Credit Card Advice

MBNA is Europes largest credit card provider. Based in Chester, UK, it has a wide range of affinity and charity credit cards, along with its own competitive APR credit cards.

MBNA offers online banking so that you can have 24-hour access to all your credit card accounts, including making payments, balance transfers, loans, paying your balance, increasing your limit and much more at no extra cost. In fact they have online only credit cards too, ensuring you make the most amount of saving my remaining an MBNA valued customer.

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Being burdened with accrued unpaid dues and charges can be one of the worst things that can happen to a credit card holder. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, fear not as there is always help available. You just need to be willing and can speak to somebody who knows how to consolidate credit card debt. Transferring all your debts to the same card is perhaps the most common method adopted by people but you may also find a new card where you can transfer your balance and pay your debt before the offer ends, which is usually within 12 months.

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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 low APR credit card, then the interest will be low also, just in case you cant pay back the whole amount borrowed in one go!

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In a word – yes. You can apply for as many credit cards as you want. However, you must keep certain factors in mind if you want to avoid doing harm to your finances and credit score.

Applying for too many credit cards at once will result in numerous inquiries on your credit history. Everytime you do something with you credit card, wether it be apply or cancel one, it is recorded onto your history. Since this is one of the many factors considered in determining your credit score, you must keep this in mind before making numerous applications. A large number of inquiries by numerous credit card issuers will hit your score negatively, especially if you are diapproved.

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Changing your mobile phone like your outfit has become a standard practice lately.  But what do you do with your phone? Put it in your drawer, in the bin, or give it to your nephew to play with?

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1) A Vacation

We’re all in need of a vacation once in a while but going into debt for a plane ticket or hotel stay is a bad idea all around. Accumulating debt to take a trip somewhere sunny might be exactly what you’d like to do right now but sit down and look at your finances before you get too excited about the trip. You don’t really need to go – of course, it would be nice but make sure you have the cash first. It’s that simple.

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There is no question that the Irish economy changed when the euro was introduced. But whether converting to the euro was what caused those changes is a matter of speculation. Because Ireland is an island, and because it is located rather far away from other EU countries, some economists thought that the introduction of the euro would cause an increase in exports. The reasoning was that countries on the continent were used to trading with one another before the advent of the euro, and that Ireland would gain attention by being the new trading partner on the block.

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It’s hard to know what to do with old financial statements – which ones to keep and which to shred. But there are guidelines, and in general, if the statement could have to do with taxes, you should keep it for a long time, perhaps several years. Of course, if you do all your banking online, it is rather a moot point, because there aren’t paper records to protect. But how do you know what to do with other financial statements?

Tax returns should have the longest shelf life, as should cheques and receipts for things like charity contributions, mortgage interest, and other documents that may affect your taxes. You should keep such records for several years, if not permanently.

Documents related to pensions should be kept for at least a year, and permanently if possible. The same goes for bank statements where there might be something that relates to your taxes. For bank statements that don’t have any long term importance, you can get rid of them after a year.

You should keep your credit card statements anywhere from a couple of months to several years. Again, it depends on whether the statements contain tax related expenses. If not, keep your receipts until you get your monthly credit card statement. If they match up, go ahead and shred the receipts. Hang onto the credit card statement for another month or so, and if there are no purchases with long term importance or related to taxes, you can get rid of them then.

The term “get rid of” goes well beyond tossing your statements into the bin. At the very least, they should be run through a shredder. Cross cut shredders are more destructive than regular shredders, but even with regular shredders, if you mix up the shredded paper that collects, you’re going to put off all but the most determined (or crazy) criminals wanting your financial information.

Some people go farther than shredding their financial records. Some incinerate them, and others get very creative, using them to line the cat box or composting the bits with chicken manure (if they have chickens). These measures are probably not necessary, but it does point up the need to keep your financial information close to the chest.

If you have the option of having your statements online, it may be worthwhile. For one thing, they’ll be archived, and for another, you won’t accidentally leave them lying around in plain view where a dishonest repairman or dodgy roommate might see them.

Credit card fraud is a worldwide problem, and the poor economy has made it even more of a problem. It is vital that you protect yourself from credit card fraud, and there are a number of steps you can take to do so.

First and foremost, only keep the best credit cards. If you have two or more credit cards that are costing you too much in interest – close them down!

So, assuming you’ve got rid of your excess credit cards, what do you do about the ones you still carry around? Several things. For one, if it’s just a quick trip to the market for milk, leave your credit card at home. That way you don’t risk dropping it, or losing it. If you’re like most people, though, carrying your credit cards is a way of avoiding having to carry around large sums of cash, and that is a good thing. If someone takes several hundred euros cash from you, you really have no recourse. But if someone takes several hundred euros in the form of a credit card, your losses are limited.

Here are a few ways to avoid credit card fraud.

• If anyone calls you or e-mails you saying they are your bank and they need your credit card details for some reason that might sound perfectly legitimate, do not provide any of that information. Instead, call or e-mail your bank directly and ask if they contacted you wanting account details. Most will never call you asking for such information, so that you know that an e-mail or call asking for your credit card details is deceptive and dangerous.
• Do you ever play those games online where you have a formula for creating your “pirate name,” or your “stripper name”? Often they’ll say you use your mother’s maiden name for part of it, and then the name of your street for part of it, and maybe your pet’s name for part of it. It sounds innocent enough, except that these are the exact details you use online or over the phone to establish your identity, and if those details get into the hands of someone stealing your identity, they can do a lot more damage.
• Report any suspected credit card fraud immediately. If you report it within 24 hours, you usually won’t be held responsible for anything charged on the cards. But if you wait you may be out a certain amount, say €50, which isn’t that much when someone’s rung up thousands of euros worth of charges, but it’s still €50 that you’d like to keep if you can.

Choosing a credit card in Ireland, like anywhere else, involves taking into account what you want the credit card for and what kind of credit you have. Obviously, if you have good or excellent credit, you’ll have more choices and better interest rates. But with so many cards out there to choose from it can be confusing to know where to begin. Three types of credit cards you can choose from are “rewards” cards, so-called 0% cards, and balance transfer credit cards.

Rewards cards allow you to earn “points” or credits toward some goal when you use your credit card to make purchases. Maybe you’ll get discounts, or points to use toward purchases. Sometimes the “reward” is cash back.

0% credit cards vary. There are the 0% balance transfer cards that let you transfer a debt from another card. There are 0% cards that allows you to make purchases on which you won’t pay any interest until the introductory rate is over. That period may be a couple of months or a whole year.

Balance transfer cards may or may not have a 0% introductory “teaser” rate. Often they do have a low introductory rate for a set period from the time you open your card. It is important to know that the clock on the introductory rate begins when you open your account, not when you transfer your balances. If you wait to transfer balances, you’ll have a much shorter period in which you’ll benefit from the low rate.

Some people simply opt for the card with the lowest interest rate they can get. “No annual fee” cards are very common now, and you shouldn’t have to trade off a low interest rate at the expense of a high annual fee. There are plenty of no annual fee cards that carry relatively low interest rates. Often, in the long term, choosing the card with the lowest interest rate – particularly if there is no annual fee – is the best strategy. Assuming you make payments on time and don’t incur fees for going over your credit limit or for other reasons, you should be able to keep that relatively low interest rate. And if they try to raise it on you for no good reason, you can probably shop around and find another card that will offer you a low interest rate. Low interest rate cards may not have the cachet that points or rewards cards do, but when it comes to keeping credit card expenses under control, it’s almost always the best way to go.