LowCards in the Press

WSJ recommends LowCards.com

2010-04-24T10:52:00.000-05:00

Making Sense of the New Card Offers

"..Sites such as .... LowCards.com ..... can help consumers compare program features and fees."

Today Show's Jean Chatzky recommends LowCards.com

2010-04-19T12:53:00.005-05:00

NPR quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-04-14T14:51:00.002-05:00

Pay tax with reward points? Bad idea.

...Bill Hardekopf, who heads LowCards.com, says the real point is encouraging you to charge at least part of the tax bill. He says card companies know you'll be on the hook for possible penalties and/or their high interest rates:

BILL HARDEKOPF: Issuers want to encourage that, and that's why we see a number of commercials that almost invite you to put it on your credit card.

He cautions that "maxing out" your account limit can end up hurting your credit rating:

HARDEKOPF: If you do charge a significant amount of your income tax to your credit card, you do stand the risk of seeing a decrease in your credit score...

USA TODAY mentions LowCards.com

2010-04-09T13:28:00.001-05:00

If you owe taxes to the IRS, you have payment options

...It could hurt your credit score. In the past few months, many credit card issuers have reduced customers' credit limits, in some cases by a significant amount, says Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com. If your IRS bill consumes a lot of your available credit, it could hurt your credit utilization ratio, which is based on the amount of debt you have outstanding as a percentage of your available credit. A higher utilization rate could hurt your credit score, which could make it more expensive to get a car loan or refinance your mortgage...

US News quotes LowCards CEO

2010-04-05T15:02:00.000-05:00

Why Consumers Are Shunning Plastic

..."If you're a serial spender or charger, and you have a lower credit limit, you're able to charge less and carry less of a balance," says Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of www.lowcards.com. At the same time, he says, credit card interest rates have gone up—the average rate is now close to 17 percent—so consumers are wary of racking up too much pricey debt. "It's much more expensive to carry debt on your credit card," Hardekopf adds...

TIME mentions LowCards.com

2010-04-02T13:21:00.000-05:00

Your debt is forgiven, but your taxes are not

Here's a bit of unhappy news for tax season. The folks over at LowCards.com point out that even if your credit card company has forgiven the debt you owe them, there's still a good chance you have to pay tax on the amount. That caveat is going to catch a lot of people this year since, as Steve mentioned a few weeks ago, card companies have been on a charge-off binge. According to LowCards.com:
There was a surge in credit card debt forgiveness in 2009. According to the IRS, more than 2.5 million people will be receiving 1099 forms, because they owe income taxes on forgiven debt from car loans or credit cards.

CNNMoney quotes LowCards CEO

2010-03-23T15:08:00.000-05:00

5 credit score killers

...."The best thing to do is pay your bills on time and pay as much of the balance as possible to try to keep your debt utilization ratio down and raise your credit score," said Bill Hardekopf of Lowcards.com....

ConsumerAffairs.com cites LowCards.com

2010-03-15T15:12:00.002-05:00

Digging Out of Debt and Surviving the Downturn

...This is the advice that you need to hear and act on if you are one of the 46.2% of American families carrying a credit balance of $7,000 to $8,000 in credit card debt paying an APR (annual percentage rate), on average, of 14.9% according to LowCards.com. (If you miss a payment, or your credit score is poor, which is the basis upon which APR is determined, your APR can be as high as 29%.) ...

WSJ recommends LowCards for Credit Cards

2010-03-13T15:20:00.000-06:00

Where to Find the Money

...Companies' appetite for different types of loans can change over time, so it is important to ask a lender what types of loans it is most eager to make. The trick to getting a good deal is to compare costs. A sampling of current interest rates can be found in the table on page B10. A number of Web sites provide real-time information on prevailing rates.... Credit-card Web sites include www.lowcards.com ....

USA TODAY recommends LowCards.com

2010-03-09T11:33:00.003-06:00

How to cope with new fees, rule changes on credit cards

....Last week, the Federal Reserve Board proposed rules that would prohibit credit card issuers from charging customers an inactivity fee for failing to make new purchases with their card. That's good news for infrequent card issuers. But the rules wouldn't put any restrictions on credit card companies' ability to slap an annual fee on your cards, says Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com. Nor do the rules prevent credit card issuers from reducing your credit limits or closing your accounts....

...Credit card comparison sites such as LowCards.com....can help you search for the best deals....

ABC News cites LowCards.com CEO

2010-03-04T15:29:00.000-06:00

Lower Interest Rates? Not in the (credit) Cards

...Even if banks determine that a lower rate is warranted, the Fed's proposal doesn't call for a reduction of a specific amount. So banks wouldn't need to return the interest rate to its original level.

Instead, banks could opt for a minimal reduction, said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com....

AP quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-03-04T11:57:00.000-06:00

Lower interest rates? Not in the (credit) cards

...Instead, banks could opt for a minimal reduction, said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com.
The latest proposal by the Fed is part of the broader credit card reforms that went into effect last month. After a public comment period of one month, if approved, the rules outlined in the proposal would take effect Aug. 22....

Forbes cites LowCards.com study

2010-02-24T16:04:00.000-06:00

Five Reasons To Switch To A Credit Union Credit Card

...Even those with pristine credit are paying at least two percentage points more in interest this year, according to a study by LowCards.com.

MSNBC recommends LowCards.com

2010-02-23T16:10:00.000-06:00

New credit card laws rife with loopholes

Make sure you look at various options. Use sites such as lowcards.com .... to shop for cards. Be sure to check with the credit unions and smaller regional banks in your area. You may be pleasantly surprised to find better rates and lower fees.

TIME magazine cites LowCards.com

2010-02-22T15:59:00.000-06:00

Tagging along with Credit Card Reform: More Fees, Higher Interest Rates, and Less Credit Period

...While the CARD act was created to help consumers—and in many ways it does just that—the law has also resulted in quite a few ugly unintended consequences, as a LowCards.com post said....

The New York Times interviews LowCards.com CEO

2010-02-22T15:55:00.001-06:00

What the Credit Card Act Means for You

...Still, this provision means that you won’t get an increase for late payments that are within 60 days of the due date or for late payments to other creditors. In addition, when balances have multiple interest rates, any payment above the minimum payment required must generally be applied to the balance with the highest interest rate. But, according to Bill Hardekopf of LowCards.com, there will probably be consequences of these changes, including a scarcity of fixed-rate credit cards as most issuers switch their fixed-rate cards to variable rates and the spread of higher minimum payments.

CNN Money quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-02-22T15:41:00.000-06:00

Credit card relief is here, but watch out for new traps

..And whereas 3% was once the standard charge for rolling over a balance from one credit card to another, issuers like JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) are now assessing customers a 5% fee, according to Bill Hardekopf, CEO of the card rating site LowCards.com.....

The Wall Street Journal mentions LowCards.com

2010-02-20T15:51:00.000-06:00

Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps

.... That compares with an interest rate as low as 11.99% on a Citibank Platinum Select MasterCard, touted as one of the cheapest rates around by Lowcards.com, a card-comparison Web site. The average rate at the end of last year was roughly 14%, according to the Federal Reserve.

U.S. News & World Report quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-02-19T15:45:00.001-06:00

A New Era Begins for Credit Cards

....Bill Hardekopf, the chief executive of LowCards.com, a company that analyzes and reviews credit cards, speaks of this disillusionment in terms of a shifting partnership dynamic. "That partnership between the credit card issuer and you as the consumer has changed dramatically. The pendulum has kind of swung in favor of the issuer," he says.

NPR interviews LowCards.com CEO

2010-02-19T11:43:00.002-06:00

The loopholes of credit card reform

Bill Hardekopf is the CEO of LowCards.com.

BILL HARDEKOPF: If you're 60 days late on your payments, your interest rate can be hiked immediately.

And that higher penalty rate applies to what you already owe, as well as new charges.

Boston Globe quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-02-19T11:29:00.001-06:00

Credit card reward points can help you fatten your brokerage account, too

...“If the card offers you more than 1 percent of what you spend, it is an above-average offer,’’ said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com, which lets you compare more than 1,000 credit cards. Few cards offer cash-back rewards of more than 1 percent; the ones that do usually have a minimum spending requirement, or the higher rebate rate is part of a rotating reward program with categories of eligible purchases - groceries or restaurant meals, for example - changing every month.

Forbes quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-02-04T15:26:00.002-06:00

New Credit Card Choices For College Students

...Often it will require some parental involvement. Parents should give children "real-life examples of the credit card mistakes you have made so they can avoid making the same ones," says Bill Hardekopf, of LowCards.com.

CNN Money quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-01-25T15:31:00.001-06:00

'Consumer-friendly' credit cards?

To rehab their image, some companies have recently ginned up new "consumer-friendly" cards. But many are less about helping you and more about "something they can revolve an ad campaign around," says Bill Hardekopf of Low-Cards.com.

Wall Street Journal quotes LowCards.com CEO

2010-01-21T15:13:00.001-06:00

CONSUMER FINANCE: New Rules, New Card Tricks

"The provisions of the CARD act were excellent and they addressed key problems, but because card issuers are in the business to make money, you had to think they would find other ways to make up for the revenue they were losing because of the law," said Bill Hardekopf of LowCards.com. "Now they are instituting a number of other practices--perfectly legal even after the new law--to make up for lost revenue, and consumers now have some new things to worry about."

The Washington Post quote LowCards.com CEO

2010-01-15T15:19:00.001-06:00

Credit cards get friendlier after recession and reforms

But experts caution that consumers should remember to do their math: Compare the benefit of the promotions with cards that offer lower everyday interest rates to make sure you're getting the best deal.

"They may be cutting you some slack over here, but they're hoping you spend more over there," said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com.