Clarksville, a historic district of Austin, Texas, has lately emerged as a stylish dining and shopping enclave. Among the area’s most compelling new businesses is La Embajada, a design shop housed in a 1923 Craftsman bungalow. Combining the hospitality and interiors expertise of its founder, Raul Cabra — who has designed tableware for some of Mexico City’s most celebrated restaurants, including Rosetta and Pujol — La Embajada presents a refined, regionally diverse selection of Mexico’s artisanal offerings. A series of small rooms display vintage and contemporary furniture, from stately midcentury armchairs and 1970s glass sconces to a minimalist agave fiber rug by the Oaxaca-based textile artist Trine Ellitsgaard. The house is also an actual residence. Cabra often stays in the bedroom up the creaky stairs, and he’s recently made it available for short-term stays (bookings include a daily basket of baked goods from Austin’s Swedish Hill). Guests can purchase the room’s handmade décor, such as a pair of sleek bedside lamps in milky white onyx, a 1960s La Malinche dresser and a bedspread from a Michoacan manufacturer that once supplied Herman Miller. Downstairs, glassware, candles and gifts fill a section modeled after a typical general store in a small Mexican town. But La Embajada’s heart is its inviting kitchen, where visiting chefs cook elaborate meals and staff prepare ice cream and coffee. In another twist, every bespoke detail — including a hammered copper sink, caramel-colored tiles and waxed pine cabinets — can be custom-ordered for one’s own home.
8 ways to maximize your chances of being approved for a credit card
16.08.2024 - 20:40 / thepointsguy.com
When you apply for a great travel rewards card, the last thing you want is to be turned down. The sign-up bonus, the benefits and the points earned are luring you in, so you'll want to do everything possible to be approved.
Read on to find out how to increase your chances of approval so you can secure a new credit card in your wallet.
In considering your credit card application, the most important factors for the issuer are your credit history and credit score. Most major issuers offer customers free access to their credit score. For example, Capital One offers its CreditWise program to anyone. These services will also give you feedback about the factors affecting your score.
If your credit score is not where you think it should be, request a copy of your credit history from the three major consumer credit bureaus to find out the details. To obtain your copy, go to AnnualCreditReport.com, the only source for free credit reports authorized by federal law.
With this service, you can request one free copy of your credit report every week from each credit-reporting company.
Related: How to check your credit score for free
Travel rewards cards are typically only offered to those with excellent (740+) or good (670-739) credit scores. In general, the more features and benefits offered, the higher the credit score requirements will be, so don't expect to be approved for a premium card like The Platinum Card® from American Express with a credit score in the low 600s.
Related: The 6 best starter cards for building your credit
I was outraged the first time I saw a copy of my credit report. It showed that I had outstanding debt on all of my credit cards, even though I was consistently paying off my statement balances in full and on time.
Later, I learned why my credit reports all showed me in debt: Every time a credit card's monthly statement cycle closes, it generates a statement and reports that statement balance to the three major consumer credit bureaus. At that moment, the card issuers have no way of knowing if you'll eventually avoid interest charges by paying your statement balance in full. Technically, my statement balances all constituted outstanding debt, even though I was confident that the interest charges would be waived when I paid each statement balance in full before its due date.
Related: The best way to pay your credit card bills
Even if your statement balances aren't high, they still count as debt and can make a card issuer hesitant to approve you for a new line of credit. The bank is less concerned that it will offer you yet another sign-up bonus than it is worried about over-extending credit to you and risking default.
Once you understand the bank's concerns and how your statement
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