Small Business Finance Tips Business Financing Information

4Sep/090

Credit Cards With Cash Back – Give Yourself a Cash Back Bonus

Looking for credit cards with cash back? If you are then you certainly are not alone. Cash back credit cards are now the most popular form of credit on the market today. And is it any wonder why? With the poor economy we are all doing the best we can to stretch our spending dollars as much as possible.

Finding cash rewards programs is not at all difficult. Every major issuer including American Express, Discover, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Capital One and so on offer them.

Simply do a quick search on the Internet and you'll find several comparison websites that will have a category dedicated exclusively to cashback offers... At least on the good sites anyway.

But before conducting your search it is important that you first take the time to identify exactly what your specific financial needs are. You should really take the time to understand how you spend your money. By doing this you will have an excellent idea of exactly what type of credit cards with cash back you should be looking for.

For instance, if you do the shopping for a large family then of course you probably spend quite a bit of money on groceries. Finding a cash rewards program that gives you even just 1% off on your grocery purchases can, over a period of time, mean substantial savings.

Another example would be that if you travel extensively in your car for work or even pleasure, then a credit card that offers cash rebates on gas would make sense. And the way that gasoline prices fluctuate it can actually mean that you will realize some pretty serious savings at the pump.

So let's say you spend $500 per month at the grocery store. If you have a credit card that grants you say 3% cashback savings, you will save $15 per month. Multiply those monthly savings by 12 months and you have saved $180 over the course of a year. Not a bad deal when you think about it.

You may want to begin your search by taking a look at the cards offered through Discover Financial Services. Discover cards have long led the way in offering cash rewards programs to their cardholders. It is not at all uncommon to find many of their cards offering 5% cashback on a wide array of everyday purchases.

Of course I would be remiss if I did not point out to you the importance of reading over the terms and conditions of the offers you are interested in before you apply. It is important to understand the interest rates and fees charged for not only credit cards with cashback, but for all offers.

7Mar/090

Auto Insurance Loyalty Discount

Although California auto insurance policies will not offer a continuous coverage discount when changing insurance companies many companies will offer their clients a loyalty discount. These discounts will vary from five to ten percent between companies. Many times that consumer will be eligible for the loyalty discount if they maintain the same insurance policy for at least 12 months.

In California all auto insurance rates are reviewed and approved by the department of insurance. Insurance companies are required to comply with the guidelines and rates that are approved by the California DOI. There can be no variations or exceptions to the rates that are approved. This is meant to help ensure that the carriers maintain profitability and are not pricing their policies to a point that could harm the financial strength of the companies or charge higher premiums than what would be appropriate.

With these rates being set consumers should understand that when they are shopping auto insurance policies between carriers it may be a good idea to make the change even with as low as a 10 percent saving on the policy.

Since the new insurance company is not able to immediately provide a discount for continuous coverage the rates being quoted for the initial policy term are quoted without any type of loyalty discount.

With this being said, a consumer that changes insurance companies and is expecting an initial savings of 10 percent could easily see a 15 to 20 percent savings after the policy matures and they receive the loyalty discount from their new insurance company. Consumers should keep this in mind and think of the long term saving of changing insurance carriers rather than exclusively focusing on the saving during the initial policy term.