Posted on March - 18 - 2012
Are you brand new to credit cards and trying to learn more about them before applying for your first card? If so, you’re going to come across a lot of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. But they’re important if you want to understand credit card offers and your responsibilities once you have a card.
To get you started, we’ve put together a simple credit card glossary for credit card beginners and those looking for a simple refresher. Here are some of the most important credit card terms you need to know.
Annual Fee — This is a yearly fee charged to your credit card account which you pay for the privilege of using that card.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR) — This is the advertised interest rate you see in credit card offers — it amounts to the percentage you would pay over the course of a full year.
Balance Transfer — This is when you move an existing balance from one credit card to another credit card (often done to get a lower interest rate).
Balance Transfer Rate — The interest rate charged on transferred balances — this is frequently a temporary introductory rate.
Cash Advance — This is when you use your credit card at an ATM to withdraw cash. Some credit cards a
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Posted on March - 13 - 2012
More than 2 million service members have deployed in support of overseas contingency operations (OCO) in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. Two combat-related conditions that affect some OCO veterans and that have generated widespread concern among policymakers are post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, an anxiety disorder induced by exposure to a traumatic event, such as witnessing injury or death) and traumatic brain injury (TBI, which is caused by sudden trauma to the head and is commonly sustained by service members exposed to explosions).
Some observers contend that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the health care system within the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the health care system for active-duty personnel within the Department of Defense (DoD) may not adequately screen, diagnose, and treat OCO service members and veterans affected by PTSD and mild TBI.
In a study requested by the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, CBO analyzes VHA’s care of OCO patients diagnosed with PTSD or TBI and compares the reported rates of occurrence of those conditions within VHA with estimates of the prevalence of those conditions in the broader population of service members who have deployed to recent overseas contingency operations. The
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Posted on March - 02 - 2012
1) interest earned by an Individual
Development Account (IDA) project participant on
funds deposited in the participant’s personal account is currently
includible in the participant’s gross income under section
61 of the Code;2) a project participant may exclude,
as a gift under section 102, parallel funds paid for a qualified
expense of the project participant.
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Posted on March - 01 - 2012
You’ve probably seen big sign-up bonuses with credit cards at some point. They’re often used with rewards credit cards or frequent flyer credit cards to help one offer stand out from the competition. Have you ever applied for a new card because one of these bonuses got your attention? Have you considered applying for one just to get the bonus? Are these bonuses even worth it?
Let’s look at some examples of big credit card sign-up bonuses and some signs that they may or may not be worth your while.
Examples of Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses
- Bonus rewards points
- Bonus frequent flyer points
- Extra (like double) rewards points on purchases for a limited time
When Sign-Up Bonuses Are (and Aren’t) Worth It
Do these bonus rewards really make one credit card offer better than another? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. For exa
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