The Best Credit Card Rewards For Google Ads and Search Advertising

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of The Best Credit Card Cash Back Rewards For Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN AdCenter

Editor's Note: Thank you for your interest, these offers have expired and are no longer available.

As a personal finance blogger and a dot com mogul-super affiliate tycoon wannabe (I'm joking), I regularly spend sums of money on domain name registrations, web hosting services, and home office computer supplies. However, the bulk of my tax deductible business expenses consist of expenditures for online advertising through top search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. While compared to the big boys (and girls) my advertising budget is comparatively puny, I still seek to maximize my money however I can, whether that means utilizing free promotional coupons for extra savings and free online advertising, or taking advantage of credit card offers to earn cashback rebates on Google Adword purchases.

Online Advertising Through Pay Per Click Works, But It Can Get Expensive Depending On Subject Niche

Those who are familiar with online advertising know that there are a variety of ways and methods to get your website brand or blog name into the search engines and thus into the public eye for maximum traffic. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that all of the methods are created equal. Currently the most popular search engine with the most capability to leverage the most search traffic by far is run by Google. But while the Google Adword program's certainly the most dominant player in the online marketing world, there are also other lesser options worth mentioning - most notably Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft's MSN AdCenter. Neither Yahoo Search nor MSN

By MoneyBlueBook

What Do the Credit Card Numbers Mean, and How Are Valid Credit Card Accounts Generated?

Have you ever wondered how credit card companies generate all those account numbers that appear on the face of the credit cards you carry around in your wallet? At first glance the numbers, while neatly arranged, appear to be completely random. But would it surprise you to know that there is indeed meaning and actual mathematical methodology to the way the numbers are sequenced? The process of generating real credit card numbers and validating them based on a proven mathematical formula is not only intriguing on an intellectual level and a hacker's dream, the carefully calculated way the numbers are ordered is actually quite beautiful and elegant when you come to understand how it works.

Before I get down to explaining the anatomy of credit card numbers and discussing how credit card numbers are generated, I think it's prudent to remind everyone the intent of this article. The goal of this blog post is not to encourage or get people thinking about how to go out and create fake credit card numbers on their own for improper means. The purpose is to shed some light on the science behind the mathematical sequencing technology of valid credit card numbers and offer some insight into something that many of us frequently see and use everyday, but oftentimes don't pay much attention to.

Please take in the information provided for purely academic and entertainment reasons. I'm not trying to encourage anyone to create fake credit card

By MoneyBlueBook

If you're like most people out there, there's inevitably going to come some point in your life when you'll need to apply for credit and seek out deeper pockets to help you fulfill your personal financial goals and objectives. While the traditional American dream of home ownership seemed to be fading out of reach during the last few years, the housing meltdown is now thankfully forcing out of control real estate prices back down into sync with reality. But with the resultant repercussions and reverberations of the financial credit crisis, mortgage lenders have grown extra vigilant in weeding out unproven and unreliable mortgage debtors. While a mortgage applicant with a FICO score of 700 in the past could have easily obtained a lofty prime interest rate on their loan, lenders are now increasingly demanding higher FICO's in excess of 760 for the same prime interest package. The subprime credit mess has made one's credit report and credit score even more important gateway factors to determining who qualifies and who doesn't for the loan conditions of their choice. It's not just for expensive, higher denominational credit prospects like mortgage loans either - even routine applications for things like credit cards, checking accounts, auto loans, and even new jobs are undergoing greater credit worthiness scrutiny.

Both Your Credit Report History and Credit Score Help Determine Your Credit Worthiness, But Credit Scores Are More Uniform Measures Of Comparison From Individual To Individual

While credit reports, like your high school transcript does a better overall job in revealing the compete

By MoneyBlueBook

Editor's Note: Thank you for your interest, these offers have expired and are no longer available.

Countrywide Bank is currently offering the Countrywide Rewards Platinum Visa Card for a remarkable 2% cash back on all purchases. Very few other credit card offers come close - except maybe the similarly advertised 1.5% cash back Fidelity Visa Signature Card. Most other top value cash back credit cards restrict higher rebates to special purchase categories such as grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants. This card's one of the best non-restrictive purchase cards out there.

The only caveat is that to get the high 2% cash back rebate, you'll need to redeem your rebate points as a deposit to your Countrywide savings account, money market account, or as a payment towards a Countrywide mortgage loan. With the offer, you'll receive 1 purchase reward point for every $1 you spend using the credit card. Everytime your rebate balance reaches 2,500 points, you can redeem your points for an instant $50 Countrywide bank deposit or mortgage payment - essentially a 2% cash back offer.

This offer is basically your base 1% cash back offer for non Countrywide bank account holders with an additional special bonus rebate on top for those who are. With the standard purchase offer, you only get 1% back, redeemable for gift cards to a participating merchant of your choice, or a $25 check to use towards home improvement and related supplies. But if you are a Countrywide bank or mortgage customer as well, you'll get double the rewards, effectively. There is no annual fee, and best of all for high

By MoneyBlueBook

Oh great - well I hope this articledoesn't foretell or signify a trend that's going to be widely picked up by the gas industry in the coming future. While they've been one of the most credit card friendly industries in the past, some gas station chains are apparently starting to scale back their payment options in favor of cash due to diminishing profit margins caused by higher gas prices and rising credit card interchange fees. The credit card interchange fee, a percentage of the total sales price paid to credit card companies by the merchant on every transaction, is usually fixed at somewhere just under 2% - but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services. As gas prices have risen dramatically, so have the credit card acceptance fees that gas pump merchants pay, drastically cutting into their profitability.

I Always Use My Credit Card To Pay For Gas And Don't Intend To Change This Payment Practice Anytime Soon

While I understand why some gas station owners and advocates are pushing for the move back to cash payment only for gas purchases, I hope this is not an emerging or widely adopted trend. Paying cash at the pump may work for some, but it's not going to fly for me.

I take frequent road trips and one of the most appreciated benefits of fueling at the gas pump is the ability to easily slide into a gas station off the freeway, punch in my prepayment, fuel up,

By MoneyBlueBook

Life is unpredictable. As much as we may try to project what is to come in the future, our feeble attempts at fortune telling and soothsaying inevitably fall short of reality. That's life and that's just the way of the world. We may try to walk the steady and safe path paved with good intentions, but sometimes life just insists on chucking a banana peel to trip you up when you least expect it. It's not always fair and it's not always just. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes unfortunate circumstances befall even the best of us. But the unforeseen and the unexpected don't have to ruin our lives and cause everything that's going for us to fall apart at the seams. We can plan for such an occurrence and protect ourselves the best we can by creating a back up financial contingency plan. Having a "Plan B" savings account and readily accessible emergency fund set aside will give you piece of mind in knowing that you will be taken care of should the worst case scenario occur.

I've personally had many unforeseen and unexpected situations spring forth in the last couple of years, and have learned that life comes at you fast. In the last few months, I've had to deal with a family health emergency due to the sudden passing of my grandfather which required me to go on emergency leave to fly overseas to be with him. I've also had to deal with a significant tax liability bill recently that