This is a familiar scenario at home: You are standing in the doorway, screening the mail that was just dropped off. Gritting your teeth once you open that one dreadful envelope from your credit card company. Being informed that yes, interest rates did go up, yes, payment is due, and yes, penalty charges are quite heavy and infuriating. Stomping your feet in anger and promising to give up all your plastic, and this time you certainly mean it. Besides, these difficult times entail some belt tightening, something that you think credit card companies are conveniently oblivious to.
Think again. Various companies actually offer a series or two of rewards credit card in their roster of products that could truly help each … (more) September 30, 2009

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The taste of a reward is always sweet because recognition is earned, not asked, and signifies that there was an achievement of something good that occurred.
Remember your childhood days when you got your first reward. It was summer, and since school was out, your grandma asked you to read to her a page from Edith Hamilton’s book, “Greek Mythology,” every afternoon. You gladly did so, losing yourself in the tales of gods and goddesses that you suddenly found, one day, that summer was over. Imagine your surprise when your grandma bought you a new bicycle as a reward! It was so endearing, like you were being recognized that you did something extraordinary and heroic other than merely reading a few … (more) September 29, 2009

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The internet is said to be the greatest innovation of the 20th century. One single e-mail from a businessman in India and an entrepreneur in Ohio could finally jump start a business in selling spices and tea. One single SMS from a college freshman at NYU would clear doubts of a worried mother in Montana. One single click in a grocery website and a stay-at-home will not need to step out and leave the kids for merely a few items. It certainly has made life easier for everyone, and continues to shrink the world into a smaller landscape.
Most significantly though, the internet has made transactions as fast and as easy as saying, “world wide web.”  One such transaction is applying … (more) September 28, 2009

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Each day, as you go through the intricacies of managing your home, you are constantly thankful for the invention of the credit card.
You have been a multi-tasking individual right from the day you were born, and without this mighty plastic on hand, you would not know how to go about doing things. However, there is one tiny wish lingering within you about credit cards. How you would love to get an extra one or two, minus the extra time and effort that you have spent getting your first cards.  Just thinking of going to the bank and filing all those papers, answering all those repetitive questions has given you enough of a headache. Nauseous, you cancel the plan of getting … (more) September 27, 2009

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Credit Cards: Both a Blessing and a Curse?
Having a credit card could be both wonderful and frustrating. While the interest rates could give you so much pain, the lure of making paperless purchases is quite convenient and easy. Besides, it has been fifty (50) long years since credit cards were first introduced into the market, and today’s modern lives cannot be fully functional without using the mighty plastic.
The trick then is to use credit cards to its fullest advantage. Having a credit card in hand and merely using it for purchases should not be the end of your consumer story. Imagine yourself going to the battlefield without any ammunition and without any knowledge about your enemy. This is the very … (more) September 26, 2009

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Next to the internet, a credit card is arguably the greatest invention of the century. This square plastic card could cross wide geographical borders so easily. For example, an entrepreneur from England could purchase spices from a market stall in India to jumpstart an exotic foods business, and the whole transaction would not cost a plane ticket and hours of uncomfortable plane ride.
Just as the internet has made the whole world smaller, a credit card has reduced the global marketplace to one virtual trading spot where geographical boundaries are no longer a question and where physical traveling is no longer necessary in most cases.
Indeed, a credit card is a marvelous thing, one square piece of plastic that changed the way … (more) September 25, 2009

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