Personal Finance, Loans & Insurance

Credit Card and Debt Relief

If you are deep over your head, you may qualify to receive credit card grants to assist you with debt relief. This is money that is provided to help become debt free. Those who qualify to receive these funds never have to repay the money.

The minimum to qualify is that you have to be at least 18 years old and an American citizen. Beyond that, anyone can submit an application to receive credit card grants. Once approved, you’ll have cash in hand to help you escape any financial disaster.

Financial assistance is available, but most people are not aware that these programs even exist. Because the government and agencies providing credit card grants do not advertise, there is low awareness of these programs. But once you have access to the database of the available grants, it is as simple as submitting an application and waiting for qualified individuals to receive their funds.

Those who qualify to receive credit card grants enjoy the luxury of wiping part or all of their debts clean with no repercussions. You’ll never know if you qualify though until you apply. Even if you are denied on time, you can reapply to try over and over again. Applications are typically approved by agents who manually review your file, so you may get lucky one day and not so lucky another.

Besides never having to repay the money, what makes credit card grants such a great option is that it does not damage your credit score, unlike other debt relief options. Filing for bankruptcy, consolidating your debt and using the services of a debt consultant can all hurt your credit, which could take up to 10 years to repair.

Instant Credit Card

Everything today is getting fast paced. ‘Instant’ is the new word. The latest addition to the world of instant things is the instant credit card. It signifies a promptly approved and delivered credit card with minimum or zero hassles of application.

Until recently, applying for a credit card was much a tedious process. It required manual application and a lot of paperwork. You also had to submit necessary documents and wait for the approval. That would follow another long wait of getting the actual credit card to be able to use it. However, this is a story of yesteryears now.

With the growing popularity of internet, life has become much more convenient. An Instant Credit Card is also a gift of the cyber revolution. It symbolizes the fast processing of credit card transactions not just in the terms of application but also after swiping the card for payment.

As far as applying for the card is concerned, it has become very fast now. As against the 2-7 days that it took for application and information verification earlier, now this process takes and extremely short time.

All a consumer needs to do now is to go online, fill the application form and submit it there itself. It takes a very short time after that for verification and soon a credit card account is opened.

The reason why these cards are called ‘instant’ is that normally, after applying, the credit card company responds within a minute or two and the process is completed in a speedy manner.

Today, there is a wide range of such credit cards available online and all provide unique and interesting features. The customer needs to do a comparative study of all the cards and decide on one that suits his needs the best. If the terms and conditions are satisfied, he can apply and get the card in no time at all.

Such cards save you from the hassles of application and also provide you with wonderful schemes and offers like zero APR, cash back etc. However, one thing that you need to keep in mind is that these cards normally require a good payment and credit history. It is also a good idea to check the schemes and offers available very carefully before applying.

Latest Credit Card Reforms Guide

The Credit Card Reform Act of 2008 was passed on December 18th, but it isn’t expected to take effect until includes the following provisions:

Interest Rates

Credit card issuers will be prohibited from raising the interest rate on existing balances. They will also be prohibited from raising their interest rate under the premise of “universal default”. That is, if you get behind on your payments to one card issuer, other creditors can’t raise your interest rate as a result. Also, creditors will be required to apply a customer’s payments to the highest-interest balance first, rather than applying it first to balances with lower interest.

Advance Notice

Right now, credit card companies reserve the right to change your interest rate at any time, for any reason, with as little as 14 days’ written notice. The Credit Card Reform Act states that creditors must give customers a reasonable amount of notice before changing their interest rate. After the credit card reforms go into effect, 45 days will be considered sufficient notice.

Information

One major complaint from card holders is that their billing statements are difficult to understand. The credit card reforms seek to change that by requiring creditors to highlight changes and give a summary of payments and interest to date. Also, due dates will be printed in bold or highlighted, letting card holders know the exact day and time when their payment is expected.

Late Payment Penalties

Some customers have been surprised to see their balances accrue sky-high penalty interest rates because of one late payment. Some companies hike their rates as little as one day after the payment due date. This practice is prohibited under the credit card reforms. Now, creditors will have to give their card holders a minimum of 21 days to come up with their late payment before penalty interest begins. Also, customers will have at least three weeks’ notice before terms can be changed.

Fees

Temporary holds, such as those placed by car rental agencies or hotels, will no longer push a card holder’s balance over the limit. Therefore, these types of holds will not be able to incur “over the limit” fees.

These credit card reforms have been lauded as much-needed changes to the credit industry. The Federal Reserve first proposed these changes in May, and received an overwhelming response from more than 62,000 card holders who supported the reform.

The downside to this legislation is that credit card companies might reduce their offers and hike up introductory interest rates. To apply for a low interest credit card now, visit BestCreditCardRatings.Com.