Credit Cards Online Information

Which is a higher priority: buying a latte every day for a year or putting that money toward a car?

That's the kind of question students will grapple with in a free two-part "Money Smart" class that starts Saturday in Hayward.

The second session of the class will be May 13, and anyone who completes both classes will receive a calculator, a $20 prepaid gasoline card, a Quicken Software CD and other gifts. Lunch is free.

The class is meant to teach:

- The differences between various loans.

- How to open a savings account.

- How to get and use a credit or debit card.

- The pros and cons of owning a home versus renting.

- How to avoid being the victim of identity theft.

The classes attract people of all ages and backgrounds, said teacher Arnie Becker, who volunteers with the Community Child Care Coordinating Council (4C's). He taught the class two years ago and will teach it again this year.

"The things that a lot of the students didn't understand were the 'gotcha's' of credit cards and debit cards," Becker said. "Most had no inkling about overdraft fees and other subtleties of the banking system."

Some of his students were recent immigrants who did not have experience with the U.S. banking system.

"I've had people come in who were keeping their money under the mattress," he said. "When they do that, not only are they not earning interest -- there could be a fire or someone could steal the money."

The classes started in 2003 and are sponsored by the 4C's of Alameda County, and also the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Each organization is impartial about how the students might or might not invest their money, Becker said.

"We have no connection with any financial institution," he added. "At least that way they don't look at us as someone who's trying to grab their money. They know we want to help."

Apparently I'm not the only person who thinks teenagers and credit cards don't mix.

In last week's column, I talked about a Junior Achievement survey in which 10.3 percent of all teens said they own credit cards. The number was higher -- 19.6 percent -- for teens 18 or older. Even scarier, the survey said 15.7 percent of teens who own credit cards make only the minimum payment due.

A reader named Jerry had an interesting e-mail response to those figures. The problem, he wrote, is responsibility.

"Too many kids drop the ball, and there are a great many bankruptcies that result," Jerry wrote. "They don't think anything of defaulting and/or doing a (bankruptcy). . . . Sit in a mall (which I've done a lot while I'm out shopping with my teenage daughter). Watch the age vs. sacks and packages ratio for a while. Yes, you're right, most of them are teenagers and younger twenty- somethings. Or parents with those children."

I've had similar thoughts while sitting in the mall. It seems all the people who are loaded down with bags are half my age or younger. And I often wonder how they could possibly have enough money to buy all of that stuff.

Jerry goes on to write: "I can think of two ways for this country to go bankrupt overnight. A catastrophic earthquake dropping the West Coast into the ocean -- the resulting insurance claims would be inconceivable. The other is all those young credit card holders (or even a reasonably high percentage of them) defaulting. If nothing else, you and I are going to be left holding the bag. If there is enough of them, it's going to be a mess.

"If I had my way, I wouldn't let anyone younger than 25 hold a credit card. That would make it a sufficiently exclusive club that kids would respect it more (I hope)."

I don't know if that would be the answer, Jerry, because I'm sure there are people in their 20s -- and some teenagers -- who are responsible with credit. There certainly are people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc., who are not.

I do, however, remain concerned about teenagers running up credit- card debt without understanding the ramifications of their actions. I guess it all gets back to the need for more financial education, both in schools and, especially, in the home. And I'm glad to see an increasing emphasis on that.

For big spenders, some perks may be worth the annual fee.

Platinum credit cards were supposed to signify prestige, but they quickly became about as common as copper pennies. So to lure upscale consumers, Visa and MasterCard have created "premier" cards with extra perks for heavy-duty travelers and shoppers.

The chief attraction of Visa Signature and World MasterCard is the opportunity to earn frequent-flier miles that are good on any airline, with no blackout periods or expiration dates. But you have to use your card a lot to earn free travel because the miles can't be combined with those earned in airline programs.

One nice extra is a 24-hour concierge service you can use to snag theater tickets, arrange an exotic outing or locate a hard-to-find gift. Other perks are the kind you'll probably never use: travel insurance, extended warranties, and so on.

For those extras, you generally won't pay any more than you do for an airline-affiliated credit card that earns frequent-flier miles. Associates National Bank, Bank of America, First USA, Household Bank and Travelers issue either the Signature or World card. We found the best terms on First USA's World MasterCard, with a $49 annual fee and a 15.99% interest rate after six months at 5.9%. Others typically charge annual fees of up to $85.

Of course, the original "prestige card" is American Express's platinum card--by far the most expensive at $300 a year. But some frequent travelers may not find that a lot to pay for perks that include free access to Northwest and Continental airport lounges, a 24-hour concierge service, preferred seats at concerts and sporting events, and free membership in Amex's Membership Rewards frequent-flier program, which costs green-card members an extra $25.

And, of course, there's American Express's famous "travel emergency assistance." If a doctor certifies that it is medically necessary, American Express will evacuate you from a Himalayan mountaintop or a cruise ship, transport you to a medical facility, and pay all the nonmedical costs.

But Amex is also reaching downward with a rebate card that may be the best deal of all. The no-fee platinum Cash Back card is for big spenders: The cash rebate is minimal on the first $5,000 in purchases each year, but after that your rebate is 1.5% on balances you pay off right away or 2% on balances you revolve. The interest rate, however, is a hefty 18.24% after six months at 5.9%.

Surprise credit card fees are on the rise.

Today's most popular credit cards come appealingly dressed, with tantalizing rebates and single-digit interest rates. But, like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, what lurks beneath can bite unexpectedly. "Gotcha" fees--the ones disclosed in microscopic print in your customer agreement--are getting both more frequent and more expensive.

Many card issuers reported sharp increases in 1998 fee income. MBNA collected $831 million in noninterest revenue in 1998, compared with $692 million in 1997--a 20% increase--and Providian Financial Corp. reported a phenomenal 120% increase.

Late fees, especially, are creeping up on unsuspecting cardholders. That's because many issuers have done away with a grace period of up to 15 days before a payment is late enough to trigger a fee. Now you may be charged a late fee if your payment arrives even one day after the due date (see "Q&A," on page 72). The average late fee has jumped 56% in two years to $22.10.

CONVENIENCE AT A PRICE. Convenience checks are another source of stealth fees. Wuping Chang of Ventura, Cal., used one to transfer $15,000 from a 9% personal line of credit to a First USA Bank Platinum Visa charging 3.9% interest. Chang was aghast to see a $450 transaction charge on his first statement in November--the result of a brand-new 3% fee on balance transfers. Since then, First USA has capped the fee at $50.

VANISHING BARGAINS. The low interest rate that attracted you to a card can disappear, too. Howard Weisser of Old Bridge, N.J., lost his 8.5% interest rate with Huntington Bank when his card was sold to Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank in Arizona. Weisser learned about the switch when his first bill arrived from Direct Merchants--with an interest rate of 17.4% and a $50 annual fee already charged to his account. "They claim they sent me notification. I never received it," Weisser says. Such notices are often tucked in with your bill and are easily overlooked.

Huntington sold the accounts of cardholders outside of the states where it has branches. We still list its cards among the best low-rate cards (see below) because it still issues cards to residents in all states. But there's no guarantee that it--or any other bank--won't sell your card.

Best Deals in Credit Cards

IT COULD be over for the days of switching credit-card companies to take advantage of 0 per cent interest deals, as lenders cut back on offers and hit borrowers with hefty transfer fees, writes Lorna Bourke.

Lisa Taylor, an analyst at Moneyfacts, which monitors all credit cards, says, "Providers are resorting to alternative methods to recoup their losses, such as adding fees and withdrawing incentives."

Halifax One Visa offers balance transfers with 0 per cent interest for a year, but charges two per cent of the amount transferred in fees.

Others offering nine months interest-free for balance transfers include Lloyds TSB Rewards Amex card, Marbles Internet, Sonycard, Virgin Mastercard and Alliance Leicester Online Mastercard or Visa.

Remember, if you use the balance transfer facility, it is wiser not to use the card for any further purchases or cash withdrawals. This is because the credit-card companies deduct any monthly payments you make from the transferred balance on which you are paying no interest.

Only when that is paid off, do they deduct it from the interest- bearing purchases. In other words, you are negating the benefit of being able to "park" balances interest-free.

It is essential to set up a standing order for the minimum payment each month or you could find yourself paying high penalty charges for late payments.

The following article was originally published in Michigan Lawyers Weekly, another Dolan Media publication.

DETROIT - If you deal with collecting retainers from your clients, accepting credit cards can be a very intimidating option to consider as a sole practitioner or small-firm attorney.

The word merchant service has developed an almost ominous connotation among solo professionals and for good reason. Most people associate the phrase with ludicrous fees, minimum transaction volumes, equipment rentals and restrictive contracts. And all too often, that notion is entirely justified.

In fact, several professionals simply choose to forget about accepting credit cards altogether because it's just one less hassle to deal with.

Unfortunately, this can actually cost you quite a bit of business, whether you realize it or not. It's been continually proven that providing your customers the option of paying with credit will increase sales - in this case, client volume - in practically every industry.

Furthermore, the main advantage for an attorney to accept credit cards wouldn't so much be an increase in client volume as it would eliminate waiting for checks in the mail, not to mention having someone make a bank run to get them deposited. And credit card payments don't bounce either.

The truth is that, while there are some very affordable and flexible services available to solo professionals, they are also very few and far between and, in most cases, they aren't easy to recognize.

Let's explore some of the terms and terminology of the merchant industry so as to de-mystify the process of choosing a merchant company that will effectively suit your practice.

Statement fees - Most merchant account providers will charge you to simply receive your billing statement, normally about $10 per month. This is, for the most part, a pointless fee for the purpose of generating additional revenue for the merchant company as it much more than covers the cost of distributing a statement. Not all companies have a statement fee, though.

Monthly minimums - Several programs include a minimum, which is not a minimum amount of sales volume, but rather it's a minimum charge in regards to transaction fees. Normally, this is $25 per month. This does not mean that a $25 sale will waive the minimum.

YOU'VE been turned down for a mortgage to buy your dream home. Your bills are piling up. And you're on the brink of bankruptcy.

You're not alone. Consumer debt, which includes auto loans and credit cards but excludes mortgages, hit a record $1.99 trillion in November 2003, according to the Federal Reserve.

Rebuilding your credit is one step toward making order out of chaos, and it takes a serious commitment to live a more moneywise life.

"A good credit rating affords all of us the opportunity to realize the dreams that we all have as American consumers," says Doris McNeal, assistant vice president for the consumer risk operations group at Bank of America in Norfolk, Va. "If you have a good credit rating, you'll have much easier access to the type of house you want to live in, and [it'll be easier to] buy the kind of car you want to drive."

Your credit report could be the determining factor in whether you get that job you interviewed for last week, rent that great apartment or even obtain mandatory car or home insurance.

"What the credit report does is provide a history of how you have handled your finances," says Glinda Bridgforth, founder of Bridgforth Financial Management Group in Detroit and author of Girl, Get Your Money Straight!: A Sister's Guide to Healing Your Bank Account and Funding Your Dreams in 7 Simple Steps. "It's a barometer of how financially responsible and trustworthy you are."

According to Bridgforth, McNeal and other financial experts, the following are six essential steps you should take to start rebuilding your credit:

1. Take a look at what money you have and track your spending--write everything down--so that you can make the necessary changes to free up cash.

2. Create a realistic budget and spending plan. Don't spend more than you can repay, and pay more than the minimum amount due on your credit cards.

3. Rank credit card bills by interest rate, and pay off the bill with the highest interest rate first. If yon have established a three- to four-month history of making payments on time, call the credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.

4. If you must carry a balance on your credit card(s), keep it at least 40 percent of your credit limit. If your maximum is $1,000, try to carry a balance of $400 or less.

Credit and especially debit card transactions are on die rise worldwide. Interchange fees are an integral part of the pricing structure of credit and debit card transactions. Indirectly paid by merchants to card issuers, interchange fees in most countries are set by credit and debit card networks. But in one country, Australia, the central bank is regulating interchange fees, and in several other countries and areas, including the European Union (EU), Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, public officials are taking or are considering taking a more hands-on regulatory stance. And in the United States, it is largely the court system that is debating interchange issues.

The payments industry has a strong vested interest in interchange fees. They are a major portion of costs that merchants pay for processing debit and credit card payments and are a major source of revenue for banks that issue the cards. One reason for recent interest in interchange fees in the United States is a shift in retail payments away from checks. Research sponsored by the Federal Reserve documents a rise in electronic payments and a decline in the use of paper checks, with a milestone recently passed where the majority of non-cash payments are now made using electronic instruments.1 This shift is also occurring in other countries, as shown by Weiner and Wright's research. Since paper checks typically do not have an interchange fee while credit and debit payments do, the shift is a major reason why merchants face a rapidly rising cost of processing payments. Card issuers, on the other hand, rely on associated revenues to provide a return to their substantial investment in card payment networks.

To enhance the understanding of issues surrounding interchange fees, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City sponsored an international conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 4-6, 2005. Key questions included: What are the trends in interchange fees, including credit cards and debit cards? What is the economic rationale for interchange fees? What opinions do participants in the payment system have about interchange? What role, if any, should central banks and other public institutions play in establishing or overseeing interchange fees?

Before you leave ...

* If you are buying a package or tour, consider purchasing Trip Cancellation Insurance--but first check to see whether it is a benefit of the credit card you carry.

* Find out whether the country you are visiting requires that you provide an "International Certificate of Vaccinations" against cholera, yellow fever, and other infectious diseases before you are allowed to enter. If you carry a major credit card, check to see whether it provides Travel Assistance Services, which furnish this type of information--and more.

* Make several copies of your passport, credit cards, itinerary, airline tickets, and other travel documents. Leave one copy with a relative or friend back home and carry one copy with you.

* If you carry a credit or debit card, you also may not need to purchase Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance before you travel. For example, the MasterTravel[TM] benefit on many MasterCard[R] cards provides cardholders, spouses, and children under age 23 with coverage when traveling by land, air, or sea on a licensed common carrier.

* Before paying for insurance on a rental vehicle, always check first to see if you are covered by a collision/damage waiver benefit on your credit or debit card.

While you are away ...

* Whenever possible, pay with a major credit or debit card so that you can cancel payment or get reimbursed if there's a problem, provided you can show documentation.

* If you are planning to shop in the United States, remember that MasterDelivery[TM], an exclusive benefit of your MasterCard[R] card, is the most efficient method of sending merchandise from the USA to Latin American. With MasterDelivery, you are provided with a physical postal address in Miami at which your packages will be signed for and received--and then sent on to your own mailing address in Latin America. You can track your order on line at any time. See the wide range of services and advantages offered through MasterDelivery at www.masterdelivery.com.

* It's easy to stay organized when you pay with a credit card in any country where you can't read the language. Immediately write the amount of the transaction, items, date, and place of purchase on your receipt so that you can read it when the statement comes at the end of the month. This makes after-trip bookkeeping much simpler. Many times the ink is so faint, you can't read what it says in any language.

For much of my adult life I was burdened with having poor credit. Falling into debt felt nightmarish line ghost of past bad choices always trailing behind me, Not even breaking up with a boyfriend left me as depressed as I was for the five years after I ruined my credit. I learned line hind way that playing fast and loose with money is dangerous, not just financially but also emotionally.

As alone as I felt at the time, I've since discovered that many Black women from all backgrounds have suffered from bad credit at one time or another. This is true for other races and ethnicities, but there are reasons that we in particular fall prey to this. "Black women don't meet the criteria of being the so-called right gender and race. To compensate, many of us try to bolster our sense of identity and self-worth by buying things that somehow give us a sense of worth and self-esteem," says Linda James Myers, a psychology and African-American studies professor at Ohio State University in Columbus "The key is to reverse the faulty formula that has us trying to define our worth by external criteria like how we look and what kind of car we drive."

A Family Affair

When I began to examine my behavior, I realized that most of my family members struggled with credit issues, too. I remember sitting around the dinner table during holidays, laughing hysterically at a relative's dramatic tale of how he or she had cursed out some annoying creditor calling for a payment. In my young mind, paying bills on time was not nearly as much fun as not paying them.

Still I got off to a great financial start. I juggled five credit cards in college and always paid the entire balance on time each month. Because I had part-time jobs and made good money, that was fairly easy to do. Besides, I was very conservative in my spending then. It wasn't until I graduated in 1994 that things went wrong. I was malting a pitiful salary as a paralegal--a job I hated. Buying expensive clothes and shoes made me feel better when I couldn't figure out how to move forward professionally. Most months, I'd spend about $1,000 on clothes--while earning only $300 a week.

Co-branded credit cards typically encourage a higher rate of transactions and generate three times as much turnover than bank-only cards. More versatile than the fuel card, co-branded oil company credit cards offer forecourt retailers the opportunity to enhance consumer loyalty, increase brand recognition and compete successfully with the co-branded credit cards offered by grocery multiples.

Scope of the report:

-- An assessment of the potential profitability of co-branded oil company credit cards when compared with fuel cards and bank-only credit cards

-- A quantitative comparison of pricing strategies of existing oil company credit cards and leading non-oil credit cards to acquire and retain customers

-- An evaluation of the non-price strategies employed to increase customer acquisition, retention, loyalty and card activity

-- An investigation into loyalty programmes, the relationship between issuer and retailer and some of the more innovative non-price incentives

Consumers prefer co-branded credit cards. A typical co-branded credit card generates EUR37 more profit yearly than a bank-only card. In terms of fuel retailing, credit cards, due to their versatility, are becoming more popular than fuel card or cash payment. In the commercial market, credit cards accounted for 23% of fuel sold in 2004 across Europe.

In 2004, 68% of motorists considered price the most important factor when choosing a petrol station. Only 4% of consumers would select a fuel retailer on the basis of its brand. Given that most motorists are not loyal to fuel retailers, linking a loyalty scheme to an oil credit card has the potential to transform this.

Points-based loyalty schemes have proven popular but inevitably involve forging relationships with other retailers, such as Boots for health and beauty products in the UK or Geant for groceries in Poland. As well as providing a wider range of goods for redemption, such partnerships help to increase the appeal and frequency of customer rewards.

Reasons to Purchase

--Understand which markets have an established playing field for co-branded oil company credit cards and the extent of the competition in those markets

Now that the IRS has clarified rules on the use of debit or credit cards for health flexible spending accounts and qualified health reimbursement accounts, employers that have been waiting in the wings are likely to jump in and sign up.

"This will accelerate what was already a burgeoning market," says Rob Butler, vice president of marketing and sales for mbi, a company in Waltham, Massachusetts, that has been providing debit cards to employers and third-party administrators since 1995.

The debit cards, also called stored-value cards, allow employees to pay for prescription, office-visit, and other medical co-pays with a swipe of a card that deducts the amount from the FSA or HRA account. Dedicated credit cards work much the same way, but the employer is billed for the charge. Then the employer deducts the amount from the FSA or HRA account balance. In both cases, it ends the time-consuming process of filing FSA claims and waiting for reimbursement.

The IRS ruling, issued in May, spells out an acceptable approach for substantiating the validity of claims paid for with the cards. The ruling is "a big plus" for employers and employees, says Phillip A. Hood, director of sales for Conexis, a third-party administrator of FSA plans based in Orange, California.

The ruling didn't address every question about debit cards, says Tami Simon, an attorney and a member of Mercer Human Resource Consulting's Washington Resource Group. Still outstanding are questions about requirements for Form 1099 reporting, a "shoebox" requirement that obliges cardholders to acquire and keep invoices, receipts, and other documentation, and the matter of whether COBRA beneficiaries can use the cards, Simon says. In the meantime, she says, "employers approached by eager vendors of these debit and credit card products should be mindful of this ruling and make certain the product they are considering meets the guidelines in the IRS ruling."

A limit could be imposed on the carbon each person pumps into the atmosphere under proposals being considered by the Government to combat global warming.

A credit card-style trading system would ensure that people pay for air travel, electricity, gas and petrol with carbon rations as well as cash, under the plans to be floated today by David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a speech to the Audit Commission.

Mr Miliband will point to the expansion of emissions trading schemes for business and the public sector and suggest a similar system for individuals. Government estimates suggest that individuals' use of gas, electricity and transport accounts for 44 per cent of Britain's carbon emissions, with the average Briton responsible for around 4,000 kilograms of emissions a year.

Under the proposals, all citizens would be given a personal carbon allowance, based on national targets for cutting CO2 emissions. People who take measures to cut the pollution they produce could sell their surplus. Those who continue to produce pollution above their personal cap would have to buy credits on the open market.

Mr Miliband will suggest banning products such as inefficient light bulbs and electrical appliances which waste power while on standby. He will suggest new environmental taxes to shift the cost of pollution on to consumers and propose that consumers might make automatic payments to offset pollution.

He will say: "In the short term it is likely that a mixture of the above tools will be needed. But in the long term, we should look more radically at the option of tradable personal carbon allowances. Imagine a world where carbon becomes a new currency. We all carry carbon points on our bank cards in the same way as we carry pounds. We pay for electricity, gas and fuel not just with pounds but carbon points."

Eliminating the need to use a credit card to download the latest software, games and ringtones, American Wireless, through its network of dealers, has introduced Retail Extension Services (RES) prepaid mobile content cards. Available for use with cellphones, smartphones, PDAs and Blackberry's, thousands of titles beginning at 99 cents can be accessed online using a prepaid card purchased at an American Wireless dealer.

"There are many people without a credit card or wary of using their credit card online," said Bruce Hallinan, director of prepaid services for American Wireless. "RES prepaid mobile content cards are the perfect solution for customers wanting to access these types of products as well as dealers looking to increase store traffic and ultimately increase sales."

RES prepaid offers choices for all types of users such as a powerful database for your Palm or Windows CE-based mobile device, the latest ringtones or web viewers and applications for your Blackberry without ever having to use a credit card. Applications for personal finance, education, medical, exercise and diet, maps, travel and business can all be accessed via the mobile content card from an American Wireless dealer.

"American Wireless dealers now have an offering that makes it easy for their customers to add applications and fun to their mobile devices," said Bill Tauskey, CEO of RES. "RES offers access to the largest selection of on-line content for cellphones, smartphones, PDA's and Blackberry devices. Once the cards are purchased at an American Wireless dealer, users can make their selection and download them from www.RESprepaid.com."

About American Wireless

Founded in 1984, American Wireless, the first and largest master agent in the U.S., serves as a critical intermediary between wireless carriers and their corresponding agents with retail locations. Extensive product and service offerings include postpaid, prepaid, cellular, satellite TV & radio, fulfillment, distribution, warranty programs, and hardware and accessories. With offices throughout North America, American Wireless is headquartered in Campbell, California, and provides an unrivaled, national distribution and sales footprint.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of The ePayments and eBanking Market Outlook: Competitive Advantage and New Profit Opportunities in a Rapidly Developing Market to their offering.

When the Internet first emerged, many commentators predicted it would overtake traditional banking channels and become the single most important consumer banking channel. However, whilst the Internet has had a huge impact upon the banking landscape, the bank branch has remained a vital part of the banking industry. The ePayments and eBanking Market Outlook: Competitive advantage and new profit opportunities in a rapidly developing market provides a comprehensive analysis of eBanking and ePayments industry. The report examines the position of online in the banking distribution channel mix, details the prospects for growth in the pre-paid card and ePurse markets and outlines new initiatives in combating online fraud.

Key Issues Examined in this report:

--Card fraud levels are rising. Find out how the major card schemes intend to respond and about their aims to be chip and EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) compliant by 2005.

--Multi-channel banking distribution. Read our examination of the value of branch, call-centre, ATM and the Internet as banking distribution channels, their strengths and weaknesses.

--Biller-direct electronic bill payment and presentment.

--Understand where, why and for whom this model has proven successful, the advantages it provides and which types of company have already successfully implemented it.

--International consumer money transfer is covered in depth by this report, including analysis of the main providers of consumer money transfers, the methods and how the market is developing.

This report answers questions such as:

--Which European countries will benefit most from growth in the Internet banking customer base over the coming years?

--What has driven the growth in eCommerce and what are the implications for online transactions?

--How do customer attitudes towards online transactions (such as online bill payments) vary across Europe?

--Which banking distribution channels are most popular, and why?

--How has the role of the Internet as a banking distribution channel changed in the recent years?

--What are the most profitable target markets for prepaid cards, and why?

Until now, consumer credit scores were a closely guarded secret, even to consumers themselves.

iPlace, Inc., the internet's leading developer of consumer and business-based credit and personal information access products, announced today it has launched a consumer credit score product on its QSpace.com site.

This new Internet-based service will reveal to consumers for the first time the information that lenders have held close to their vests for decades - their individual score that indicates their credit-worthiness.

"An individual's credit score plays an integral part when they apply for credit cards, mortgages and other types of credit. Unfortunately, consumers have never had direct access to their credit score," explained iPlace CEO Stu Siegel in making the announcement. "iPlace is on a mission to enable consumers to access information about themselves that they've not been able to easily access before."

Until now, the complex formula that synthesizes a consumer's credit report into a three-digit score has been kept secret and only made available to lenders. Credit score access has been a hotly contested issue between consumer advocacy groups, credit bureaus and Fair, Isaac and Co., whose FICO model is widely used by lending institutions.

Currently, there are three bills before Congress that would help enable the disclosure of credit-scoring information to consumers.

The new credit score access capability iPlace now offers through its QSpace.com site empowers consumers to learn their personal credit score and receive a detailed explanation of how the score was derived.

iPlace recently received a $5 million cash investment from Equifax (NYSE:EFX), the country's premier provider of consumer credit data. The companies have also entered into a multi-year strategic alliance to create and deliver the next generation of web-enabled credit products to businesses and consumers.

iPlace's groundbreaking credit score product is not the first time the Philadelphia-based company has enabled consumers to access their personal information. They were the first to give consumers web access to their credit reports and first to offer a web-based credit monitoring service.

the world's largest provider of credit cards, announces a unique collaboration between its small business credit card group, CitiBusiness(R) Credit Cards and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - the world's largest business federation. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce exclusively endorses the CitiBusiness(R) Card and the CitiBusiness(R) Card with ThankYou Network(SM) - the first and only credit cards endorsed by the Chamber. Members of the Chamber receive special incentives including a reduced purchase annual percentage rate (APR) and an introductory rate on balance transfers. They also receive all the same benefits available to CitiBusiness cardmembers such as easy access to round-the-clock small business specialists.

"CitiBusiness Credit Cards are designed to respond to the unique and diverse needs of everyday small business owners," said David Simon, senior vice president, Citi Cards. "We are delighted to be backed by such a credible organization that protects the interests of its more than three-million member companies."

CitiBusiness Credit Cards provide customers with a number of tools and resources that help small businesses save time and money. These include offering busy small business owners the opportunity to bypass a Voice Response Unit (VRU) and speak directly with a small business specialist who understands their needs. Other time and money saving tools include:

--Business-size credit lines

--Account spending summaries

--Enhanced concierge services through Personal Business Assistants

--Savings on everyday business expenses

--Auto rental and travel accident insurance

--Free and secure online account management

"Through the new relationship, CitiBusiness Credit Cards provide needed flexibility and discounts to help Chamber members better manage their businesses," said Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce protects the legal interests of small businesses before Congress and many other entities. Additionally, CitiBusiness Credit Cards provide added protections for small businesses with a range of free benefits, including:

--Citi Identity Theft Solutions for small business

--Fraud Early Warning

--Travel Accident Insurance