Orchard Bank Platinum MasterCard

Enjoy the prestige of Platinum with no up front fees
Premium Platinum benefits including Purchase Protection
Great credit card to strengthen your credit
Reports to all 3 credit bureaus monthly, which can help improve your credit score


Take your credit to the next level, with an Orchard Bank Platinum MasterCard®. With a unique approach of educating customers on all aspects of obtaining and managing credit, the Orchard Bank MasterCard® continues today as a leader in the credit card industry.

Orchard Bank Platinum MasterCard®

• Enjoy the prestige of Platinum with no up front fees
  
• Premium Platinum benefits including Purchase Protection
  
• Great credit card to strengthen your credit
  
• Reports to all 3 credit bureaus monthly, which can help improve your credit score
  
• Free Online 24-hour Account Access and Bill Pay
  
• Periodic credit limit increases

DID YOU KNOW?

	Today, more than 20 million US citizens are living without a bank account. The primary reason is due to ChexSystems' dominating presence within the consumer banking world. It is estimated that over 80% of all banks and credit unions in the United States, use ChexSystems to verify new customer accounts. Most individuals listed in the ChexSystems database were reported due to mishandling of their checking accounts, while the rest were attributed to abuse, fraud, or errors. Within recent years, many websites have sprung up on the internet offering help for people listed on ChexSystems. Services vary among these sites, ranging from free information to paid memberships. No matter where you turn, there are countless numbers of "victims" venting their frustrations through the use of public forums and message boards. Most of the frustrations shown by "victims" of ChexSystems seem justified, but even then there are always two sides to every story. Most "victims" feel that 5 years of being "blacklisted" is punishment beyond justification. And if reported in error, even worse a punishment. In addition, many have complained that the banks give no breaks when it comes to consumer mistakes, but are quick to cover up their mistakes when the banks are at fault. Banks, on the other hand, justify using ChexSystems to protect their assets. Either way you look at it, ChexSystems is a much needed organization in the banking industry. Without ChexSystems, banks would go bankrupt without this type of asset protection against con-artists and account abusers. The real question is how fair is the punishment for the consumers who innocently have fallen into tough financial situations, and as a result defaulted on their bank account. Is it fair to "blacklist" all consumers the same way regardless of their banking history? These are just a few of the questions that need answering before any proper reforms can be reached.

Considering the recent slowdown in the property market in the UK, it is important for every homeowner to strategise on how to maintain the profitability quotient of your home.

The most accepted way of retaining or increasing the value of your home is by refurnishing it. In other words revamping your home to give it a new look. Such a move ensures a high resale value for your home should you want to sell it in the future.

Once you have decided to bring about some serious improvements to your home, the next step is to get your plans in order. Your first and obvious concern is to arrange for finances. If you have enough savings in your cold storage, then of course you have nothing to worry about. However, in case you don’t have enough money at your disposal, you can go in for a home improvement loan.

A home improvement loan can be financed from two sources. One source is your own mortgage lender. You can ask him for a home improvement loan. Such a proposition is a favourable one for your lender as well as you. Your lender will be happy to lend you a home improvement loan as you are adding value to your home, on which he has a legal claim until you pay back your mortgage. Moreover, you will be paying interest on this loan.

Another option is to avail an unsecured home improvement loan. The terms and conditions of your loan proposal and the interest rate on it depend on your credit worthiness. In other words, you need to have a very stable and impressive credit history in order to get a low cost home improvement loan. Therefore, it is important for you to straighten out your credit status before you start your hunt for an appropriate home improvement loan.

Now that your finances are arranged for, your next vital step should be to get a contractor working on your home improvement project. You must draw out a proper plan for this. You must also ensure that you include a time clause in your project and also don’t forget to check your contractor’s authenticity by validating his license.

As Joyce Maynard said, A good home must be made, not bought; therefore you need to put in all your efforts in order to remodel your home into your dream home.