Tumblertown

The way the banks have run their credit card businesses all these years, no matter how wonderful your credit score or your spending and repayment record, you could never tell when they would go and cut your spending limit or raise your interest rates. If they gave you the required two-week notice period, they felt justified in forcing you to go along. With the new credit card laws in effect now, some of these unjustified behaviors will cease. But others will continue – with rules that have only improved a little bit. For instance, to raise your interest rates, they’ll need to give you a six-week notice period now. And they can only raise interest on future purchases, and not ones you’ve already made, like they could do in the past. But even the best credit card deals out there today keep trying to pull one over you with convincing-looking schemes that can still be partial to their interests. Let’s look at a few of these now.

Consider the new best credit card offers that you hear of from Citi and Amex. Citi offers you balance transfer promotions that you can personalize your tastes. You get to put down the interest rate you are willing to pay and the rewards program you are comfortable with. Amex’ Zync charge cards can be customized for different kinds of needs – they have benefits and rewards for different kinds of lifestyles and desires. Discover has a customizable credit card builder tool too. You just go to their website and use their CardBuilder tool select the exact rewards programs, interest rates and promotional terms that make the most sense to you.

It is undoubtedly an improvement over what we used to have, to be given credit cards that offer personalization in their choices. Your chances of finding the best credit card deals around do increase with such a scheme. But when none of the major credit card forums FlyerTalk or FatWallet recommend these very highly, you do have to wonder. The general feeling in the air is that the terms offered are no different than any other standard card around; while these do offer you a certain amount of flexibility, these are far from the best credit card deals you could get.

Businesses looking for the best credit card deals should find a degree more satisfaction with these customizable offers than individual customers do. For instance, a business that makes use of Zync gains access to a forum at Amex that lets them make suggestions that they know will be heard. Basically, customizable credit cards are for the more involved customer. That’s why these cards don’t come with a lot of fanfare. Add to that the fact that these cards charge between 10% and 20%, and you do begin to see how it could be hard to push this product.