Do Credit Scores Work?
Rest assured that lenders are asking the same questions about credit scores. After all, they want some assurance that the tools they’re using are actually doing what they’re designed to do. In fact, they track performance pretty closely because their business depends on it. You’ve heard that a FICO score of 700 in past is more like a 680 today. Well, how do they know that?
I’ll spare you all the statistical speak and try and boil it down for you. Essentially you want two things, a large snapshot data set of consumers with scores at a particular point in time. They call this an observation data set. Then, you want a second data set containing indications of how those consumers paid over a period following the original score data – usually 12 months. This is called performance data and consumers are usually classified as “good” or “bad” based on how they paid.
Don’t get hung up on the labels. They could just as easily call them “A” and “B”. (They don’t really know or need t
Zappos Announces Security Breach
Over the weekend, hackers gained access to customer data stored on Zappos’ servers. The company, which is owned by online giant Amazon.com, sent out e-mails to customers on Sunday, advising them to reset their passwords. Zappos also expired all customers’ passwords as a security measure. The popular shoe and clothing company advised that the databases retaining critical credit card information and payment data remained untouched and secure.
Sunday’s e-mail message advised, “We are writing to let you know that there may have been illegal and unauthorized access to some of your customer account information on Zappos.com, including one or more of the following your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of your credit card number , and/or your cryptographically scrambled password .”
Zappos now requires that customers’ passwords be more complex, containing numbers, letters, at least one uppercase letter, and one character.
Retaliation Promised by Israel After Credit Card Breach
ISRAEL The information from thousands of credit cards was leaked by a hacker named OxOmar. The Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has said that these cyber attacks are a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such. According to the credit card companies, at least 6,000 cards had been exposed.
The hacker responsible for the attacks claims he is Saudi, but reports state he is believed to be a nineteen year old living in Mexico.
Updated Credit Card Profile: Citibank Clear Visa
Do you want an overall decent deal on your next credit card? If a no frills card offers too little for you but you don’t want a complicated rewards programme to worry about, you might want to check out the Citibank Clear Visa card. It offers reasonable fees and rates and some special offers to give you a little bit extra as a cardholder.
Learn more about the Citibank Clear Visa credit card below and apply online today if it sounds like the right card for you.
Interest Rates*: With the Citibank Clear Visa credit card, you’ll get a reasonable 15.99% interest rate on new purchases. You can avoid interest charges altogether if you pay your balance in full each month. That’s because this credit card offers you up to 55 interest free days when you do so.
Using a credit card to withdraw cash is rarely advisable. But if you decide to do that, this card features a 21.74% interest rate. Just
Top 5 Credit Card Offers
Comparing a current credit card with new credit offers is a great way to make sure you have the best deal for any situation.
These highly competitive deals change all the time, so it makes sense to regularly review what options are available and could add more benefits to using credit.
Unfortunately a lot of credit card offers advertised are of the introductory variety, which means the low rates or large amount of points you get upon signup could quickly be replaced with more expensive ongoing features.
The good news is that most credit card offers are variations of one another, so while the specific deals may change, the five offers below give you a good idea of what to look for and how to get the most out of getting a new card.
12-Month Balance Transfers
People with large credit card debts benefit from balance transfers through the lower rates of interest applied to the carried balance.
A card with an introductory period of more than a year, like the Bank of Melbourne Vertigo’s 12-months at 0.99%, gives people time to pay off as much as possible without a lot of interest building up.
0% Interest Rates
The high level of credit card debt has led credit card providers to 0% balance transfer and purchase rate introductory offers that are incredibly popular with cardholders.
Unfortunately a quick fix is usually not an option, so if you want to get the most out of a deal like this, make sure it will be in your best interest for the long term.
Double-Point Periods
Reward card offers often come in the form introductory periods where people can earn twice the usual amount of points per dollar spent on the card.
This period gives people a chance to earn more rewards at their own rate, but make sure the ongoing point deal is worth it before you sign up.
Signup Bonus Points
The most common offer for point-based reward cards is a bonus for people when they sign up and use the card.
A current example is the American Express Platinum Edge, awarding cardholders 25,000 once $500 is spent on the card in the first two months. T