This is very bad news for parents trying to accumulate funds for their childrens’ college account. For people disciplined enough to pay off their credit card balance each month, the Fidelity 529 card provided a great tool for painlessly setting aside college savings. In the three plus years I’ve had the card, our family has added more than $4,000 to my daughter’s college fund.

Apparently FIA has introduce a new Fidelity/Amex 529 card to replace the MasterCard. The new card pays a still decent 1.5% reward but, sorry, in my opinion, Amex just doesn’t cut it when it comes to everday card use for things like groceries, city water bills, and the myriad other items I’m able to buy with the beloved 529 MasterCard.

We’ll let you know as we learn more.

Keeping cash in the wallet is the historic trend; it’s the world of credit cards today as most of shopping is done on credit cards. Banks offer a variety of cards which include visa card, mastercard, student card, travel cards and so on which anyone can apply for. Citibank’s citi cards are most popular among visa card for worldwide spending. People with a low credit rating also need not worry about getting credit facility as there are various loans available to lessen their debt. Such individuals welcome to avail facility of credit cards, that are bad credit credit cards. Financial institutions also extend bad credit loans to people with a low grading credit history. A vast range of different kinds of home business on the internet provide the appealing facility of shopping online. One of the biggest networks of home businesses online is the insurance businesses which provide insurance quotes to consumers to select from. Such businesses also provide income opportunity to insurance agents who book insurance orders online. Agents get a higher commission to sell multiple insurance as in case of selling a business insurance.

Carrying a balance on your credit card erodes the value of any “rewards” that might be earned by using the card. Use this credit card calculator to gauge the cost of paying interest on a credit card balance against
the benefit of earning rewards. In the first field, enter the percent value of the basic reward your credit card pays. Typically this is 1% or 2%. (Air mile rewards are usually valued between 1% and 2% as well.) Next enter your credit card expenses for a typical month. Some credit cards offera higher rebate percent for specific items such a gas or groceries; enter this percent together with an estimate of the monthly qualified charges.

Finally, enter the dollar value of the credit card balance you typically carry together with the APR rate (%) for your credit card. The calculator assumes that the monthly balance you carry remains relatively constant. If you let this balance grow, the net value of any rewards is diminished further.

The Credit Card Calculator script is available here for free distribution or use on financial websites.

This move fills a void for people whose strategy is to maximize college savings rewards by buying groceries and other daily items with their rewards card - then prompltly paying the bill in full each month. Until now, the choice was to either go elsewhere (and miss out on the consumer benefits offered through Sam’s) or lose out on 529 credit card rewards for purchases made at Sam’s.

The internet has made life easy in many ways. From shopping to banking, from booking insurance to getting a mortgage bid and applying for home mortgage, from applying for a loan to paying its installments everything can be done with a click of the mouse. A bundle of websites provide information about various insurance packages available ranging from human life insurance to pet insurance. When planning a vacation trip for you and your family nothing can best protect you than a good quality holiday insurance. Book a trip online and instantly search for the best insurance. Your car is a precious asset, get it insured with car insurance to protect against damages, theft and accidents. If you are in need of instant cash, register yourself online with companies that provide online mortgage leads to lenders. This way the lender finds you through the online lead and can fulfill your need. Loans can also be applied for on the internet. Students can apply for college loans online and bear their college expenses. Bad credit rating people can apply for a bad credit loan on the internet too.

Babymint is the flagship product of the Vesdia Corporation. The underlying “savings engine” technology of the Babymint program is licensed to other private label names such as The Education Plan and Baby Center.

The major selling points for the Babymint 529 savings club are: 1) earned rewards can be directed to almost any 529 plan (including ones already set up) and, 2) there is no fee or requirement to have the affiliated Babymint credit card. BabyMint provides good competition for Upromise in the area of on-line shopping rebates with nearly 500 merchants listed. To earn on-line rebates, you must shop through the BabyMint website but any credit card can be used. In the area of in-store shopping, Babymint doesn’t stack up as well. The list of in-store merchants is relatively sparse and you can only earn in-store rebates if you use the affiliated Babymint credit card.

Summary: Babymint is free and worth joining primarily for on-line shopping purposes. Rebates from on-line retailers are competitive with Upromise rebates from the same retailers so it’s a good idea to look both places for the best deal when shopping on-line.

Technorati Tags: Vesdia Corporation, Babymint program, Babymint 529, savings club, 529 plan, Babymint credit card

The Futuretrust 529 Credit Card is another basic 1% 529 rewards card. The card does share one important negative feature with The Education Plan card: you must have the credit card to benefit from the supplemental merchant rebates offered through Futuretrust network merchants - other credit cards cannot be used.

Other drawbacks of this card are the relatively short 20 day grace period and APR rates that are on the high side compared to the other 529 reward cards. Futuretrust APRs start at 12.74% and range as high as 16.74% depending on credit history.

Summary: Once again, there are several better options available when choosing a college rewards credit card. A special introductory rewards rate of 2% is offered for the first nine months - but only on the first $5,000 worth of purchases.