Entries Categorized as 'Credit Card Tips'

Reward Credit Cards: Ripoff or Real Deal?

Date June 4, 2008

I recently ran across an interesting article about reward credit cards over on CNN/Money. In it, the author argued that reward programs are often a bad deal for consumers because: (1) they encourage you to spend more money, (2) reward cards often have higher interest rates, and (3) it can be difficult to actually access [...]

The Death of No Fee 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers?

Date May 21, 2008

The following is the text of an e-mail that I recently received from a reader:
I like playing the 0% balance transfer game and investing the proceeds in an interest-bearing account. However, I’m finding it harder and harder to find any cards with no balance transfer fees or at least caps on their fees… I just [...]

Credit Card Not Working? Lick It (Seriously)

Date May 19, 2008

A few weeks back I ran across an article on The Consumerist suggesting that if you’re having trouble getting your credit card to swipe, you should lick it. As crazy as this sounds, I had an opportunity to try it out this morning, and guess what? It worked!
On my way to work, I stopped off [...]

Don’t Forget to Request Your Cash Back Credit Card Rewards

Date May 13, 2008

This is just a quick reminder to request your cash back from your reward card(s) of choice. While some cash back reward credit cards — such as the Citi CashReturns card and the American Express Blue Cash rewards card — automatically issue your rewards, others don’t.
Instead of letting card issuers sit on your rewards while [...]

Tax Rebate + Reward Credit Card Followup

Date April 28, 2008

This is just a quick followup to my previous post about getting a huge grocery discount by combining tax rebate promotions with a reward credit card. From what I’ve heard, both Meijer and Albertson’s will offer a similar deal though, in the case of Meijer, the extra 10% (in the form of a coupon) has [...]

Tax Rebate + Reward Credit Card = Big Grocery Savings

Date April 23, 2008

In case you haven’t heard, grocery chain Kroger (KR) is offering to add 10% to your economic stimulus tax rebate if you swap it out for a Kroger gift card. So instead of receiving $300, $600, or $1200, you’ll get $330, $660, or $1320 worth of groceries.
What’s even better is that you don’t actually have [...]

Hack Your Credit Card Signup Bonus

Date April 16, 2008

As you are no doubt aware, I’m a huge fan of making the most out of your credit card experience. To this end, I wanted to pass along a little tip for getting the most out of credit card bonus offers…
While there are a number of credit card signup bonuses floating around out there (that [...]

Are You Willing to Sell Your Credit Score?

Date April 7, 2008

As important as your credit score is, would you be willing to sell a piece of it in return for some free cash? The reason I ask is that there are tons of great credit card offers out there, but every time you apply for one, your credit score takes a bit of a hit. [...]

More Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

Date April 4, 2008

The other day I wrote about how to improve your FICO credit score. I was therefore quite interested when I saw that Jeremy at GenXFinance had compiled a list of 15 tips for improving your credit history and FICO score. Given the importance of your credit score in everyday life, it’s well worth taking good [...]

Beware of Falling Credit Limits

Date March 31, 2008

First we started hearing about arbitrary increases in credit card interest rates, and now this… According to a recent blurb in Money Magazine, however, credit card issuers have recently started reducing credit limits for some borrowers, even those with good credit records.
Factors that put you at risk are making an occasional late payment, living in [...]