I have a chase credit card that has a promotional interest of 5.99 2.99 3.99 . That was for the life of the loan. They send me a letter that now they are going to charge me 5% of the loan instead of the 2% which made the payment out of my reach. The option they gave me was that those interest rates listed above were going for 7.99% until 2011 then it will go up to 11.24% and my payment would stay the same I had no chose then to stay with the same payment amount. Can thy do that?

Ms. Lupe Gutierrez

Answers – Ms Gutierrez, yes credit card companies can do that because it states under the terms and conditions that they reserve the right to change your interest rates. The balance transfer for life offers (which used to be offered quite a bit) unfortunately is one of the things they wished they had not offered because it is probably unprofitable for them to do so.

Having said that, they are actually offering you a decent deal because they aren’t many folks who get approved for balance transfer deals these days. But raising your minimum payments may also affect your budget if you have no room at all. My advice would be to take their offer and redo your budget to factor in the extra minimum payments.

hello I have a credit card debt of 8800 dll, I enrolled in a hardship program becouse of hard times and continued paying my credit card on time for over a year,then i lost my job and i cuold no longer afford making payments,I found a job but I am making half of what I used to make,and still cannot afford to make my payments.

I called the credit card company and informed them of my inability to continue my payments, if things get better in the future i want to pay them back,

my statement shows i am still beeing charged for interest every month,i dont want this number to grow to an amount i cannot reepay so my question is

how do i stop them from charging me interest every month?

mr Esteban Marrufo

Answers – Esteban, unfortunately, a credit card issuer can keep charging interest on your existing balance. That is why paying only the minimum payment, or not paying at all results in interest charges that keep piling up. The best way is to pay it off diligently over time. Choosing to negotiate a debt settlement with your credit card company is another alternative. Otherwise, there is really nothing much you could do about it.

Hi Mr. Credit, I am trying to find out which banks, credit unions, or card companies will allow a card holder to add a joint holder without credit check, and then be able to drop first primary and take over account as primary without credit check.

Fred M.

Answer – Fred, the answer is No. The main account can remove the secondary joint account holder. But the second account holder has to reapply for another card, and then do a balance transfer. If the joint account holder gets a credit card from the same company, then he or she is not eligible for any 0% balance transfer deals.

This is how all credit card issuers operate and I’m afraid that there is no way around it.

Dear Mr. Credit Card,

I wanted to ask a question not many people have asked on your site. I am moving to Sydney, Australia in a couple weeks and will only be staying in their country for about a year. I’ve been unemployed but will be working there in Australia. I only have one credit card, which is a Discover Card and is not accepted in Australia, so I’m pretty sure I need to pay only the minimum balance on it until I come back to the States. I’m confused about if I should apply for a new credit card in Australia or while I’m still here in the States or if I should cancel my Discover card.

Mr. Edward Park

Answers – There are two ways you can go about doing this. You can apply for either a Visa or a MasterCard before you leave for Australia (but do it quick) since they are the most universally accepted worldwide. The only problem with that is that all US based cards (perhaps with the exception of some Capital One cards) charge a 2% or 3% fee for foreign transaction. Hence, for one year, you’ll simply be paying more for using a US based card overseas. The other issue you have to consider is that you will probably want to set up autopay from a US bank account to pay this card if you use it. You have to make sure you have enough money in this US based bank or if not, you have to set up a monthly transfer from your bank in Australia.

Alternatively, you could get a card from Australia and make it easier for yourself. Most Australian banks will issue either a Visa or MasterCard. You could also get an American Express there. The advantage of having an overseas Amex card is that Amex will issue you one US based card for every overseas card you have. So that may be a good way to enable you to get an Amex when you get back after one year. The disadvantage of having an Australian based credit card is that it is not tracked by the credit bureaus and hence all your timely payments will not help you in building your credit history while you are away.

If I were you, I will not cancel my Discover card because it is a great card and you can use it after you get back here. I would also get a card in Australia rather than trying to get one here.

Hello, Bank of America increased the interest on my small business acct from 12.9 to 24.9%. I have never paid them late , I always pay more than the amount due, and my credit score is 730. My original credit line was 40,000 which was reduced to 30,000. They increased my interest rates effective 6/09. I called them and cancelled the card and said I wanted to opt out. They said OK. I later found out you can’t opt out of a small business acct with Bank Of America. I am lost on this one, trying to pay it down asap. This is such a bad situation my balance when i closed the acct was around 20,000, its now 16,500. What can I do? To top it off i’m a stockholder of BAC. Roland

roland johnson

Answer – Roland, since BOA does not allow you to opt of of the rate increase, then my only suggestion to reduce your interest payments is to transfer your balance to a 0% teaser card. The unfortunate thing is that very few business credit cards offer 0% balance transfer deals these days. So you might have to resort to transferring to a consumer card instead. That is the best solution I can think of. Let us know which card you get in the end with your credit score. This would be great information for our readers.

Note – One of the reasons why this email is important is that we just found out you cannot opt of of a rate increase with a business credit card from BOA. If anyone has any experience otherwise, we would like to hear about it.

How can I get B of A to report to the credit folks for my personal credit score the activity on my two business credit cards that have my social attached to it. It also has my fed Id #S, but I am soley responsible for payment and I have no other source of credit reporting so I do not have a score at all. I am trying to get a loan to buy a second home! I spend thousounds of dollars a month on these cards and need that history to be reported personally.

Thank you
m david shurtleff

Answer – David, first a couple of clarification. Business credit cards in general to not report to your personal credit bureaus even though you are personally liable. However, have a couple of late payments or default on them and your personal credit score gets dinged!

If you have no other credit, then perhaps getting a “personal credit card” will do the trick. It appears that you use credit cards mainly for your business and do not use a personal one at all. Just get one and occasionally charge the card and pay it off fully every month. You should develop a decent history within a year or so. That should help you get better rates for your mortgage for your second home. You might to start off with checking out our list of best credit cards recommendations.

Having said that, in this environment, I suspect your credit score will not be the only factor in your ability to get the best mortgage rates. Your income will also be very important.

My husband and I are retired. We are trying to get a card to earn miles for air travel — perhaps once or twice a year. We are planning on using it for most purchases — i.e. groceries, monthly bills, etc. to maximize the number of points/miles earned. We’re not too enthused about using the online buying sites offered by the card holders — may do it — but probably won’t use it a lot. We generally have narrowed our choices to Citi Premier Passcard – Elite Level (like the 2 points for every dollar on most purchases, the 1 point for every dollar spent on airline ticket purchase, and the “companion ticket” feature — which still is a bit confusing to us — can we qualify??) and the Escape by Discover Card (like the 2 miles earned for every dollar spent for ALL purchases — including airline tickest(??)- not sure about this). Between the two, which would be best for us? The Citi Premier is a Master Card I believe, and the Escape is a Disc over. Should this be factored in?

Susan Bach

Answer – Susan, both these cards appear to suit you. There are some subtle differences that you may want to consider.

Firstly, the Citi PremierPass Elite Level also allows you to earn points not just on the dollar amount that you spend on the card, but also on the miles that you fly. If you pay for your husband’s flight, the miles he flies also earns points. You also get a complimentary ticket if you buy a roundtrip domestic ticket that cost at least $299. You mentioned that you do not like to use online travel sites. But Citi (through their ThankYou Network reward program) requires that you book your flights and trips online with Expedia.com. That is something you have to think about.

The Discover Escape card has the advantage of letting you earn double miles for every dollar that you spend on whatever items. It does not have the companion ticket feature and you do not earn extra miles based on the “number of miles you fly”. However, you can use an “off line” travel agent if you prefer and as long as you charge it to your card and you tell Discover within 60 days, you should be able to use your points for a statement credit.

If you are traveling within the US, either cards will be accepted almost everywhere. But if you travel abroad, then a MasterCard would be preferable to a Discover Card.

Your final choice will depend on

I suspect the Citi PremierPass would be a better fit for you, but hopefully, you will come to the right decision for yourselves.

Dear Mr Credit Card – I have recently changed from the Quicken program to Quickbooks. I had been using the Chase Visa Quicken card which worked well for downloading my statement info. I was shocked to discover – no pun intended – that my Quicken Visa statements could not be downloaded into Quickbooks. I talked with tech support and customer service for Chase and Quickbooks. They confirmed that this was true. So, now I am going to have to get a new Credit Card and was pleased to read your review of the Discover More card. I have two questions: one, do you know if the Discover More card can be downloaded into Quickbooks?; and, need I have any concerns about how widely accepted the Discover card is compared to Visa and MC? Looking forward to your response.

Allen Koehn

Answer – Allen, yes, Discover can be downloaded into quickbooks (and quicken as well). In my experience, Discover is slightly (at the margin) more widely accepted than Amex. Experience is based a lot on my encounter with gas stations and retail shops who do take Discover but not Amex.

Hi

Congratulations on a very helpful blog however I have a quick question that I couldn’t find the answer too. Is it possible to transfer a credit card balance not in your name onto a credit card in your name? ie Could I transfer my partners balance onto a new credit card in my name?

Many thanks
Alastair McGlashan

Answer – Alistair, simple answer is YES. I called all the major credit card issuers to verify and yes, you can transfer your partner’s balance to your new card. The only time that cannot be done is if his card is from the same issuer as your new card.

I have several credit cards, but only use a couple. Here’s what’s in my wallet.

Platinum Card from American Express – The main card I use at the moment is the Platinum Card. I actually upgraded to the Platinum Card from the Gold Card a couple of years ago. There were several reasons for the upgrade. Firstly, I wanted to review the card. And to be honest, you cannot just write a review of such a card without having owned one. There was also a slight ego factor when I upgraded (it is after all the Amex Plat – though not BLACK!). Since getting the Platinum Card, I have been using more of its features like companion airfare tickets, and especially its concierge service, which I use to most of my entertainment booking. One of the great perks of this card is that you can get notified of events that are sponsored by Amex and get access to tickets before the general public could. At this moment, this is the main card that I use.

Past favorite – Blue Cash – If you were to ask me two years ago what was my main card, I would said Blue Cash hands down. It is still a great card. But since my kids are older now, we find that we are taking more vacations and earning points seems like a better way to use credit cards. The Blue Cash has a tiered rebate system, but I spend enough to make it worthwhile. On average, I get over 2% in rebates (which is better than getting a straight 2% card like Schwab Credit Card). One of the great things about this card is that rebate formula has hardly changed. Yes, it has a tier, but look at Citi Dividend and Chase Freedom, each year, their rebates gets reduced. For anyone looking to a cash back card, this would be a card to consider if you are a big spender. Supplement it with the Discover Card and you can earn lots of cash rebates! For now, this one is going to take a back seat!

Chase Flexible Rewards Card – The only reason I got this card was that I needed a Visa Card and I wanted to review the reward program which Chase did not put on their website (you could not see the rewards until you got the card!). When I first got it, the rewards were really bad (as in really bad), but it has improved a lot since. I just got a mail recently that this card will be changed to the Freedom Card at the end of October. So I guess I will get the Freedom card with the chance to review Chase’s new Ultimate Rewards program!

Merrill Lynch Visa – Only reason I got the card was again to review the reward program. Use it as a spare Visa.

2 weeks ago, I applied for and got approved for the Plum Card (I applied from my site off course). It was really easy and I got a response literally in 60 seconds (as Amex claims) that I got approved. So the Plum Card is now the official card used by Ask Mr Credit Card for all our business expenses. Previously, when I was using my Blue Cash, the Platinum Card was used for this site. I thought about getting a separate Platinum Business Card, but the thought of paying another set of fees didn’t sit well with me. I then considered getting the Gold Card to earn Membership Rewards. But Mrs Credit Card thought we should try to earn cash rebates instead (even though our personal cards are now geared towards earning rewards!). Getting a card with no preset spending limit was important because I do advertise on the internet and sometimes the cost can skyrocket! You do not want a card with a fixed limit. The card also gave me the flexibility of deferring my payments for an additional month with no interest cost and I thought that was a good option to have. But it looks like I will pay in full every month and earn the 1.5% cash rebates.

I may decide to switch to the gold card later on and if I do so, I will update this page.

Regular readers of this blog will know that Jason Steele writes for us about reward programs and credit card news in general. His main card is the Starwood Credit Card. Jason has to make an annual trip to Israel every year and hence trying to get the best ticket deal for the buck (or rather for the points) is top priority. The reason why Starwood fits him is that they allow you to exchange points for frequent flier miles mostly on a one for one basis with over 30 airline partners. You also get a 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 20,000 points into miles! It’s like Starwood prefers you to use points for other airlines than their own hotels! So search among airline alliance and transferring points to the program which requires the least miles is what Jason is good at doing. The only other thing I might recommend him is to get the business version instead since it is the same card and he can get discounts at OPEN Savings merchants.

Capital One – Jason also has a Capital One credit card in his wallet though he only uses that overseas since they do not charge any “foreign currency transaction fee”.

Jason in the meantime has also been doing some credit card churning lately by applied for Citi’s AAdvantage Cards, getting their bonus miles, canceling the card and reapplying 65 days later. He reckons he can rack up over 100,000 miles just doing that. If your credit is not good, and you need to get an auto loan or mortgage in a couple of years, I suggest you do not try this!

For those of you who have followed me for a while, you may recall Jenna Banks, who used to write for me. I hired Jenna because she had been through bankruptcy and was able to help our readers answer questions relating to that topic. Plus, it was good to have someone on board who actually has a couple of “subprime cards” after they got out of bankruptcy (since we review them as well).

The main credit cards that Jenna had were the Orchard Bank MasterCard and the First Premier Bank Credit Card (which she got after her bankruptcy). She would be the first to tell you that she would rather have any of the credit cards that both Jason and myself have (since they are layered with fees). But I guess she simply has to start rebuilding your credit somewhere!

Aside from the cards we carry, we also have access to other cards that we do not carry. For example, two good friends of mine have given me that password for the Discover More Card and the Capital One No Hassle Miles Cards so that I can actually review the reward programs. I want to thank them for that and for the trust they have in me. Having access to both of these cards are important because they do not display their rewards on their website. Instead, you have to actually get the cards before you know the rewards! So only by having access to these reward programs could I write a proper review.

I would also like to get my hands on the following cards in future. One of them is the Visa Black Card. I’ve been hesitant to review it yet because I have not got my hands on the card. I’m not not too bothered by not knowing what gift card partners they have or what sort of merchandise they have in their program. I was more interested in their airline travel rewards. But it looks like they have finally put that information on their website, so I’ll probably do a preliminary review soon as lots of people are asking my opinion of the card. If you have the Visa Black and are willing to share the reward information, please drop me an email.

Another card I’m looking to get is the Citi Platinum Select Card. Reason being they now have this program called Extra Cash which is like Discover’s shopdiscover.com program. Would be great to do a side by side comparison.

Chase has also just revamped their reward program and I would like to get to see their ultimate rewards program. But since my Chase Flexible Rewards will soon be Chase Freedom, I guess I’ll get a sneak peak at the program. But I may try to get the Sapphire Card to check it out.

I once thought about getting a Bank of America Card with the WorldPoints program since they do not state their travel rewards unless you get the card! (another one of those things). But when I called WorldPoints, the customer representative gave me the exact details so I was able to get that information without resorting to getting the card for the sake of it.

Once again, if anyone has these cards and are willing to share details of the card program with me, please contact me.

Please feel free to share what cards you use below.