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Posted by admin, and filed under American Express Card
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The American Express Card offers you one of the most thriving reward programs currently available with Bank of America. Through the card, you will be able to access special merchant-offers available only with American Express, as well as exclusive travel and purchase features.The Bank of America – Rewards(TM) American Express Card equips you with an appealing introductory Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 0% on balance transfers and cash advance checks for the first 12 billing cycles. Once the introductory rate has expired, you get a very low fixed interest rate on purchases and balance transfers. There is no annual fee and you are given the option to pay over time.
The credit card offers a no cost rewards program. After you join, you will receive 1 point for nearly every Blue card purchase you make. It won’t matter whether you are buying ice cream or airline tickets, you will add up points that can be redeemed for retail products, entertainment, travel and much more. When you transfer balances from other higher interest rate credit cards to your American Express Blue card, you enjoy a low fixed rate of 4.99% until the balance is paid off and there is no transaction fee to make the balance transfer. This Blue card feature can save you hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars.
The most current billing information is available to you online, including transactions, charges, and payments. You also get Express Pay: Express Pay is a payment technology that lets you make purchases without swiping your Blue card. Once you have made a purchase you just hold the card up to the payment reader, by the register, and that is it. You do not have to sign anything and you may get a receipt if you choose. There are thousands of Express Pay readers nationwide making it easy for you to make purchases quickly and easily.
There are more great features of the American Express Blue card to explore. With the Blue card you have great fraud protection online and off. You will not be held responsible for any unauthorized charges under any condition. An online year end summary gives you 24 hours access to important information about your credit card account. You can download the summary, print it out and separate charges by date, merchant name, charge amount and review charges made within a category. The summary is an excellent tool for preparing taxes and budgeting.
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26th Dec 2011
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Tags: American Express Card
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Scores can range from 300 to 850. But even though 300 is technically the lowest credit score possible, it’s very unlikely you would hit it even if you tried. To get that you literally would have to do everything wrong and have absolutely zero positive credit history whatsoever.
In the real world, the lowest credit score you can possibly get will probably be around the high 300′s. For example if you:
- Just went through a bankruptcy and for the first time it is showing on your credit report
- If you have defaulted on multiple debts and had little to no payment history on those accounts prior to default (i.e. applying for a loan and defaulting a couple months later)
- You have recently gone through a foreclosure and have had severe late payments and/or defaults on at least one other line of credit
In those types of situations, you may fall into the 300′s but the odds are slim (only 2% of the population has a score between 300 and 499). Needless to say, hitting the rock-bottom lowest FICO score of 300 is literally unheard of.
But either way… even if you’re not at the absolute worst, you might as well be since anything under 600 is mostly useless when it comes to getting a credit card (unsecured), a mortgage, or car loan.
How to improve a low credit score?
Surprisingly, you can make your way from the poor credit category to the “fair” category (scores in the mid-600’s) sometimes in just a year or two, as long as you make the right moves. Here are 5 things you definitely will want to do:
- Maintain your good standing accounts, if you have any – Have any accounts you haven’t screwed up yet or are still open? Good. Then make sure they stay that way.
- Open secured accounts – You can have the lowest possible credit score on earth and still qualify for secured credit cards, which is a card where you put up a deposit. Same holds true for secured loans, which you can get through a bank or credit union. If you’re fronting the cash, you can typically get approved regardless of how bad your credit score is.
- Check your credit reports – Is it possible you are being penalized for something incorrectly? Make sure you check your credit reports, to ensure the negative information that is weighing you down is accurate.
- Consider credit repair services or self-help guides – Sometimes you can get negative entries deleted from your credit report due to technicalities in how they were reported.
- Have patience – As your negatives start to age, your low credit score should begin improving even if you were to have no new accounts. Unfortunately you can’t speed up the clock, but at least it’s reassuring to know that every month that goes by, your bad debt is a month older in the eyes of the credit scoring formula.
How high will you need to go?
The lowest credit score to buy a house with a mortgage might be as low as 620. But I stress that’s a big might because even though FHA underwriting guidelines don’t have a minimum score set in stone, if you are below 620 you will not be eligible for automatic approval and have to jump through many hoops with a manual process, which may not even yield results.
But in reality, in this economy it can be hard to get approved with anything below a 700. However if you are buying a foreclosure directly from a bank, with that same bank also providing the mortgage, they have been known to bend over backwards to get the approval so they can get that foreclosed home off their books.
The lowest credit score to get a credit card that is unsecured will likely be at least 650. With that type of score, you might be able to qualify for an entry level card for fair credit. For the good reward cards you see advertised on TV, plan on having a 700 or above. If you are in the low 600’s or below, you may need to go with a secured card.
The lowest credit score to get a car loan ultimately depends on what type of interest rate you are willing to pay. To get those 0% offers you see advertised on new cars, you will probably need to be in the 700’s. If you’re in say, the 500’s, it still is possible to get a car loan but you will have to pay through the roof with an excessive APR rate.
Have a low score yourself? Then please share in the comments what it is and the circumstances that got you there.
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15th Dec 2011
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