Credit Card Advice

Credit Card Theft is a funny thing.  Just possessing stolen credit card can still be enough to get somebody in trouble.  It used to be that a person had to commit an actual larceny to be convicted of a crime.  With the Internet, the use of credit cards online, and identity theft, credit card theft is now often covered under a more general crime of identify theft.

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There’s nothing unique about Irish credit card debt compared to credit card debt elsewhere in the world. It is true that Ireland has suffered more than other countries in the worldwide recession, but even with a new economic reality, getting rid of Irish credit card debt is similar to getting rid of any other debt: it is a matter of commitment and hard work.

Most people, particularly if they travel, cannot do without a credit card. They can, however, do without eight or nine credit cards. Most money experts suggest having two credit cards, both of which provide a backstop in times of trouble. For those with multiple credit cards, there are several options for paying off your debt.

One option is transferring debt onto a new credit card with a low introductory interest rate and putting all your effort into paying that debt off before the “teaser” interest rate expires. It sounds like a great idea in principle, but if you can’t pay off €4,000 indefinitely with 14.9% interest, it isn’t that much more likely you’ll be able to pay it off in the 10 months or so that you have the low rate on the new card.

There are two approaches to paying off credit card debt. One is to pay off the one with the highest interest rate first. It makes sense that you’d want to pay off your most expensive debt before paying off your cheaper debt. If you choose to do this, and the card with the high rate has a big balance, you can certainly do it, but it will take serious discipline. If you can look at your statements online and watch as the balance falls, however, you can really draw motivation from that to keep working on the debt.

Another technique for paying off credit card debt is the “snowball” technique. That means you pay off your smallest debt first, then close the account, on the theory that you’ll be really chuffed at having got rid of an entire card’s worth of debt. Repeat with the new smallest debt, etc.

Either technique will work, and there is discipline involved in both. Which method you choose depends on your particular personality and what motivates you.

Consolidating loans may sound like a great way to get out of debt, but human nature being what it is, the sense of relief causes a lot of people to run up a whole new cycle of debt. In other words, borrowing your way out of debt is usually counterproductive.

Here are ten day trips you can experience in Ireland without spending a lot of money.

1. Fota Gardens and Wildlife Park, Cork. Visiting the wildlife park costs €13.50 for adults, €9.00 for U16 students, senior citizens and the disabled. A family ticket for two adults and up to four children is €56.00. Mornings and evenings you can watch wardens feeding the animals. You can also partake of Arts and Crafts, and special musical programs.
2. Mountain View Stables, Poulnagun Lisdoonvarna. A three hour horseback tour takes in view of the Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, and Galway Bay. Beginners are welcome as are advanced riders.
3. Glenveagh National Park and Castle, Donegal.The staff are all local, and have been rated as friendly and helpful. Even the food in the small coffee shop gets rave reviews. The park includes the two highest mountains in Donegal, Errigal and Slieve Sneacht.
4. Muckross House and Gardens, Killarney. At €5.75 per adult, this is hailed as one of the best values for a day out. The mansion and gardens are spectacular. A 90 minute hike features animals, farms, and a blacksmith.
5. The 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour, Dublin, costs €12 and those who have participated say its guides are extremely knowledgeable and give the history of the 1916 Rebellion in such a way that the two hour tour seems to fly by.
6. National Botanic Gardens, Dublin is free. If you ride a bus to get there, it costs €1.50, and you have to have exact change. The National Botanic Gardens have received great reviews from plant lovers to families wanting a place to picnic.
7. The Milk Market, Limerick.This is an outdoor flea market where you can find a huge range of items for sale (but not milk). Fresh food on offer is anything from artisanal cheese to crepes to cherries.
8. The Lough Gill Drive, Sligo. This drive is said to be so captivating it has caused people to uproot and move here. It is very unspoiled and un-touristy.
9. Jack Meade’s Pub, Waterford. Jack Meade’s is more a place for a night out than a day out, but it comes highly recommended for its food, drinks (even fancy coffee drinks) and atmosphere. It is described as the Ireland you always imagined.
10. Cloghereen Blue Pool Walk, Killarney. This is a nature reserve with marked footpaths plus some unmarked paths that stray slightly. It’s a long, but easy walk to see the blue pool. This is one of those often overlooked, yet beautiful place you’re glad you found.

During the boom days when everyone assumed that housing prices would continue to rise ad infinitum, Ireland was wedded to their credit cards. There was always more credit on tap. Buying and selling property was the kind of thing you would feel left out if you weren’t doing. The consumer’s mindset was largely “Buy now, pay later,” and unfortunately, the “Rip Off Ireland” concept was largely tolerated by consumers. But something happened on the way to the credit crunch. Even before banks cut off questionable lending, people started to realize that accumulating debt was ultimately not going to be offset by a continued boom in property prices.

By the time the credit crunch hit in 2008, many consumers worldwide were already going on the assumption that all the financial candy they’d been eating the past few years was going to result in several years of biliousness. Ireland was no exception. Thrift quickly became the new standard.

To that end, consumers are paying much more attention to the terms of service of their credit cards, canceling those with the worst terms and transferring balances to cards with lower interest rates or better perks. If you do carry a credit card with a balance, you can probably find a better deal if you do some searching. Here are a few things to look for when looking for better credit card deals in Ireland.

Perhaps the the change that would make the biggest difference would be a lower interest rate overall, not just a low or 0% introductory rate. Unless you plan to pay off your entire balance quickly, low “teaser” rates are likely to rebound back to where your rates were before – or worse.

That said, if you have the means to pay off your credit card balance, you might consider getting a card with a low or 0% teaser rate on balance transfers. The longer that rate holds, the better. It isn’t as easy now to find cards with teaser rates that last for a year, but six months is still fairly easy to find. But if you know you’ll eventually be carrying a balance again, then overall interest rate is the most important characteristic you should look for in a card.

Rebates in the form of gasoline, airline miles or some sort of points reward scheme are quite appealing when money is tight. But again: if you carry a balance, interest rates will undoubtedly dwarf any perks or savings you might receive from a rebate card.

With a new attitude toward thrift, Irish credit card holders are more accepting of the idea that enticing financial offers from credit card companies often come at a very dear price.

Now more than ever, small businesses are relying on credit cards as a stop-gap measure when cash flow is slow. Small businesses often don’t have the clout to negotiate credit terms with their supply chain, so they’re increasingly relying on credit cards as a short term coping strategy. Anywhere from 30 to 60% of small businesses say that cash flow is their greatest financial concern, and the percentages are likely to increase as the recession drags on.

In January 2009, the Bank of Ireland unveiled its 2 for 1 credit card that is a credit card and a personal loan combined. It is designed to allow businesses to make large purchases without incurring huge interest charges that credit cards impose. If a customer is unable to repay a large purchase within the statement date, he or she can transfer the balance to a personal loan, which offers a rate of 6.9% for 12 months. This gives the cardholder a year to pay off the loan before the interest rate reverts to 14.9%.

There are limits, of course. The large purchase must be €500 or greater, and only two purchases can be on the extended payment plan at a time. As a comparison, the average personal loan rate in Ireland is 9.7% to 12.2%.

MBNA Ireland, which is part of Bank of America is one of the largest independent providers of credit cards in the world, and offers numerous business credit card options. Businesses with credit cards may choose a card because of reward schemes and cash back bonuses, which can be welcome if cash flow is steady enough to pay off the balances every month. As a temporary method of debt management, a business credit card is often the simplest solution.

MBNA offers a number of credit card choices, including the MBNA Platinum Credit Card, the MBNA Gold Credit Card, and the MBNA Standard Credit Card. The Platinum card offers 0% APR on balance transfers over 10 months, no annual fee, up to 58 days interest free on card purchases, and a variable 14.9% APR. The Gold card charges you 1.9% APR on balance transfers for 6 months, no annual fee, and up to 58 days interest free on card purchases with a variable 14.9% APR. If you qualify for the Platinum card, you should get it rather than the Gold. The Standard credit card has the same features as the Gold, except the APR is a variable 16.9%. Of these three, try qualifying for the Platinum first, and if you don’t, try Gold, then Standard if necessary.

If you have a small business, you probably want to be able to take credit cards. They allow your customers to be more flexible about what’s on their shopping lists, and you don’t have the worries you might about bounced cheques. If you are a small or home based business, you may have to pay fees at a higher rate than a large or established business.

In general, the length of time you’ve been in business, and the percentage of sales you make over the internet or phone, and the type of business you’re in will affect the rates and fees you will have to pay card processing services. For home and small businesses, rates of 2.25 to 3% are typical. There are processing companies that will ask 5%, but you shouldn’t accept it unless all other possibilities for a lower rate have been exhausted.

Three options for credit card processing in Ireland are PayPal, Realex, and USBSwiper.com

If you already have a PayPal account, you can set up with their Pro Solutions service and take credit cards online. It is really easy to do, but you may balk at the fees you pay. However, if you don’t need to process very many online credit card orders, it could be worthwhile.

Realex Payments has offices in Dublin, London, and Paris, and does payment processing for over 3,000 clients. Realex specializes in payment processing for online businesses, and works with Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, and Vodafone. You can apply online and Realex will get in touch with you about what they can offer you and the pricing schedule.

USBSwiper.com bills itself as an affordable wireless credit card processing solution. USBSwiper uses equipment you already have with a USBSwiper card reader. USBSwiper charges a flat transaction rate for all the major credit cards of between 2.2% and 2.9% depending on the monthly volume of credit card charges.

Accepting credit cards at your small business is really a necessity these days. People pay with plastic more than ever, and they want to shop at places where they have the flexibility of paying with a credit or debit card. Yes, as a small business, especially if you’re new, you will most likely pay higher fees and rates than merchant accounts of businesses that are long established. Whatever credit card processor you choose, if they offer a low introductory rate schedule, make sure you understand all the terms and conditions. You could be locking yourself into a long term commitment with rates that will go way up once the introductory period is over.

It has been a common refrain throughout the recent economic downturn: yet another criminal has been charged with credit card fraud or identity theft. An August 2009 case in the U.S. saw three men charged with stealing more than 130 million credit card and debit card numbers. The card numbers were stolen from Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford Brothers, 7-Eleven and two other unidentified corporate victims.

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The main tip to reducing your Irish credit card costs is to pay them off every month. But in real life, that’s not always possible. Emergencies come up, and you need time to pay off your expenses. But if you can’t pay off your entire balance every month, the next best thing you can do to keep expenses down is to pay as much as you can, and pay on time. That way you’ll keep your average daily balance as low as possible (which is what your minimum payments are based on), and you won’t be hit with late fees.

If you have a wallet full of credit cards, the most obvious way to keep your expenses down is to pay off and get rid of cards you don’t use. Another option is transferring the balance to another card if that is possible. Most money experts recommend having two credit cards so that you minimize the amount of financial hot water you can get into while having a “backup” card if the other one should be lost, stolen, or not accepted somewhere you need to use it.

One of the best ways to keep your credit card costs down is to avoid cards with lots of “perks” like points, airline miles, or some other incentive. While these cards can work well if you are disciplined, use your card a lot, and pay off your balance in full every month, if you carry a balance, the interest you’ll pay will far overshadow any benefit you’d get from the card’s perks.

So, supposing that you can’t pay your balance in full every month, you usually pay on time, and you’ve cut back to two credit cards. How do you save on credit card expenses? You could use them less, for one thing. It is much harder to be disciplined and stick to a shopping list if you have the extra cushion of credit that a credit card gives you, so taking out cash and using it may be a way to cut down on card use, thus lowering the amount of debt you have.

Other than that, your best bet is to choose a credit card with no annual fee and the lowest interest rate you can qualify for. Once you have that, and you avoid late fees, or over the limit fees, you’ll do best with a low interest rate card.