Walt Cameron Comments Off on Success Tip: A New Start
Filed under: Success Tips, Videos
My name is Walt Cameron, I am America’s Dream Coach and I want to share with you our “Success Tip of the Week” which is, there is always an opportunity to make a new start.
Though it may not seem so when you first encounter a serious obstacle in your path to success, you must never lose two of the most important assets you have.
These twin assets are the power of your mind and your ability to use it.
Once you have used them to understand what happened to create that obstacle, you can only then
begin developing a new plan to overcome it.
You may not have the money you once had or you may not have the contacts you had developed. But you still have the benefit of living in a country that eventually rewards honest effort, as well as gaining the experience of making mistakes you will never make again.
Remember, no matter where you are now, whatever your mind can conceive and believe, you can and you will achieve that dream of your predetermined goal.
This is a wonderful lesson for all of you to embrace. I know many of you are struggling in this time of economic challenges. You may have lost your job or maybe you are in fear of losing it.
Maybe you are facing financial hurdles in your business. All these challenges are facing many other Americans today as well.
You are definitely not alone. Don’t forget that. Historically, in our country, even in the worst of
economic times, even during the Great Depression of 1929, opportunities were available for those who were ready and able to have the vision and the purpose to recognize that opportunity….
Some of the very successful people we have interviewed on our show and in the book I wrote, “Yes! The American Dream is Alive and Well” , shared the challenges they faced and overcame while pursuing their American Dream. And they told us that, looking back on their life, the best thing that ever happened to them was being fired or losing their job. They continued that, as long as they had that “safety net” of a job and a regular paycheck, they weren’t taking the time to explore other doors of opportunity. For example, maybe even considering starting their own business.
In times like these, our success lesson today becomes even more valuable. And it all comes down to this, when you have the potential for success within you, adversity and temporary setbacks only help you prepare to reach even greater levels of success.
Because, without challenges, you would never develop the qualities of being of real service to your clients, maintaining a positive mindset, always doing the right thing and the perseverance to reach and sustain ongoing success.
Folks, the rest is up to you. Are you ready to create your own story of success in achieving your dream ?
IF you are, then go ahead, make a decision right now to be a part of pursuing your dream!
And once you decide to step on that path toward achieving your dream, never ever give up!
Live your American Dream! And I want to help you make that happen!
And, if you want to hear more about how to reach your dream and hear more successful stories of folks just like the one you’re going to have, just go to:
Walt Cameron Comments Off on Success Tip: Travel The Extra Mile
Filed under: Success Tips, Videos
Hello, my name is Walt Cameron and I’m Americans’ Dream Coach!
Let’s talk about our “Success Tip of the Week” which is, the quality of the service you provide your clients, together with your positive attitude, determines how much value you add to your clients, and, as a result, what you get back from them!
Let’s see how this works. People who are promoted to important positions in any business are usually the ones who are known to go the extra mile, accomplish more than they are expected, exceed their job description, and always do it with a perpetually positive approach!
Those who always travel that extra mile are also known for determining their own destiny in terms of fulfilling their dream. When you combine this extra effort with the very important character trait of perseverance, you will be known as someone who can always be counted on to complete the task no matter how many obstacles you encounter along the way. Because those that know you believe that, with your constantly determined and positive mindset, failure is simply not an option for you.
Many CEO’s of some of our largest corporations have acquired these attributes over the course of their successful careers. They are known among their subordinates as the ultimate “go to” person. The one that can always be counted on to solve any problem or complete any job!
Most people simply aren’t motivated enough in the pursuit of their goals to expend any extra effort whatsoever. They want to do their job well enough to keep it and, maybe even, if they are around long enough without making any major mistakes, will earn a promotion or two. But, extra effort? Never! This is a foreign concept to less driven and unmotivated individuals.
And, of course, because of most peoples’ lack of willing to do more than is expected of them, the one who always applies the extra effort and goes the extra mile, easily stands out and separates himself from the rest of the crowd. It makes it pretty easy when the Board of Directors is looking for that New President who can lead the company to an even better future.
The good news for those of you who are American Dreamers and never give up your dream is that the Road along the extra mile is never crowded. You see, if you really want to be successful in whatever you choose to do in your life, the path of least resistance is, in reality, the path that others will never take. When you find a way to stand out from that crowd and always be the one that walks that extra mile, you’ll always achieve your goal and, the unadvertised bonus will always be, you’ll never know who you might meet on that very uncrowded road to success!
Well. There you have it, another valuable Success Tip to add to your arsenal of tools to help you live your American Dream! And I want to continue to help you make that happen by sharing with you more examples of how to add value to what you do!
If you want to hear more inspiring tips about how to convert your dream to success,
just go to:
Walt Cameron Comments Off on Success Tip: It’s Ok To Make A Mistake!
Filed under: Success Tips, Videos
Our “Weekly Success Tip” is designed to help all of you who are in the process of achieving your American Dream. We want to help you stay focused on your dream and it’s successful completion.
Our lesson today comes from one of my favoriteauthors Napolean Hill who, at the beginning of the 20th century, interviewed the most successful people in our country at the time, men like Dale Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. He put all these interviews in a book titled “Think and Grow Rich” which has become one of the best selling books on successever written.
Mr.Hill said that “Success requires no explanation”. However, “Failures must be doctored with alibis”.
The surest way to gain approval in any company is to be successful. Unfortunately, in the real world, it doesn’t always work out like that.
Because, no matter how much timeyou spend studying something, no matter how many good decisions you make, no matter how prepared you are, you will inevitably make mistakes.
Because that is what we all do sooner or later in the process of achieving our success.
I have never interviewed anyone on “Our American Dream Show” who had achieved their dream who had not made any mistakes. And, it will never happen!
You must recognize and then accept this bad news. You will make mistakes! However, the good news is that you are always able to take a step back, take a look, and analyze what happened. Then, you will be sure that you never make that mistake again. You learn from it, you file it in your memory, and then you move forward!
All the successfulpeopleI’ve ever interviewed agree that no obstacle, no hurdle, and no challenge is evera reason to give up your dream.
Always remember what Winston Churchill said, “Success is never permanent and failure is not fatal .it is thecourage to continue that counts!”
What Mr. Hill and Sir Winston are telling us that, as long as we learn something from our mistake or our failure and, in the process, we vow never to repeat it and we don’t give up, then we are able to keep working toward achieving our American Dream, one small step at a time!
Walt Cameron Comments Off on Success Tip: George Patton Strategy
Filed under: Success Tips, Videos
In a recent call with one of my coaching client, I was discussing the need to“Take Action”.
I mentioned General George Patton, the greatest armored tank General in WWII, who once said, “A good plan violently executed NOW is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
Did you know that Patton competed in the first Pentathlon in the 1912 summer Olympics,
finishing 5th overall and 3rd in fencing.
After the Olympics, Patton studied with the greatest swordsman in Europe because he wanted to be the best swordsman he could possibly be!
This training resulted in Patton becoming the US Army’s youngest ever “Master of the Sword”, the Army’s best swordsman!
Unfortunately, for Patton, the nature of war soon changed, making saber cavalry units obsolete. But Patton didn’t get upset and resign his commission, he embraced the change by adapting his infamous “move forward and attack” saber techniques for use with the Army’s new armored (tank) combat units. He used these techniques to win key battles against the German Panzer Tank Divisions and help American win WWII!
Now, the question you are probably asking is, how can I apply these lessons that General Patton learned to my own business?
The first is pretty obvious , TAKE ACTION! Don’t sit around analyzing things to death. I call this “mental paralysis “. Get your product or service develop and finished. Then start marketingit! You can alwaysmake improvements based upon your customer feedback.
Second, you need to LEARN FROM THE BEST! Find out who is implementing a successfulstrategy you would like to duplicate, then learn everything you can about whatthey are doing and how they are doing it!
Third, you must learn to ADAPT! Every business is certainly different. However, you canadapt and implement what youlearned to your ownbusiness and improve it!
As fellow Entrepreneurs and as part of any path you are following to achieve your American Dream, you need to “Take Action”, ”LearnFrom the Best” and be able to “Adapt” what you learned!
The rest is up to you!
The only question you have to ask yourself is this, are you ready to create your own story of successin achieving your dream?
Well then, make a decision right now to be a part of pursuing your dream!
Maybe it’s the one you’ve put on hold for way too long, maybe now is the time to make your move.
Become informed! Get involved! You cqan make a difference to others, your family and yourself!
And once you decide to step on that path toward your dream, never, ever give up, no matter what obstacle or challenge gets in your way!
Live your American Dream! And I want to help you make that happen.
If you want to hear more about how to convert your dream to success, just go to:
‘Inspirational Stories and Action Plan to Achieve Your Dream’
Springfield, MO, February 18, 2013: Author and Speaker Walt Cameron’s latest book (above title), just released, connects readers with the legacy of their American Dream. They will read the amazing stories of the Founding Fathers to present day success stories of those who have achieved their own American Dream. And, at the end of the book, Walt reveals a simple, easy to understand ten step action plan that anyone can implement and achieve their own dream!
Walt interviewed Americans on his radio show, “Our American Dream Show”. These Americans shared how they achieved their success in spite of all the challenges, hurdles, and obstacles they encountered along the way. The common traits they all shared was that they believed in America, they believed they would achieve their dream, and they never gave up! Be inspired by these stories of sacrifice, hard work, ability, and a single minded purpose of achieving a goal! These stories will inspire all Americans to pursue their own dream until it is achieved!
Testimonial:
“My family also came over on the boat from Europe many years ago. I enjoyed reading your stories from the early Colonists to today’s families who are working toward their American Dream. I am one of those. I own a small business and I am struggling with some issues to continue to grow my business. I wanted to thank you for your action plan in your book which really helped me clarify my issues and develop a better plan to accomplish my goals. You encouraged me to have a bigger dream and not put limits on what I want to do! I, too, am proud to be an American and live in a country in which I am able to control my own destiny!” Jim Turner, Branson, MO
Walt Cameron is available for a phone interview. Please call him at 417-337-2988 to set up a convenient time for you.
Please visit Walt at his excellent website at www.OurAmericanDreamShow.com for a full bio with a jpg 480 x 360 to download, videos, audios, more success stories, and success tips that inspire each one of us to achieve our very own American Dream!
We must always remember September 11, 2001. I hope we can all we reflect on this 10th anniversary of a horrific terrorist act and agree that America is still the greatest country in the world even with all the flaws and issues we are currently facing.
Let us not forget that we are still one nation under God. And that we must remain a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The best way we can honor and memorialize those that perished and suffered on that fateful day ten years ago is to keep our connection to our heritage and legacy alive.
I give talks on the “American Dream” by reminding my audiences of that connection. We must never forget the 56 men who committed an act of treason against King George by placing their name on that most famous document the “Declaration of Independence”. They, along with the other colonists, fought for freedom and liberty and, in the process, changed the course of history.
I am completing a book called, “Yes, the American Dream is Alive and Well”. My book shares stories of success of Americans young and old from the 18th Century to current day who have achieved their “American Dream” with all the hurdles and challenges along the way. The commonalities they all shared was an unwavering faith in their country and their God and a determination that would never allow them to give up their dream!
This 235 year legacy has allowed us to survive countless wars and, yes, even acts of terrorism against our beloved country.
Someone once said that “The greatest resource on the planet is American ingenuity and Americans have 100% of it. “
This is why I believe that America is not going to roll over and die as many are predicting. In fact, I believe that we Americans have our best days ahead of us not behind us. It is not because of what our government provides, but what our citizens produce in the form of goods, services, and jobs.
No matter how hard the government tries to legislate and restrict our freedom and ingenuity, the American people and our free enterprise system and capitalistic society we have built over the last 235 years will always find a way to succeed and prosper.
Because that’s what we have done and will continue to do. We have a legacy to uphold, a legacy of all the Americans who have gone before us and sacrificed everything so that their children and their descendants would enjoy a better life.
We must continue to pass that legacy along to our children and our grandchildren. So in the end, I am and will remain an eternally optimistic American Patriot!!!
Here’s an email from John in St. Louis who wrote….Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work my 40 hours each week and I get my paycheck. My company takes my taxes out of that check and I make my contribution to supporting my State and Federal Government.
Now, for me to receive my paycheck, I have to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. I mean I agreed to it when I started working for my employer. Actually, I should say that I had no choice if I wanted the job.
What I do have a problem with is sharing my taxes and the fruits of my labor to people who don’t have to pass a urine test.
Why don’t the people have to pass a urine test before they get their welfare check? I mean that seems fair because I have to pass one to earn it for them, right?
Please understand, I have no problem with helping people who need a helping hand.
I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their couch doing drugs, while I work every day to help support their bad habit. There’s something very wrong with a system that supports that situation, don’t you think?
John, thanks for the email! I agree with you. Some folks need a helping hand sometimes to get back on their feet and I think that public assistance is a useful tool for that purpose.
However, when we start helping people with handouts to folks who have no intention whatsoever of using it to get through a temporary situation while they find a job or maybe go to school to learn a trade, then it becomes fraudulent and insults the American Taxpayers whose labors provided the assistance.
And, of course, John, you also pose a very interesting question, and one I’m sure thousands of working Americans who are subjected to the same random test as a condition of their employment are also asking.
Can you imagine how much money our States would save if everyone had to pass a urine test to get a welfare check?
Maybe we could call that program, “Urine or You’re Out!”
No, seriously, that would be a great name as it would describe the process and the potential consequences for defrauding the system.
I’ll tell you what, folks, something has to change in this country and I think if should be sooner rather than later!
Of course, if passing urine tests was required for welfare checks, the ACLU would be suing everyone on behalf of the poor, unfortunate folks who could not pass the test and would be unfairly discriminated by the state etc.
Unfortunately, we do not have a level playing field in this country for workers and those living off the state who are being allowed to indulge their addictions while taking welfare in the process of indulging their addiction.
Requiring working people to take random urine tests as a condition of their employment but not require drug tests to receive entitlements like welfare is definitely discriminatory against the American worker who supports those who receive the “helping hand” checks while still taking drugs.
I guess the obvious question becomes what percentage of those receiving any kind of free aid from our government would “fail” a drug test?
This whole thing about people abusing our Welfare System by continuing to take it when they are drug addicts who can’t get a job or some people who simply don’t want to work as long as they can have the state continue to support them.
As a matter of fact, this kind of reminds me of a story about a young boy who enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer,
“This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?”
The boy takes the quarters and leaves the dollar. “What did I tell you? “ said the barber. “That kid never learns!”
Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store and says, “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”
The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game’s over!”
What do you think, folks, does that young boy’s story maybe apply to folks who continue to cheat the welfare system who are very capable of getting a job? I mean, if they get a job, the game is over, right?
So, what do you folks think about requiring people who take government aid to pass a urine test?
Visit our website…..www.ouramericandreamshow.com
And tell us what you think……..we value your opinion!
My name is Walt Cameron….and I’m the host of Our American Dream Show…simulcast every week on your internet and local radio station.
I received an email from John in Richmond,VA who said…”I wanted to share a success story of a Lady with a great American Dream success story…..”
Lurita Doan…who is a former Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration and a commentator on Federal News Radio…as she related her story to Fox News …..
Twenty years ago, in November 1989, I found myself in Berlin with a rented hammer and chisel, chipping away at the Berlin Wall.
My husband, a captain in the U.S. Army, was deployed to Germany. Jobs for military spouses were hard to come by. I come from generations of Southern, Black entrepreneurs, so, I decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge, start a business, as a sole proprietorship, doing what I knew best, installing and repairing mainframe computer systems.
Success was a long shot; my prospects weren’t great. I had no investors, no employees, no significant assets. Like most entrepreneurs, what I did have was hope, a big dream and a willingness to tackle difficult jobs.
A Dept of Defense mainframe had crashed in Berlin. A large defense contractor needed a technician quickly and they couldn’t find anyone willing and able to get there quickly.
I was already in Germany, and was willing to travel through the night, from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where we lived, to Berlin. I could be there faster than any consultant flown over from the U.S., and at less cost, so I got the job. It was my first big opportunity.
I was not the only one pursuing a dream and an opportunity. Berlin was abuzz with rumors flying.
West Germans were wondering if Gorbachev and the Soviet Politburo were going to relax draconian travel rules and allow East Germans to travel across the Iron curtain for the first time? No one knew the answer, but everyone was asking the question.
Hungarians were already fleeing Communist control. Berliners wondered if they would be allowed to follow. Or, would the Warsaw Pact crack down and stop the trickle of people crossing the borders before it became a flood? No one knew the answer, but everyone was asking the question.
Lots of Berliners talked of Ronald Reagan’s speech, delivered in Berlin, almost two years earlier, when he demanded:”Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down this Wall!” Was President Reagan’s dramatic call about to happen? Some Berliners worried the soldiers would take charge. No one knew.
Ironically, the worst source of information was the media, perhaps because in 1987 so many had underestimated the importance of Reagan’s speech. The New York Times declared that Reagan had “lost the air of authority” and suggested that Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech was “surreal” and indicated that the “presidency had ceased to function.” The Washington Post, and U.S. News & World Report had also been highly critical.
But, in November 1989, Berliners remembered the power of a U.S. president calling for the hateful wall to be torn down. Each person to whom I spoke, seemed to know someone, a family member or friend, who had been trapped on the other side of the wall. Hope was alive, powerful and focused on tearing down the Wall.
Nine hours later, the DOD mainframe was operational, and my first job was done. I was tempted to crash at my hotel, but the air in Berlin was electric. I’m still not sure how the whole thing started.
Maybe someone finally got tired of waiting for someone else to act and decided, on his own to pick up a sledge hammer and start whacking the wall. Others soon joined. Within hours, thousands of Berliners were tearing down the wall.
I was one of them.
The Berlin Wall was solid, reinforced concrete. Chipping a piece wasn’t easy. I banged on the wall for 30 minutes before it yielded the smallest of pieces. Here’s a lesson: Anyone thinking that monumental change occurs without hard work is a fool. Change is hard.
Change is also scary. Even as we were chipping at the wall, folks around me were skittish, their glances darting nervously left and right, as if expecting the Volkspolizei or the military to order them to stop. But, no one objected.
After an hour, I joined the curious and crossed into East Berlin to look around. I had never been to East Berlin, but I could see that 40 years of Communism had left the city impoverished, dingy and unkempt.
This side of Berlin was crowded too, with people were pushing, moving towards the crossing. I was so engrossed that I did not realize that East Germany guards were slowly moving to exert some control and border restrictions were once again being enforced.
Unfortunately for me, the decision to restrict movement across the Wall found me trapped inside East Berlin and big, East German goons would not let me cross back over to the West. Jubilation quickly turned to fear.
How long was I going to be trapped inside the Eastern bloc? Would the Volkspolizei round us up and send us to a gulag? Most pressing of all….. how in the hell was I going to get back to the land of the free and home of the brave?
Another great lesson: when you’re stuck in a bad situation overseas, nothing looks quite as good as a young, American sergeant in the U.S. Army. I called out to a young American soldier, still manning his post at Check Point Charlie, who seemed as confused as I. He said he couldn’t let me through, but he told me not to leave the crossing.
About an hour later, the crossing reopened. I moved quickly with the crowd to enter the West. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” which had been blaring all day, never sounded so appropriate.
What did I learn?
First, never underestimate the power of a focused and easily understood dream. When Reagan demanded “Tear Down this Wall”, Berliners understood the message, even if the media missed it.
Reagan’s call was clear, focused and specific. He didn’t make some vague reference to “Change” but instead focused attention on the exact nature of the change desired –“Tear Down This Wall!”
There is an important lesson there. Vague calls for “change” can’t be implemented and certainly can’t animate the population. Reagan knew that.
Second, people demolished the wall on their own, without any type of official, government sponsored event.
Today, our actions might have been called a Tea Party. Change happens spontaneously when folks get tired of waiting.
One guy picked up the first hammer, and soon thousands of hammers demolished the wall. Yes, one man can make a difference.
Third, the United States truly is the greatest nation on earth, and the freedom of democracy is most definitely worth the fight.
Lastly, I was in Berlin because I was pursuing the American dream of entrepreneurship.
Dreams, whether the American dream of entrepreneurship or the dream of a unified Berlin, have their own power and can take you far.
They certainly can take you to places and events that you never thought possible.
My own company, started on that fateful day in Berlin, would eventually grow to employ 200 people and countless small businesses.
The trick to success is to have the courage to go, the willingness to pick up a hammer when you get there, and the good sense to be grateful for strong, American soldiers, not far away, should things get scary
Wow! I want to thank John for this great, true story of one woman’s courage to start her own business in a foreign country and, taking advantage of an opportunity, not only started on her path to success and the fulfillment of her American Dream of owning her own business, but
she became part of something bigger that.
She was able to witness in person the unification of East and West Berlin which had been separated by a wall, infamously called the “Iron Curtain”, for many years!
We have lots of stories like this. Some told in third party and many are told in person on “Our American Dream Show”.
If you want to hear more great stories like this and learn how to make your own American Dream come true, just go to our website at:
www.OurAmericanDreamShow.com
And we’ll look forward to seeing you on our next broadcast!
OK, so now you have your FREE credit reports and you are confused because there are an lot of numbers, abbreviations and terms you’ve never seen before.
Trade lines, charge-offs, collections, inquiries, Public Records, and you are trying to figure out how in the world can you interpret the information correctly?
Let’s start at the beginning, there are three major credit-reporting agencies in the United States:
Experian
TransUnion
Equifax
Everyone is entitled to a free copy of their three credit reports, one from each of the credit reporting agencies annually thanks to a 2004 Federal Law. You must request your free credit reports through a centralized source.
To order online, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.
By phone, call (877) 322-8228.
Or, you may complete the form on the back of the Annual Credit Report Request brochure, and mail it to:
Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA, 30348-5281.
Each of the three reports will have different information because creditors subscribe to one or more of the three Credit Bureaus. Obtaining all three reports from each guarantees that you get all the information reported on your Credit by all your Creditors.
A credit report is basically divided into four sections: identifying information, credit history, public records and inquiries.
Identifying information is information to identify you. Look at it closely to make sure it’s accurate. It’s not unusual for there to be two or three spellings of your name or more than one Social Security number. That’s usually because someone reported the information that way. The variations will stay on your credit report. If it’s reported wrong, the Credit
Bureaus leave it because it might mess up the link. Don’t be concerned about variations.
Other information might include your current and previous addresses, your date of birth, telephone numbers, driver license numbers, your employer and your spouse’s name.
The next section is your credit history. Sometimes, the individual accounts are called trade lines.
Each account will include the name of the creditor and the account number, which may be scrambled for security purposes. You may have more than one account from a creditor. Many creditors have more than one kind of account, or if you move, they transfer your account to a new location and assign a new number. The entry will also include:
• When you opened the account;
• The kind of credit (installment, such as a mortgage or car loan, or revolving, such as a department store credit card);
• Whether the account is in your name alone or with another person;
• Total amount of the loan, high credit limit or highest balance on the card;
• How much you still owe;
• Fixed monthly payments or minimum monthly amount;
• Status of the account (open, inactive, closed, paid, etc.);
• How well you’ve paid the account.
Next, you need to understand the language contained in credit card offers and statements. If you do not, this lack of knowledge will send you down the wrong path to more debt and higher interest rates. I want you to have a basic understanding of these frequently used credit card terms.
Average Daily Balance — This is the method by which most Credit Card Banks calculate your payment due. An average daily balance is determined by adding each day’s balance and then dividing that total by the number of days in a billing cycle. The average daily balance is then multiplied by a card’s monthly periodic rate, which is calculated by dividing the annual percentage rate by 12. A card with an annual rate of 18 percent would have a monthly periodic rate of 1.5 percent.
If that card had a $500 average daily balance it would yield a monthly finance charge of $7.50.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR) — A yearly rate of interest that includes fees and costs paid to acquire the loan. Lenders are required by law to disclose the APR. The rate is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan, so borrowers can compare loans.
Balance Transfer — The process of moving an unpaid credit card debt from one issuer to another. Card issuers sometimes offer teaser rates to encourage balance transfers coming in and balance transfer fees to discourage them from going out.
Cash Advance Fee — A charge by the bank for using credit cards to obtain cash. This fee can be stated in terms of a flat per transaction fee or a percentage of the cash advance. For example, the fee may be expressed as follows: “5%/$10”.
This means that the cash advance fee will be the greater of five per cent of the cash advance amount or ten dollars.
The Banks may limit the amount that can be charged to a specific dollar amount.
Depending on the Bank issuing the credit card, the cash advance fee may be deducted directly from the cash advance at the time the money is received or it may be posted to your bill as of the day you received the advance.
The cost of a cash advance is also higher because there generally is no grace period. Interest accrues from the moment the money is withdrawn. Also, most Credit Card Banks limit your cash out amount to a percentage of your Total Card Limit.
Card Holder Agreement — The written statement that gives the terms and conditions of a credit card account. The cardholder agreement is required by Federal Reserve regulations. It must include the Annual Percentage Rate, the monthly minimum payment formula, annual fee if applicable, and the cardholder’s rights in billing disputes.
Changes in the cardholder agreement may be made, with written advance notice, at any time by the issuer. Rules for imposing changes vary from state to state, but the rules that apply are those of the home state of the issuing bank, not the home state of the cardholder.
Finance Charge — The charge for using a credit card, comprised of interest costs and other fees.
Floor — The minimum rate possible on a variable-rate loan or line of credit, after any initial introductory rate period. For example, on a credit card with the Prime rate as its index, no matter how low the Prime rate drops, the rate on the line may never decrease below the stated rate floor.
Grace Period — If the credit card user does not carry a balance, the grace period is the interest-free time a lender allows between the transaction date and the billing date. The standard grace period is usually between 20 and 30 days. If there is no grace period, finance charges will accrue the moment a purchase is made with the credit card. People who carry a balance on their credit cards have no grace period.
Minimum Payment — The minimum amount a cardholder can pay to keep the account from going into default. Some card issuers will set a high minimum if they are uncertain of the cardholder’s ability to pay. Most card issuers require a minimum payment of two percent of the outstanding balance.
Over-the-Limit Fee — A fee charged for exceeding the credit limit on the card balance.
Periodic Rate — The interest rate described in relation to a specific amount of time. The monthly periodic rate, for example, is the cost of credit per month. The daily periodic rate is the cost of credit per day.
Pre-Approved – A credit card offer with “pre approved” only means that a potential customer has passed a preliminary credit information screening.
A Credit Card Bank can still decline the customers it invited with “pre approved” junk mail if it doesn’t like the applicant’s overall credit rating.
Secured Card — A credit card that a cardholder secures with a savings deposit to ensure payment of the outstanding balance if the cardholder defaults on payments. It is used by people new to credit, or people trying to rebuild their poor credit ratings. You must make sure that the Bank will report your payment activity the Three Major Credit Bureaus.
Teaser Rate — Often called the introductory rate, it is the below-market interest rate offered to entice customers to switch credit cards or lenders.
Variable Interest Rate — Percentage that a borrower pays for the use of money, and which moves up or down periodically based on changes in other interest rates or financial indexes such as Prime, LIBOR, Cost of Funds, Treasury Bills etc.
Congratulations, now you are ready to open that next credit card offer or your statement with complete confidence because you know how to read and interpret them.
