Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Glen Craig

Blue Cash Preferred ® Card from American Express Review – More Cash Back and Free Amazon Prime

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Does it seem like you spend a ton on groceries and gas these days?

Yeah….me, too.  Here’s a card that helps ease the pain of that spending with some great cash back rewards on gas, department stores, and the best we’ve seen on groceries.

It’s the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express credit card, another card in the “Blue” family of American Express cards.

They’re offering a decent Welcome Bonus right now, too – if you charge $1,000 to the card in the first three months, you get 100 in Reward Dollars.  AND you can also get a free year of Amazon Prime if you satisfy the bonus requirement.  Nice!

Now Let’s Dig Deeper Into the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

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What Is A Secured Credit Card?

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Just like bank loans, where there is secured and unsecured borrowing by businesses, credit cards as a form of consumer debt can also be either secured or unsecured.

Credit cards, as most of us know and use, are unsecured.

The money is lent to card users without any collateral against it and it is up to consumers to pay back the account balance later and if not, the card issuer loses (well, they will go after you but there is no guarantee they get their money back).

When the possibility of not paying back by a credit card holder becomes a serious concern, either because of the applicant’s bad credit in the past or no established credit at all, a card issuer would require certain amount of funds to be deposited as collateral before a credit line can be issued.
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Credit Score – What Does It Mean?

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What Is A Credit Score?

You’ve heard that a credit score is important, haven’t you?  You may have even heard how you should protect your credit score.  But a lot of people are still unsure of what a credit score actually is.

Let’s take a look at credit scores and what they mean.  This way you know once and for all what they are and how they are used.

A credit score is a calculation based on information from a credit report which gives a representation of how credit-worthy a person is or how likely a person is to default on their loan.

Let’s take a quick step back, shall we?  We’re talking about credit scores but it’s important to understand what a credit report is all well.  Your credit report is basically a listing of all the credit accounts you have and your history paying your credit, or debt, off.  Sometimes the report is referred to as your credit history.  The information comes from the lenders who report your activity to the three major credit bureaus.

To quickly sum up — your credit report gives information and a history of your credit accounts.  Now back to credit scores…

Your credit score gives a number range to quickly sum up the information from your credit report.

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Blue Cash Everyday ® Card from American Express – Review, Now With Amazon Prime and a $50 Bonus

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American Express has a great card in it’s “Blue” family – the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.

This is a nice no-nonsense cash back card that’s easy for people to understand.  These days that’s getting harder to find as credit card companies make their rewards harder to get or increase the annual fee to make up for the benefits of the card.

Let’s take a look at what the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express has to offer. [Read more…] about Blue Cash Everyday ® Card from American Express – Review, Now With Amazon Prime and a $50 Bonus

Credit Report Versus Credit Score – You Better Know the Difference

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I hear a lot of people interchanging the term credit report with credit score.

I do it myself.

But there’s a Big Difference between the two.  See how I bolded that there?  That’s how important it is.

Knowing the details of a credit report vs a credit score will help you better understand your credit.  And that can help you save money!

Differences Between a Credit Report and a Credit Score

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