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Wednesday, May 23rd 2012

Quiz: Do you really know your credit card?

Sure, you use your credit card -- American cardholders made more than 20 billion transactions a year with them -- but do you really know it?

Despite using credit to purchase new jeans, reserve a rental car, collect airline points or send flowers to Mom, cardholders often don’t know much about the little pieces of plastic tucked into their wallets. Don’t let another retailer swipe that magnetic strip without taking our quiz.

1. Why are all credit cards the same size?

Card issuers just aren’t creative enough to come up with a different design.
Cards are regulated to meet ISO 7810 standards.
The Treaty of Ghent.
It's because of men's pants pockets. Wallets were already standardized to fit in a standard pocket, and for a card to fit in a wallet, it could only be a certain size.
A card's magnetic strip has to be at least 3.375 inches wide to accommodate the information it contains.

2. Your credit card has been stolen, and before you know it, the thief has charged $10,000. How much do you have to pay? (There may be more than one correct answer; check all that apply.)

$0
$50
$500
Tough noogies, pal: Every penny the thief charges is your responsibility.

3. You owe $5,000 on a card with a 14 percent interest rate and make only the minimum payment -- which your card issuer calculates by charging you interest plus 1 percent of the balance each month. How long will it take to pay it off?

3 years even.
8 years, 6 months.
11 years, 3 months.
17 years, 9 months.
Hah! I caught you at your trick question: Forever is the right answer. You'll never pay it off.

4. As of Aug. 22, 2010, a Federal Reserve Board rule:

Prohibits card issuers from charging a penalty of more than $25 for a customer's first late payment.
Bans "inactivity" fees.
Requires card issuers to re-evaluate interest rates and, if appropriate, reduce those rates.
All of the above.
None of the above.

5. When was the first plastic credit card issued?

1922.
1929, in response to the banking crisis.
December 1941, to pay for military buildup after Pearl Harbor.
1950.
There are no "credit cards." They are the invention of the Trilateral Commission bent on a New World Order.

6. The residents of which U.S. city owe the highest percentage of their annual income to credit card companies?

New York.
Dallas.
San Francisco.
Miami.

7. (Check all that apply) Credit card numbers are embossed -- that is, raised -- because:

They help the blind use cards.
They're an unnecessary vestige of an earlier day.
They're required to comply with international treaties, under ISO 8920.
They make it easier on merchants if the electricity goes out.

  
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