One Tennessee anti-shopper shares a bit about his pursuit of ‘Yule’ (whatever that is), Christmas cheer and the perfect gift for the ‘missus’. Shopping for hedge trimmers is a no brainer & takes a few minutes flat - shopping for the fairer sex involves excursions to uncharted territories, a task the writer seems to have bested in the name of love and with the help of a healthy sense of humor.

By MIKE PIRTLE
I’m not much of a shopper.

I don’t like shopping for the most part, except Bink’s, and am old enough I generally have everything I need and a whole lot of stuff I don’t need.

This time of the year though I have to do some shopping whether I like it or not.

Now, buying the son-in-law a new shrub trimmer is no big deal. I know what I want and where it is.

Shopping for the missus for Christmas I hate because if she doesn’t want jewelry I have to enter shopping areas where I have no knowledge or understanding.

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Research shows that companies that accept credit card payments online have higher Internet sales than those that use PayPal and other such services. However, accepting credit cards alone won’t necessarily result in higher sales. Rather, companies that take the pains to accept credit cards do so for one of the following reasons:

• Integrate the inventory management system with the payment system

• Professional appearance (includes having a customized shopping cart rather than PayPal’s generic one)

• Cash flow is tight (need real-time payments that only direct credit card payments provide)

• Full control of the security of the payment process and potential refund issues.

• A complicated inventory (makes outsourcing more painful than gainful)

Shopping online is quick and convenient. You can find anything from fantastic new shoes to go with that great new dress, to a feature full digital entertainment systems, from a rebuilt transmission to a new car all togather. These days shopping online gives you as many options as you could possibly need. As anyone shopping online these days knows, there are typically a number of payment choices when purchasing items online, but which is best..? The question was recently put to some credible credit experts, take a look at their response.

Q: My husband uses our debit card for online purchases and I think he should use the credit card. He says there’s no difference, but I disagree. Who’s right? — T.H., Revere

A: We believe you’re right. Debit cards are connected directly to your checking account. When you make a purchase, your account is debited automatically. If the merchant makes a mistake and debits the account twice or the $29 debit is accidentally debited at $290, your account can be overdrawn.

That causes bounced checks, fees and a lot of time and stress. Debit cards are best used for any direct point of sale. Credit cards are a better option when buying online. They’re not connected to your checking account and it’s much easier to fix errors. There are also dispute options associated with credit cards, plus many credit cards offer bonus features and purchase-protection options. Debit cards don’t.

Incidently PayPal has great buyer protection as well, unless you’re purchasing ‘intangibles’ - design, consultation & other services - anything that does not qualify as an actual product.

All in all for online shopping it seems that consumers should use their credit cards. Benefits include…

• Buyer protection
• Easier to manage errors
• Not connected to other debt/credit indicators (bank account)
• Credit card benefits (miles, cash back, points etc)

Having and using credit cards helps build credit …right? In most cases this is true, obtaining credit cards helps to build your credit rating based on your ability to get and maintain credit from various sources. However, Selena Maranjian of Motley Fool fills us in on some of the details that may not be so obvious, and that may infact hurt our credit score.

Focus on the financial world, and it’s easy to learn something new every day. Here’s what I learned, thanks to a Bankrate.com article by Kristin Arnold: It seems that there are credit cards with no borrowing limits, and that using them can damage your credit rating. Yikes!

Arnold offered this eye-opening example: “Anthony Citrano, a partner in a Cambridge, Mass., public relations firm, opened a Citibank World MasterCard account in November of 2004. Within two months, his credit score dropped 50 points at Experian and 35 points at Equifax.”

So what’s going on here? Well, the main problem is tied to how credit scores are calculated. One major factor, which makes up nearly a third of your score, is “credit utilization,” which measures the percentage of available credit that you owe. If your card’s limit is $12,000 and your balance is $4,000, your credit utilization is 33%. (The lower the better, when it comes to credit utilization numbers.) Interestingly, if your card has no limit — which many card users would consider a good thing — then the metric can’t be calculated, and it isn’t there to boost your score. Some card companies are getting around the problem by using your largest recent balance as your limit, but this is an imperfect solution. For one thing, not all card companies are doing this, and for another, the numbers won’t always work in your favor. If you’re a modest charger with a highest balance of $5,000 and a current balance of $3,500, your credit utilization will be a relatively steep 70%.

Learn more in our Credit Center, which features some surprisingly interesting info about the credit card industry. Being smart about credit can save you lots of money. And speaking of credit cards, check out our Fool credit card, which is so snazzy that it often serves as a conversation piece. Use it responsibly, and it can serve you well.

Whether you’re looking for credit approval or to improve your credit rating, Credit Report Pro has a solution thats perfect for you.

Ever wonder what your Credit Score is? Ever been denied credit? Do the offers you do get come with a high interest rate? If so, you’re likely one of the more than 30 million people in the United States with credit blemishes severe enough (credit score under 620) to make obtaining loans and credit cards with reasonable terms difficult.

So what can you do to improve your credit score? The Federal Trade Commission recommends the first step you take is to request a copy of your credit report and study it carefully. A lot of times, low scores can be blamed on errors in your report.

By law, credit bureaus must keep your information accurate, which includes keeping it up-to-date. If your report says you have filed for bankruptcy when you have not, or that you failed to pay a bill and were sued for nonpayment, but fails to reflect that you eventually made good on the debt, then it is not up to date.

You have a right, and duty to yourself, to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your report. You can do this by writing a letter to the creditor that includes your name, address, account number and the nature of your dispute. But it often takes weeks to get a response.

Sign up with Credit Report Pro affiliate ConsumerInfo and get started on your free credit report today!

Free Credit Score from ConsumerInfo.com

Dear Dr. Don,
I’ve had a certain credit card company for almost 20 years and have been very happy with it. Recently, I was notified that another company bought them out. I don’t like this new company at all and, in fact, I canceled an account with them years ago.Should I cancel the card even though I’ve used it for about 18 years? Everything seems to be changing with the card. They even sent me a new credit card with the name of the company I don’t like on the front. It is a slow, systematic changeover, and already the new company is not being honest. Please tell me what to do.
Thank you,
– Switcheroo Blue

Dear Blue,
I’m a strong advocate of voting with your feet when you don’t like a company’s products or services. In other words, leave. That’s especially true when it comes to money matters and you don’t think the firm is being honest with you. Still, before you cancel the card, I’d like you to take a couple of steps to make sure that closing this account isn’t going to have a negative impact on your credit history.

Lenders use your credit score along with other factors, such as your income and banking relationships, to determine whether they want to extend you credit. Your credit score is based solely on the information in your credit report. One factor in your credit score is the length of credit history. According to myFICO.com, the length of credit history is roughly 15 percent of your credit score.

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Police have charged Christopher Hicks, a teenager working in a Laconia McDonald’s, with stealing customers’ credit card numbers. What’s worse is he had apparently also used them to buy electronics online, including an X-Box game system, spending in excess of $2,000.

Christopher Hicks, 17, was charged with fraudulent use of a credit card. Police said that Hicks was working in the McDonald’s drive-through in Laconia when he stole card numbers and used them to buy the electronic & entertainment merchandise online.

“While he had the cards in hand, he memorized some of the numbers, then wrote down the rest of the digits and then fraudulently used those over the Internet to make purchases,” Lt. Bill Clary said.

Police said a customer noticed unauthorized charges on her bank statement and reported it. Investigators said four customers’ card numbers were compromised.

Police said the merchandise was shipped to his aunt, Tina Solovicos, who was charged with receiving stolen property.

“We don’t believe she had any knowledge of the theft of card numbers,” Clary said. “However, she was aware the goods were stolen.”

Hicks and his aunt are due in court to face charges next month.

Police said several of the attempts to buy items were refused because the online company required a billing address.

That last bit is a great reminder to online merchants everywhere - there ARE some things that merchants can do to reduce credit card fraud. Recent studies have proven that traditional brick & mortar merchants could help reduce credit card fraud by as much as 50% simply by checking signatures & requiring valid ID at the point of sale.

Although it happens all too rarely, I’m greatful to the clerk when I’m asked to produce ID at the register. I feel even more strongly about my credit card purchases that occur online, and that could be performed by any person, any where in the world.

Protect yourself - shop at merchants that verify ID. Sooner or later the other merchants will begin to understand that this is a ‘value add’ that simply cannot be ignored, and will begin to offer this same level of what should be basic client/customer service.

 Check out this article at Bostom.com

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Are you monitoring your credit report on a yearly basis? If the answer is no, what are you waiting for? Thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which took effect nationwide in September 2005, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union) every year.

Your credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills and whether you’ve had any problems with bankruptcy. Since it’s used to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment or renting a home, it’s smart to check it out each year to make sure nothing is inaccurate or if there’s activity you aren’t aware of (which could be a sign of identity theft). Most importantly, your credit report contains information that affects whether you can get a loan — and at what rate.

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Susan Routh
OSU Extension Office

Beginning January 1, 2007, consumers in Oklahoma will have the opportunity to “freeze” their credit reports. Senate Bill 1748 which was passed last May will allow consumers to place a security freeze on credit reports by requesting one in writing by certified mail to all three of the credit reporting agencies.

According to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, the credit reporting agencies, which include Experian, Trans Union and Equifax, are not allowed to charge a fee to senior citizens 65 years of age and older or identity theft victims for placing, removing for a specific time period, or removing a security freeze on a credit report.

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