It's summer. And for some lucky Americans, this means going vacation
to a far off land in hopes of relieving the stress of everyday life.
In general, it is a very happy couple of months for the regular
American family but it can also be an even happier time for credit
card companies. This is because of the fact that credit card companies
are making a killing off the money Americans spend on their foreign
vacations through questionable fees.
Imagine this situation. You and your family are in Paris, France on
vacation. Your wife sees a lovely pair of shoes that she "must have"
and so being the good husband that you are, you purchase the $300 pair
of shoes using your credit card. Two weeks or so later, your credit
card statement shows up and instead of you seeing a charge for $300
dollars, you statement shows a charge for $309. How did this happen?
The answer is that you were charge 1% foreign currency-conversion fee
by Visa or Master to convert your foreign-currency purchase into
American dollars and were also charged an addition 2% foreign
transaction fee by your credit card issuer.
If you are form the U.S., when you make a purchase abroad with your
credit card, your credit card issuer will convert the charge to U.S.
dollars before it appears on your statement. Usually, this is done
through the Visa or MasterCard networks, which charge a 1-percent
foreign currency-conversion fee for converting your foreign-currency
purchase into American dollars. According to Kristin Arnold, a writer
for Bankrate.com, this is a good deal since changing your money in
almost any other manner will probably cost you a lot more.
What is unsettling, however, is the additional foreign transaction fee
which your credit card issuer charges. This fee can range from 2-3%.
According to Linda Sherry, the editorial director for Consumer Action
in Washington, "Banks have been making a profit off their customers
for a long time, while providing no service." In Agreement, Ed
Perkins, a syndicated travel columnist and author of "Business Travel
When It's Your Money," says that these fees are "pure gouging that
credit card companies know they can get away with". Foreign
transaction fees do not relate to any service that the credit card
issuer provides but instead is buried deep in the fine print of the
credit card agreement between the issuer and the customer. So in
retrospect, while Visa or MasterCard may have done you a favor by
converting your foreign-currency purchase into American dollars for a
fee of 1%, your bank's additional charges were driven by pure greed.
So what can you do to avoid these fees? The answer is to do your
research. Currently there is no standard rate at which all banks and
corporations charge, so you could possibly find a card that does not
add on any additional fees for overseas purchases. For example Bank of
America, Citibank, MBNA and JP Morgan Chase all charge 2 percent on
overseas purchases while Household Credit Services, Providian
Financial Corp and Capital One do not.
Another way that one can protect themselves from being overcharged is
to know and keep up with the latest currency exchange rates. Visiting
currency conversion sites like http://www.gocurrency.com is a great
way to do this. Having a general idea of the exchange rate will help
you make more informed decisions when you purchase goods and services
from local vendors.
In the end, credit card companies are in the business to make money,
however, it is up to you whether they get it from you honestly or
through underhanded practices.
Gerron Woodruffe is a contributing writer for GoCurrency.com
http://www.gocurrency.com . GoCurrency provides information on global
exchange rates, movements and news related information.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Planning To Become Debt Free With A Consolidation Loan
If you have multiple debts, and are struggling to meet the
monthly payments, then there's a good chance you will want to
consider, now or later, a consolidation loan to become debt
free.
If you have already studied your monthly expenditure and can
see no way to make savings, and find you have no way of earning
extra money, then your next option may be a free debt
consolidation loan.
By free, I mean no extra charges or arrangement fee for the
consolidation loan; your chances of getting an interest free
consolidation loan are just about zero, unless you have a rich
relative or friend. Should you go down the debt consolidation
route, try to avoid any loan arrangement which involves upfront
fees, or any extra fees at all for that matter. Whether that is
possible will depend on where you live, but in the UK, it is
not difficult to get a free debt consolidation loan.
One benefit of a consolidation loan is that it does give you a
chance to plan your finances in a way that could, if you're
careful, make you debt free by the end of the period of the
loan. By debt free, I will be realistic and mean "debt free
apart from home mortgage", which most people have little option
about, and mortgage debt can be worthwhile financially anyway.
Taking out a debt consolidation loan will not, of course, make
you instantly debt free. However, it may be that such a loan
will give you a chance to structure your finance plan over a 3,
5 or 7 year period. With the correct attitude and perseverance,
this may be an excellent opportunity to improve your finances
in the long term, resulting in being debt free by the end of
the loan period.
The consolidation loan will reduce your monthly outgoings, thus
giving you the opportunity to save. By getting into the saving
habit instead of debt habit, you will be able to set aside
money to pay cash for the things you need in the future; if you
are determined and disciplined, even that next car purchase can
be in cash, rather than an expensive loan. The result: you
become debt free.
In the financial reality of a consumer, if you cannot to afford
to pay cash for something, then you probably cannot really
afford it at all. The one exception is the house, where the
investment potential and rent saving change the financial
aspect.
Can you imagine, waking up at the end of the consolidation loan
term and finding yourself debt free? What a nice feeling!
About The Author: This debt consolidation article was written
by Roy Thomsitt, the owner and author of
http://www.eliminate-credit-card-debt-now.com/Consolidate_Debt.htm
Formerly a finance professional and credit controller, Roy is
now a full time online author.
monthly payments, then there's a good chance you will want to
consider, now or later, a consolidation loan to become debt
free.
If you have already studied your monthly expenditure and can
see no way to make savings, and find you have no way of earning
extra money, then your next option may be a free debt
consolidation loan.
By free, I mean no extra charges or arrangement fee for the
consolidation loan; your chances of getting an interest free
consolidation loan are just about zero, unless you have a rich
relative or friend. Should you go down the debt consolidation
route, try to avoid any loan arrangement which involves upfront
fees, or any extra fees at all for that matter. Whether that is
possible will depend on where you live, but in the UK, it is
not difficult to get a free debt consolidation loan.
One benefit of a consolidation loan is that it does give you a
chance to plan your finances in a way that could, if you're
careful, make you debt free by the end of the period of the
loan. By debt free, I will be realistic and mean "debt free
apart from home mortgage", which most people have little option
about, and mortgage debt can be worthwhile financially anyway.
Taking out a debt consolidation loan will not, of course, make
you instantly debt free. However, it may be that such a loan
will give you a chance to structure your finance plan over a 3,
5 or 7 year period. With the correct attitude and perseverance,
this may be an excellent opportunity to improve your finances
in the long term, resulting in being debt free by the end of
the loan period.
The consolidation loan will reduce your monthly outgoings, thus
giving you the opportunity to save. By getting into the saving
habit instead of debt habit, you will be able to set aside
money to pay cash for the things you need in the future; if you
are determined and disciplined, even that next car purchase can
be in cash, rather than an expensive loan. The result: you
become debt free.
In the financial reality of a consumer, if you cannot to afford
to pay cash for something, then you probably cannot really
afford it at all. The one exception is the house, where the
investment potential and rent saving change the financial
aspect.
Can you imagine, waking up at the end of the consolidation loan
term and finding yourself debt free? What a nice feeling!
About The Author: This debt consolidation article was written
by Roy Thomsitt, the owner and author of
http://www.eliminate-credit-card-debt-now.com/Consolidate_Debt.htm
Formerly a finance professional and credit controller, Roy is
now a full time online author.
Legal Debt Collection Tricks
If a customer owes your local business money, it's hard not to
feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your
money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt
over.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, designed to protect
consumers from harassment or intimidation, sets firm limits on
what you can do to collect a debt from a consumer. The federal
debt collections law even prohibits practices that were once
standard, and that you might not consider harassment at all.
Besides, as a local business, you have an even more powerful
reason to be especially careful about legal debt collection
issues. You have something much more valuable at stake than a
lawsuit: your business's reputation in the community.
Legal Debt Collection Best Practices:
There are plenty of articles on the web that lay out in plain
English what the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act says you
can and cannot do. Just to give you some idea of the law's
requirements, here are some of the biggest:
- No telling any third party about the debt (except collection
bureaus, collection agencies, or the debtor's attorney).
- No calling on the telephone 9 pm - 8 am, or calling
repeatedly in a way that is annoying.
- No postcards or envelopes that mention the debt.
- No threats to take actions you cannot or will not really
take, such as seizing property, in the case of an unsecured
debt.
- No misrepresenting yourself (e.g., "Hi! This is the
Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. May I speak to John?").
- No paying down the debt with payments the customer has
directed be applied to other debts
Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections:
With all these limits on what you can do to collect a debt,
what can you do legally?
- Speak with the debtor personally on the telephone; most
likely he or she wants to pay but is in over his or her head.
Begin by asking what circumstance has kept him or her from
paying. Offer to set up a repayment plan.
- You should both send letters and make telephone calls. Many
people will only respond to one or the other.
- Document every part of the collections process. Take notes
for each call and keep a copy of each letter. If the debt does
ever go to court, you will have proof you acted legally.
- Look into reporting the debt to credit bureaus. If you can,
and are willing to do it, you can tell the debtor that not
paying will impact his credit rating.
- Best tip of all: hand over the job to a dedicated collection
agency. Small business debt collection services start at as
little as $20 per debt. The fight to get paid is a fight no
business should have to involve itself in.
Unfortunately, debt collections are a part of business. Just
make sure that for your local business debt collection law is
followed to the letter, or legal proceedings may become part of
your business, too.
About The Author: Free debt collection laws information at
http://www.debt-collection-laws.com/
feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your
money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt
over.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, designed to protect
consumers from harassment or intimidation, sets firm limits on
what you can do to collect a debt from a consumer. The federal
debt collections law even prohibits practices that were once
standard, and that you might not consider harassment at all.
Besides, as a local business, you have an even more powerful
reason to be especially careful about legal debt collection
issues. You have something much more valuable at stake than a
lawsuit: your business's reputation in the community.
Legal Debt Collection Best Practices:
There are plenty of articles on the web that lay out in plain
English what the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act says you
can and cannot do. Just to give you some idea of the law's
requirements, here are some of the biggest:
- No telling any third party about the debt (except collection
bureaus, collection agencies, or the debtor's attorney).
- No calling on the telephone 9 pm - 8 am, or calling
repeatedly in a way that is annoying.
- No postcards or envelopes that mention the debt.
- No threats to take actions you cannot or will not really
take, such as seizing property, in the case of an unsecured
debt.
- No misrepresenting yourself (e.g., "Hi! This is the
Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. May I speak to John?").
- No paying down the debt with payments the customer has
directed be applied to other debts
Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections:
With all these limits on what you can do to collect a debt,
what can you do legally?
- Speak with the debtor personally on the telephone; most
likely he or she wants to pay but is in over his or her head.
Begin by asking what circumstance has kept him or her from
paying. Offer to set up a repayment plan.
- You should both send letters and make telephone calls. Many
people will only respond to one or the other.
- Document every part of the collections process. Take notes
for each call and keep a copy of each letter. If the debt does
ever go to court, you will have proof you acted legally.
- Look into reporting the debt to credit bureaus. If you can,
and are willing to do it, you can tell the debtor that not
paying will impact his credit rating.
- Best tip of all: hand over the job to a dedicated collection
agency. Small business debt collection services start at as
little as $20 per debt. The fight to get paid is a fight no
business should have to involve itself in.
Unfortunately, debt collections are a part of business. Just
make sure that for your local business debt collection law is
followed to the letter, or legal proceedings may become part of
your business, too.
About The Author: Free debt collection laws information at
http://www.debt-collection-laws.com/
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