Tol Records Finance and Money Management Tips

Archive for August, 2010

If it’s your first time to apply for a credit card, be careful with accepting any unsolicited offer that comes your way. If you don’t take care, you just might find yourself a victim of credit card fraud.

5 Tips on Wising Up to Fraudulent Credit Card Offers

Tip #1 Apply Directly to the Credit Card Issuer.
You might find yourself encountering an offer that says you’ll have an easier time applying and getting approved for a credit card through their help. Unless they work directly for the credit card issuer, no middleman representative or company can change your credit card application’s fate if it’s truly not meant to pass. The only thing that can improve your chances of getting approved is by improving your credit score and nothing else!

Tip #2 Bad Credit Matters…Negatively.
If someone tells you that he can get you a credit card that’s not only unsecured but with low interest rates as well, you’re getting your leg pulled by a con artist. Bad credit always matters, and they matter negatively. Credit card issuers never ignore the fact that you have bad credit no matter who you are. If you have bad credit but you want to have a credit card, your best bet is getting a secured one or one that’s specifically designed for people with bad credit.

Tip #3 There is No Up Front Fee to Pay.
And if there is, it should be minimal because there’s really nothing you should pay for. Up front fees are rarely required by any major credit card issuer so being asked to do so in the first place should make warning bells ring in your head. Secondly, if they refer to the up front fee as your “annual fee”, it should appear on your first credit card statement and paid together with your initial credit card charge.

Tip #4 Know What their Gold, Platinum, and Silver Status Really Means.
Other people will try to deceive you with tempting gold, platinum, and silver credit card offers. But before you take the bait – take the time to ask what exactly those offers entail. In most cases, a gold credit card means having an elite status because you’ve got an incredible credit card limit, competitive interest rates, and amazing rewards to look forward to. Is that the kind of gold credit card they’re talking about? Or could it be just a gold colored card with the usual privileges? Or worse, could it only be used to purchase items from their very own product catalogue?

If you really want a gold, platinum, or silver credit card – ask yourself if you can truly afford it first.

Tip #5 If You Want to Have Credit Card Protection You Can Do the Protecting Yourself.
A different but related credit card offer that you could also encounter is one providing you with credit card protection and insurance. The person making the offer might also weave terrifying tales of what could happen to you if you don’t get your credit card insured. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cautions consumers from availing of this offer because it usually proves useless in the end. If you want to protect yourself from credit card troubles, you can do so by using your card responsibly and wisely.

There are sure to be other types of fraudulent credit card offers you could encounter, but just remember the golden rule for credit cards: if an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is!

Online stock trading has created a boom in the industry of stock market. It has made everyone to enjoy the excitement and thrill of stock trading by using your computer system. It has made possible to continue trading even if you are out of town, therefore, you can have a proper check over the market scenario from any corner of the globe.

How To Buy Stock Online

In today’s fast and busy life, no one has time to visit the stock brokers or firms to gather information or to invest in their schemes. Therefore, the discovery of internet has proved to be the best tool in the stock trading which has given rise to trade stock online from the comfortable ambience of your home or office. No doubt, online stock trading is one the most acceptable method of trading but few points have to be considered while getting involved into it.

1 – You should always search properly for a renowned and reputable company before investing in stock market as there are numerous sites over internet that deal in the business of selling and purchasing of stocks. You should go through the reviews and testimonials of the other investors those who are already in link with them and you can also visit bulleting boards to grab information about the different companies.

There is another option of investing in the big-name stock trading companies who have their own online stock trade. You should invest in those companies, which are up to their commitments so that your invested money should not go into drains.

2 – There are many sites which are linked to the buying and selling of stock to foreign markets whereas some are linked to the foreign and domestic markets. You should decide beforehand with which company you want to start trade so that you should not mess up the things. For example, if you are interested in domestic market but got linked with the site that deals in foreign market then it will create a problem for you.

3 – You should always opt for the sites of stock market that are fully secured as your financial as well as personal information has to be inserted over the site in order to start the stock trade online. If the security of the site is not upto your level of satisfaction then need not to get involved as there might be the chances that your loaded information can be misused in future.

4 – First enquire about the fee which is charged by various sites. You should always opt for the site charging less fees per trade, therefore, you should take the benefit of online trading which cannot be enjoyed in trading stock traditionally.

5 – There should be 24 x 7 hours assistance by the online investment sites so that if there is any help required, they should always be present to assist you.
Hence, the summary of this article is that one should survey the market before getting into online stock trading in each and every term like security, fees, company’s reputation, etc. so that you should not get into the wrong hands.