Credit Cards Articles

Overview

Teenagers and American Express. Not two words you typically expect to go together. Until now. The new reloadable pre-paid debit card from American Express, called PASS, is available in bright colors, with the potential to upload a photo onto the card, and is targeted at teens and young adults.

But American Express does not call PASS a debit card — and it really isn’t. This card has several advantages over many prepaid debit cards, which we’ll explore later in the article. Instead, the PASS card is more like a hybrid between a prepaid debit card and an American Express charge card.

It’s a brilliant marketing move on the part of Amex — to begin building brand loyalty at a young age. I’d recom

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Secured credit cards are a great option for people who have bad credit and need a credit card to start rebuilding. They’re also good for those who need a first credit card to gain some positive credit history.

Check out Orchard Bank’s Secured MasterCard which has a low 7.9% interest rate and no account processing fee. If you’ve used this credit card, leave your own review.

Recommended:

• More Credit Card Reviews
• How to Choose a Secured Credit Card
• Pros and Cons of Secured Credit Cards

Building up credit history takes time, persistence and responsibility but if you fail to protect those years of hard work it can only take seconds to ruin your track record. Identity theft can cause severe damage to your financial future if you fail to protect yourself properly from your personal information getting into the wrong hands.

According to reports the most common form of identity theft happens through credit card fraud.

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Thirty percent of your credit score compares your total amount of credit to your level of debt. This is your credit utilization or credit-to-debt (CTD) ratio. Since lower ratios mean higher credit scores, a ratio of 30% or less is ideal. Why? Creditors view higher balances as a sign of financial overload.

Here’s how it works in practice. If you have 3 credit cards with each with a $1,000 limit and balances of $600, $800, and $900, your total CTD ratio will be about 77%. This is dangerously high. You should bring those balances down to $300 or less to increase your score.

Be careful. Closing your accounts doesn’t hide the credit card balance from the ratio.

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