No Interest Credit Cards: Beware

A balance on my Citibank credit card built up after investing in a fixer upper home in western Pennsylvania.

Then we got an offer in the mail from US Airways for no interest charged on balance transfers. That meant we would get frequent flyer miles and get free tickets to fly from LA to Pittsburgh.

My wife and I both transferred our balances and we got enough frequent flyer miles to get our free tickets. But we also got something else . . . a hefty transfer fee.

Wait! I called the US Airways number and they explained our payment was late so the no interest rate, fees, etc didn't apply.

Here's the rub. Our Citibank card was normally due somewhere between the 15th and the 20th of each month. However, the new US Airways card we received came to our house at the end of August.

We didn't realize the due date was September 8th. So we paid the middle of the month as normal.

Even though I called, asked to speak to a few different people and we have an excellent credit score, nevertheless, the fees applied.This is a good example of one way credit card companies can make offers and then take them away.

So beware when you get a free offer of some sort from a credit card company, make sure you know all the limitations. Otherwise, forget the free offers and find ways to pay down your balance and improve your cash flow for the long term.

Credit Card Processing and Merchant Accounts

Credit Card Processing and Merchant Accounts are a smart money move for businesses. But they need to know what information to look for so they don't lose money.
Let's talk with Robb Lejuwann, a blogger, who "sells merchant accounts to large, medium and some small businesses.

So who is your primary client?

I serve all business sizes. My average client does approximately $75,000 per month in credit card processing. The smallest I have done was $6000 and the largest $325,000. I work with retail, mail order and E-commerce companies. The key element is that the business is already processing credit cards.

How does your service benefit a business?

The largest benefit is stripping away the hidden fees that 9 out of 10 times are on the monthly statement. As a result we are normally able to keep the business's base rate the same and lower there over all effective rate by 10% to 40%. The second way we help businesses is by reviewing their merchant account fees each month so we can ensure their savings and make sure they are not having an abnormal amount of transactions going to a higher rate due to human or technical error.

How does that tie in with their money management?

I had one client last week that had been paying an effective rate of 3.75% for the last three years. I lowered them to a base rate of 1.98% +.25 per transaction. They are going to save $1299.49 per month and $15,593.82 for the year. The bottom line is if a business signs up with me they will have their merchant account in order and will no longer have to be concerned about whether they are paying to much for it or not. Feel free to read any of my posts at http://straightpassthrough.typepad.com