Home > > Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card

Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card

Low APR: 2.9% for first six months of cardmembership, on Balance Transfer requests submitted with this application
Earn up to 50,000 HHonors® bonus points when you get the Card
Earn HHonors points with virtually every purchase
No annual fee
Travel Accident Insurance
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
Receive 5 HHonors bonus points for each dollar spent at
Hilton Family hotels including Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn® and more and for eligible purchases at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations and more
Get 3 HHonors bonus points for each eligible dollar you spend everywhere else
Express Approval. Get a decision in less than 60 seconds.
No Blackout dates

Accelerate your way to free travel with the Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card from American Express. You'll earn Hilton HHonors points toward free hotel stays and travel packages just for charging your purchases on the Card. Plus, you'll enjoy all the benefits you want in a credit card.
10,000 HHonors bonus points after your very first purchase on the Card- enough for a free night
15,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in 5 months-- that's in addition to the 15,000 points you would earn for your Card spending
10,000 HHonors bonus points over the course of your first four stays at any participating Hilton Family hotels (2,500 HHonors bonus points each stay)
Receive 5 HHonors bonus points for each dollar spent at Hilton Family hotels and for eligible purchases at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, dining establishments and more
Get 3 Hilton HHonors bonus points for each eligible dollar you spend everywhere else
7,500 Hilton HHonors® bonus points with your first purchase
Earn HHonors points with virtually every purchase
No annual fee
Travel Accident Insurance
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
2

DID YOU KNOW?

	If you've been looking into options for investment, you might have heard several mentions about diversification and its importance to making good investments. Unfortunately, if you're not really sure what diversification is or how to go about it, you might end up missing out on one of the best tools that you can have for making sound investments that are better protected against the fluctuations of the stock market. The information below is designed to give you a better understanding of what diversification is, why it should be important to you and your investments, and simply ways that you can diversify your stock portfolio. Defining Diversification The first step to creating a diversified stock portfolio is understanding exactly what diversification is. In essence, diversification is the process of purchasing stocks, bonds, and other investments from a variety of different companies and funds so that you have a representation of different industries and market sectors in your stock portfolio. This diversity of stocks and other investments allows you to not worry as much about individual stocks and how they perform, because your overall investment portfolio will not be as negatively affected by the fluctuations of specific investments. A Well-Rounded Portfolio In order to create a diverse portfolio, it's important that you take a moment to understand the way that the stock market is divided into different sectors and industries so that you can make investments in a variety of them. Different types of businesses, such as biotechnologies or the lumber industry, will have stocks and other investment pieces that will fluctuate in value at different times. Often the drop in value of one particular sector will cause an increase in value in another sector. By investing in a variety of these different sectors and industries, you'll be able to ride these fluctuations with more ease because you'll experience the increase in some sectors at the same time as the decrease in others. Why You Should Diversify Though you're not required to diversify your investments, it's generally recommended if you're planning on making any serious long-term investments or are planning for retirement or wanting to supplement your savings. Diversification can not only help you to even out your investment experience and protect you from sector or industry-wide drops in value, but it can also set you up for the periodic increases in certain sectors or industries due to new discoveries or technologies that become available. Like most things on the stock market, these sudden increases are usually temporary… but if you already have money invested in that industry or possibly even the company that's leading the technological charge, you're much more likely to make a lot of money and be able to sell your shares while prices are still high than someone who has invested after the fact. Easy Diversification Methods A variety of easy diversification methods exist, ranging from automatic diversification funds and mutual funds to taking the time to purchase various stocks individually from several different industries. Any good diversification plan will include several industrial indexes as well as investments in precious metals and a variety of well-performing stocks that have proven themselves to be stable over several years. Take the time to research what is included in any diversification plan or mutual fund before making your initial investment, so that you can avoid any that are too closely grouped together… after all, you're wanting to have a diverse grouping of investments to round out your portfolio as best you can. You may freely reprint this article provided the following author's biography (including the live URL link) remains intact: About The Author

If you're entering the home buying process, the term PMI will probably pop up on your radar. So what is PMI, and what does it have to do with your bottom line?

Private Mortgage Insurance, or PMI, is required on most mortgages with a loan-to-value ratio of 80% or more. In other words, if you put less than 20% down when buying a home, you will probably have to pay PMI.

A third-party insurer provides PMI to protect the mortgage lender. This is a critical point. Many homebuyers think PMI is designed to somehow protect them, but this is not the case. PMI protects the lender in case you default on your loan.

The only way PMI benefits a buyer is by helping them qualify for a loan in the first place. Beyond that, PMI does nothing for the homebuyer is merely one more thing to pay each month (normally half a percent of the loan amount).

This is not to say that PMI is all bad. It helps people with bad credit (or those who can't afford a 20% down payment) obtain a loan they wouldn't otherwise be able to obtain. So for some, PMI is the only path to homeownership. But for others, PMI is more avoidable.

Even if you can't afford a 20% down payment, there are ways to avoid paying PMI:

PMI Sidestep #1
You can get an 80-10-10 loan. In this option, you would pay 10% down and then obtain two loans for the remaining 90%. And because no single loan accounts for more than 80% of the home's value, you would avoid having to pay PMI. Interest on the second loan (the loan for 10%) will be higher, but the two loan payments combined will still probably be lower than a single loan with PMI on top.

PMI Sidestep #2
Another way to avoid PMI (while putting less than 20% down) is to pay a higher interest rate.

Here's the key to the two approaches above. Mortgage interest is tax deductible -- PMI is not. In the options above,you could conceivably pay less each month and have more to write off at tax time. With the PMI option, you might end up paying more each month with less of a write-off.

Bottom line: PMI can help some people qualify for a loan who might not qualify otherwise. But in most cases, PMI is best avoided if at all possible -- or discontinued as soon as you reach the 20% equity mark (80% loan-to-value or lower).

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article in its entirety, provided you leave the byline, author's note and website hyperlink intact.