American Express Statement Credit

It seems that the promotion with American Express and Wal-Mart could be a scam. I’ve seen a lot of online activity about this offer, everyone seems to be asking similar questions. I logged in with my account information and did not find any information related to this promotion (did anyone find it?). So I clicked on the email and this is what I got:



Why would they ask for all this information? Don’t they already have my security code? Even they have designed it to prevent fraud:

"The 4-digit security code is unique to each Card, and protects against fraudulent usage. Look for it on the front of your Card, just above and to the right of your main credit card number"

Other providers don’t ask for all this information when they have offers, most use a submit button or all you have to do is validate email address.

Could it be a disgruntled employee on the inside trying to get credit card numbers?

Seems strange… did anyone sign up?

HS

American Express Wal-Mart Promotion

American Express sent me an email to receive a $20 statement credit by using the card at Wal-Mart. This is for my Blue account, if you have one of these cards you probably also got the email, simply sign up and shop at Wal-Mart to save some money this holiday season. Details below:



This is funny since this comes from the company that uses data-mining software to analyze where you shop with your card and reduce your credit line based on statistical data. Wal-Mart was at the top of the list of retailers, basically if you shopped there in the past you were more likely to default on future payments.

Maybe they’re ready to make nice?

HS

New Template

The new template is complete! If you have a blog about debt and would like to be added to the blogroll please add it to the comments below.

Thanks,

HS

CITI Interest Rates

CITI continues to lower our APR on both cards! The rate this month went down to 9.99%:

I can only say thanks! This really helps with out debt reduction. Over a year ago this rate was 14.240%. The credit limit on the Premier Pass card still at $21,000 they have not lower this yet but I expect them to cut it back to at least $15,000. Either way I’m not really concerned since this is one account I will be closing when the balance is 0.

Our Advanta credit card which I wrote about a few weeks ago, sent me a letter in the mail yesterday saying that the account was being closed due to inactivity and information in my credit report. I’ve hear a lot of negative stuff about Advanta so this is one card I can live without, no big loss there.

Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend!

HS

Discover Rewards

Discover is offering $20 gift cards for every $200 dollars spent at participating malls. I don’t understand how Discover can afford to do promotions like this but I’m tempted to take advantage of them. With the holidays coming up why not get a free lunch on them or $20 off a big purchase.



I love Discover, last month we cashed in $40.00 in cash back rewards. I often wonder how they make any money. We’ve been customers since 2001 they’ve paid us over $500 on cash back bonuses over the years.

HS

Credit Card Debt Forgiveness

I read an article last Friday saying that banks are asking for credit card debt forgiveness from their consumers. It appears that the big banks have formed an alliance and are pushing for credit card debt to be forgiven! This new program would involve close to 50,000 people struggling to pay their debts and it would erase up to 40% off their balances!

I’m hoping this means I qualify for this program since I pay my bills on time and never have any late payments. I wish they had done this when I had more debt, it would have saved me so much money.

According to the article I found, the credit card lenders include Discover Financial Services, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, American Express and HSBC Holdings.

As most of my readers know, these are all companies I do business with, so I’m hoping to hear soon from CITI and HSBC (Best Buy) about reducing my balances by 40 percent!

Wish me luck!

HS

Link from: Herald Tribune.