing and reducing debt.

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Tags: Debt, Student Debt

The National Bureau of Economic Research issued a report earlier this week in which they said the economic recession, that started in December 2007, ended in June 2009, 18 months later. It was the longest recession since World War 2 (1973-1975 and 1981-1982, both 16 months) and that any new economic downturn would be a new recession. The report is a little dry, heck the summary is like a walk in the Sahara, and makes for good headlines, but ultimately a recession is defined by people, not numbers (numbers lie!).

With so many houses underwater, nearly 10% unemployment, and all the other “signs” of a recession, I want to know what you think. Do you think we’re out of the recession?

We may be out of the technical definition of a recession but it’ll be quite some time before we return to the happy days of three or four years ago.

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Tags: Recession

Get ready to take to the skys with the Delta “SkyMiles Debit MasterCard” cards. Delta Air Lines and MasterCard Worldwide partnered to give you access to the largest and most comprehensive debit card program available under the Delta Airlines banner, for which the two companies will now work over the next several months to build a national network of financial institutions to offer the cards through your local bank branch. The “Delta SkyMiles Debit MasterCard” allows you to earn Delta miles on qualifying purchases; access to hundreds of merchant-funded discounts; and purchase protections including Extended Warranty and Satisfaction Guarantee. It will be available as a “Platinum Debit” MasterCard, “World Debit” MasterCard and “Debit MasterCard BusinessCard”.

Tags: Debit Mastercard, Mastercard, Skymiles Debit, Skymiles Debit Mastercard