El Segundo, California-based Xceed Financial Credit Union is offering a limited-time promotion when you sign up for a new credit card account, waiving balance transfer fees through February 28, 2009. In addition, its card does not have an annual fee and offers an intro 5.9% APR on purchases and 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months.
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Hilton and American Express are set to introduce a new flavor of HHonors credit card to be added to the existing lineup. The new offer, dubbed the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express, is set to launch in mid-February. The main difference between the Surpass Card and the original Hilton Amex is that, in exchange for an annual fee of $75/year, the Surpass Card offers complimentary Gold VIP status for the first year, 9 HHonors points per dollar spent at Hilton hotels and HHonors Diamond VIP status once spending reaches $40,000 per year.
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As it had previously promised to do, Fidelity recently unveiled a number of improvements to its credit card offerings. The Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express and the Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards American Express now join the Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express in earning a 2% rebate on all purchases. As before, purchases earn points. These points can then be redeemed and converted to cash that is deposited into a Fidelity account.
In addition, the Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa Signature Card has now become a tiered card. The first $15,000 of your annual spend earns a 1.5% rebate, while all spending above $15,000 earns a 2% rebate.
The rest of the features appear to remain the same. You can find full details for the Amex cards here and the Visa card here.
Much to my surprise, more no fee balance transfer offers keep popping up. The latest discovery is an offer for the Citi Professional Card. This particular deal provides an intro 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months with no balance transfer fees. In addition, you’ll earn 15,000 Thank You points after your first purchase.
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In what is likely to be the largest data breach ever reported, Heartland Payment Systems, the sixth-largest credit card processor in the US, announced on Tuesday that its computer systems had been compromised and millions of credit card numbers had been exposed.
While Heartland says that it has closed the security hole, it is not yet known the extent of the data that was taken. Since Heartland processes 100 million transactions per month, the number of affected consumers could be huge. (Read more details in the Forbes article.)
This latest news is just another reason to monitor your monthly statements closely.
They’re very rare, but no fee balance transfers still exist. The ADA World MasterCard is a co-branded card from Citi and the American Dental Association that features an intro offer of 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months with no balance transfer fee. As is the norm with Citi credit cards, you have 12 months from the date of opening your account to perform the initial balance transfer.
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Thank You Points Severely Devalued: Fixed Point Option for Flights to be Removed
In a move that will significantly devalue Thank You Points, Citi will be removing fixed point awards for flights, effective March 1, 2009. Why is this such a big deal? For those in the know, fixed point travel redemptions offered a way to get nearly a 3% rebate per point. With many options available for earning multiple Thank You points per dollar spent, fixed point flights represented a tremendous value.
How can you get nearly 3% in value per point?
Here’s how to maximize your Thank You point redemption in a nutshell:
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With the current FICO scoring algorithm having been originally released in 2002, it has been due for an overhaul. Now, the new version, dubbed FICO 08, is set to finally be rolled out soon.
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Did you know that prepaying your business expenses on your credit card could save you money when tax time rolls around? When you make a business-related charge on your credit card, you can recognize the expense as of its transaction date, even if you don’t actually pay it off until the next year. Using this technique allows you to defer your income.
There are a number of caveats, however.
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As expected, federal regulators have approved a rule aiming to stop “unfair or deceptive” credit card practices. The Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Reserve and National Credit Union Administration today approved a rule set to take effect in July 2010 that restricts issuers’ ability to raise interest rates and how they apply payments to existing balances.
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