Best Credit Cards for You!

Victims of criminal identity theft rarely know they are victims until they learn that there is a warrant out for their arrest or are arrested. Fortunately, court systems and police departments are aware that this type of identity theft occurs, making it possible for victims to clear their names.

Criminal identity theft occurs when an individual gives another person’s name and personal information to law enforcement authorities during a criminal investigation or at the time of arrest. Personal information includes a date of birth and social security number. This type of identity theft usually transpires when local authorities issue traffic or misdemeanor violations, but can also happen when an individual is arrested for financial identity theft, such as the misuse of credit cards.

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Tags: Criminal Identity, Criminal Identity Theft, Identity Theft, Theft

Hi Erica,

February 2012 will be a year since my bankruptcy was final. Where can I find a card that starts out as prepaid and then will turn into a regular credit card? I heard on the Howard Clark show on CNN that just a prepaid wont help reestablish my credit unless its the kind will switch to a full credit card eventually. Kevin

Dear Kevin,

Congratulations on the anniversary of your bankruptcy. I hope you used these past 10 years well.

When you left your debts in the courtroom, whatever income you had should have been free to go toward vital household bills like food and utilities. Maybe you’ve begun to set aside cash for periodic expenses and unexpected emergencies.

Such is the beauty of bankruptcy.

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Tags: Bankruptcy

When you set New Year’s resolutions, you likely think about things that have gone wrong in the past (or just not as well as you’d hoped). For example, you might feel like you don’t earn enough so you set a goal to increase your income. Or you focus on the mistake of getting into too much credit card debt and you resolve to pay off that debt in the following year.

There’s nothing wrong with using mistakes and less-than-ideal situations as a base for New Year’s resolutions. But look past those and you might also find motivation in past successes.

Fixing Mistakes is Great…

Certain New Year’s resolutions (like paying down debt) are popular for good reason. They involve problems that consumers know they need to fix. It makes sense to want less debt, especially if you’re struggling. It makes sense to improve your budgeting so you don’t go into more debt in the future.

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Tags: New Year’s, New Year’s Resolutions, Year’s, Year’s Resolutions

CreditCards.com’s Weekly Rate Report

  Avg. APR Last week 6 months ago National average 15.22% 14.98% 14.83% Low interest 11.17% 10.62% 10.73% Balance transfer 13.08% 12.77% 12.76% Business 13.13% 13.13% 13.07% Student 13.77% 13.77% 13.77% Airline  14.54% 14.44% 14.24% Cash back  14.86% 14.61% 13.87% Reward 14.86% 14.69% 14.40% Instant approval 15.49% 15.99% 15.99% Bad credit 24.96% 24.96% 24.96% Methodology: The national average credit card APR is comprised of 100 of the most popular credit cards in the country, including cards from dozens of leading U.S. issuers and representing every card category listed above. (Introductory, or teaser, rates are not included in the calculation.) Source: CreditCards.com Updated: Dec.

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Tags: Interest, Rate Report, Weekly Rate, Weekly Rate Report

Credit card reward programs can be a great way to get everyday and travel rewards but transferring points to a frequent flyer program is often a tricky process.

Many credit card providers, including ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank, Citibank and Suncorp, have their own rewards program so that cardholders can choose from a wide range of redemption options.

Unfortunately these kinds of cards are not usually favoured by people planning to use points for flights, especially not with so many frequent flyer reward cards available.

But Suncorp is one credit card provider that is bridging the gap between general and frequent flyer cards, giving reward cardholders the opportunity to transfer points to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, Singapore Airline’s KrisFlyer rewards or Virgin’s Velocity Rewards program.

With a Suncorp rewards card on hand people can earn one point per $1 on most purchases and make redemptions once 5000 points are accumulated.

Suncorp also makes it easier to earn points by allowing people to set up automatic bill payments from their card, so if you had $250 worth of bills in a month you would earn 250 points by simply paying for necessities.

To transfer these reward points to a frequent flyer program, cardholders will need to follow the steps below:

1. Log onto the Suncorp Internet Banking site
2. Select the credit card account
3. Check the points balance
4. Choose the “redeem” option; and
5. Select the redemption partner you would like to transfer points to

For people who want to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points, this process can not be used for other airline rewards, but the benefit is that platinum cardholders will be able to earn one Frequent Flyer point per $1 spent.

KrisFlyer and Virgin points, on the other hand, are offered at a lower rate when using the points transfer option, with 2 Suncorp Rewards points equalling one airline reward point.

The variety of rewards and redemptions available can make credit cards with provider rewards a lot more appealing than specific frequent flyer cards, but if airline points are something being considered it is good to look into different point transfer methods.

With a Suncorp rewards card on hand it should be easy for anyone to get as much value out of rewards as possible and save up for flights or everyday rewards whenever they want.

Tags: Credit, Points Credit