I will only post once on this topic, 'cause I think it is rather off
topic and the thread needs to go away...

Roger writes:
Credit cards are good for two things:
Convenience and emergencies:
They are NOT good for credit!

Even a signature loan will be half or less for the interest. That is
why there are companies out there making a business of saving credit
card users money.
snip
My own credit card co sends me those darn checks (Instant case) and
other incentives. Of course if I use any of that the interest is
charged from day one. There is no grace period to the due date.

Actually, sometimes those cheques are a good deal. AMEX sent me some
cheques with a 4.99% rate (fixed for the duration of the loan) and a
$50 transaction fee. I was in the market for a small unsecured loan,
and following the conventional wisdom went to talk to my bank. My
banker took one look at the terms on those cheques, and told me that
he could not come anywhere near matching those rates. (At the time
small unsecured bank loans were going for something like 12%.)

The only gotcha? After using the cheque I had to throw the AMEX card
in a drawer and not use it anymore. According to the fine print if I
used the card at all then any charges I made would get paid off last,
after the low interest debt was paid off. And those purchases would
be charged a much higher rate of interest. They were counting on
customers being stupid enough to ring up more charges after using the
cheque.

It seems strange to me that AMEX is trying to train its customers to
_not_ use their card, but that is not my problem...

Chris
--
Chris Colohan Email: PGP: finger
Web: www.colohan.com Phone: (412)268-4751