America is seeing a surge in charitable endeavors. More people are opening their wallets to donate to good causes year-round. The kind-hearted are even electing to take volunteer vacations, where they spend weeks building homes for disaster victims or rebuilding habitats for endangered animals. Even when times are tough, giving to others makes us feel better about ourselves.
Affinity credit cards play on our desire to help others. These credit cards are branded with the credit card company’s logo, as well as the logo of a charity. When card holders make purchases using their affinity cards, the card company donates a percentage to the partner charity. There are affinity cards that support all kinds of good causes. That’s the good news.
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We ranked the top five credit card companies on customer service (American Express, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Discover), and here are our final results.
Credit card customer service #5: Bank of America. Though offering the standard services, and having a widespread name and corporate recognition, the actual customer service perhaps suffers at the hand of being such a titanic operation. It’s difficult to find information on the Web site (at least, information that agrees with their live operators), and the personal care touch is gone. Perhaps Bank of America outsourced their customer service operation. Outsourced it to Mars.
#4: Chase. Although adequate, Chase has every one of those small-annoyance features that are frustrating to customers: limited information about APR and the like until agreeing to apply; hold time with crummy music; a slightly confusing Web site; dull and/or mechanical service representative interaction; and limited hours of live person availability. are all attributes that prevent Chase from boasting wonderful customer services. Not really a pain-in-the-neck customer service system, Chase is just average. Not bad bad, but not great.
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American Express
American Express customer service TIME TO 800 NUMBER: Less than two minutes.
HELPFULNESS OF AGENTS: When we got through, we talked to a helpful and professional representative. Even their automated voice system woman who greets you when you first pick up is very concise and polite, as far as robot ladies go.
KNOWLEDGE OF AGENTS: The customer service representative spoke confidently about their 0% APR cards for select customers, as well as low APR cards and offers. The only question the agent was not able to answer was about credit card debt consolidation features. However, Amex did provide direct and concise information for all other questions we asked.
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When determining which credit card company is right for you, it’s important to consider everything the credit card company has to offer. Equally as important as a low APR or advanced security features is the credit card company’s customer service.
Because most consumers overlook customer service until it’s too late, we made calls to the top five credit card companies (American Express, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Discover), then ranked them on how well they met the following customer service benchmarks:
Helpful Web sites: First we visited their sites to see how user-friendly they were, and whether toll-free phone numbers were easy to find.
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According to Google, lots of folks are searching the Internet for 0% interest credit cards, no-interest credit cards, and interest-free credit cards. Do such cards really exist, or are these potential card holders embarking on a wild goose chase?
You can find 0% interest credit cards. However, the length of the 0% interest period varies from card to card. If you have been hunting for a card that never charges interest, you are, sadly, out of luck. Credit card companies make money from the interest you pay them. But some credit cards do offer an interest-free first year, or even longer. This is great for card holders who anticipate carrying a balance, but who will be able to pay it off before the introductory period runs out.
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Each day, thousands of Americans receive credit card offers in their mailboxes. Was today your day to receive a credit card offer? If you are like many Americans, you may have taken two different steps. Many Americans simply toss their credit card offers in the trashcan, while others start filling them out right away. If your first instinct is to fill out the credit card application, you will want to continue reading on, particularly before taking any further action.
In the United States, credit card debt is becoming a major cause for concern. No matter where you turn, you are likely to hear of the dangers of owning a credit card. Yes, having a credit card does put you at risk for credit card debt, but that risk is a lot easier to control that many imagine. Unfortunately, this control is often limited in its focus. Once you receive a credit card, it is important to familiarize yourself with proper use, but what if you have yet to receive a credit card? This is where many hopeful credit card owners go wrong; they accept the first credit card offer that comes their way. This is a mistake that you want to avoid, as it is one that can turn into a financial deathtrap.
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For about twenty years, banks and financial institutions have figured out that appealing to people’s hearts is the way to get them to open their wallets. Affinity credit cards have a charity logo as well as the issuer’s logo; each time the card is used to make a payment, balance transfer or withdraw cash from an ATM, the bank donates a percentage of the amount of the transaction to the charity.
Will You Need Donations After Using a Charity Credit Card?
The concept of the affinity credit card (otherwise known as charity credit cards) is great: every time you make a purchase you had to make anyway, you can use you credit card and donate to charity. Finally, you can feel good about using your plastic to make your purchases! But is it worth it?
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Gone are the days of waiting several days or weeks to be approved for a credit card. While it is still possible to apply for credit via “snail mail,” it is now more common than ever to apply for any type of credit via the Internet. With the help of the Internet, it’s possible to apply for and receive approval on a line of credit in a matter of seconds or minutes.
Many wonder whether or not it is safe to apply for credit via the Internet due to the fact that so much personal and confidential information must be entered into the computer in order for the credit application to be completed. The truth is, most legitimate banks and credit agencies have highly advanced systems which protect potential credit customers from any sort of fraud. However, it’s always a good idea to make sure the computer being used to apply for credit is fully equipped with the most updated anti-virus software and anti-spyware.
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Are you looking for that perfect credit card? If so, you may be confused about what exactly to look for in order to begin your credit card company comparison.
There are many great and credit cards out there, but unfortunately, many companies target the young and financially inexperienced, who aren’t knowledgeable enough to make a wise and informed decision about which credit card will be the best one for them. Consequently, these individuals who haven’t done their research tend to pick a random credit card—or the first company who makes them an offer—which may not be the best option for them.
The first thing you should do is determine what your financial needs and goals are in using a credit card, and make a physical list. This way, when you’re looking for that perfect credit card, you’ll know exactly what the credit card must have and you can stay focused on this instead of being sidetracked by attractive deals and special features that you don’t really need.
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Falling into the trap of overspending on credit cards during the holiday season is never a good thing as far as your wallet is concerned, but wise spending with credit during your holiday shopping can be really beneficial.
If you already have excessive credit card debt, using credit to make your holiday gift purchases is likely not in your best interest. On the other hand, if you’ve been careful with your spending and you want to use credit cards for your purchases- here is how you can benefit most from using credit cards this season.
Determine Your Holiday Budget: And Stick to it Like a Melted Candy Cane!
The reason credit cards have gotten a “bad name” is because they are misused. People get carried away with the power of accessible cash, and sometimes forget it’s money that has to be paid back- or at least they aren’t thinking about how much they’ll pay for each purchase after the interest has been accounted for!
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