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Interest rates for mortgages have lowered because the Bank of England has lowered their base rate so much. However, there is one product that does not seem to be following the base rate. Instead, credit cards are gaining higher interest rates despite the base rate of the Bank of England. In order to fight these current troubles with interest rates credit card holders are looking for better products. They are searching for deals with 0 per cent on balance transfers and purchases. They are also looking for rewards cards that will work for them in order to help make the higher interest rates more favourable for them.

It is estimated that 2.8 million cardholders are going to shift roughly 2.8 billion pounds onto new credit cards in 2011.

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There’s bad news brewing for Illinois residents.  This New York Times article identifies an almost unconscionable 66% increase in the state’s ie tax rate, from 3% to 5%.  Additionally the corporate tax rate will go from 4.8% to 7%.  This will inevitably mean less disposable ie and less discretionary spending by employers.  The real question, in my mind, is how is this going to impact the credit scores of our friends in Illinois.

This is a simple math problem.  Whenever you have less money in a paycheck you have less money to put toward bills.  Now, I’m not suggesting there will be a large scale increase in the default rates of Illinois residents but I am suggesting that it will go up to some extent.  Even worse, the decrease in “take home” will also place a strain on the discretionary amount, which means more money will NOT be spent reducing credit card balances.

An increase in default rates plus a lack of credit card debt reduction equals lower credit scores.  Why?  Because anything that doesn’t cause your scores to increase can and will likely cause your scores to decrease.  Think about it.  Can this in any way help to improve the credit scores of Illinois residents?  I think not.

That’s not good news especially because Illinois residents currently boast a healthy average FICO score of 699.  As lenders maintain more difficult underwriting standards the impending drop in scores could mean more expensive credit and insurance for Illinois residents.

Credit card usage is going down and according to experts the new credit card rules and saner purchasing decisions taken by consumers are behind this decline. People are tapped out according to experts who fee that the overall trend shows a decline in credit card usage. When the prices of houses were rising, a lot of house owners took advantage of the equity loans that came with quite low interest rates. These equity loans helped customers pay back the credit card debt where the interest rates were very high. The home values are on the decline now which means people don’t get the equity they used to, anymore.

According to many surveys, a lot of shoppers during this holiday season actually used cash instead of their credit cards as they had in the past. The reduced card usage according to industry experts is also because of the 13 billion dollars in credit card debt that consumers had built up over the last one year.

Credit cards weren’t entirely abandoned by credit cards in 2010. Thi

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TGIF! And we know you must be jumping out of your office chair for joy. But since you ARE sitting in your office right now, that means getting through the last day of the work week can be painfully unproductive. So, before you sail into the weekend, make today count with tips on How to Improve Your Friday Habits, from SavvySugar.

Here’s an excerpt: “Stop the Friday Slackin’: An astounding 75 percent of SavvySugar readers admit to slacking on Fridays. If you want to change that stat, get to the office early, which is when most SavvySugar readers say they peak productivity wise. The perk of an early-bird morning is you can leave the office a little bit early, too.”

A more productive Friday can prove to be a less hectic Monday and Tuesday, which many report is their busiest day at work. Whateve

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Barclaycard is offering 0% for 17 months on its Platinum Transfer Visa but what are the best balance transfer credit card deals?

By moving to a 0% balance transfer card, borrowers can shave hundreds of pounds from their interest repayments. At least, that is the lure.

First, you need to work out how long it will take you to pay off the balance. There are a number of cards on the market with differing lengths of balance transfer and typically a fee – ie Barclaycard offers 0% for up to 17 months.

By cutting out the interest charges, the money you repay is going straight to repaying the debt, reducing the time it takes to clear the debt as well as saving you money.

But there are hidden risks to watch our for, such as, transferring your balance within a restricted number of days and making sure you keep up with repayments to avoid large charges.

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For right now it seems most credit card companies are holding on their interest rates. The interest rates are fairly high on most credit cards as is, but it does not look like they are increasing the average or typical rate at the moment. The first week of 2011 has shown interest rates on credit cards at 12.589 per cent. This is unchanged from the week prior and the end of 2010. The question is, how can you obtain such a low rate?

A lot of the credit cards you see on comparison sites are in at 11.9 per cent at the very least in order to tempt you towards getting the card. However, the average credit card rate is not always what one is awarded. According to recent studies many have high debts to income ratio, which means 11.9 per cent or 12.5 per cent is often out of the question.

Credit cards are always going to be based on risk regarding credit worthiness, history, and scores.

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