Kevin's Articles

Southwest Airlines has jumped into the “amazing rewards” fray with their new Rapid Rewards program. As part of this new rewards program, their Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card gives you 50,000 Bonus Points after your first purchase.

Last year, we signed up for the American Airlines AAdvantage 75,000 bonus miles offer credit card. And we got free airline tickets for our trip to Paris.

How I called the credit card company, talked with two agents, got a refund on my $85 annual fee, and got a spending bonus for the next 18 months.

The word FAKO refers to any credit score that doesn’t use the proprietary FICO scoring method. All of the credit reporting agencies have created their own scoring systems. In addition to their own scoring methods, the 3 credit agencies got together and created a shared credit scoring system called VantageScore to compete with FICO.

If you have fair credit and need to make a new purchase (but don’t have the cash), then Household Bank can help. Their Cashback Rewards Mastercard charges you 0% interest for the first 9 months. Simply apply for the credit card and make your purchases. Anything you buy will be added to your balance, and you’ll pay no interest for the first 9 months you have the card.

The FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) Score is your credit report distilled down to a single number. The intent is to predict your credit worthiness based solely on the information contained in your credit reports. FICO takes your credit report from each of the 3 credit reporting agencies, runs it through their proprietary formula, and generates a credit score with a range from 300 to 850.

This week a local Austin woman was surprised to be told she was dead. Ms. McGill went to buy a travel trailer and applied for financing. The lender declined her application and informed her that she didn’t qualify for financing because she was dead (at least the credit agencies all had her listed as deceased).