Tag Archives: credit card
Walmart Credit Card – A Personal, Safe and Exclusive Experience
The Walmart Credit Card is a Store Offer and is issued by GE Money and aims to be used “personally” and by consumers with a fair credit history. Though not mandatory, yet a FICO score of 632 would put you in a better position as far as the approval for the Walmart Credit Card is concerned. The card issuer may expect a few discrepancies but based on the FICO score recommendation if you have a recently clean credit record without any negative mark on your report you can sail through the approval process with little difficulty and enormous success. However, there are other issues too, which decide in the application for the Walmart Credit Card being approved.
The approval time for the Walmart Credit Card is relatively lesser than its counterparts. It might give you instant approval decision if your application information is complete, is beyond questions and has no other loophole in it. The system shows your approval status to you shortly after you submit your application online, so gone are the days when you had to wait for days on your application status. After your application is approved you can expect your credit card to arrive anytime between 1 to 2 weeks.
The Walmart Credit Card is not a rewards card although it has no annual fee. There is no introductory APR for the Walmart Credit Card hence the lowest standard APR of 12.37% applies immediately; however APR’s may vary among applicants. The lowest standard APR of 12.37% is variable and varies according to the fluctuations in the U.S. prime rates. The program’s terms and conditions tell you how to compute your applicable APR.
Since the Walmart Credit Card is unlike any traditional credit card, it accepted only in the relative areas. The Walmart Credit Card is a store or catalog card and is aims at consumers or personal use’. Hence it is accepted at places like Wal-Mart, SAM’S CLUB and Walmart.com. With the use of the Walmart Credit Card you can save 3¢ per gallon at all the participating Wal-Mart and SAM’s Club gas stations or you can make in-store payments at any Wal-Mart or SAM’S CLUB register. What’s more there are special financing offers with the Walmart Credit Card giving you that extra edge. This card gives you the grace period of 25 days in the least; hence you don’t have to pay interest charges during those days as they are inapplicable. You can also choose the due date of your payment, so the ball is always in your court.
With the Walmart Credit Card you have $0 fraud liability, so you can sit back and relax without worrying too much. The Walmart Credit Card understands your love for your family and that is why it provides you with additional cards for you family members and that too without any extra cost. If you thought that you needed another reason for applying for the Walmart Credit Card, here’s more coming your way. The Walmart Credit Card not only understands your need for security and privacy but also respects it; thus, your access to your account information is absolutely secure, free from prying eyes and potential hackers.
Credit Card for Students
For most university students, credit cards arent high on their priority list for things to take care of after all, students with loans can pay for things with direct debit from their bank accounts, as can students that are being assisted financially by their parents.
The simple truth of the matter is that most students dont think about credit cards, so that when it gets to the point that they need one, they end up rushing through the selection process, ending up with a credit card that isnt optimal for their needs or worse one that actually ends up being detrimental for them in the long run.
So what should a student seeking a credit card do? Simple, they need to research! Look at a wide variety of student credit cards, their benefits and their drawbacks. Only select one that you feel comfortable with and that you feel addresses your needs well, while not providing you with too many setbacks.
So what characteristics should you look for? Well, here are a few things to keep in mind in your search for the perfect student credit card.
Fees
Some credit cards charge you an annual fee for their usage; I like to counsel students to stay away from these types of credit cards, as usually their good points are not enough to outweigh the fact that you have to pay for them. Youve already good tuition, textbooks, residence and many other things to worry about, no sense in adding another to the list.
Credit cards that charge annual fees are intended more for business people that spend lots of money and have lots of disposable income, not for students on a fixed budget. As a result, most student credit cards wont have such a fee attached to them. If they do however, consider whether you really need the benefits of that specific credit card before you sign up for it.
Spending Limits
When I started my first year of undergraduate studies, the first credit card I applied for had a credit limit of $500, and it ended up being more than I needed at the time. As I went through University and my general expenses increased, I ended up applying to have that limit raised to $1000 and adding a second credit card with a limit at $1500 this was mostly just for when I bought textbooks or paid for tuition, as I wanted to get the maximum advantage out of my credit card bonus plans, but it was a good example of me getting the most out of the cards.
Incentives
Incentives are bonuses that the companies attach to their student credit cards in order to entice more people into signing up for them. A good example of this is the “cashback” credit card, where a certain small percentage of what you spend on your credit card is refunded to you.
A credit card that was popular amongst friends of mine was the grocery credit card, which was given out by one of the chains of grocery stores where we lived. Instead of direct cashback, they offered a store credit that was twice the value of most cashback plans at the time, the practicality of which appealed to a lot of students.
Interest Rates
Ideally, this shouldnt ever be a problem, as youd be able to pay off your balance each month and thus never accrue interest on your account. Practically, however, things wont always work out that way. Therefore, interest needs to be a concern as well.
The industry average for credit card annual interest rates is somewhere in the 19-23% range, compounded monthly. However, being a student you should take advantages of the discounts available to you if you do your research, you should be able to find a card that suits your needs with a student discount interest rate in the 10-15% range.
While 10% may not seem like a whole lot, if you ever lose your job, have to quit or have some other unexpected event that affects your finances, the interest can build up very quickly. One way to partially prevent this is to purposely search for a lower interest rate first.