(Writers) Know What To Look For With A 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card
By Peter Kenny
If you have high interest rate credit cards with outstanding balances on them you may find that the monthly repayments that you are making on the cards are very high. In addition, if you are only making small repayments on the cards you may find that a large portion of what you pay on each balance in getting swallowed up in interest, which means that your actual balance is hardly being touched leaving you at risk of having the debt hanging around your neck for a long time to come.
This is the reason why many people have decided over recent years to transfer their higher interest credit card debts onto a convenient and affordable 0% balance transfer credit card. By doing this cardholders can save a considerable amount of money in interest payments, and as long as they remain within the credit limit on the new card can transfer balances from a range of different credit cards so that they have fewer credit card debts to deal with.
It is important to make sure that you get the best deal possible when you opt for a 0% balance transfer credit card, as getting the best deal can help you to save more money and buy you more time to repay the balance. There are a number of things that you should check when it comes to finding a suitable 0% balance transfer deal, and by taking the time to compare different 0% balance transfer cards and compare these different factors you can increase your chances of getting the most competitive deal.
Of course, one of the most important factors that you will need to look at is how long the interest free credit period is, as the longer this is the more time you will have to repay the transferred balance without being charged any interest. Some 0% balance transfer cards offer interest free periods of just six months or so, but others offer 0% interest for twelve or even fifteen months in some cases. Make sure that you compare cards from a range of providers in order to find the best interest free period.
Most 0% balance transfer credit cards charge a transfer fee, and this is usually a percentage of the total amount that is being transferred. You need to compare the various 0% balance transfer cards and compare how much each charges by way of a transfer fee, as this can vary from one card provider to another. On average the transfer fee ranges from 2-3 percent of the total amount that is being transferred.
Although you should aim to repay the balance in full before the interest free period comes to an end on these 0% balance transfer cards it is worth taking a look at the interest rate that is charged just in case your have a remaining balance by the time the 0% period expires. However, this should not be the priority, as you should aim to have the balance cleared by the time that the interest free period ends.
Peter Kenny has been writing financial articles for 10 years and is a writer for The Thrifty Scot, please visit us at 0% Balance Transfers and Personal Loans
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Are Store Cards Worth the Cost?
By Peter Kenny
Store cards have become very popular in recent years. While these are essentially the same as credit cards, you can only use them at one store the store whose name appears on the credit card and which issued you the card. Depending on the store name, you can use the card at any of the stores in that chain, which means that if you are in another town or city, or even another country where the store has a physical presence, you can use it to make purchases in that location. One of the main disadvantages of using a store credit card is that you can only use it to make purchases. No cash transactions or withdrawals are permitted and you cannot use this type of card in an ATM or at a bank.
Another disadvantage of having a store card is that you often buy on impulse when in the store. Just because you do have available credit often causes you to buy something you do not really need. However, if you are shopping in the store and see an item that you do really need that just happens to be on sale, you can buy it using the card and then pay off the cost when you have the funds available to you. Quite often the same article may be much cheaper at another store, but when you want to use the store card for your purchases, then you are restricted in where you can shop and buy.
Some stores offer incentives to consumers in an effort to entice them to sign up for a card. This includes such things as reward points that they can cash in when they accumulate enough points and basically receive an item of their choosing for free. Sometimes, the stores allow consumers to buy anything in the store, while other store cards only have certain items that consumers can use to redeem their points.
If you do carry a balance on your store card each month, then you should be aware that you are paying a very high rate of interest on the unpaid balance. It is very easy to get deeply in debt with a store card because of the opportunity you have to make purchases you otherwise may not have made. When you do reach your credit limit on the card and cannot make any more purchases until you pay off some of the balance, many stores will increase the credit limit enticing you to buy more.
If you have a fairly good credit rating, you are far better off applying for a credit card rather than a store card. A credit card gives you the opportunity to shop where you please so that you can shop around for the best price. A 0% credit card will enable you to pay off the outstanding balance that you have on your store card so that you can pay it odd a lot sooner at no cost to you.
If you do have a store card and carry a balance each month, look at your statement when you next receive it. Check the amount of your last payment and then subtract the interest that was deducted from this payment to see how little you actually paid on the balance. This is really an eye-opener for some consumers who did not realize that it would take them a long time to pay off a large amount of money.
Peter Kenny has been writing financial articles for 10 years and is a writer for The Thrifty Scot, please visit us at Credit Cards and Compare Credit Cards
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Email Marketing - How To Write Great Subject Lines For Emails
By Sameep Shah
Open rate in email marketing means how many people have read and opened the email. This is especially true with mass mailing to a list. As you know that people don’t like to receive promotional offers in their inbox, they have created other email addresses to receive those.
Obviously they won’t open email addresses if they receive promotional stuff frequently. To address this problem, you need to write compelling subject of the message. Since the subject of the message is the first thing that communicates with the reader, you need to make sure it has a lot of hooks to entice the reader to open the message instantly.
The second solution to this problem is confirming the email address of the subscriber and sending the free stuff in the inbox. While it will still enable the visitor to keep it in the other inbox, you need to make sure you give good stuff to the subscriber and ask him to open his inbox everyday for a surprise..
So let’s come back to the subject of the email message. The subject, as with any other headline oriented sales letter, needs to be interesting and contains enough hooks to make them open the message instantly and read the whole email.
The hooks that can urge the reader to open a message is related to the desires humans have. The subject should be about the reader him/herself. For example, if you are promoting an info product, consider using a headline, “It’s not your fault”. Then use the headline to build the conversation. Don’t just say you were joking or something; you need to build it.
The subject line is one thing that would give you conversion. One important thing to note is that email marketing should be used to get clicks to your website or sales letter. It should never be used to sell something to them. Your sales letter will do all the selling. You can pre-sell in the email messages. Make up the mind of the readers to get the product or they will burn in hell. That should be the right tone.
No matter what you do, never underestimate your subscribers. The trust you have gained can be broken in a minute. So make sure you keep the trust intact in the email message. One way of doing that is to review your own product in your own words. Just give an honest review and sometimes saying ‘no’ is going to make a big difference. For example, you can say that the product I am offering is not for newbies or you can say that the product you are offering is not for expert or intermediate marketers. This way you will build creditability and trust among your subscribers.
Remember you are the leader of your herd. Your subscribers are your herd. If you really want to make it big, you need to do things for their benefit. Give them freebies all the time and once in a while a good product that would make you proud.
Sam runs FreeNewsletterTemplate.net a website dedicated to providing visitors with the latest information about How To Write A Newsletter and how to download a free newsletter template for your newsletter.
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