Award-winning author and credit industry expert Polly A. Bauer, CPCS, and marketing expert Mava K. Heffler have been business associates in the credit card industry. They've also been best friends for over two decades who love to shop! They share their stories of lessons learned on shopping adventures with humor and insight and provide you with a roadmap to credit intelligence by sharing their shopping adventures and lessons learned about credit as "Olympic level" shoppers who have fallen into and pulled each other out of many of the traps and pitfalls surrounding the use of credit and the behavioral buying manipulations by retailers. They have written this book as a guide on how to boost your credit smarts and still keep the fun in shopping. This book uses straightforward language so that everyone can understand the information, and includes many personal stories and experiences. Polly and Mava take you on a guided tour through a variety of topics and provide "Smart Tips" for you to utilize to improve your credit smarts.
Polly A. Bauer is the co-author of the award winning book The Plastic Effect: How Urban Legends Influence the Use and Misuse of Credit Cards, with Steven Lesavich. which won a Gold Medal in the budgeting/Finance category of the 2013 Living Now Book Awards. Formerly CEO of Home Shopping Network Credit Corporation, she is the CEO of Polly Bauer & Associates, a credit card consulting company established in 1995. Polly strategically guides companies and individuals through a maze of credit card misinformation with common sense, compassion, and humor that sets her apart as an international corporate speaker, consumer advocate, and media expert. Mava K. Heffler's blue-chip professional background includes marketing, advertising, communications, branding, market research, direct marketing, sponsorship, promotion, and public relations at Fortune 500 leaders such as MasterCard International, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Thompson, CNBC, and EMCOR Group, Inc. With experience encompassing both domestic and international markets, Mava has expertise marketing to both consumers and businesses. Named a "Brand Builder", one of the "Top Women in Business To Watch", and amongst "Top Marketers" by the press and media, Mava's programs have received a variety of industry recognition and awards.
"This book may very well be the cure for the toxic connection between credit card debt and declining health." - Christiane Northrup, M.D., Author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
"Excellent advice from two savvy women with 60 years combined experience in the credit card industry. True credit management wisdom. Wish I could have read it when I was making credit management decisions." - Darel Rutherford, Self-made Millionaire, Author of So Why Aren't You Rich?
"Financial worries and credit card debt sure can make you sick. Credit Intelligence has workable strategies for coping with this type of stress." - Brenda Watson, Brenda Watson Media, New York Times best-selling author, and PBS television personality
"Smart tips and real-life strategies for living in a material world. Credit Intelligence is sure to improve your financial health and overall well-being." – Dr. Michelle Robin, Founder and Chief Wellness Officer (CWO), Your Wellness Connection healing center
"It's your money and it's your good name. You need to protect them both. This book will show you how." – Sonia Choquette, CEO, Inner Wisdom, Inc., New York Times best-selling author, and radio personality
"Who knew? Credit Intelligence is full of insider information about credit and the credit card marketing industry. This might be the buying manifesto for a new generation of empowered shoppers." – Cory Bergeron, President and Founder, Pitch Video
"If you're over your credit limit, you need to steal this book." – Dale Irvin, CEO, Just Imagine
Credit Intelligence
Boosting Your Credit Smarts
By Polly A. Bauer, Mava K. Heffler, Leslie D. EdwardsBalboa Press
Copyright © 2016 Polly A. Bauer, CPCS & Mava K. Heffler
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5043-4202-5Contents
Dedication, vii,
Foreword, ix,
Acknowledgments, xi,
Introduction What Does "Credit Smart" Mean?, 1,
1 Smart Is a Relative Term, 11,
2 Not All Payments Are Created Equal, 19,
3 Emotional Buying: How Your Emotions Are Being Manipulated to Make You Spend More, 31,
4 Rewards Are Not Always Rewards: How to Make Your Credit Cards Work for You, 45,
5 Guess Who's Watching You Buy: Why?, 53,
6 To Be Credit Intelligent, It Is Critical to Know the Basics of Credit Scores, 61,
7 There's No Free Lunch and There's No Quick Fix: Beware of Credit Repair Agencies, 81,
8 Here's to Your Health: Take Action to Avoid Debt Stress, 89,
9 Debt Can Kill Romance: Credit Problems Can Create Havoc in All of Your Relationships, 103,
10 The New Status Quo: Protecting Your Identity and Avoiding Online Shopping Perils, 113,
11 New Cards: Chip & PIN Cards Are Here to Stay, 129,
12 A Roadmap to Credit Intelligence: All 85 Smart Tips at Your Fingertips, 139,
Credit Intelligence Disclaimer, 148,
Credit Score Disclaimer, 149,
Reference Information Disclaimer, 150,
Trademark Disclaimer, 151,
About Polly Bauer, 152,
About Mava Heffler, 154,
End Notes, 156,
CHAPTER 1
Smart Is a Relative Term
6:00 a.m., on the phone while at a payments convention. Boston, Massachusetts.
Polly:Life in the payments world will never be the same again!
Mava:What do you mean? You sound pretty worked up, considering that it's 6:00 a.m.
Polly:I haven't been able to sleep. I was sitting in the middle of the convention yesterday listening to the card associations, payment processors, merchants, and software vendors all arguing over the recent government regulations to keep costs down, and everyone is only concerned about their own interests.
Mava:So what's new about that? Everyone always has their own interests at heart, and it's never been about the consumer.
Polly:This is a day for the record books, girlfriend. Since the first credit card was issued back in 1962, the government has not intervened and actively taken control to stop escalating credit card costs, until now.
The banks are panicked over the money they'll lose, the processors are scrambling for new revenue streams, and the merchants are confused by all this contradictory information.
Mava:So what's the bottom line, Polly?
Polly:More than ever, the consumer needs to understand how to be credit smart — NOW!
What you might think was credit smart yesterday is not credit smart today.
And you are not alone.
Remember when you were so proud of making a large purchase on a zero percent interest rate card and only paying
$33 a month? Not smart!
Here's the reality: the economy has shifted, card offers are changing, and it costs you more to buy on credit than ever before.
Your interests and the bank's interests about how you use credit cards are at odds.
It's in your best interest to pay off your credit cards in full each month. However, it's in the bank's interest (and it's how they make their money) when you do not pay off your credit card in full each month. In fact, we've overheard some bankers
