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I never thought it would happen to me. I have paid my credit card bills on time and have never had any negative item on my credit. But that still didn’t keep a few credit card companies from cancelling a few of my credit cards (worth $25,000 in limits). The truth is that is happening to many consumers and business owners around the nation. Credit companies are not making as much these days as they used to, and as a result they have decided to pull the trigger on their unprofitable customers.

There are two ways to be unprofitable to your card issuer. You can either pay all your bills on time, or you can put your cards away until you have money to spend. Either way, you are making card issuers upset. Card issuers don’t like folks who avoid fees. That’s their business model. I know why my cards were cancelled. I wasn’t using my cards as much as I used to. Before, I used to get a warning before having my cards cancelled. This time, however, the credit company took it upon itself to cancel 2 of my cards without letting me know. They were kind enough to send me a letter to give me a heads up not to use my card again, but I wish they had let me known they were planning to cut me off.

Credit companies are hurting these days but they are still making money. That still doesn’t keep them from being more greedy. So, don’t be surprised if you find your limits slashed in half or your account cancelled after years of paying your bills on time. That’s what credit card companies do…

Your take: Is it fair for credit card issuers to cancel your credit card without giving you a warning beforehand?

In case you haven’t been noticing, the economy is in the dumps, and there is no sign that things are going to get better. There is no questions that consumers are being squeezed by the financial conditions these days, but small businesses have been hurt the most by the credit crunch. Small businesses rely on loans and leverage to run their business, and if you can’t borrow money to run your operations, you have to close doors sooner than later.

But things are going to even get worse for small businesses. Many credit card issuers have reduced credit limits and increased fees on their customers. Now, we are hearing that a few major credit companies are going to modify their applications to ask for more verifiable information that could affect your eligibility for their cards. In essence, if you are a small business owner, you are going to find it difficult to get approved for a business credit card.

Business credit cards have been so valuable to business owners in the past, but with credit companies making it difficult for business owners to get approved for them, you can expect some more businesses to close doors this year or next.

What’s your take: should credit card companies penalize their well-behaved customers to protect themselves in these tough economic conditions?

Are you a disgruntled credit card user? Believe it or not it’s tough to find someone who is completely satisfied with their credit card issuer these days. Credit limits are falling and folks have had trouble with misc and hidden fees imposed on them by their card issuers. But in truth, folks are responsible for the majority of the problems. You should never in a relationship with a credit card issuer without doing your due diligence.

The great thing about the digital era is that companies can’t hide their track records. You should always try to figure out how companies treat their customers. You can use Google to find out a lot about card issuers. Try to figure out if they treat their customers well or impose unexpected fees on them. I would describe getting into a credit agreement as a form of a marriage. Would you marry someone on your very first night? Some people do. But that doesn’t mean the relationship will last.

Always figure out who you are dealing with before signing on the dotted line. Credit card companies are in business to make profit. Some do it by putting their customers first. Others do it by using deceptive business practices. A simple background check is the least you can do to save yourself a world of trouble.

Your take: are you satisfied with your current card issuer(s)? Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you had to do it all over again.

If you have been in credit forums, you have probably heard the complaints that many card holders are making about their limits being cut in half or third. Credit companies are feeling the crunch, and they are getting more diligent with their numbers. If you have had a bad record in your credit history, there is a very good chance that you will feel the crunch first. But credit companies don’t necessarily need that to cut your limit.

Credit companies are now using your debt to payment ratio to figure out whether you are deserving of your limits. LA Times running a story about this very issue. The fact is, credit card companies don’t need a very good reason to cut your limits. If you have read your card agreement, you probably know that credit card issuers use a lot of wiggle room to cut your limits or do all kinds of crazy stuff, which is why you should:

1. read your terms and conditions carefully!
2. limit your credit use if you can. Times are tough and you never know what’s around the corner.

These days all you hear about is who is cutting how many jobs. Yesterday, we heard Citigroup laying off 52,000 folks. That’s just way too many, and the timing couldn’t be worse for some of these folks. The holiday season is almost upon us, and a lot of companies don’t hire these days. Besides, let’s not forget the economy is not exactly doing great, so these folks will have to ride out some tough times.

Now, if you have been among folks who have lost their jobs. No worries. There will be opportunities available. The key is to be diligent about it. But even if you don’t find a job, you can stop the bleeding by cutting the unnecessary costs and avoid silly fees (e.g. credit card fees) as much as possible. The times are tough but they won’t last forever. At least that’s what it looks like at this point.

If you are in debt up to your neck, and you are not able to pay even small payments on your credit debt, we’ve got some more bad news for you. There have been murmurs around the possibility of granting forgiveness to some of the bad loans that are outstanding on credit card companies balance sheets. However, the OOC has just rejected a proposal to write off some of these bad loans.

On the surface, you may find this to be a cruel and careless decision. But the truth is, banks are notorious for using loopholes in law to misrepresent their financial information. In the banking industry, bad debts are recognized as soon as possible, but the proposal would’ve given banks the possibility of postponing that.

The good news is that President Obama and his staff understand the situation, and there may be some help on the way. Now, I am not sure if you can get out of your debt completely, but creditors may be willing to work with folks in trouble to help them make reasonable payments.

Pay Per Click marketing has grown to a massive industry in the past few years thanks to the efforts of Google, Yahoo, and now Microsoft. Pay per click advertising allows online marketers to put their websites in front of folks on the search engine results pages. They are charged for every click that is made on their PPC listing.

Top pay per click marketers spend thousands of dollars ever week to bring leads to their partners and earn commissions. A few marketers market their own products and have to compete with others in the same niche. Owning the right PPC credit card can enable marketers to bid on competitive keywords with more flexibility and earn money back in the process.

PPC credit cards come in both consumer and business flavors. If you have taken time to form your own business entity (LLC, corporation), you can apply for business credit cards such as Advanta Custom card to earn rewards on every dollar spent and also receive low interest on your monthly balances. A lot of marketers don’t realize their commissions (profits) on a monthly basis, which means they will need to take on debt for a little while before they are able to pay their balances in full. In those cases, it is essential to sign up for a credit card that offers 0% APR on dollars spent for a significant period of time (12-15 months). You can also use a low interest balance transfer card to transfer your PPC balances from a high interest card.

There are many options available to pay per click marketers, depending on your preference of cash back or travel rewards. Rewards credit cards allow you to save money and get some money back in return. At the end of the day, pay per click marketers focus on converting folks for profit, and getting money back from credit card companies can be an extra bonus

Discover has just updated their Discover More credit card to offer a $50 bonus when you spend your first $500 with your Discover credit cards. Discover More card is obviously very popular, but a lot of folks get these cards and don’t use them as much as they should, so I guess this is a way to encourage folks to use their discover cards for their spending.

Many people use credit cards to purchase necessities everyday, but due to the nature of credit card business, you are always provided incentives by credit companies to spend more. If you own a credit card which you don’t use often, you have probably received a couple of tempting offers in the mail from your card issuer to encourage you to spend.

But spending has become an addiction among folks in debt. When you keep buying, it becomes a habit. You start buying things that you don’t need, and start thinking about things to buy when you run out of ideas. That’s how you pile up $100K or more in credit card debt.

Breaking away from spending habits is extremely difficult. You keep being tempted by card issuers to purchase more. Your mind keeps telling you that it is OK to spend when it’s not. I used to suffer from the same problem. But once I started investing in long-term assets, I managed to re-channel my desire to buy things to invest in assets than pure costs.

Shaking off debt is not easy, but folks who are in debt need to change their mentality to save and invest. You can have the best gadgets in the world, but they don’t help you retire earlier or live a comfortable life when you are out of a job. Giving up a habit can be difficult, but it’d all be easier if you replaced a bad addiction with a good one.

Advanta has just released a new card that is targeted for business professionals who do not necessarily own a business entity (LLC, Incorporate). Advanta is a classic business credit card issuer, but this is a bold move for them to target folks who don’t take the extra step to register their businesses in their states. Kiva credit card for business professionals comes with the following features:

• 0% Introductory APR for 15 months
• Balance Transfers APR: 7.99%
• Purchase APR: 7.99%
• Annual Fee = $0