American Express Platinum is fairly exclusive and requires an annual fee of $300, but includes an array of benefits:
• Comprehensive travel insurance for you and your children.
• The travel insurance is so comprehensive that it provides limited financial compensation should your departure be delayed by more than 4 hours, including missed connections, and also if your baggage is delayed by more than 4 hours.
• Accelerated status with hotel and car hire programs.
• Preferential rates on travel.
• Access to Eurostar lounges.
• Personal concierge.
Bank of America has joined the rush to serve the very wealthy with a high end credit card. It’s a joint venture with American Express called the Accolades Amex Credit Card.
The card is targeted exclusively for the very wealthy customers in their Private Bank arm, Premier Banking & Investments, division of Bank of America. The minimum requirement for customers is $200,000 worth of assets at Bank of America.
Perks of the new card include:
Read more...
Posted by Tom Wilkins on Fri 13th July 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Glossary
An introductory APR is:
“A temporary, usually low, interest rate (expressed as an annual percentage rate) offered by providers to “introduce” you to their services. It will usually expire after a certain amount of time and may often be terminated based on your behavior, such as if you make a late payment or exceed your credit limit. Be sure to check the details of the offer for any limitations on an introductory APR.”
This is one term you should always check very carefully in the small print. What may look like a great deal, could have a sting in the tail after the lapse of the introductory APR deal. You have been warned!!
For those of you stumbling across this in a credit card offer here’s a definition:
“Performance (or Risk Based) APR is a variation on variable APR, but ibased on your payment performance. There is a standard APR when you open the account, but that APR will increase if you are late making a payment. If you are late making a payment more than once within a specified time (usually between 6 and 12 months), the APR may increase again. If the APR has gone up because of a late payment or late payments, it may go back to the standard APR if you are not late on your payments for a certain period (typically one year).”
Sifting out the wheat from the chaff should become easier in the UK credit market after a new initiative from the Office of Fair Trading.
In a recent announcement the OFT unveiled “a new programmed of work with card providers and consumer groups to make the cost of cards easier to understand.”
Yippee!! This is long overdue in the UK. Congratulations to consumer group Which? who are known to have exerted pressure on this issue stating that “consumers are choosing credit cards without understanding all the issues that affect the cost of the card.”
Interestingly OFT research indicates that most card holders don’t even bother to compare credit card deals. It’s hardly surprising when you see the sheer volume of small print bundled with each deal.
OFT chief executive John Fingleton said: ‘Credit card pricing has become increasingly complex, with many new dimensions such as interest-free periods. While these . . . give additional choice and value to consumers, they can make it harder for consumers to make informed decisions.
‘This work will consider how pricing information might be improved so as to enable better product comparison by consumers, without stifling valuable competition and innovation that benefits consumers.’
