A Business Card Question For Those Who Know

A true business credit card is a line of credit that is taken in the name of the business, under the business' credit. Activity, whether good or bad, is reflected on your business' credit report through D&B and other financial institutions, and the liability for any debts incurred and bills owed is with the business.However, some companies out there offer "business" credit cards which they require a person guarantee for. These institutions will often ask for a personal guarantee, and will almost always ask for a social security number from the person applying for the card. If this is the case, the credit card is not a business credit card, but is simply a personal credit card which is used for the business. The business is not liable for bills and debts - you are.When applying for a credit card for your business, watch out for areas asking for your SSN (and not your TaxID or EIN) and be wary of any credit card that asks for a personal guarantee. By ensuring that your credit card is in the name of your business, you can help to build your business' credit, while avoiding creating problems with your own.


Many companies offer a list of credit cards that are issued under the business name only. Those lists typically run $300-$900, depending on the quality of the information inquiring. I would suggest starting your search online via google or yahoo. Search for "strong business credit" (just like that in quotes) to find services that sell the information.

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Citi Forward Card

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Reduce your purchase APR by .25% when you 1) make a purchase, 2) stay under your credit line and 3) pay at least your minimum amount due on time 3 billing periods in a row. Your Card Account must be open and not in default at the time of the quarterly reduction or such quarterly reduction will not apply. The purchase APR on your account can be reduced a maximum of 8 times up to a total reduction of 2% throughout the time your account is open. The APR reduction does not apply to Balance Transfers or Cash Advances.

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ThankYou® Network
Citi Forward Card Terms and Conditions
ThankYou Network is offered to certain cardmembers ("you") at the sole discretion of Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. ("we"), the issuer of your card account ("Card Account"). ThankYou Network or any portion thereof may be revised or terminated with 30 days prior written notice. Any revisions may affect your ability to use the ThankYou Points you have already accumulated. If ThankYou Network is terminated, you will only have 90 days from ThankYou Network termination date to redeem all your accumulated ThankYou Network points ("ThankYou Points"). ThankYou Network rewards and ThankYou Point levels required for specific rewards are subject to change without notice.

Unless you are participating in a limited-time offer, you will earn five ThankYou Points for every dollar you spend on purchases at (1) book stores, (2) record stores, (3) restaurants, including fast food restaurants, (4) motion picture theaters, and (5) video entertainment rental stores ("qualifying merchants"). You will earn one ThankYou Point for every dollar you spend on all other purchases. Book stores are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily sell, for consumer use, books (including textbooks), magazines, maps, and calendars. Record stores are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily sell, for consumer use, records, compact discs (CDs), music and video laser discs, and blank audio and videotapes. Restaurants, including fast food restaurants, are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily prepare food and drinks for immediate consumption by consumers, either on the merchant's premises or packaged for carryout. Motion picture theaters are defined as stand-alone merchants that operate movie theaters, and sell tickets as well as refreshments. Video entertainment rental stores are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily rent videotapes, laser discs, DVDs, and video games for consumer use at home.

Purchases not eligible to receive the five points include, but are not limited to, purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores. Online and catalog purchases are not eligible to receive five ThankYou Points unless the merchants appropriately identify the transactions.

We do not determine whether merchants appropriately identify all transactions you make on your Card Account, but we do reserve the right to determine which purchases qualify for ThankYou Points. You can earn up to 75,000 ThankYou Points during any calendar year (eligible purchases appearing on your January - December billing statements). You may only earn ThankYou Points on your Card Account as long as it is open and current. ThankYou Points expire five years from the end of the month in which they are earned unless ThankYou Network is terminated.

You will earn 100 bonus ThankYou Points at the end of every billing cycle during which you make your Minimum Payment or more on time, and at the end of which you are not over your credit limit. Your account must be open and not in default under any Card Agreement in order to be eligible for this award. Accounts with a zero Minimum Payment due at the end of a billing cycle will not be eligible for an award for that cycle. These bonus points are not included in the annual calendar year limit.

If you are approved for a Card Account, a ThankYou Network Member Account ("ThankYou Member Account") will be set up for you. ThankYou Points post to your Card Account at the close of each billing cycle, and at that time, we will transfer the ThankYou Points you earned to your ThankYou Member Account. ThankYou Points are not eligible for redemption until they are transferred to your ThankYou Member Account. ThankYou Points may not be redeemed and may be lost if your Card Account is not open or current.

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After promotional period, standard APR for purchases applies to remaining promotional balances. As of June 17, 2009, standard variable APR for purchases is 14.24%; standard variable APR for cash advances is 21.99%. However, if you default under any Card Agreement because you pay us late, go over the credit line or make a payment to us that is not honored, we may automatically increase the rate on all balances (including promotional APR balances) to a variable default rate of 29.99%. Minimum finance charge is $.50. Foreign purchase transaction fee is 3.0% of the U.S. dollar amount of each purchase made outside the U.S., whether made in U.S. dollars or in a foreign currency. Balance transfer fee is 3.0% of each balance transfer amount, $5 minimum. Cash advance fee is 3.0% of each cash advance amount, $5 minimum.

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6,000 bonus ThankYou Points can be earned by new Citi Forward cardmembers approved through this offer. To receive bonus points, make $50 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. All points become available for redemption when they are transferred from your Card Account to your ThankYou Member Account.

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5,000 bonus ThankYou Points can be earned by new Citi Forward cardmembers approved through this offer. To receive bonus points, sign up for Paperless Statements on this account within 3 months of account opening. You may only receive this bonus one time. All points become available for redemption when they are transferred from your Card Account to your ThankYou Member Account.
source

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Big Banks’ Sneaky New Tricks

Erik Weech learned about sneaky banking polices the hard way.

A few weeks ago, Bank of America hit the Chicago marketing man with a $35 overdraft fee when he had more than $130 in his account. The bank was apparently “holding” his money for charges that hadn’t cleared — only they appear to have been holding three times more than he actually spent. Then, if that wasn’t enough, they “reordered” his subsequent purchases in a way that tripled his overdraft charges. Within a couple days, he had racked up $140 in fees.

Authorization holds and transaction reordering are among the banking practices taking increasing heat recently from both consumers and lawmakers. Although nickel-and-dime fees are pervasive — just check your cable bill — the big financial institutions have become poster children for customer abuse. With direct access to your cash, they have developed a range of sneaky tricks that can quickly whittle down your account.

Use your credit card and you’re likely to find that they’ve hiked your interest rate, perhaps switching it from a fixed-rate to a variable. Don’t use your card and you could get hit with an inactivity fee. Fail to fix an overdraft promptly and you could get hit with a zero balance fee — in addition to overdraft charges. Flee the bank and they’re likely to slap you with an exit fee.

“Consumers would be shocked at how many different tricks the regulators allow banks to use to take money out of their wallets,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer services projects director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington. “As long as the banks disclose in the small print that they are going to rob you, it’s legal to rob you.”

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Paying by Credit Card, Paypal Online

How to Paying by Credit Card

1. Credit is not the tool you think it is. Remember that credit card companies are in the business of making money. Adopting a "Cash is King" policy will go a long way in stopping your dependency on credit.
2. Stop using your cards. Literally freeze them in a block of ice if you need to. (Hanging a sealed bag of water, with the cards inside, is a fun and mess-free way of doing this.) Or, you can take your cards and cut them in to pieces with scissors, this way you are sure that you won't use them again.
3. Look at your balance. Multiply it by .5. This is your next payment. So if you have a 1000 dollar balance, your first payment is 500.
4. Repeat step one. Each month look at your balance and pay off 50% of it. By the 6th or 7 month you will owe less than $20, and then you pay that off and you are done.
5. If you do this and then calculate the true interest that you end up paying, you will be pleasantly surprised. If our example credit card account had a 15% advertised rate, your would have only paid 2.5% in interest.
6. Track your spending, and find extra money to pay of your debt.Get an extra job,doing extra chores...
7. Stop spending money on the little things.For example: Don't buy your books/DVD's or CD's just lend them from your local library. Don't buy sandwiches outdoor, just make them at your home.
8. Stop spending and save more.Save every month a little bit of money, it may seem not that much, but its a beginning.
9. Look if you can put all of your debts together. This way you don't have to pay all that extra rent to the bank,it will release your debts a little bit.

How to Paying by Paypal


What is PayPal?

PayPal provides a way to send money to anyone in the world who has an email address.

But, first you have to register your details (including Credit Card details) with PayPal. As part of this process you decide on a password so that you are the only one who can access your PayPal account.

All this information which is sent to PayPal is sent securely (ie all the data is encrypted) so that even if intercepted by anyone while passing across the Internet, the information cannot be extracted. Only PayPal can decipher the data.

(PayPal uses "SSL security" which is the industry standard way to send sensitive information in a highly encrypted form across the Internet. Virtually all on-line stores and banks use this same system.)

The advantage for the seller (me in this case) is that I don’t have to set up a "Credit Card Payment Gateway" with a bank to be able to accept Credit Card payments. Such a set-up with a bank is not economical for such a moderate volume of transactions.

The advantages for the buyer (you) are:

• ease of payment via Credit Card
• ability to pay in your local currency without paying any bank fees (bank charges for International bank drafts, or currency conversion fees)
• you pay no fees to PayPal
• no postage costs or postal delivery delays when sending your order and payment to me
• you have a record of your payment

Are there any risks that my details or password will be revealed to 3rd parties?

Because of the encryption used, the main security risks are not to the information while in transit across the Internet, but at either end of the transaction.

At the PayPal end it is possible that a criminal insider could obtain access to your information. Their internal security system is designed to greatly minimise this risk. The risk is much less than if you were to physically use your Credit Card in an actual store to buy goods. An employee could record your Credit Card details.

At your end, the 2 main risks are:

• Firstly: that you reveal your password to someone (eg by writing it down and keeping it in a place that is insecure such as on your work desk, or in your wallet, or on a note attached to your computer).
• Secondly, that you reveal your password to a fake PayPal site. This scam is known as phishing. The way it works is that you receive an email pretending to be from PayPal asking you to log-in to your PayPal account to update your details, or to check possible suspicious activity on your account, or because of a software upgrade, or some similar statement. The email provides a link for you to go directly to a website pretending to be the PayPal site. This site is set up to be identical in appearance to the 'real' PayPal site. If you enter your password on this fake site then the criminals behind it can access your account (as you have just given them your password!) and send money to accounts they control. For more details on phishing see here. This type of scam is now so common that many people have now received them. Forward any PayPal one to spoof@paypal.com

Remember: NEVER EVER click on a link in an email to go to PayPal or to a bank website - it is very easy to place a fake 'from' address in an email, and it is easy to redirect you to a fake site, even if the name of the link in the email looks correct

I have never used PayPal before, how do I register with PayPal?

Go to the PayPal home page at: http://www.paypal.com and click on the "Sign Up Now" link.

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Credit Card Security Code

What is a Card Security Code?

The Card Security Code (CSC) is a 3- or 4-digit number printed on your credit card. It provides added security when you use your card on the Internet or over the phone. The number appears only on the card itself, not on receipts or statements.

We ask for the security code CSC when you enter your payment information. This helps ensure that anyone placing an order with Barnes & Noble.com has the card in his or her possession and is not using a stolen credit card number.

Each credit card company has a different name for the security code and puts it in a different place.

You can use your Barclaycard to pay for goods by phone, fax, mail order or online. This facility has opened up a whole range of new possibilities for credit card fraud.

Proof of your identity if you aren't there in person

As extra proof of identity during remote transactions where you are not there in person, you will be asked for the following information, to check you are the genuine cardholder:

1. Card Security Code
2. Cardholder Address Verification

1. Card Security Code

All our Barclaycards carry an extra piece of information - the Card Security Code. This code is only printed on the back of your card and does not appear on receipts from card transactions, so only the person in physical possession of the card could know it.

How does it work?

On the reverse of your Barclaycard you'll see a row of digits printed above the signature strip. The final 3 digits are your Card Security Code.

• When you are buying by phone, fax, mail order or online, you will be asked to quote the Card Security Code together with your full statement address
• Sometimes you will be asked for the Card Security Code when you contact us by phone, to verify your identity
• Don't confuse the Card Security Code with your PIN (Personal Identification Number) – you can't use the Card Security Code at ATMs
• Don't quote the Card Security Code to anyone other than a genuine retailer or Barclaycard customer services.

2. Cardholder Address Verification

Together with the Card Security Code to verify your identity, you will be asked to verify your address.

How does it protect you?

• It enables retailers to check that the address provided by the cardholder matches your Barclaycard statement
• This doesn't affect your delivery address, you can ask to have your purchases delivered elsewhere.

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2.51% Cash Back On Your Tax Return

For those that are paying thousands of dollars in income tax, how would you like to get 2.51% of that back? Lets say you gotta pay $10K in taxes for last year income. If you get 2.51% of $10K back, that is $251 free money back to you. Too good to be true?

First, make sure you have less than 3 Citi Cards so you can apply for the Citi CashReturns Card. The CashReturns card gives you 5% cash back on everything for 3 months. You heard me right, yes 5% cash back on EVERYTHING for the first 3 months with the Citi CashReturns Card. You wondering, I thought you only get 2.51% cash back?

There is a new site Official Payments that allows you to pay your taxes with credit cards. The site charges 2.49% processing fee, therefore you will get 2.51% back from the 5%. This is legit.

From the website:

Official Payments provides electronic payment services to the United States Internal Revenue Service, 25 States, and more than 2,500 local collecting organizations nationwide. The payment pages for each are linked on this website, and grouped into one of the three categories shown below. Select “Pay Now” to begin the process. You can also search for our payment partners by zip code.

You might worry that your approved credit limit is not big enough. It’s simple to raise your credit limit by 1) Ask them to increase your credit limit once approved 2) Transfer your credit limit to your new Citi CashReturns Card from other Citi cards.

There is NO CAPS or LIMITS for cash back earning. Remember, you have 3 months for 5% cash back on Everything. Time the 3 months window right so that you can make all your big purchases during this 3 months. Best time to get this card would be paying your taxes, upcoming wedding, renovating a house, paying your tuition bills, etc etc. Many readers have told me they got over $1000 back with their holidays spending last year.

After signing up for the Citi CashReturns Card, the 3 months officially starts during your application and not the day you got your card in the mail. I would spend everything on this card, whether it’s a getting a coffee at Starbucks or filling up my gas tank. The best part is getting cash back and not Thank You points. Checks will be sent automatically upon earning $50.

Tips:

*If you are converting to this Citi CashReturns from another Citi card, you will not get the 5% Cash Back Promotion.*

**I would even buy gift cards for places you know you will shop. Hence guarantee 5% cash back for the future. Examples: Walmart, gas stations, groceries stores, etc**

***Another site similar to official payment is Pay1040 ***

From : Cardblog

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get a credit card online

One of the most commonly asked questions we receive is "how do I get a Visa or Mastercard?" If you're young with no credit history you need to create a credit history in order to get a credit card. If you are older and have a bad credit history, you need to re-establish a good credit history by always paying your bills on time and keeping your debt-to-income ratio low.


Millions of people established their credit rating with a department store credit card because it is much easier to get a department store card like Sears, JC Penney, etc., than it is to get a Visa or Mastercard. Unfortunately, department store credit card interest rates are outrageous, ranging from 21% to 33%.


It is also relatively easy to get a gas card, such as Texaco, ExxonMobil, etc., but the problem with gas cards is that some of them don't bother to report your payment history to any of the major credit bureaus, which means you couldn't use the credit card to establish a credit rating in order to qualify for a Visa or MasterCard sometime in the future. Gas credit cards also come with outrageous interest rates.


Once you get a department or gas credit card you need to use the credit card regularly and always pay your bill on time each month. If you pay late even once you have seriously damaged your credit rating and won't be able to get a Visa or MasterCard, perhaps for more than a few years. To avoid the high finance charges associated with department store and gas cards, always pay your bill in full each month. Your entire purpose of using these cards is to establish your credit rating so you can qualify for a Visa or MasterCard sometime in the future, not to run up a huge amount of debt. How long will it take? Six months to a year for most people. Just make sure they are reporting your payment history to your credit report. If they aren't, you're wasting your time.


The basic qualifications to get any type of credit card are as follows: (1) you must be at least 18 years old; (2) you must have a job or income; (3) you should have a checking account and a savings account just so you can check "yes" on the credit card application where it asks you if you have these accounts; (4) you should have a telephone in your own name; (5) your monthly expenses (rent, car payment, insurance, etc.) shouldn't eat up more than half of your monthly income. To qualify for a Visa or MasterCard, one must usually have at least an annual income of $12,000 or $14,000.



If you want a Visa , MasterCard or Discover now, Visit www.smartcreditchoices.com to get a credit card online !

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