Best Credit Cards

So it is Written, So it is Done

2011-08-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

I have almost hit the panic button. I feel like my hand is hovering over it wanting to slam down. May and June of 2011 were the best ever for my affiliate websites. After a horrendous February, March really started to take off traffic wise and is probably my best month traffic wise.

During March and April I felt I was getting great traffic but my earnings weren't as high as they should be. I then implemented two ads per page instead of the usual only one. This made May and June explode in earnings. But the second half of June was starting to lose it's amount of traffic. This lead to a twenty percent drop in traffic over July, and when I had hoped that my traffic bottomed out.

Unfortunately this isn't the case and August's traffic is down roughly four to five percent from July. August's first week was great, but after that it has dropped dramatically. Bing and Yahoo are down 25 visitors a day that is more than ten percent from them. Google has been great since July and has carried August.

One trouble spot is my rankings are still down and appear to continue to lower. I really need Victoria Secret credit card higher and sears credit card.

Traffic Bottomed Out

2011-07-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

My traffic seems to have peaked in May and has been on a slow decline since that point. It really took a dive in the beginning of July, but I was able to boost some of my keywords and I'm hoping I've bottomed out traffic wise.

I've been writing reviews pretty consistently lately. I completed one on the Shell credit card, I hope people find it worthwhile, actually read what I have to say, and think about what they want before they sign-up for any credit card.

I've also been doing a lot of research and reading on how I can effectively expand my websites reach. I've come up with a few ideas that I hope will help. The most important change that needs to be made is an upgrade from a late 90s website design to a more Web 2.0 kind of design. I hope this will help the visitors and give my site a little more respect and authority.

My rankings are still low for Bing and Yahoo, but thankfully Google has really been good to me lately and has carried me while I'm working on upping my other rankings.

Bing Plus Facebook Equals ?

2011-06-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

In the middle of May 2011 Microsoft announced that Bing will start using Facebook Likes to help determine their search results. The week after this announcement I noticed my traffic from both Bing and Yahoo dropped by ten percent. My Google traffic remains pretty stable.

I checked my rankings on Bing and it appears my site has retained its ranking, but I've lost a significant amount of traffic from this change. I think part of the problem is when you log into Bing or Facebook and use their search they displayed more ads at the top of the page and this pushes the natural results down lower than they previously were before I signed in.

I also noticed when you use the Facebook search it uses Bing's results, but it only shows the top three with an option to see more. If you want to see more you will leave Facebook's site and go to Bing's.

This is very disappointing for me, and I think will be for many other small website owners who receive traffic from these sources. Before this change I earned a record amount of money from my website in May. Now with the less traffic I am getting I will be lucky if my June earnings equals Mays.

I think my best way to continue to grow my traffic is to focus on adding more and more content and reviews each month.

Monthly Updates

2011-05-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

It's been very difficult for me to maintain and add new reviews to my credit card website every month. I'm not sure what the root of the problem is; I feel if I could just figure out why I'm so lazy I could correct my behavior and continue to grow my site traffic and make more money.

The funny thing is it seems like the more money I make each month the more I like to kick back, relax, and watch it roll in instead of working harder I don't work as much. What really gets me going is if I have a terrible month or week or even a bad day can sometimes motivate me get on the computer and do some work without checking how much I've made that day.

I was trying to write three reviews a month for 2011, but that hasn't really worked out yet. I do like my take on the Target Red card. I hope people read my articles and understand the risk of carrying a balance every cycle.

Best December Yet

2011-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, I was blown away with how much money I made this past December 2010 with my credit card website. I had some pretty good keyword rankings through out the month and it was lead by a resurgence of American Express rewards and other older keywords that I haven't ranked for in a while suddenly shot back up into the top ten of Google results.

This bolstered my traffic and helped me to reach a new high for daily page views and visitors. Couple this with the increase in money that advertisers where spending for the holiday season it gave me my best December yet!

The first half of the month my site was literally on fire compared to previous years. Actually after Thanksgiving I noticed a huge increase by people searching for gift cards and credit cards. Unfortunately the second half of December things really cooled off, but I was still making decent numbers in traffic and profit, but it was no where near the peak.

Before this year I hadn't paid that much attention to increases/decreases provided by Google Trends, but now I have a better understanding of when people search for items and when there is going to be lower traffic for different niches.

SEO Struggles

2010-09-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the primary way I drive traffic to my websites. I am really getting frustrated. It seems pretty difficult to do well for some search terms. There is just so much competition, and we are all fighting over the same keywords/topics.

It seems like as soon as I crack the top ten I have to fight tooth and nail to stay on the top, or if I slack off I can expect my site to drop in the rankings. I understand that if I slack off I should drop in the rankings, but having to continuously keep adding more content, keep it updated, and getting more links to my sites is really wearing me out. I may have stretched myself too thin with having two main sites that I work on and one smaller site that I am just doing for fun.

A couple of my latest reviews; Capital One Rewards and the Staples credit card.

JPMorgan Announces Profits of $4.8 Billion

2010-07-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Thursday its second-quarter net income soared 77 percent to $4.8 billion as a slowdown in losses from failed loans helped offset a difficult spring in trading and investment banking.

The strong results offered hope that loan losses at the nation's big banks may have peaked in the first half of 2010, a critical step before banks can become stronger and boost lending to consumers and small businesses.

JPMorgan Chase, the first of the big banks to report earnings for the April-June period, easily surpassed analysts' expectations as it earned $1.09 a share, up 28 cents a share from a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a profit of 67 cents per share in the just-ended quarter. Net revenue, however, fell nearly 8 percent from a year ago to $25.6 billion.

JPMorgan Chase has been one of the strongest banks as it weathered the financial crisis and recession, so its performance shouldn't necessarily be taken as a sign of how well other banks did during the quarter. Many financial companies don't have such big investment banking operations, which includes trading of stocks and bonds. That has allowed JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank by assets, to make up for losses in its consumer lending division.

Yet it was a sharp drop in loan losses, not an increase in trading profits, that helped JPMorgan the most in the last quarter. The bank set aside $3.36 billion to cover bad loans, down 65 percent from a year ago and 52 percent from the first quarter. The improvements mean the bank is seeing fewer delinquencies in its lending business, though JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said loan losses overall "remain at extremely high levels."

"It is too early to say how much improvement we will see from here," Dimon said of declining loan losses. Bankers have been cautious throughout the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when reporting progess in their loan businesses. Economists and investors are looking to those loan loss levels as an indicator of how well the economic recovery is faring.

Dimon also warned of possible "unintended consequences" to the bank's business from the financial regulatory overhaul awaiting congressional approval. The new rules would require banks to hold more capital and would restrict their trading of risky but lucrative securities like derivatives.

Notably, Dimon was less upbeat about the future than he was when announcing first-quarter results. At that time, the CEO said the economy was showing "clear and broad-based improvements" that should result in a "strong recovery."

A more cautious Dimon on Thursday called improvements in the bank's mortgage lending unit encouraging but he stopped short of predicting a return to pre-financial crisis conditions.

"Obviously, we hope it improves," Dimon said.

In the second quarter, a big drop in the stock market hurt JPMorgan's investment banking unit. Revenue fell 6 percent from a year ago to $1.4 billion as the bank earned smaller fees on financing for stock and bond offerings and advising on corporate dealmaking.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index, considered the best measure of how stocks have fared, fell 11.9 percent from April through June, its worst showing since the financial crisis devastated stocks in the fourth quarter of 2008. All the banks with big trading operations are expected to report a drop in their income from those businesses.

But a drop in loan losses helped the bank make up for the slowdown in investment banking. Revenue in the consumer lending unit jumped 10 percent from a year ago to $2 billion as the bank saw fewer loan losses across its major consumer businesses including mortgages, credit cards and student loans. However, JPMorgan Chase did report an increase in losses from commercial real estate loans, which have lagged consumer mortgages as they've gone into default.

Still, JPMorgan's drop in loan loss reserving is encouraging. The banking industry has struggled over the past two years to work through billions in bad loans made before the financial crisis. Until that happens, banks' capital will remain constrained and they won't be able to open the credit spigot and help grow the economy.

Analysts believe loan losses likely peaked in the first six months of the year. But it's unlikely that other big banks were able to slash their reserves during the past quarter as dramatically as JPMorgan, said Jeff LaFrance, banking analyst at Gradient Analytics.

"JPMorgan is a special case in how they prepare for loan losses," LaFrance said. "They've been extremely conservative, so we wouldn't expect these kind of numbers from the other banks."

Investors initially bought on the results but later eased sold JPMorgan along with many other stocks in response to more bad economic news. The stock fell 36 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $40.71.

The lukewarm reaction may also reflect the uncertainty facing JPMorgan and other banks, including how the regulatory overhaul will affect profits and whether the economy continues to recover or falls back into recession.

Most analysts say the new banking rules on everything from capital levels to credit cards and trading of risky securities won't dramatically affect revenue as some in the industry had feared. But they caution that it could take years before the full impact of the legislation is known.

Speaking to analysts, Dimon said the bank can work within the new rules but declined to quantify the potential impact to its business.

"We want to make sure we can service our clients (under the new rules), and we think we'll be able to," Dimon said. "Will it have some affect on revenue and margins? Yeah, probably."

Original Copy: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_jpmorgan_chase

Constant Updating

2010-03-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

One big negative about running a credit card review site is the constant monitoring you have to do for interest rates and credit card terms. I know many APR are based off the prime rate but even when the prime rate doesn't change a credit card will change it's interest rate.

I'm sure there is a way I could automate all this, but I just don't know how to do that and don't want to hire someone when I'm not making that much money from it.

For instance it seems like the Meijer mastercard raises or lowers it's apr every three months. I don't think this is very typical but I could be wrong.

Also it doesn't seem like the Disney card has many changes but I dunno.

Maybe I am just frustrated from my recent traffic fluctuations.

Writing Reviews

2010-03-03T19:08:00.001-08:00

I've been writing credit card reviews on Squidoo, just to see how much traffic I can get and how much money I can make with them. At first it was pretty easy writing about personal finance topics, and I was getting a little bit of traffic maybe a couple hits a day. I didn't really that much money from Squidoo though. I don't know maybe I didn't really try that hard. Some of pages include: American Express One, Citi Professional card, BOA credit cards, American Express Blue.

General Motors Credit Card

2009-02-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

With the economy the way it is, it will be hard to tell if the GM credit card's reward will actually be worth the effort. This card is offered through HSBC bank so even if General Motors goes bankrupt you will probably be issued a different card to replace it.

All though on the bright side, if you are actually still doing well then GM cars are already discounted, and you have a good deal especially if you include the reward from the credit card. My advice is if you have this card to spend the reward as soon as you can because it might not be available for much longer.

Bank Bailout

2009-01-12T17:14:00.000-08:00

I know this news is a little old about how AIG Bank is spending their bailout money, but still it really irks me to this day when I first found out about it. I've been so busy with the holiday season and being sick that I haven't really had that much time to write.

The Federal government decided to throw the ailing banks a bone and gave them a huge bailout. It seems afterward with relief that they will still have a job some executives went to spas to relax and pat themselves on the back.

I just couldn't believe the hypocrisy, they come into Washington practically begging for help and when they get help they kick back and act like everything is going to be alright. AIG announced that they were not going to give out bonuses this year, but then they give out money to executives anyways. I'm just so fed up with politics and the economy.

Another financial institution that is hurting is GE Money Bank.

Chase Credit Card Rewards

2008-12-27T23:28:00.001-08:00

The Chase Bank offers many credit cards and almost everyone of them comes with some kind of reward. Although some of them have a better reward than others.

Basically Chase has the same rewards as any other major credit card issuer, and there is nothing that sets them apart or makes them any better. In fact overall I would say that Chase is probably one of my least liked credit card issuers. There credit card rewards aren't that great and they usually have a higher interest rate than many other banks/issuers.

I have written a full article about Chase Rewards if you want to read that.

Home Depot Business Credit Cards

2008-11-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

The store Home Depot offers three Business credit cards. These cards are directed towards different kinds of businesses and how much they spend. There is the revolving charge card, the commercial account, and the Business Rewards Mastercard.

The Revolving charge card lets you pay off your balance in full every month or you can make monthly payments.

With the Commercial Account you must pay your bill in full every month.

The Business Rewards Mastercard is almost exactly like the consumer counterpart. It has the same reward program.

Full review of the Home Depot credit cards and what they have to offer.

Citi ThankYou

2008-11-11T18:59:00.001-08:00

The Citi ThankYou Network in my opinion is one of the better reward programs offered from a bank. The great thing about it is it's for many different cards, and you can get points from each card and it all goes into one account.

Plus there are many redemption options; you can choose to receive a check in the mail, gift certificates, airline tickets, discount on a hotel reservation, and more.

Citibank also gives you special discounts if you shop through their website and use one of their credit cards.

To see which cards are part of the Thank You Network.

American Express

2008-10-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

I really like my American Express Rewards credit card. It's just so great knowing that after I pay my bill in full every month I am getting a little bit back. It feels like I'm shopping with coupons all the time without the hassle of clipping them.

I think it's such a great credit card that whenever someone asks me which one I recommend I usually show them that card and all the features it has, like a low interest rate mine is only 9.99%, when you first apply for one you get twelve months interest free, and the cash back rewards.

I've had many different credit cards before, but currently my AMEX is my favorite by far!

PayPal Cards

2008-10-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have a PayPal account and it seems like every time I log into to check how much interest I've made, or if I have received my payments that before it takes me to my balance it shows me an ad for their credit cards.

After seeing this ad a few times I decided to look into the PayPal credit cards to see if they were really worth getting. They have two cards available one is a debit card and the other a rewards Visa. I don't really see the point in getting their debit card, because if you use PayPal you most likely already have a bank account, and you can transfer your funds from your Paypal account to your bank account. Although you do have to wait a couple of days, I don't think it's really that necessary.

The rewards card gives you points for each dollar that you spend. It's a decent card I guess.

Reward Zone Card

2008-09-05T13:47:00.001-07:00

The Reward Zone card is the Best Buy credit card that consumers can get and earn points with their purchases. You earn points with every purchase you make; four points at Best Buy, two points at restaurants, and one point for purchases made everywhere else. You automatically receive gift cards for Best Buy when you reach a certain point level.

They have a range of interest rates for new applicants. I think they range from 12% to %18, which is pretty decent.

In my opinion this is one of the best retail store credit cards you can find. The possible interest rates aren't nearly as high as most of the other comparable store cards especially the circuit city one.

FreeCreditReport.com Commercials

2008-08-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

I really hate the FreeCreditReport.com commercials. They are really really really annoying especially the latest one with the main guy riding on a bike and singing. I just want to punch that guy in the face he's so stupid looking. At least I have this blog to vent some of my hatred toward him.

I wish he would get caught with a bag of pot like the Dude you're getting a Dell guy. Although I actually liked that guy. I wonder how they pick these actors; do they look for the people that loko like total slackers?

It's not really the actors fault he comes off as such a d-bag. It's the crappy marketing company. I just can't believe this website actually makes money off of the commercials. I noticed it's a pretty hot topic around the Internet with all the commercials on Youtube.

Macy's Credit Card

2008-08-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Another department store that offers it's own credit card is Macy's. They in fact have several different credit cards for you to choose from. All the Macy's credit cards come with the standard coupons and discounts you earn for being a card member.

There are a total of five cards available; the Elite, Platinum, Gold, Red, and regular. The regular card is really just a charge card and doesn't come with any special benefits. The day you apply you receive 10% off your purchase. The elite and platinum cards are for people who spend over $2000 a year at Macys. With those you can earn gift certificates by using your card.

GAPCard

2008-08-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

Back to writing my reviews after I went to my fathers birthday party last weekend. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did.

This entry is about the GAPCard. A charge card from the GAP department store. It can be used at the GAP, Old Navy, Pimperline.com, and Banana Republic. You earn 5% in points on all purchases made at those stores, and on the day you open your card you earn 15% off your entire purchase. The interest rate is pretty high at 21.05%.

There are a lot more features too many to list. For a full list of benefits check out this review of the GAP credit card. I would say it is a pretty good card.

Lowes Credit Card

2008-07-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Another review I recently finished is the Lowe's consumer credit card. They offer a couple of consumer credit cards. One is the Project card and the regular one.

The Project card is for people who are going to spend $1000.00 or more at Lowes. You have to spend at least one thousand to qualify for this card. It does have a pretty low interest rate: 7.99% to 17.99% depending on your credit. You also can choose six months which you will earn zero interest for that period.

The regular card isn't really good because it doesn't have any special benefits with it and it has a high interest rate. More information on the Lowes credit card.

Also if you are interested in the Lowes Project Card you can get more info on it.

Victoria's Secret Credit Card Review

2008-07-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Another store credit card I have reviewed is the Victoria Secret credit card. As usual it comes with a higher interest rate than standard credit cards, but on the bright side it actually comes with a decent rewards program.

You earn one point per dollar on all purchases and at 250 points you receive a $10 gift card for Victoria's Secret. That comes out to 4% back off of your purchases.

If you are frequent shopper of their store and intend to pay off your balance every month it is worthwhile to get a Victoria Secret credit card.

Circuit City Credit Card Review

2008-07-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Yet another retail credit card I have reviewed is the Circuit City credit card. This card is another one that you should avoid at all costs.

I can't really see any benefit to getting this card. It is that bad. The annual percentage rate is high, above 20%. They have so many ways to cheat you out of the rewards program. If it was an easy rewards program to understand with no catches then the credit card might be worthwhile.

As it stands you earn 5 points per dollar spent at Circuit City and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. You receive a $5 gift certificate at 500 points that can only be spent at their stores. Plus when you use a gift certificate you forfeit the rest of it if you don't spend the full five bucks. Gift certificates also expire after 90 days of being issued so make sure you use them up fast.

JCPenney Credit Card Review

2008-06-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

I must be on some sort of department store kick or something because this is the third post in a row about a retail store credit card. Anyways the JCPenney's credit card isn't as bad as the Sears or Wal-Mart, but that doesn't really make it that good either.

Let me put it this way:

The Good: Receive special discounts and coupons to JCPenney sales and promotions when you use your credit card.

The Bad: No rewards program.

The Ugly: The interest rate is over 20.00%. Any credit card with an annual percentage rate over 18% seems too high to me.

If you really like shopping at JCPenney and want to take advantage of the exclusive coupons and discounts then you might want to consider getting this credit card. If you do get this card though you should not carry a balance. Make sure you only buy as much you can pay off so you don't get caught with the really high interest rate.

More information in my full review at JCPenney Credit Card

Sears Credit Card Review

2008-06-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I finished writing a review on the Sears credit card. It is a pretty standard department store credit card with an initial discount on your purchase the day you apply and during the year they mail you coupons and announcements of sales.

Like most department store credit cards the Sears card has a pretty high interest rate. I would recommend this card only if you are a frequent shopper and you pay off the balance in full every month to avoid the high interest rate.