Credit Cards Articles

Whether it is beginning of a trend or simply just the case of having good fortune, the month of December was one that gave credit card issuers a reason to smile. This is because for many of them charge-offs showed a decline from previous months. While this was not the case for all of the major issuers, hopefully this will continue into 2010.

Those that saw a decrease in December numbers from November include JP Morgan (Chase), American Express, Citi Bank, and Discover. As for the numbers Chase reported charge offs at 7.11 percent from around 8.81 percent and American Express saw a slight drop to 7.10 percent from 7.60 percent.

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You may think that you can make more money by investing outside of your 401k, but that’s not necessarily true. If you are eligible to contribute to your company’s 401k plan, then your first investment dollars should go toward making the maximum contribution. Don’t be tempted by short term gains elsewhere until you have contributed fully in your 401k. Here are three reasons why:

• Tax Savings. You contribute money into your plan with pre-tax dollars. That is a huge advantage in investing because more of every dollar you earn goes into your plan for your benefit.
• Tax Deferral. All the investment income (interest, dividends, and capital gain distributions) is not taxed within your 401k plan.

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You may check your credit score to find that your credit score is being pulled down because you have too many credit cards. Closing the credit cards won’t help though because they’ll still be listed on your credit report.

I’ve been reading conflicting statements about exactly what closing a credit card does to your credit score. For example, one blog stated closing a credit card with a balance hurts your credit score, another blog said it didn’t. So, rather than guess around about the true answers, I went straight to the source – FICO.

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While most of us are busy earning and budgeting our money,  a handful of artists are spending their time finding creative ways to convert currency into art. Here are six artists who use cash as their canvas.

Scott Campbell

This Brooklyn-based artist makes a living pawning his premium tattoo services for a whopping $300 per hour. Wonder what he does with all of that money? Campbell collects stacks of singles, and uses a special etching process to engrave incredibly detailed imagery into his cash. The original dollar bills may be destroyed, but the resulting art is priceless.

Justine Smith

British sculptor Justine Smith uses currency as her clay, creating eye popping designs laced with capitalist themes.

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