My bank has been hounding me to increase my credit line by updating my annual income. They must have some good flags to alert to such things since our spending has bumped a bit on the credit card, partly due to a salary bump, but partly do to trying to get more reward points. However we're always below 50% of the credit line for something like 11 months of the year at the least.  What are the pro's and con's of actually submitting this information to them? This  talks about marketing and demographic issues. What do credit card companies do with that information? And what's this no credit inquiry about? They basically make an internal decision without consulting any credit bureaus?
9975
So I received an e-mail today from a bank from whom I have an existing credit card as follows:     To consider you for a future credit line increase, federal regulations   require us to have your current income.      Keeping your account info up to date is always a good idea. Plus, it   helps us meet federal regulations, which require us to collect updated   income info before reviewing your account for future credit line   increases. So please take a moment and update your income in about 60   seconds.   As far as I can tell, the email is legit because it includes security information in the e-mail that checks out. Of course, I still am not following any links in that e-mail just in case.  Does anyone here know what the backstory is on this? Was there recent regulation passed where card issuers need to know your income level?   Or maybe I'm wrong and this is just a phishing attempt?
57285
I recently left my credit card at a bar so I reported it as lost to my bank, and my bank said I will get a replacement within a few days. For what it's worth, I picked my card up from the bar a few days later and made sure to cut it up.  The new credit card has arrived and has new numbers. Will this negatively affect my credit score?  VISA, Chase Bank, USA.
105520
My credit has been really poor for a lot of years.  I really want to be able to have better credit but everything I do does not help.  Can anyone give me any insight on how to fix it up?
33214
Right now, most if not all major banks have mortgage refinance rates about 1% higher than the rate for a mortgage used to purchase a property. Up until a few months ago, I don't recall ever seeing any spread between advertised refinance and purchase rates, never mind such a big one. Is there historical precedent for this practice? What is stopping a lender from undercutting other banks by offering only an 0.5% spread? Is it collusion that nobody is doing so?
57363
For our banking app, our team is trying to encourage our users to keep more money in their savings account. Specifically, to prevent more than 6 transfers per month, of any amount, from savings to checking.  The current (bad) method is to have a message before the "Submit" button with a paragraph of legal jargon that nobody reads.  My current plan is to have a natural-language message that tells the user that there are methods to save more money easily (citing some loss-aversion research), and maybe a call to action that brings them to another savings service. That's the idea I just came up with, and I'd like to have more.  We're just looking for a good way to help people spend less money, which I'm relatively new to.
30360
Specifically, I notice that on a mortgage statement, my payment is "amortized" so that at the beginning of the loan, I am paying almost entirely interest and very little principal.  However, on a credit card balance, it seems interest is only charged on the balance.  Why do amortization schedules work the way they do, and are they typically used for most loans, and why?
60576
I understand Visa and MasterCard make money on transaction fees, but how much (if any) of those fees do banks see? Do banks make money on people who pay their bills on time, or are reward programs paid for by the people who don't?
63621
I've been curious about something for a few days now, but I couldn't find out the reason elsewhere.   Reading through, for example, the Square terms and conditions (), they state      ... you will not (a) ... (b) provide yourself a cash advance from your   credit card ...   But what is the reason they don't allow this to happen via their services? Note, I am definitely not asking if using Square, or other services, to do this sort of thing should be something I should be doing, but what's in it for Square to refuse this type of transaction? Wouldn't they get a piece of the transaction like any other and profit from this? Or is there pressure or deals with the credit card companies they accept, stating that they will do their best to refuse this behavior?
15930
The  specifically says not to ask  for career advice but people do it anyway.  Should I consider the Help Center outdated or only loosely enforced?    And what about a career advice site on the network?  There are 70+ sites, and most of them are for relatively narrow interests (which is not a criticism, I enjoy looking through the many sections).  A career section seems like it would be very popular.  Also, a careers section would help keep career questions off the other sites.
33756
I have a credit card with a credit limit of $1000, but I would like to make a purchase of $1500. If I transfer $500 into my credit card account, would that increase my credit limit to $1500?
35736
I am taking a financial assessment. It asks me:     What is your total monthly debt payment (e.g. student loans, vehicles, credit cards, personal loans, etc.)?   Then the next questions are about household essentials and non-household essentials.  But should I include rent in any of this?
14157
I spend about $20-30 a week on my debit card, with periodic $200-300 purchases every few months. I've thought about getting a credit card the moment I turn 18 and using it to buy everything, then immediately paying it off. Assuming I only use it to buy things I can afford (which I trust myself to do), essentially treating it as a debit card, is this a good idea? Or should I wait until I'm a bit older?   Assume that I will only spend money I have in my bank account at the time I spend it and that I will keep track of how much I spent and never spend more than I have.  Joe Taxpayer recommended I post an update: I ended up getting a card, and from my perspective the only thing that's changed is that it takes things ~24 hours to show up on my statement and I don't have to enter a PIN when I checkout. Should I add this to the question? I know on other SE sites people generally don't like updates in the questions
79384
Today we were discussing our "credit system" for our website.  At our company, clients can pay us money to get credits. One credit represents one dollar. But what is the best way of represent the money given by our client?  One dollar as 1 credit or One dollar as $1.00  The discussion started because we asked ourselves if the client feels that he "lost" his one dollar when it is transformed into a credit. What are your thoughts on this question?
18424
How does a credit card company make any money off of me using their card if there are no fees associated with the card (I don't pay any extra) and I pay off my balance on time every month (so I don't pay any fees ever for this either).  Are they just banking on the fact that many people don't do this and end up owing them money?
34487
How do credit card companies make profit by giving us credit for 40-50 days (India). I purchase something on my credit card and I pay it to the credit card company after some days. How are they going to make profit with this where I'm not paying any service charge to them?  I'm asking this for couple of reasons.   I heard that credit card companies charge the merchant with some percentage of the bill amount. Is this true? If that is true then why cant we get that percentage directly from the merchant by paying cash. We can get this percentage by getting discount in bill. isn't it? If they get profit from late fees or interest charges if customer makes late payment or pays long after due date. If this is the way they get profit, is this big amount compared to what they offer in credit to the customer?   Please put some points from your side to make me aware of this system, so that I can get maximum from a credit card company.
107491
My wife and I were planning to buy a house this year, but the plan fell through, so right now we are sitting on the money that we saved towards down payment and renovations (prior to now money was in the Money markets, Savings &amp; CDs). We decided to stop looking for a house for about a year, and resume next February, though if a nice deal shows up we want money easily available. So in our situation what is the best way to make sure we don't lose any principal, but to see that our money doesn't sit idle. CDs are pretty much out of the question: for a 6-9 months period interest is lower than savings. The best I was able to come up with (according to ) were:   - 1.2% + 10% on the interest earned.   - 1.15%   - 1.15%   According to their websites all of them are FDIC members. Are there any other options? I don't really know anything about bonds. Are they a viable option? Final Solution: My boss recommended I check out  ( they are a Texas bank with locations in CA, IL &amp; TX, obviously the website.) They are offering 2.02 % on a 60 months CD - but here is the kicker, if I need to pull the money before it matures, they only take the last 2 months of interest as a penalty. So I think that's a good solution for me. The website says they are FDIC insured and there are a brick and mortar branches not far from me. Update: This bank I mentioned, doesn't seem to exist anymore, through a series of purchases. So scratch that suggestion. Thank you everyone for your recommendations.
83336
I am under 18, currently shopping for a car. Like many people, I don't have enough money sitting in my bank account to purchase a good car, around $6,000 to $10,000. However, credit checks have prevented me from being able to lease, and loan, due to my parents' bad credit. I personally am quite responsible with money, but short of emancipating, which has quite significant legal disadvantages, I can't find any ways of breaking free from my parents' credit history. Any ideas?  Note: Rather than making assumptions about my financial background, just assume I am trying to get credit for leverage in an investment but I'm underage and my parents have bad credit. How would I do it?