8/29/2009

Chase Upping Minimum Payments on Credit Cards

If you haven't had some credit card limits reduced or interest rates increased you're in the minority. But now the credit card companies (at least Chase Bank credit cards) have a new tactic.

It happened to me last month and to a friend this month. Now they are raising the minimum payment - mine went from 2% to 5% and since this is a card with one of those (long gone!)
"2.9% interest until paid off" deals I long ago max'd it out by transferring higher balance cards to it. But now the minimum payment almost tripled!

Exactly the same thing happened to my friend, and they are both Chase issued credit cards. Interestingly they are reacting to objections differently...I was offered a 5-year payoff at my existing interest rate if I closed the account but my friend was not given that option.

A new law was passed regarding what a credit card company can and can't do, but a lot of the rules don't take effect until 2010 - so you can bet they will try to make whatever changes they can to your accounts before then. Click here for information: Credit Card Legislation

So read all of those pesky "Change in Terms" inserts or mailings from your credit cards and don't be taken off-guard.

8/27/2009

Internet Marketing - Not as Difficult as You Might Expect

One of the things I've been doing (while not blogging!) is immersing myself in learning about Internet Marketing. You may know from reading some of my posts that I have good friends who are in retail, and worse yet, in a tourism niche. Obviously, they are having a difficult time of it in this economy.

So my initial research was to see if I could find ways of helping them by giving them a presence on the internet for some of the wonderful things they have in their store. They have a lot of beautiful jewelry...from sea glass pieces to opals and a line crafted in Paris, so I thought that might be a good place to start.

Wow, little did I know how much there was to learn - immersing myself quickly became drowning myself! But I'm finally getting a better understanding of it. Some of my posts will be about what I've learned.

Toward that end, if you ever wanted to start figuring out how to sell on the internet I have a totally FREE download for you to get started with. No opt-in (meaning you don't have to give me your e-mail address to get it), just an immediate download of an 85-page book called "Google AdWords Made Easy" by Brad Callen, a very well-known person in the internet marketing world. Honestly, don't even think about paying for AdWords until you get educated, because you can lose a lot of money quickly.

Just click here and you can download "Google AdWords Made Easy" right now.

I'm Baaaaaack!

Wow, I can't believe how long its been since I've written a new blog here! I'm sorry but life got in the way and I've been in the doldrums - I'm sure you know what I mean! Just haven't "felt" like writing. And, as I'm sure you'll also understand, as soon as I got in here and started writing again I began to wonder why I haven't been!

So, I'm back and excited with life again and ready to share it all with you again!

There's been so much going on in the world I may have a difficult time choosing what to write about...any suggestions? Just leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

And you can also follow me on Twitter - click on the top right or look for me - I'm @kdsm100

Mary