Credit Card Now

Have you ever had the strong urge to give your hard-earned money to someone strumming “Dust in the Wind” out of key at a vacant intersection? Well, neither have I. But London-based issuer Barclays hopes our apprehension will disappear with its new approach to street charity: a wireless, touchless, credit card accepting guitar.

The financial institution unveiled the instrument Thursday, Aug. 26, in London during a publicity stunt promoting its “contactless technology.” People passing by a street musician — known as a “busker” in the UK — were handed prepaid cards loaded with £5 and were instructed to wave it near the head of the guitar. The money was then taken off the card and donated to the Help a London Child charity.

Contactless cards aren’t exclusive to Barclays’s, but they all work the same: By using radio-frequency identification, or RFID.

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For the fourth year in a row, American Express has topped the charts in the 2010 J.D. Power and Associates U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study.

Released last week, the study indicates that AmEx received a customer service ranking of 769 on a 1,000 point scale, which was 12 points higher than the runner up—Discover Card. In addition, AmEx was the only credit issuer to receive five out of five J.D. Power.com Power Circles. Bringing up the rear for the ten major credit issuers analyzed in the study was HSBC, which received a ranking a 686 and just two out of five power circles.

I can’t say I’m surprised to see American Express at the top of the list again. In the credit card world, AmEx has always been a brand that’s stood for the highest level of customer service. In my personal opinion, they more than deserve this title.

I’ve been an AmEx customer ever since I was eligible to have my own credit card. In fact,

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Tags: Amex, Amex Reigns

Despite officially starting June 1, hurricane season is about to kick into high gear.  While meteorologists have scaled back their predictions a wee bit, there are still some major storms coming our way, according to Reuters. There is double the chance this year that a hurricane will hit the U.S. Northeast Coast, making the area just as risky as Florida and the Gulf Coast.

The Weather Service International has predicted that we will see 18 named storms, 10 of which will go on to become hurricanes. Five of those are expected to be category three or higher (111 miles per hour or more), says Reuters.

My colleagues Dan and Connie know a thing or two about hurricanes; before they moved to Texas, they both lived in Florida and dealt with major hurricanes every year. Read more…

Tags: Hurricane Season, Season

Debt Consolidation-Means to an End

The beginning of the end of debt is what were going to talk about today. Debt consolidation is a means to an end and the reasons are quite obvious for those who have been suffering with credit card debt for way too long. If you consider yourself part of that grouping of American citizens that have to go to work each and everyday, home, grab a little dinner and sit in front of the tube and check e-mail then fall out for a few hours, wake up and do it all over again, because of the heavy amount of financial-burden and credit card debts that you currently possess, then we have some good news for you here today.

Round and Round

The evil empire that is the credit card industry has recently taking a few hits and the chinks in the armor of this monumental threat to the current and future American economy have now started to show the wearing-down of this monstrous debt creation machine. Read more…

Tags: End

Talking to the patients everyday, listening patiently to their innermost thoughts and feelings, had become a routine for her. Her manner of speaking and behaving with the patients was persuasive, warm and assuring. She advised them on how to deal with the psychological problems they could be having, helping them calm down, relax and look at things in a better light had become a routine thing for Susan. That is what she loved to do and that is what gave her immense satisfaction – to help people conquer their wayward psyche, which is, to say the least unfathomable.

Gosh, was that a bit too heavy? If this seems intimidating, imagine what do the likes of Susan do and go through, along with their patients? We commoners can hardly get any clue as to what these professionals and their patients go through and the psychology behind it. Read more…