A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks
Credit cards can be a gateway to debt but can also be a powerful personal finance tool. See articles that will teach you about credit cards,keep you up to date on credit card rules, show you the best credit cards, as well as show you reviews.
Credit cards get a bum rap sometimes.
Yes, they can charge high interest and have exorbitant fees, but if you pay your balance every month and on time you aren’t affected. For a vast number of people, cards cards are a great tool which comes with some nice benefits.
Having excellent credit scores has helped my wife and I save in many ways over the years. We didn’t always have great credit scores. Both my wife and I had our periods of credit card debt. Along with that came the occasional late payment and the regular stealing from Peter to pay Paul lifestyle. But we both wised up and, over time, eliminated our credit card debts. With that came better and better credit scores. We’ve discovered that having a good, or great, credit score has its benefits.
[Read more…] about How An Excellent Credit Score Has Helped Us Save Money
I received my American Express Blue bill recently.
When I opened it up the bill looked a little different. To my surprise there was specific information that now appeared as a result of the new credit card rules from the Credit Card Act that took effect in February.
[Read more…] about New Credit Card Act In Action – Effects of Not Paying in Full
Today is the day credit cards change ways they do business. Most of the rules in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 are going into effect today.
Here is a rundown of what changes are taking effect (for more details see my article The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, And Disclosure (CARD) Act Of 2009- Effect On Credit Card Holders:
[Read more…] about New Credit Card Rules Take Effect
The question comes up all the time when a person wants to start getting their credit cards under control – Pay off the cards with the highest interest or the cards with the highest balance?
On the one and you have high interest credit cards – A high interest rate costs you every month and compounds the amount you owe every month you aren’t paying off the entire balance. High interest costs you for what you borrowed. For some people the interest rate can close in on 30%. That’s basically agreeing to pay one third more for everything you bought on the card (or more depending on how long you owe)!
On the other hand you have high balance cards – You’ve used the card so much that the balance may be in the thousands and no matter what you are paying the balance doesn’t seem to ever go down. Even if you have a low interest rate you may be paying a lot of interest because of your high balance.
[Read more…] about Pay Off Highest Interest Or Highest Balance Credit Card – Analysis Paralysis
