Battling Springtime Credit Card Blues

This year's mounting credit card debt got you nervous? We interviewed Larry Chiang, America's top credit counselor and Chairman of the Make February 2004 Keeping College Students Credit Healthy Awareness Month, and he outlined tips, strategies, techniques and ideas on managing credit. His tips improve your cash flow by:

1. Helping negotiate down credit card interest rates.
"There are three facets to getting your issuer to lower your rates: knowing you have alternative bank offers, updating your credit report with correct information, and confronting your current bank. A very popular offer is First USA/Bank One's fixed 9.9% offer. Other offers include Citibank, Capital One, MBNA, and Bank of America with offers that vary upwards to 18+%. Making sure your credit report contains correct information is critical. The three credit bureaus, Trans Union, Equifax and Experian, can be contacted at addresses found at www.credithealth.com/css2.asp Armed with credit bureau data, consumers are no longer held hostage to high rates that they must confront their bank with. More specific steps are given at www.credithealth.com/css.asp.

2. Saving $1,500 to 2,000 by understanding how loan officers evaluate.
"Loan officers use scorecards to determine applicants risk profile. All banks set interest rates based on risk based pricing. What this means is that if people score better they have access to lower cost loans. Understanding this point system keeps you aware of the rules of the credit/interest game. A sample scorecard is at www.CreditHealth.com/css6.asp. Utilizing this scorecard helps consumers build a good credit profile.

3. Controlling overspending by using a transaction recorder.
Charging on a credit card is made so easy that your sum total purchases may surprise you at the end of the month. Buying a couple CDs, a little food, a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt can easily add up to over $200! Solution? Use a transaction recorder! This way you track purchases the exact same way that you record checks that you write. They are available free at www.CreditHealthy.com.

Larry Chiang, Founder of UCMS, Background
His company has credit educated 28 million in a grassroots fashion. Larry Chiang founded UCMS in 1989 when he was a sophomore in his dorm room. "I saw a huge need for students to get the heads up on what good credit really means. It is the responsibility of those who sell credit cards to college students to disseminate these tips." UCMS is the only company to integrate credit education into the sales process. UCMS has sales of $15 million and over 360 trained representatives that facilitate credit seminars on-campus. CreditHealth.com is an extension of the on-campus educational efforts.

Jennifer Hicks
Credit Healthy
www.credithealthy.com
650-651-1550
jhicks@ucms.com

Larry Chiang
Credit Healthy
650-651-1515
lchiang@ucms.com




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