Credit Card Offers Made Easy

TransUnion recently took a look at credit card delinquency trends and put forth some predictions for the coming year.

According to the report, credit card delinquency rates (counted as those more than 90 days late on a credit card payment) – which reached their lowest levels in 17 years earlier in the second quarter (Q2) of 2011 – are expected to stay at low levels in 2012.

“Credit card delinquencies are expected to remain fairly steady in 2012 ranging between 0.69% and 0.76% — levels far below those typically observed in the last 15 years,” Steve Chaouki, group vice president in TransUnion’s financial services business unit, said in a statement.

More specifically, TransUnion forecasts credit card delinquency rates to drop about 7 percent in the coming year – from 0.74 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011 to 0.69 percent in Q4 2012.

“In today’s uncertain economy, consumers have found that credit cards are among their most valued assets due to the flexibility they provide,” Chaouki said. “As a result, consu

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How many credit cards do you have? How much money do you owe on each card? Around twenty three people in one hundred have more than one credit card, and having more than one credit card means more than one balance. We are spending unnecessarily when we have numerous cards; think of all that interest that you are forking out on. What is even more incredulous is that ten percent of people don’t know how much money they actually owe.

Our frivolous spending is costing us dear, literally. More people seem to be more concerned about how much credit limit they have. If you had to add up everything you owe would you be taken aback at how much that figure would be? You would most probably do so.

What about the interest we pay on our credit? As you know interest rates vary enormously. C

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MUMBAI: Credit card transactions carried out in September were worth Rs 7,693.81 crore, up 31.5 per cent from that in the same month last year.

The number of credit cards in circulation has, however, declined by over 4.3 per cent to 1.76 crore as of September 30, 2011, the latest data from the Reserve Bank said.

Credit card transactions during the April-September period was worth Rs 45,372.06 crore, up 30 per cent from the comparable period of 2010-11.

Debit card transactions were up by 37.3 per cent in September to Rs 4,101.32 crore.

There were over 25.19 crore debit cards in use as of September 30, 2011, up 23.6 per cent from the year-ago period.

Transactions by debit card during April-September period were up 42.3 per cent to Rs 24,585.19 crore.

Experts said the jump in transaction points to greater use of the electronic payments system as people move away from old formats of payment, especially in major urban centres.

In 2010-11, transactions through credit cards in the country went up by 22.15 per cent to touch Rs 75,515.68 crore in value terms.

In addition, debit card transactions went up by 46.46 per cent last fiscal to Rs 38,691.88 crore.

Today over £1 trillion of credit card transactions are processed through over 20 million outlets worldwide each year! But, how does the system work – how is a credit card transaction processed?

Generally, in order for you to be able to process a credit card transaction, you need to find an outlet that is willing to accept the type of credit card you have. Usually this can be easily determined because the outlet will display the symbol of your credit card, e.g. the Visa or MasterCard symbol. On you have established that the outlet will accept your credit card, you then

(a) provide the outlet with you card and the card is processed through a swipe system and your card will then be charged the amount of the purchase, or (b) enter your Personal Identification Number (PIN), which will then charge the purchase to your credit card account.

Some things to consider when using the credit card system

Before you start to use the credit card system, it is essential that you understand:

* that the credit card debt is unsecured, i.e. yo

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Credit card companies are getting smarter—and this possibly means more confusing. They know that the modern consumer is getting smarter and is casting a much more critical eye toward the credit card offers they receive in the mail.

No longer bowled over by the simple fact that they can get credit, and maybe even put their picture on the credit card, consumers need something additional to sweeten the deal.

In the interest of getting more credit card customers, credit card companies have turned to offering rewards for spending as the newest form of consumer bait. But not every reward credit card is a good deal. <

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