Get Rich Slowly has a great post this week entitled “How to Establish a Credit History Without Losing Your Shirt” and it focuses solely on secured credit cards. Basically, the credit line on a secured credit card is tied to a certain amount of cash collateral you put up. Unlike a debit card, this deposited money is not used for purchases or to pay down your balances. You still have to make monthly payments just like any other credit card, but if you default on a secured credit card, the card issuer doesn’t have to go through the trouble of harassing you via mail, phone and Madonna songs, they just keep your collateral. Becau

Read full article…

In today’s economic climate, lay-offs continue to swell the ranks of the unemployed, and those already unemployed face increasing competition for fewer jobs. If you have bad credit, you are particularly disadvantaged as about 40 percent of prospective employers are performing credit checks as part of checking out the background of job candidates.

If you have bad credit, it is still possible to secure a position, but you need to be a bit more proactive about how you go about applying for a job. Here are a few tips that can help people with poor credit overcome the stigma of bad credit when applying for a job:

1. Know which employers are more likely to require credit checks. Government organizations, both local and federal, carefully scrutinize applicants’ credit reports before making decisions. Lik

Read full article…

The last time Advanta was in the news, it was at the beginning of the year and at that time their small business credit cardholders were receiving letters that they could not longer make any new purchases. This time around it seems that the news has not gotten any better as Advanta Corp filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Like so many other companies, the reason behind this bankruptcy is because they feel they would not meet the obligations of paying their debt, even after listing $363 million in assets and $331 million in debt. However like many other large corporations who file bankruptcy, there is a twist. The twi

Read full article…

Experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers say the moves will be necessary to cope with a 50% rise in bad debts on credit cards, expected to be close to £5bn by the end of next year.

PwC predict a personal debt timebomb where as many as 1,000 customers a day will find it necessary to seek help because they cannot cover repayments.

Because of this, they suggest banks will look at new ways to make money.

Many credit cards already carry an annual interest rate of more than 20% on outstanding balances, but this could climb above 30%. Cardholders may also have to pay £25 a year simply to have an account.

The banks are also expected to turn away customers who are not considered profitable.

The PwC study, called ‘Precious Plastic’, said: ‘Levels of write-off of this magnitude have never been experienced by the UK industry before. <

Read full article…

The popularity of prepaid cards has significantly increased in the past years. Demands for these alternative plastics have exploded and it is predicted to have at least $7.2 billion in transactions every year. Some employers have in fact chosen to issue prepaid cards instead of a paycheck. These cards are actually re-loadable spending cards. Although cards carry the Visa and MasterCard logo, they should not be mistaken for a debit/credit card or even gift cards. People use is to pay without having to open a bank account or applying for a credit line. You just have to add money to its balance and it works the same way as debit or credit cards. If you cannot open a bank account for some reason or you cannot trust yourself in handling a credit card, they say this is the next big thing.

Others have pointed out the other ways and reasons prepaid cards are a popular choice these days.

Read full article…