Credit Card Now

Get ready to see Alec Baldwin’s cheesy grin plastered all over your TV screen once again! This time, however, Mr. Baldwin has a brand new deal to promote for the Capital One® Venture Rewards Credit Card.

It’s called the “Venture Double Miles Challenge”, and I think travel rewards credit card users everywhere are going to love it. Like Capital One’s hugely popular “Match My Miles” promotion, which was launched around the same time in 2011, this new promotion is yet another really great deal for consumers wanting to switch to a better rewards credit card.

Here’s 5 reasons you should check it out:

1. Capital One will give new cardholders 2 miles for every dollar spent (Up to 100,000 miles) on another travel credit card in 2011. Say you spent $2

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Tags: Venture, Venture Double

Bank of Ireland has become the latest lender to raise its standard variable rate for mortgage customers, increasing the monthly repayments of around 100,000 borrowers.

The lender said it would be increasing the SVR by 150 percentage points from its current level of 2.99%, but would spread the rise over two stages. In June it will rise to 3.99%, then in September it will increase again to 4.49%. The move, which does not apply to Post Office branded mortgages sold by the bank, will add £81 a month to the cost of a £100,000 repayment mortgage.

The bank said it was responding to significant increases in the cost of funding mortgages, and that its SVR remained competitive “compared to its UK lending peers”. I

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Tags: Borrowers, Borrowers Swingeing

This time of year millions of Americans receive healthy income tax refunds. This money is often welcomed relief for families struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately, the refund is sometimes not enough and bankruptcy relief is needed for a long term debt solution.

If you need your income tax refund to help manage your family finances, but also need a permanent solution from the federal bankruptcy laws, read on for three bad ideas for using your tax refund. These are definitely activities to avoid!

Bad Idea 1: repaying a loan to a friend, business partner, or family member. A person in a financial bind will often turn to someone close for help. The bankruptcy law labels friends and family as insiders people with whom you have a personal or financial relationship. Repaying a debt to an insider creditor can be avoided for up to one year prior to your bankruptcy filing.

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Tags: Refund, Tax Refund

Dear Opening Credits, I have been considering entering into a debt management plan, but how do I go about finding the right company to help me? — Ivette 

Dear Ivette, You are right to be cautious when looking for an organization that offers debt management plans (DMPs). Some agencies are better than others. And even when you find a quality company, the competence and style of the people you deal with can vary dramatically. Here are the six things you should know before scheduling an appointment and signing up for a plan.

1. Work with a membership-based agency. The agency you choose should either be affiliated with the National Foundation of Credit Counselors (NFCC) or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) Both of these groups set a high level of standards for their member agencies.

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Tags: Debt Management, Debt Management Plan, Management Plan, Plan

We’re well into the New Year now, and hopefully you’re making progress on all of your new year’s resolutions — especially the financial ones. But what if you’re not? Sometimes it’s easy to forget about our goals for the year almost as quickly as we set them. And sometimes a minor setback can cause us to give up hope of accomplishing something.

When it comes to your financial goals and resolutions, don’t let an early stumble cause you to give up. Here are three financial goals you might be working on, and what you can do to get back on track if you’re not making the progress you’d like to be.

Budgeting

Didn’t stick to your budget for January or February as planned? That’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Guess what. We have ten more months to come this year, and every one of them is a new opportunity to set and stick to a budget.

Maybe your initial goal was too aggressive for you. Now you know you need to

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Tags: Get, Get Back