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Consumers Could Pay More if the European Commission Caps Credit Card Fees

The European Commission (EU) has threatened to cap the credit card processing charges that banks impose on businesses and shops. In turn, the banks have threatened to add higher fees and other charges onto cards used by consumers. When it all finally boils down, it’s likely that UK households will take another hit in their billfolds.

As it stands now, credit cards like MasterCard and Visa charge businesses a 0.9 percent charge on all credit card purchases. This credit card fee costs businesses 850 million annually. The charge in debit cards is 0.2 percent. The EU wants to set a flat service charge fee of 0.3 percent.

On further examination, this matter gets more complex. The fees that businesses pay to banks are known as interchange fees. These fees cover the bank’s costs of processing credit card transactions such as fraud insurance and administration. Shops and businesses give banks different interchange fees based on size. Big retailers generating tons of sales tend to pay a smaller interchange fee. A mom and pop store will pay a larger interchange fee. These fees can vary from 2.5 to 0.1 percent.

The European Commission (EC) estimates that this fee payment market has a value of 112 billion. The EC is laying out the argument that the credit card sector is expensive and fragmented. Retailers tend to agree with the EC opinion. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has been hammering the EC for a decade to end what it calls excessive and anti-competitive fees for processing credit cards. The BRC argues that consumers will benefit via lower prices if the fees are capped. At present, retailers eat these fees and charge them back into the business.

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The Lowdown on the Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

When your credit history is proving to be a hindrance to your financial well-being, perhaps it is time for you to get a secured credit card. One of the cards worth your consideration would be the Orchard Bank MasterCard secured card issued by the HSBC Bank of Nevada.

This card targets customers with poor or limited credit ratings, and aids them towards improving their credit histories. A secured credit card works by requiring the card holder to deposit cash into their credit card account prior to utilization. This way, this credit card prevents its card owners from incurring more debt whilst helping them re-establish their credit history.

An additional advantage unique to this card is that the deposits in the account are paid interests by the bank. In the effort to establish a healthy credit rating, customers must bear in mind that late payments must be avoided, and they have to be aware of the current annual percentage rate for the card as the APR of the Orchard Bank Secured Credit card is based on a variable rate. Although, the regular rate now stands at 15.90%, the actual rate is dependent on the Prime Rate. APRs for cash advances are higher than most cards at 23.40%, with a minimum rate of 19.99%.

Interestingly enough, the annual fees for the Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card is lower than other most unsecured credit cards. Balances above $1000 will only incur fees of $35 whilst card holders who have charged more than their credit limits will only be charged only $29. Also, there are periodic reviews of the credit limit for each account, so regular payments will enable the card holder to obtain higher credit limits and at the same time improving their credit history.

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Comparing 0 APR Credit Cards

With all the introductory 0 APR credit cards popping up all over the internet in emails, on websites as advertisements and even in the regular mail through flyers, it is very hard to decide which credit card company is really offering the better deal in the long run. The introductory offers all look great but what happens after they expire? Do not take the introductory offer for 0 APR credit cards at face value. Above all, do a bit of research before you make your decision.

There are so many different 0 APR credit cards being offered that you can become overwhelmed. Today, you can find several companies offering 0 APR credit cards and other incentives to get you to apply for their credit cards.

The four most popular offers today include:

Citi Platinum Select Card You must have excellent credit or you will not be approved for this 0 APR credit card. The card offers 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for your first 12 months. There is no annual fee, you can manage your account online, and there is zero liability on unauthorized purchases.

What’s The Best free Shopping Cart Solution

Oscommerce Shopping Cart is Free for the Taking !

osCommerce (available as free download from (www.oscommerce.com) is the most comprehensive and popular open source ecommerce Cart system in existence. It has a huge list of features and is probably the most versatile ecommerce cart solution and offers vast range of customization choices for the on-line storefront owners depending on their need at a very affordable price.

If you are looking for setting up an ecommerce store, you should definitely consider osCommerce. Oscommerce shopping cart is an online shop ecommerce solution that offers a wide range of out of the box features that allow online stores to be setup fairly quickly with ease, and is available for free as an Open Source based solution released under the GNU General Public License. osCommerce is a complete online store solution that contains both a catalog frontend and an administration tool backend, which can be easily configured over web. What are the Requirements : With no special requirements, osCommerce is able to run on any PHP 4.1+ enabled web server running on Linux, Solaris, BSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows environments.

What are the Advantages? It is a very excellent, full-featured, cart. Uses Php and MySQL. -Supports a wide range of credit-card processors and shipping services. -It uses an indexed database and can handle a large number of products (10’s of thousands). Many Hosting companies include installation as Readymade Scripts. One of the main benefits of osCommerce is that If your hosting company doesn’t install osCommerce you may still be able to install it yourself or have someone install it for you osCommerce would be hard to compete with even if it cost as much as the most expensive commercial ecommerce carts. -There are a large number of available add-on modules and many more in development A Quick look at the Bad points : Technical support is limited to the osCommerce forums, which are not that much helpful to newbies.

Reward Points On Credit Cards A Perfect Enjoyment

Credit card companies offer varying benefits and promotions to entice their customers to use their credit cards not only in their everyday purchases but also for major buying decisions. One of the promotions that credit card companies have is the rewarding of points to their users for every purchase that they make.

Credit card holders are often enjoy reward points raining on them. Frequent festive seasons always induce the card holders to enjoy shopping with reward points. Todays customers are debt-shy and they spend like anything. They enjoy earning reward points while spending. Credit cards are heavily loaded with reward points give the opportunity to enjoy holidays at exotic locales, shop for jewellery, fashion accessories, apparel, electronic equipment, cosmetics, etc. Banks have a penchant for giving a reward with their left hand, and simultaneously charging for it with their right hand. Card holders must be aware of a host of complicated rules and regulations before letting themselves be swayed away by these so-called lucrative offers. To begin with, banks do not conform to a uniform set of reward point schedules. For instance, while in case of American Express Bank, card members receive one point for every Rs 40 charged on their credit card, ABN Amro Bank credits one point to the customer for every Rs 50 spent. Standard Chartered credits one point for every Rs 125, whereas Citibank rewards you one point for every Rs 100 spent. Private sector ICICI Bank awards you one reward point for every Rs 200 charged on their card. Also, ICICI Bank links the reward points to the slabs of amounts spent, i.e. upto Rs 75,000 or above Rs 4,00,000. The main hitch here is that redemption of reward points is only after accumulation of minimum required points of 500.

This apart, banks also follow a pattern wherein they credit varying amounts on every point earned, depending upon the card categories. Citibank rewards cardholders Re 1 for every point earned on the Citibank Platinum Card, while the Diners’ Club International and Citibank Gold cardholders receive only Rs 0.65 for every point gathered. The Citibank Silver cardholders on the other hand get Re 0.50 for every point they manage to accumulate. The difference in redemption structures also creep in, based on the outlets offering you redemption facilities.
Whereas to avail of vouchers, redeemable at Zodiac, Wrangler, Arrow or Titan, you should have accumulated a minimum of 500 points. Being a cardholder, it is mandatory to find out the cash transactions that curtail your eligibility to these programmes. Most banks restrict their customers from treating cash withdrawals, interest charges, card fees, demand drafts, service charge transactions, disputed transactions, purchase of foreign exchange, EMI transactions, travelers cheques and other insurance charges as opportunities to accumulate reward points. The rewards points can also be redeemed online by logging in to the concerned bank’s Web site and visit the “Reward Points” section on the credit card page. To web-enable the credit card, fill up the account linking form available on the site. Select the rewards catalogue for the card and accordingly, choose the products or vouchers for which an online order has to be placed. The product or the voucher is then delivered at doorstep.

Card-issuing banks offer cardholders the facility to seek an annual fee waiver, by adjusting the amount against the reward points. One also should check on the available timeframe within which cardholders need to redeem their points. Cardholders cannot exercise redemption rights on expired or delinquent cards. A frequent traveler credit card rewards system for example, a card user who purchases groceries, gas or technically his daily purchases, may have an equal travel reward points awarded to him for every dollar he spends on his regular purchases. On the other hand, should he ever buy plane tickets from an airline company co-sponsoring the credit card hes using, the reward points that he may earn may be higher as this is also one way to help promote the airline companys latest promotions or travel packages.