Ways To Money

If youre in the market for a new credit card and your credit is generally in good shape, you might be thinking about whether to seek out a credit card with cash back rewards.

But not all cash back credit cards are created equal, therefore you should carefully consider a number of factors before settling on any one new account.

One of the first things you need to think about when looking at new cash back credit cards that might interest you is your own spending habits. Do you tend to put a lot of small purchases on your credit card, or do you only use it for larger transactions that you might not have the cash on hand for? Its important to think of this because you might not use your card enough to justify the monthly or annual fee that might come with it. Along the same lines, you should also determine whether the amount you generally spend on your credit card accounts is going to be enough to cover the cost of the annual fee. If not, you might want to find one with a lower annual cost.

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Similarly, youll also want to look at your repayment habits.

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Private companies have pocketed profits of more than 2billion under the controversial private finance initiative scheme, a report estimates.

More than 700 hospitals,schools, prisons and other public sector projects have been built under PFI schemes, funded by the taxpayer.

Around 200billion has been given to the private firms managing the projects during the past 20 years.

More than 700 hospitals, schools, prisons and other public sector projects have been built under PFI schemes, funded by the taxpayer

And research into 154 schemes shows companies have enjoyed ‘astronomic’ profits averaging more than 50 per cent.

This has been achieved by selling and reselling many contracts in a secretive ‘secondary market’ – with none of the proceeds returned to the taxpayer.

Critics argue that poorly-negotiated contracts have been a licence to print money for private firms, but a terrible deal for taxpayers.

The scale of the profits has been a closely guarded secret by the companies involved.

But Dexter Whitfield, from the European Services Strategy Unit think-tank, scoured company reports and stock exchange notices to uncover the figures.

Analysing a sample of 154 projects, he found profits of more than 500million.

If the same level of profit had been achieved by all PFI equity transactions, he estimates private sector profits would stand at 2.2billion.

Mr Whitfield found that firms involved in the building of major hospitals have enjoyed the highest average profit margins, at 66.7 per cent.

In contrast, the profit levels of major construction companies over the past six to seven years have been just 2.8 per cent.

Transparency: Labour MP Margaret Hodge said: There has to be transparency around the system’

He also found that the Treasury is failing to monitor the excessive profits from the selling- on of PFI equity.

Mr Whitfield said: ‘It’s a wealth machine. It’s not neces

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– The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a modestly higher opening on Tuesday, with sentiment reflecting caution about the U.S. debt deal. Earnings news has been mixed, with companies such as Ford (F) and Baidu (BIDU) reporting better than expected results, while Netflix (NFLX) disappointed investors with a very soft guidance. Meanwhile, traders may also focus on the consumer confidence and housing market data to be released shortly after the markets open.

With no signals of a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling forthcoming, U.S. stocks retreated on Monday. The major averages fell sharply at the open and remained mostly below the unchanged line before closing moderately lower.

The Dow Industrials ended down 88.36 points or 0.70 percent at 12,593 and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended 16.03 points or 0.56 percent lower at 2,843, while the S&P 500 Index fell 7.59 points or 0.56 percent before closing at 1,337.

Twenty-six of the thirty Dow components closed lower, with Bank of America (BAC), Travelers Co. (TRV), Verizon (VZ), Procter & Gamble (PG), DuPont (DD) and Boeing (BA) declining sharply.

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Following the dissolution of the previous National Assembly on June 12, 2011 by a motion passed by 2/3 of its 34 members, the Seychelles is to elect a new National Assembly (parliament) within the next 3 months.

It should be noted that this is not the 1st time for the legislative body to be dissolved in Seychelles. This can be done by the head of state as in the case in 2007 or the National Assembly itself.

The election will take place within the next 3 months instead of April 2012. The new parliament’s election is expected to pave the way for a ruling party dominating in the assembly.

On July 21, Seychelles and Kenya initialed the signing of an avoidance of double taxation agreement (DTA). The agreement was initialed by Seychelles’ principal secretary for Finance and Trade Ahmed Afif and Kenya’s deputy director for economic affairs Martin Gumo.

When the DTA is signed, it will be easier and cheaper for the two neighbouring countries to trade.

The DTA will provide certainty with regard to taxes payable on incomes generated from investments made between the 2 jurisdictions. According to Mr Afif, “it also provides an inducement to nationals of both countries to focus their attention on increasing trade, investment and employment opportunities”.

The document is expected to be signed by the end of the year 2011.

Seychelles already has 14 such agreements in force. Also, the jurisdiction is targeting to sign 40 DTAs with different countries.