Elite Rewards Platinum Plus MasterCard

No Annual Fee. No Program Fee.
Earn one point for every purchase dollar
Earn Bonus Points for every dollar you spend at participating merchants

2.9% Annual Percentage Rate (APR)† for Cash Advance Checks and Balance Transfers.*

CREDIT LINE UP TO $100,000 WITH PLATINUM PLUS® CARD.

You spoke, and we listened. We designed the new Elite Rewards® Platinum Plus® MasterCard® credit card to feature one of the most comprehensive rewards programs on the market. There has never been a better opportunity for you to go anywhere you want or get virtually anything you want with a credit card rewards program.

Here are the facts:

• No Annual Fee. No Program Fee.
  
• Earn one point for every purchase dollar in net retail purchases you spend with your new Elite Rewards® Platinum Plus® MasterCard® credit card.§
  
• Receive 500 Bonus Points after first retail purchase.§§
  
• Earn Bonus Points for every dollar you spend at participating merchants.§§§§
  
• Check your Elite Rewards points balance, view rewards, and redeem points online at www.eliterewards.com.
  

• Fly on major U.S. based airlines, no blackout dates.
  
• Enjoy hotel stays and AVIS® car rentals.
  
• Receive gift certificates/cards redeemable at top retailers and restaurants.
  

DID YOU KNOW?

	Several months before you begin to look for a home, you should take steps to get "credit approved" for your loan. Start by making a list of all your existing loans and credit cards, with the company names, account numbers and monthly payment amounts. This will help you to analyze the information shown on your credit report. Include all closed loans and credit cards if these records are available. 1) Get a Financial Check-Up Make an appointment with a good mortgage lender, and request a full credit approval. As a part of the approval process, your credit report will be ordered. It will include data from the three main credit reporting agencies - Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. The report will show three credit scores - one from each agency. The interest rate and type of loan available to you is related to your credit score. The assistance of a mortgage professional to help you to understand your credit report and offer suggestions on how to improve your score is invaluable. For the average person, interpreting a credit report and dealing with errors is a daunting task. Credit reports are filled with frustrating jargon and codes. They are not written for the general public to read. Even more intimidating is the task of communicating with credit agencies to dispute or correct information. 2) Correct Mistakes Credit reporting agencies often have mistakes in their data. The information in your credit file is input by computers. A computer weighs your data using complicated mathematical formulas to arrive at a credit score. Nearly everyone has paid bills late for one reason or another. Perhaps a bill was sent to a wrong address, or you have had a dispute with a vendor. It is likely that you have some issues on your report that should be disputed or corrected. Each of the websites of the three main agencies has a dispute resolution page. Feel free to use it. 3) Deal With Real Credit Issues You may have had serious credit problems at some point in the past. Reviewing this may be emotionally draining, and will bring up the underlying situation that caused the credit problems. Get advice on how long the issues will remain on your report, and how to re- build your credit worthiness. Or, you may have a persistent habit of overspending. In this case, you should talk with a financial advisor or personal counselor to help you work out of debt, and establish better habits. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling offers low cost assistance for serious credit problems. If you place yourself under their supervision to handle your debts, you will not be able to obtain new credit during the work-out period - which may be years. Before doing that, ask a mortgage lender or financial advisor if there is a way to redeem your credit without their supervision. 4) Check Your Credit File A law, passed in 2005, requires the three main credit agencies to provide a free credit file disclosure each year. It has been suggested that you could order a file from the first agency in January, one from the second in May and one from the third in September. The central site where your file can be ordered is annual credit report dot com. The purpose of this law seems to be to help people find out if they are a victim of identity theft. This enables you to monitor your file for any new credit that did not come from you. If you take advantage of the free credit file reports, you should check them for mistakes. Use the credit report that you reviewed with your mortgage lender to compare with the data in your credit file. Keep in mind that the free credit file disclosure is not a credit report. It does not include a credit score. 5) Understand Credit Scores Less than 620 - Poor 620-680 - Average - You may need to put more cash down on your loan. 680-720 - Good 720 - 800 - Excellent 800-850 - Seldom seen 6) Play by the Rules The information in your credit file is scored by these factors: 35% - Payment history - Paying bills on time is very important. Today many people use auto draft or pre-written checks through online banking to pay bills. These help to prevent late payments. If you want a good credit score, do not pay late! 30% - The relationship between your available credit versus how much you have used is an important factor in your score. If you are over 50% drawn against your available credit, this will count against you. For this reason, it helps to keep old credit card accounts open, even though you do not use them. They build up the total amount of credit available to you, relative to what you have charged. 15% - The length of credit history on each loan has an effect on your score. A more seasoned loan is scored higher. For this reason it is not a good idea to open credit cards offering low initial rates, then close them after a few months and open new credit cards. 10% - The number of inquiries made on your credit report affects your score. Each time you open a credit card or new loan, your credit information is pulled. Keep these to a minimum. A recent law has made it possible for people shopping for homes or autos to have multiple inquiries, from the same industry (mortgage or auto), done over a 30 day period without penalty. However, to be on the safe side, do not allow your credit report to be pulled unless absolutely necessary. 10% - The types of credit used may hurt your score. Loans from finance companies, signature loans, furniture loans and some retail store loans are considered a poor judgment because of their high rates, and may count against you. 7) Improve Your Credit Score It is easy and necessary to borrow money. We customarily make everyday purchases using credit cards, and set up loans for homes, cars and other purchases. Your credit score is especially important in the purchase of your home. It will affect the type of loan available, down payment required, and interest rate charged. A low score can cost you thousands of dollars in additional interest over the years. Even insurance companies factor your credit score into their decisions. More than ever, you need a good credit score, or you will pay the price. Finance providers, rental agencies, car dealers, insurance companies and credit card companies are not going to help you improve your credit score. In fact, they have an economic interest in charging you a higher rate. It is up to you to be proactive about understanding and improving your own credit score. A good time to start is when you begin the mortgage approval process for a home purchase. It is a good habit to have.

"I pay with plastic these days. I don't carry around much cash anymore."

Credit card companies love people who use their credit cards for most of their financial needs and they're usually willing to "up the ante" as the expression goes, if they see that individuals use their credit cards wisely. Besides, by using their credit cards, individuals benefit from purchase protection as provided for under section 75 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Credit card holders who meet minimum payments or pay the full amount each month usually receive offers from their credit companies for a higher credit limit. In many cases, they even receive cheques from these companies encouraging card holders to use them for practically any purchase they need to make.

For credit card holders, these questions must be addressed:

• Is it the best credit card?
• Is the minimum payment or the full balance paid every month?
• Does the credit card offer cash back or rewards that can be used to advantage?

With the proliferation of credit cards and the various ways in which they are structured, it certainly pays to shop around for the best credit card that serves the person's needs in both the short and long term.

The credit card industry has become creative and flexible. Companies offer cash back credit cards, no-fee credit cards, and will even offer zero percent interest on a credit card balance transfer for a fixed period, usually from six to nine months to promote their introductory offer.

The general rule of thumb is that if credit card users pay off the full balance every month, a cash back credit card would probably be the best deal. Purchases are discounted and at the end of 12 months, the credit card holder receives a sum that can be used at the card holder's discretion.

If card holders are unable to pay off the balance each month, leaving an existing balance on their cards, the best deal would most likely be a credit card that has a low interest rate averaging between 10% and 12%.

Card holders should know that a credit card can have three separate types of interest rate associated with it and diligence dictates that credit card users should be familiar with what these rates signify because when the monthly statement arrives, the amounts can be confusing. Below you will find a clear breakdown of these rates which serves as a guideline for individuals about to fill in a credit card application. You can also find many online credit card guides for individuals who are not yet familiar with the dynamics of credit card use.

The three different credit card rates one is likely to encounter are:

• PIR – purchase interest rate: this rate applies to purchases of both goods and services
• BTIR – balance transfer interest rate: this rate is applied to balances transferred from one credit card to another. Individuals usually take advantage of this facility especially when the existing rate they are paying is too high
• SVR – standard variable rate: this is the rate that is charged on all unpaid balances on the card, except that of the balance transferred from another credit card

If in doubt, there are a number of very good online credit card comparison services which provide individuals with key information. This in turn enables them to make an informed decision as to the best credit card to suit their present circumstances and spending patterns.