Credit Cards Analysis and Recommendations

www.slickbudget.com

Home Credit Scores Medical Money Coupons Credit Cards Cash for Clunkers Free Money Redbox Codes Swagbucks Bankruptcy Stocks Loans My Best Deals History Ultimate Blogs

Please share this site with friends in order to help offset the cost of running it. It really helps people break the shackles of corporate greed. Thanks.

Before I get into the way to beat these companies at their own game, here are some interesting statistics I think you need to be aware of:

Top 15 issuers of general purpose credit cards for 2008 based on outstanding debt of consumer: (all info is from Nilson Report, March 2009)

1. Chase - $183.32 billion
2. Bank of America - $166.32 billion
3. Citi- $106.74 billion
4. American Express - $88.02 billion
5. Capital One - $60.08 billion
6. Discover- $49.69 billion
7. Wells Fargo - $36.36 billion
8. HSBC - $29.97 billion
9. US Bank - $18.53 billion
10. USAA - $17.48 billion
11. Barclays - $11 billion
12. Target - $8.65 billion
13. GE Money - $7.51 billion
14. Advanta - $5.02 billion
15. First National - $4.93 billion

That is over $700,000,000,000 worth of credit card debt in this country from 15 issuers alone!

Here is the sickening statistics that are unbelievable: Profits or Losses at Top 10 U.S. Credit Card Issuers in 2008
1. Chase: $780 million profit
2. Bank of America: $520 million profit
3. Citi: $530 million loss
4. American Express: $850 million profit
5. Capital One: $1.00 billion profit
6. Discover: $710 million profit
7. Wells Fargo: $990 million profit
8. HSBC: $520 million profit
9. US Bank: $1.07 billion profit
10. USAA: Not listed

That is almost $7,000,000,000 in profit in 2008 alone. But, they cry poverty to our politicians and get laws that hurt consumers in trying to get out of their grip. (See the bankruptcy page to learn more)

Anyways, I made this page to try to help out people in getting out of credit card debt by using the credit card companies against each other.

First thing is first. There are a ton of credit cards out there and if you are smart, you will take advantage of that in all the aspects of your life. The card I would go for is the Discover card that pays you 5% back on your gas purchase and 1% on other things. This card will save you around $2.00 a fill up making it my numero uno credit card for fuel.

The next thing I recommend is taking advantage of offers that make you money. Another Discover Card product that is different from the gas card is the regular card. It gives you $50 after signup and spending $500 and on top of that, it is 0% APR intro rate. This means that you can buy $500 and get basically $50 for free. After that, you can try other deals that offer similar free money and low APR's/. TIP: If you need to get your credit score higher look at my credit score section.

As for the students out there who need to get some credit started in order to have a score, I would say that the Discover Student Card would be a great fit. It allows for online management so that you can track your progress.

You will come across many deals out there and my advice is to take a look at which ones you can benefit you and to take them. Some will be balance transfers, cash back, bonus money, or discounts. Whatever the deal...think to yourself...I am only getting this for the deal and that is all I will use it for. Don't become a slave to their industry.

MUST READ BELOW FOR AN EASY MONEY MAKING ACTIVITY SEARCHING WITH SWAGBUCKS SEARCH BAR!!!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Many people don’t really follow their credit score until they apply for a loan of some sort. If at that time your score is too low, what can you do? One trick that is used is to have someone add you on to their credit card account.

The idea is to find a person who already has an established account with perfect payment history and have them add you on as a joint owner. At that time, the history of the account goes into your report, thus increasing your score dramatically. Just one more tip. Stop back for more.

The easiest trick is to actually piggy back someone else and get their good credit report put on your record. So if you have had problems and fixed them all or are coming out of a bankruptcy, then you have a person that has a credit card with no flaws add you as a joint owner. All of the credit history goes to your report jumping your score up quite a bit. Hope this helps.

Another thing you can do is dispute the black marks on your credit report. The company put them there needs to answer your dispute within a certain time frame or the negative marks are taken off your record and your score goes way up. These appeals cost man hours to these companies and not all businesses are willing to spend the extra money on them. Fingers crossed.

If you are like 90% of the people in this country, then you use Google as your main search engine. The other 10% use yahoo to find their information. But, what do they give us as users? Just quick results with Google and a nice homepage with news from Yahoo! My wife introduced me to swagbucks just over two months ago and I am ticked I didn't know about it before. It is a search engine which uses Google and Ask engines combined and then pays you to use their site. My initial thought was that it couldn't pay you that much. But I was wrong. I watched my wife earn over 500 swagbucks in a matter of eight weeks just by inviting 6 friends and all of them using the swagbucks search engine. This 500 swagbucks was then turned into $55 worth of gift cards from Amazon which she quickly spent. : ) Before you say that it isn't that much, think about a search engine giving you over $330 a year just to use them for searching. You can still use Google and Yahoo or Ask for that matter, but when you want to earn money, use swagbucks.

The link down below is my referral link which will allow you to sign up and make some serious cash. I look at it this way, if someone says I will give you a free PS3 or Coach purse for using this search engine in addition to your normal routine, who would say no? There are no offers to fulfill and no hoops to jump through. It is like a slot machine, ever time you search, you have a chance of winning a range of dollar amounts. It will come in handy around Christmas time.

Check it out below and trust me, there is nothing to lose and only free money to gain. Have fun swagbucking!

UPDATE: I am getting quite a few people signing up and not doing this quite right. The easiest way is to download their toolbar which gives you a search box right on the top of your screen and then you don't have to go to their site to do the searches and make the money. It is the easiest money you can make. Remember the tips...in the morning and at night if you don't use it at all but still want the swagbucks. (see above article)

UPDATE 2: You can always get a swag buck by shopping or uploading videos. This is soooo easy to make a couple of bucks for Christmas. Join the fun!

Update 3: As of November, I have made around $600 in real spendable cash from Swagbucks. This search engine is by far the best thing I have ever stumbled upon. I can't stress enough that the toolbar is key to attaining the swagbucks everyday. Just make sure to use it in the morning and at night due to the fact it is partly based on time between uses. You will accumulate swagbucks very quickly if you follow my advice.

You can sign up using the banner below. I would have to say that this truly is the easiest way to make money doing what you do on a regular basis anyways. Thanks for looking and it is really easy to make some cash doing this. AND NO IT DOES NOT COST A PENNY!!!

About Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Site Map | Contact Us
Slickbudget™ © Copyright 2009 All rights reserved. Coupons, coupon codes, promo codes,
online discount and deals are subject to change without notice. Products and names mentioned
on Slickbudget are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.