Home > > Free Cash RewardsSM Platinum Visa Card from Chase

Free Cash RewardsSM Platinum Visa Card from Chase

1,000 Bonus Points**
Earn 1 point for every $1 in card purchases and interest.
No Annual Fee
Intro 0% Fixed APR for up to 6 months*

IT'S SIMPLE. GET FREE CASH!
Free Cash Rewards Platinum Visa® Card
Get the reward that everyone can use: free cash.

The Free Cash Rewards Platinum Visa® Card

• 1,000 Bonus Points**
  
• Earn 1 point for every $1 in card purchases and interest.
  
  
• Accrue 2500 points and receive a $25 check or a $25 gift certificate from many leading national merchants.
  
  
• Your statement shows your points total, making it easy to see how much you've earned.
  
  
• No Annual Fee
  
  
• Intro 0% Fixed APR for up to 6 months*
  
  
• Visa Platinum Benefits
  

DID YOU KNOW?

	Debt settlement and debt consolidation both offer ways of reducing your debt. Debt settlement eliminates part of your loans, while debt consolidation reduces interest rates. Even though debt consolidation has the least impact on your credit score, there are cases when debt settlement is a better option. Lower Debt The goal of both debt settlement and debt consolidation is to lower your debt. Debt settlement companies negotiate with your creditors to sometimes reduce the amount of your loans. You will be charged a fee, and the debt reduction will remain on your credit score for seven years. Debt settlement can reduce your debt 10% to 50%. To get the most out of the program, pay off the rest of your debt as soon as possible. Also, close accounts that you don’t plan on using to raise your credit score. Debt consolidation pays off your high interest debts with a low interest loan. Home equity loans provide the lowest rates, but personal loans can also be used. With rates lower on your debt, you can pay off the principal sooner by making the same monthly payments. Credit Score Implication Reducing your loans through debt settlement is a serious mark to creditors. You credit score will drop, making you ineligible for conventional loans. But you can apply for subprime credit after a year. After a couple of years of good credit habits, you can then apply for lower rate conventional loans. Taking out a loan to consolidate your debt will have a slight impact on your credit. Since your debt isn’t actually increasing, you will only be hit for opening another account. By closing your paid off accounts, you can partially offset the penalty. In a short period though, you will be in good credit standing if you follow best practices with your credit. Financial Choices No one financial choice fits everyone’s needs. While debt consolidation has the least affect on your credit report, additional loans may be too expensive. In extreme cases, debt settlement can help to avoid bankruptcy. Before deciding on an option, look at what companies are offering in terms of rates and fees. And if you need additional advice, talk to a credit counselor who can take a look at your finances and offer suggestions.

One of the questions we get asked a lot is, I know the limit that the IRS puts on my 401k contributions for the year is $14000 (for a person under 50) (2005) but is this the limit I can get from one employer or is it the total amount I can get from all my employers? So if I had 5 jobs could I get a total of $70 000 5 x $14 000 in contributions?

The simple answer is $14 000 is the personal limit you have as an individual and there for the total from all your employers, so if you have more than one employer then between you all the total that can be added for each year is $14 000. If you do over pay into the plans you have, it is easy to do if you are running more than one plan with more than one employer making contributions, you can claim back the overpayments but the claim must be made by 15th March.

The part of the IRS guidelines that causes a lot of confusion with reference to these limits is this paragraph;

“Additional limits. There are other limits that restrict contributions made on your behalf. In addition to the limit on elective deferrals, annual contributions to all of your accounts - this includes elective deferrals, employee contributions, employer matching and discretionary contributions and allocations of forfeitures to your accounts - may not exceed the lesser of 100% of your compensation or $42,000 (for 2005, $44,000 for 2006). In addition, the amount of your compensation that can be taken into account when determining employer and employee contributions is limited. In 2005, the compensation limitation is $210,000; for 2006, the limit is $220,000.”

Now a lot of people ask us at http://www.the401k.info how the limit can be $42 000 and this is the best explanation we have seen so far,

Ok, let's say you make $260,000 per year, your plan allows you to defer up to 100% of your compensation, and your employer matches all your deferrals up to 3% of your compensation plus makes a 5% profit sharing contribution to all participants. In your case, for 2006, you could defer the maximum legal limit of $15,000 (roughly 6.8% of your legally capped compensation of $220,000), receive a match of $6,600 (3% of your legally capped compensation) plus $11,000 in profit sharing contribution (5% of your legally capped compensation), for a total of $32,600, well below the $44,000 overall contribution limit. If, however, your employer decided to make a 15% profit sharing contribution ($33,000) instead of a 5% contribution, because the total of these contributions exceeds the overall limit of $44,000 for 2006, your profit sharing contribution would most likely be reduced so that you would not exceed the overall limit. As you can see, there are numerous limits applied in different situations in different layers that must be adhered to.