Credit Card Now

Continuing the topic of fraud from the previous blog post, we are covering additional safeguards for online merchant accounts that are useful in protecting against fraudulent consumers. These measures are even more important during the holidays when merchant accounts are at higher risk, especially with people looking to cash in on cyber deals.

4 Tips to Get Started

Use Extra Care with International Orders: Anything being shipped to an international address should be double checked, especially if it’s from a high fraud country. According to a ClearCommerce survey, there are 12 countries that are considered high-risk, a few being Egypt, Turkey and Malaysia. Their research showed that although sales outside of the United States only represented 17% of the sample study, they accounted for over 42% of all fraudulent orders. S

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Tags: Accounts, Merchant Accounts, Online Merchant, Online Merchant Accounts

Rewards credit cards come in several varieties, in addition to cash back. They are generally offered only to individuals whose credit is rated “excellent” or “very good.”

Some have no annual fee, while others, with more generous rewards, carry an annual fee of up to $450.

The rewards card you choose should reflect your lifestyle and the way you use your credit card.

Two of the most popular are “miles” and “points.”

Miles, of course, refers to airline miles. Some cards are specific to one airline and some are universal. Some give miles for all purchases, and some only for travel-related purchases. Some offer 2 miles per dollar for travel purchases and 1 point for all others.

Often the card offering the most miles per dollar also comes with a higher interest rate, so it pays to compare all the features. Read more…

Tags: Cards, Credit Cards, Rewards Credit, Rewards Credit Cards

By Curtis Arnold, CardRatings.com Founder

If you carry a credit card, you should circle February 22, 2010 on your calendar. That’s the day when key provisions of the new credit card legislation take effect.

The state of the economy has already taken its toll on Americans’ credit scores. By the first quarter of 2009, TransUnion, a major credit bureau, estimated that average credit scores among the consumers it tracks had fallen by six points from three quarters earlier. Many Americans have found themselves in a tough predicament: unable to qualify for the same no-interest credit card offers that used to clutter our mailboxes, yet facing higher costs to carry consumer debt. The

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Tags: Card, Credit Card

Why choose a secured credit card, when you are required to make a deposit equal to your credit limit? Several reasons.

First, owning and using a credit card is a way to establish credit – it’s great for students just beginning their financial lives, as well as for those who have run into credit difficulties in the past and need to re-establish themselves.

Second, a secured credit card is a handy and safe way to manage expenses when you’re traveling or on the road for business. Cash can be easily lost and gone, but your Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Credit Card is protected by zero percent fraud liability.

To apply, you need only to make an initial deposit of at least $200 in a FDIC insured Applied Bank Deposit Account and give us enough information to identify you in keeping with the requirements of the U.S. PATRIOT Read more…

Tags: Card, Credit Card

In this season’s mad rush of gift giving, stores are hoping to finish the year with a bang; however, those sales may not materialize if your merchant account limit is unknowingly exceeded. Not only is it frustrating to lose sales when an account is shut down, but a merchant account provider may tie up money for months.

Protect Yourself, and Know All the Account Details

This tip may seem like common sense, but know your limits based on the original agreement, and keep that in mind as sales roll in. If the total sales in a given month are exceeded by mid-month, the merchant may choose to cut off additional credit card transactions until the start of the next month. This leaves you with cash or check only payment options and customers may choose to shop elsewhere.

Merchant account providers may also shut down accounts and hold back significant funds if they notice a very large surge in total sales, or a marked increase of per sale dollar limits. F

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Tags: Account, Merchant Account