There are many different credit cards and many different banks offering them. There are easy to get credit cards and then those credit cards that can be so hard you don’t know why you would even apply. The thing about credit cards is that they can help or hinder your life. So when you are trying to obtain a credit card there are some things you should consider, especially regarding the easy to get credit cards. Some of the easy to get credit cards are for bad credit, no credit, or just easy to get because the card company feels they need more customers.

There are fees, interest rates, policies, terms and conditions, and other things you should think about. When you try for an easy to get credit card you are usually approved within twenty minutes. This is what makes them extremely easy to get. They will take the application you have just submitted and review your income to debt ratio. They will also access your credit history to determine the type of customer you will be. Once the risk is assessed they send an email or tell you on that same page that you have been approved and at what rate. This rate however may differ from the offer that enticed you in the first place. Since the card company doesn’t know everyone’s risk until they actually have an application they advertise to entice you to try for their card. This is not a bad thing. If you see a card offering 15% you are usually going to get near that APR. The rest of the advertisement will remain the same, such as 0% APR and Balance transfers for the first two months, or whatever the deal is.

You should note that most easy to get credit cards have lax risk standards and therefore the interest rate is going to be a little higher than some that are easy to get. For example they assess your risk based on whether you will be responsible or whether you will default. So if they think you are a higher risk you are going to have a higher interest rate, but they still give you the card. For those that are harder to get they will flatly refuse because of the risk you pose and not offer a better interest rate.

Many of us think the easy to get credit cards are the best, and in truth they really are. The easy to get credit cards offer a card to almost anyone. Their standards are better as well. For instance you have posed a bit of a risk in the past, but you have had a good clean record with the easy to get credit card for the last year. In this case you could ask the card to lower your interest rate, and they usually will. With harder to get cards you are likely at that interest rate or going to have an increased rate over time that they are unwilling to work with for you.

If you are in the market to purchase your own health insurance coverage you can save yourself precious time and money by shopping and comparing policies right online. Sites dedicated to giving you quotes on various types of insurance make it very easy for you to get an idea of what your coverage and costs will be. However, please be forewarned that there are some pitfalls in using an insurance broker as I discovered within the past year.

As a self employed person, I carry my own health and life insurance for my family. When making the move from New Jersey to North Carolina in 2004 I knew two things about our health insurance:

1. I would have to shop for a health insurance provider covering North Carolina.

2. Rates would be cheaper than in New Jersey, with costs being about half of what I had been paying and with slight better coverage.

Several weeks before we moved I contacted a well known internet insurance broker and received quotes. We selected one company and received the paperwork from the broker about ten days before our move. Quite frankly, I wish I had started the process a little earlier as all of our free time was dedicated toward preparing and making the move. So, I ended up packing the paperwork with my personal stuff and was only able to fill it out and submit it one week after our arrival in North Carolina.

Dealing with the online insurance broker was a simple task, but I soon discovered that they were an extra step in the application process, one that only slowed down our approval.

Once the paperwork was received by the broker, they acknowledged the same via email and mentioned that they would review our package before forwarding it to the health insurance company.

Over the next couple of weeks we received messages from the insurance broker stating the following:

1. We are in the process of reviewing your application.

2. We have sent your application off to the insurance company.

3. The insurance company has your application and will be reviewing it in about one week.

4. The insurance company expects a delay in reviewing your application due to the high volume of applications received.

5. Please do not contact the insurance company directly; we will keep you posted as to the status of your application. Yeah, right.

Originally, we were assured by the insurance broker that the health insurance company would review and approve our application within two weeks. Follow up phone calls by us to the broker along with several exchanges of emails revealed that this was not going to happen. In addition, when we contacted the health insurance company directly – at the encouragement of the broker – the health insurance company had difficulty finding our application. Within a few days the application was found sitting in another department; our contact at the health insurance company blamed the broker for sending the information to the wrong address.

As it turned out, the original insurance quote we received online was off by just over 20%. Once the health insurance company determined that certain pre existing conditions needed to be factored in our rates rose accordingly. Of course, when working with the internet broker we knew that the rate quoted wasn’t ‘absolute’ but the big jump was still a bitter pill to swallow.

Among our thoughts at that point in the process were:

1. Had we known ahead of time that our “final rate” would be so high, we would have shopped around some more.

2. Because of the delays and the passage of time, we needed to complete the application process as our coverage with the NJ health provider would need to be canceled, preferably by the end of the year.

By the middle of December, a full ten weeks after we submitted our paperwork, we received official notification that our application was approved and that we were covered. During the last couple of weeks of the lengthy application process we contacted the health insurance company directly several times to learn what the status of our application was. At no time during the process were we assured that we would receive approval; essentially we were told that coverage would begin pending approval.

In conclusion, I offer the following recommendations for shopping for health insurance:

1. Comparison shop online. Get quotes through the online brokers to get a general idea of what your costs will be. If you have pre-existing conditions, the prices quoted will not be reflected in your quote.

2. Narrow down the list of companies quoted to three and then contact them directly. Bypass the broker as they are an unnecessary additional step in what certainly is not a quick approval process.

3. If you need insurance by a particular date, apply well in advance to allow for delays, for misplaced paperwork, changes in your application, etc. Our insurance coverage was approved effective a specific date, but we were able to move it to another date to coincide with the dropping of our NJ health care provider.

In all, the experience was wearisome at times and a real eye opener. I know you see ads all the time for online insurance quotes. I am not saying to avoid the sites, but please consider what we went through before using an online broker exclusively.

Credit cards have long been a popular form of purchasing items on a “chargeable” or borrowed term. Let’s look at some of the advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of having a credit card are:

1. Security, since one does not have to carry a large amount of cash to purchase certain items.

2. Convenience. In case one has to purchase an item that is immediately needed (and is out of cash), these can be purchased using a credit card

3. Cash advances. Purchases that require cash payments may still be accommodated by the credit card through the cash advance feature. This works like a regular ATM transaction (with of course a corresponding interest rate)

Disadvantages

1. Interest rate. Unlike purchasing with cash, credit card charges come with a corresponding interest (unless paid before the due date). The consumer should be aware of the various interest rates offered by the different credit card companies. One has to choose the mode of payment (plus the interest rate) that would best suit his or her capacity to pay.

2. Overuse. A consumer tends to purchase items that are not really needed or included in their budget if they have a credit card that is ready to use.

3. Annual fees. Whether one chooses to use his or her card, after activation, annual fees will be charged.

4. Other charges. A delay in the payment during one billing period would incur you additional charges.

Credit card online approval usually is far easier than manual applications that require various forms to be completed before it can be processed. The company likewise is more likely to receive your application on a shorter period of time as compared to snail-mailing your forms.

For a faster credit card online approval, take into consideration the following:

1. Do not leave any unanswered line, especially those marked with a red asterisk.

2. After completion of the online application, immediately send either through email or facsimile the additional requirements needed.

3. Take into consideration that credit card companies prioritize applications of the following group of people:

- married couples

- persons with a mortgaged house or car

- persons with several dependents

4. Choose credit card companies that have a promotional offer in the application process, chances are, promos are offered due to low application rate, thus prioritization your entry is a sure shot.

The logic here is that the more obligations an applicant has, the more they are likely to use the credit card, which equivalents to higher earnings (through interest charges) on their part.