Home > > BoatU.S. WorldPoints Platinum Plus Visa

BoatU.S. WorldPoints Platinum Plus Visa

Card issued by Bank of America, N.A. (USA)
Earn 1 point for every net retail purchase dollar spent and redeem your points for travel, merchandise, gift certificates, and cash§
Access to the MyConciergeSM service, a unique personal assistance service**
Absolute fraud protection against unauthorized use, online and offline
No annual fee

A flexible and unique rewards program that puts you first. Select from cash back, travel, merchandise or personal services that are yours for the picking.

BoatU.S. Platinum Plus® Visa® Cards.

• No annual fee
  
• Absolute fraud protection
  
• Online access and 24-hour service
  
• Access to the MyConciergeSM service, a unique personal assistance service
  
• Introductory 0% Annual Percentage Rate (APR)† for Cash Advance Checks and Balance Transfers through your first twelve billing cycles.* (subject to a 3% transaction fee, no less than $10)
  

DID YOU KNOW?

	Applying for your first ever credit card can be all exciting. But the thrill fades away when you suddenly realize that your debt is piling up. You splurge all that money, now its pay back time. The delight of cashless purchase here and there can be addictive. After months of mismanaged finances, you are left with a high bill that you have no means of paying. You don’t want the nightmare of credit card debt to happen to you, do you? Here are tips that you can use to turn your back to possible credit card debts. *Always take note of your credit card spending. You may think as if the things that you are purchasing are free since you don’t have to pay for upfront cash. But we are not in a fantasy land and all things in the world come with a price tag. Limit your credit card usage and keep all the receipts to keep you on track. *Pay your credit card bills on their due date. This is the most logical way to avoid debts. Late fees are applicable when you pay your bill even after the day of the due date . *Keep only one credit card if possible. Well, it is possible. Save the card with most efficient service, low interest rate and with all the benefits that you need. You can avoid debt by carrying cash at hand and using this one card just for emergency purposes. *Pay off you credit card debt immediately. In worst case scenarios, if and when you are in the deep mud of credit card debt, you have an option to sell your personal belongings that have a high value. Don’t sell everything though; just those that you bought to spoil yourself like expensive entertainment system and the like. *Call your credit card company and negotiate on annual fees. Explain your situation and about your fnancial difficulties as of the moment. Most credit card companies can lower down their annual charges; some may completely drop the fees. Tell them that without the reduce charges you might need to close your credit card account. This usually gets them attentive and pushes them to pull some strings to help you. Thou gh you might not want to try this particular advice to credit cards that are in partnership with hotel and airlines, they are known to be strict and wouldn’t lower their annual fees. *If all the effort you exerted to pay off your credit card debt has been in vain, then it is time to call professional help. Credit card debt consolidators can readily advice you on how you can pay off your debts in a more effective and systematic way. They would consolidate all your debts, compute the total amount at a minimum and then send you a bill every month. They will then allocate the over- all balance you need to pay to the different creditors you have. The debt consolidation agencies do charge a monthly service fee but you can find other non-profit debt consolidators too. Just a caution, be wary of low- class debt consolidator that promises an instant and immediate fix on your credit card debts. You might end up paying more than your initial debt. The key to avoiding debt is to have self control. Limit your spending. Keep track of the things you purchase on your credit cards. When you have the money, pay off your debts immediately. Come to think of it, credit cards are initially created so that you can use them to manage you finances and clearly not the other way around.

Q: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can't be sold online. Do I really need a website?
-- Robin C.

A: Congratulations, Robin, you are the one millionth person to ask me that question. Smile for the cameras, brush the streamers and confetti from your hair and listen closely, because I'm about to answer for the millionth time what has become one of the most important and often-asked questions of the digital business age.

Before I answer, however, let's flash back to the very first time I was asked this question. It was circa 1998, during the toddler years of the Internet, just after Al Gore laid claim to having given birth to the concept a few short years before.

I was giving a speech on the impact of the Internet on small business at an association luncheon in Montgomery, Alabama. My motto then was: Feed me and I will speak. I have the same motto today, but I now expect dessert to be included in exchange for the sharing of my vast wisdom.

In 1998, which was decades ago in Internet years, the future of electronic commerce or "ecommerce" as it's come to be known, was anybody's guess, but even the most negative futurists agreed that all the signs indicated that a large portion of future business revenues would be derived from online transactions, or from offline transactions that were the result of online marketing efforts.

So, Robin, should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services that you don't think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt. Thank you, drive through.

Now serving customer number one million and one…

Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be sold online. Nowadays there is very little that can not be sold over the Internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.

Internet marketing research firms predict that online revenues will range between $180 and $200 billion dollars in 2003. They also predict that the number of online consumers will grow at a rate of 30-50% over the next few years. These numbers alone should be enough to convince you that your business should have a website.

Let me clarify one point: I am not saying that you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the Internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you certainly should be considering it.

The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the World Wide Web so that customers, potential employees, business partners, and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.

That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional looking website if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick and mortar store, your website may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your website looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.

One of the great things about the Internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression and with a well-designed website, your little operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.

You also mention that yours is a small operation, but when it comes to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. I don't care if you are a one-man show or a ten thousand employee corporate giant; if you do not have a website you are losing business to other companies that do. Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad.

Your website speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful website for our customers!" or it says, "Hey, look, I let my ten-year old nephew design my site! Good luck finding anything!"

What does your website say about your business?

Here's to your success.