What is Rate Tarting ?

cc-Tart is Bone Desert's abbreviation for Credit Card Tart - a phrase that identifies those that save money, earn money or rapidly reduce their credit exposure by utilising low or 0% interest rate credit cards. Typically a low interest rate is offered by the Credit Companies as an introductory offer. An offer usually has a fixed duration of 3, 6, or 12 months etc.

Rate Tarting is fraught with risk:

  • Credit Card companies are in business to make profit. Whilst at first glance, low introductory offers appear to be unprofitable for the Credit Card companies, they are in fact very profitable as they rely on basic human nature to make money - the traits of laziness and forgetfulness work very well for them.
  • Forgetting to switch to a new Credit Card when an offer expires is costly to the cardholder. An interest rate (usually higher than average) is then applied against the outstanding debt, reducing the effective savings you have made whilst under the offer and prolonging the life of the debt.
  • Forgetting to cancel old cards can also be costly as it can affect future credit scores when applying for new cards.
  • Vigilance and diligence are required when signing up for a credit card that includes an introductory interest rate offer, if you are to minimise your credit exposure and maximise the benefit of such an offer.
  • An effective Rate Tarter may be managing many different credit cards at any one time with differing deal terms and expiration dates. Juggling the date to switch to another card can be complex when balanced against maximising savings based on the offer.
  • The goal of a successful Rate Tarter is to keep debt constantly at 0%.

cc-Tart Saves you money at the expense of Interest Rate Payments

cc-Tart Version 1.0 is an intuitive tracking application that addresses all of the above issues, paying for itself the first time you don't miss an expiration date:

ScreenImage
  • Monitors when an offer is about to expire giving you time to react. Each Credit Card displays a status indicator:
Green Indicator
Relax and enjoy the money saving opportunities of the introductory offer. The offer has plenty of time left to accumulate more savings for you.
Amber Indicator
It is time to look at other opportunities and make the switch to another introductory card. You have sufficient time to organise a new card, complete any authentication and form filling process, and transfer balances. Execute this strategy at the earliest convenience so that you do not run out of time. This process may take up to 6 weeks to complete.
Red Indicator
You are leaving it a little late aren't you ? The introductory offer is about to expire. Days till expiration are coloured Red.

  • Highlights those cards requiring your attention first by setting a natural priority list for you to address. Cards at risk are highlighted with a lighter background.
  • Touch a Credit Card to display more detail and to set/adjust Credit Card commencement date and duration of the the introductory offer.

Features

  • Highlights via a colour-coded traffic light system when you are close to offer expiration. Colour coding is structured in terms of the timescale typically required to acquire new cards and transfer balances.
  • Highlights the number of days until an interest rate offer will expire.
  • Cards 'at risk' move up the display list in order of priority and are given additional visual highlighting making it easy for you react, establish and switch to another card before interest is charged.
  • Conversely, 'lower risk' credit cards are emphasised less and are listed further down the card display list.
  • Supports all popular credit card types (and some!), such as, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and 'Other'.
  • No need to pop up your favourite calendar tool to calculate the expiration date of the offer, simply enter the offer period in months and cc-Tart perfoms the calculation for you.
  • Offer periods can be chosen between 1 - 24 months.


Hurry and don't be hit by needless interest rate charges !

cc-Tart Version 1.0 requires iPhone OS Version 3.0 or higher. It operates on either Apple iPhone or iPod touch devices. For further information, please click here.


Disclaimer: Bone Desert Software is not responsible for actions by users of their software and is not liable for irresponsible use with regard to Credit Card Rate Tarting. Bone Desert promotes responsible management of personal debt.