REQUESTing Recommendations: Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Buck on Credit Card Programs

Feb 22, 2010 seems to be the slaughterhouse day for those who hold credit
cards in America. Since current Congress and administration has had passage
of certain legislation regarding interest rates for credit cards, our APR
will increase too, to their advertised "lowest" rate available at 11.89% APR
for credit holders of excellent standing like ourselves. This is an
unlikable rate to me. Yes, I know, gone are the days of zero percent
account charges. (a fond recollection)

Our charges revolve mostly around travel expenses incurred by charging our
cruises by card, yet paying the balance off prior to the actual sail date.
Since we've married, our credit rating has been very good to excellent.
Now, I want to find a way to take advantage of holding our budget
expenditures to its minimum.

Has anyone a good recommendation, besides using savings for travel, to
continue benefiting from good credit?

Our current credit card has a "Rewards" program attached to it. Over the
years, we had been able to eventually gain Carnival & RCCL gift card
certificates to apply toward a new cruise. We utilized this "not-offered-at
this-time" reward so we would be willing to part ways with our current card
if there are better deals out there to credit-worthy consumers.

We have an AA Miles Advantage card, also. We haven't booked a flight in
years. Since airlines' services have diminished, in our opinion, it has
become a contention point in our travels, (Who wants added stress on a
vacation? g).

Instead, we have been driving to our port destinations and taking land
vacations throughout the Northeast and Florida.

I look forward to hearing from and thank you for disclosing any tips from
those who have found ways to gain current incentives from their credit card
usage to add value to their financial consideration.

~Muz~ in PA

--
~Muz@aoo~
"A Rough Road Leads to the Stars"...Harry Stamper

J.D.Salinger said, ""I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the
sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me
in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your
stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead?
Nobody."

On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:46:26 -0500, "*muz*"
wrote:

Feb 22, 2010 seems to be the slaughterhouse day for those who hold credit
cards in America. Since current Congress and administration has had passage
of certain legislation regarding interest rates for credit cards, our APR
will increase too, to their advertised "lowest" rate available at 11.89% APR
for credit holders of excellent standing like ourselves. This is an
unlikable rate to me. Yes, I know, gone are the days of zero percent
account charges. (a fond recollection)

Our charges revolve mostly around travel expenses incurred by charging our
cruises by card, yet paying the balance off prior to the actual sail date.
Since we've married, our credit rating has been very good to excellent.
Now, I want to find a way to take advantage of holding our budget
expenditures to its minimum.

Has anyone a good recommendation, besides using savings for travel, to
continue benefiting from good credit?

Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)


Our current credit card has a "Rewards" program attached to it. Over the
years, we had been able to eventually gain Carnival & RCCL gift card
certificates to apply toward a new cruise. We utilized this "not-offered-at
this-time" reward so we would be willing to part ways with our current card
if there are better deals out there to credit-worthy consumers.

We have an AA Miles Advantage card, also. We haven't booked a flight in
years. Since airlines' services have diminished, in our opinion, it has
become a contention point in our travels, (Who wants added stress on a
vacation? g).

Instead, we have been driving to our port destinations and taking land
vacations throughout the Northeast and Florida.

I look forward to hearing from and thank you for disclosing any tips from
those who have found ways to gain current incentives from their credit card
usage to add value to their financial consideration.

~Muz~ in PA

Stu

More than your average recipe website .. http://foodforu.ca

"Stu" wrote in message
...
: On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:46:26 -0500, "*muz*"
: wrote:

: Our charges revolve mostly around travel expenses incurred by charging
our
: cruises by card, yet paying the balance off prior to the actual sail
date.
: Since we've married, our credit rating has been very good to excellent.
: Now, I want to find a way to take advantage of holding our budget
: expenditures to its minimum.
:
: Has anyone a good recommendation, besides using savings for travel, to
: continue benefiting from good credit?
:
: Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
: ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
: over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)
snip

WOW, Thank you, Stu! I had forgotten all about our line of credit on our
account. Never had the need to use it, yet... the rate is appreciatively
less than
the credit card, which is an advantage.

BTW, I was looking at the foodforu.ca WEBsite you have mentioned in your sig
line. I cannot read the "About Us" section of the site (it blacked out the
material in a black box) so I am asking, are you the owner *and* indicated
by your e-mail addy, systems administrator of said site?

It's very friendly, it has very good reference material for special diets
for the "pudgy" and I like the crispness of the page design. It looks very
well maintained. My nephew is in WEB site design and I enjoy a good site
with informative hyperlinks for in-depth articles.





: Stu
:
: More than your average recipe website .. http://foodforu.ca

On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:00:06 -0500, "*muz*"
wrote:


"Stu" wrote in message
.. .
: On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:46:26 -0500, "*muz*"
: wrote:

: Our charges revolve mostly around travel expenses incurred by charging
our
: cruises by card, yet paying the balance off prior to the actual sail
date.
: Since we've married, our credit rating has been very good to excellent.
: Now, I want to find a way to take advantage of holding our budget
: expenditures to its minimum.
:
: Has anyone a good recommendation, besides using savings for travel, to
: continue benefiting from good credit?
:
: Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
: ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
: over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)
snip

WOW, Thank you, Stu! I had forgotten all about our line of credit on our
account. Never had the need to use it, yet... the rate is appreciatively
less than
the credit card, which is an advantage.

BTW, I was looking at the foodforu.ca WEBsite you have mentioned in your sig
line. I cannot read the "About Us" section of the site (it blacked out the
material in a black box) so I am asking, are you the owner *and* indicated
by your e-mail addy, systems administrator of said site?

It's very friendly, it has very good reference material for special diets
for the "pudgy" and I like the crispness of the page design. It looks very
well maintained. My nephew is in WEB site design and I enjoy a good site
with informative hyperlinks for in-depth articles.

Yes I am the owner, I do like to keep it clean and loading fast on any
browser. I'll have a look at the page in question, although it looks
fine in IE, it may not in other browsers as it's a gif file. Thanks
for letting me know, I'll get to it shortly.

Stu

More than your average recipe website .. http://foodforu.ca

In article , Stu
wrote:

Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)

Your line of credit is 8%? Bad. I have a $100,000 line of credit I keep
for emergencies. The balance is zero right now. I don't use it to buy
cruises with, I cruise within my means. The interest rate would be 5%
if I used it.

--
Charles

On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:48:56 -0500, Charles
wrote:

In article , Stu
wrote:

Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)

Your line of credit is 8%? Bad. I have a $100,000 line of credit I keep
for emergencies. The balance is zero right now. I don't use it to buy
cruises with, I cruise within my means. The interest rate would be 5%
if I used it.


8% on a sizeable line of credit is very decent considering the
economy. We use it to pay for our cruise and all shipboard
costs/purchases, and then pay it off over the year. We as well live
within our means, many don't.

Stu

More than your average recipe website .. http://foodforu.ca

On 2/18/2010 2:55 AM, Stu wrote:
On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:48:56 -0500, Charles
wrote:

In , Stu
wrote:

Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)

Your line of credit is 8%? Bad. I have a $100,000 line of credit I keep
for emergencies. The balance is zero right now. I don't use it to buy
cruises with, I cruise within my means. The interest rate would be 5%
if I used it.


8% on a sizeable line of credit is very decent considering the
economy. We use it to pay for our cruise and all shipboard
costs/purchases, and then pay it off over the year. We as well live
within our means, many don't.

I think Charles' point is that borrowing for leisure expenses, even if
the rate of interest is "only" 8.14%, isn't very smart. I think he's right.

Stu

More than your average recipe website .. http://foodforu.ca

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:26:35 -0500, "Seehorse Video"
wrote:

I use a debit card for ATM withdrawals - I only use an ATM when
traveling in foreign countries. The debit card is secured by my stock
account and paid from interest on that account only. That way I don't
have to pay fees for currency exchange from an ATM. I can make a
certain number of withdrawals and be reimbursed for foreign ATM fees.

.... Before I go to a foreign country I
check to see which of my cards have the lowest charges for purchasing
in foreign currencies.

Sounds like a lot of good advice, but reminds me of a caveat regarding
foreign exchange rates. I have found different cards use different rates of
exchange, Visa and MC being less favorable than AMEX. Have you found the
same? It is only a few percentage points, but better in my pocket than
theirs. Maybe things have changed since last I checked.

Harry Cooper

I have not used AMEX recently because it required an annual fee. When
I did use it, it was for a fixed currency. That is I used it in a
country where the exchange rate was fixed to the US $ (like it is in
Bermuda, Belize, Barbados and the Bahamas).

The differences between cards that I found were differences between
individual MC/Visa issuers. I had to charge hospital/doctor's bills
in the Bahamas where the Bahamian dollar is equal to the US$. One
credit card did not charge a conversion fee (that card now charges 1%)
whereas the other card charged 3%. Since the bills were a couple of
thousand dollars each, it was noticeable.

Most of the other differences were because of differences in the
currency rates on the day that the charge got to the credit card
company.

"peter" wrote in message
...
On 2/18/2010 2:55 AM, Stu wrote:
On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:48:56 -0500, Charles
wrote:

In , Stu
wrote:

Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)

Your line of credit is 8%? Bad. I have a $100,000 line of credit I keep
for emergencies. The balance is zero right now. I don't use it to buy
cruises with, I cruise within my means. The interest rate would be 5%
if I used it.


8% on a sizeable line of credit is very decent considering the
economy. We use it to pay for our cruise and all shipboard
costs/purchases, and then pay it off over the year. We as well live
within our means, many don't.

I think Charles' point is that borrowing for leisure expenses, even if the
rate of interest is "only" 8.14%, isn't very smart. I think he's right.

I very much agree with Charles and Peter. That interest mounds up to an
awful lot.
We only charge what we can pay off in full at the end of each month without
touching savings. Paying the full amount of your credit card at the end of
each month is the only way to stay ahead.

--Jean-----paying interest charges is against my religion..;-)

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:39:26 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"
wrote:


"peter" wrote in message
...
On 2/18/2010 2:55 AM, Stu wrote:
On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:48:56 -0500, Charles
wrote:

In , Stu
wrote:

Our credit is excellent as well, we've found that a line of credit,
ours at 8.14% is a good way to prepay cruises with. We pay it down
over the next year and then off we go again. ;o)

Your line of credit is 8%? Bad. I have a $100,000 line of credit I keep
for emergencies. The balance is zero right now. I don't use it to buy
cruises with, I cruise within my means. The interest rate would be 5%
if I used it.


8% on a sizeable line of credit is very decent considering the
economy. We use it to pay for our cruise and all shipboard
costs/purchases, and then pay it off over the year. We as well live
within our means, many don't.

I think Charles' point is that borrowing for leisure expenses, even if the
rate of interest is "only" 8.14%, isn't very smart. I think he's right.

I very much agree with Charles and Peter. That interest mounds up to an
awful lot.
We only charge what we can pay off in full at the end of each month without
touching savings. Paying the full amount of your credit card at the end of
each month is the only way to stay ahead.

--Jean-----paying interest charges is against my religion..;-)


My line charges 8% per anum, so putting our cruise and paying it off
over the year isn't tough to handle. I like the fact that we have our
line hooked up to our debit so we can also pay our on board charges
using it as well.

Stu

More than your average recipe website .. http://foodforu.ca