I often get notes from people who have a small mountain of credit cards. They’re trying to figure out which ones they should keep and which ones they should cancel for various reasons, and they’re (rightfully) concerned with their credit report when they do this. Obviously, a wallet full of credit cards can be a

This post is part of The One Hour Project, in which you can spend just one hour to put your finances in a better place without a big lifestyle change, through frugality or other financial choices. This is something that’s well worth doing if you have consistently carried a credit card balance in the past

I am constantly amazed at the creativity of companies that offer credit cards. They use a wide diversity of tactics to appeal to people and convince them to either start using a credit card or use a credit card more than they actually would. Why? The more you use a card, the more likely you

Tammy wrote in with the following story and question: I recently got an offer in the mail from Sallie Mae, whom I currently have huge loans from, for a platinum plus credit card with worldpoints rewards. They are offering zero interest on balance transfers till october 2008 and cash back rewards and points (1:1) for

In response to my two recent posts on building credit (getting credit without a credit card and building up credit), Konstantin writes in and says: I am following your blog daily and I found two conflicting ideas you suggest that I have a hard time reconciling them: “Another tip is that by canceling credit cards,

Mark writes in and asks: I’m 18, and recently applied for a credit card at Citibank. They rejected me on the basis that I have no credit history. I’ve had a savings account at a local bank for nearly my whole life with all of my money in it, and I’ve started budgeting my money

Over the last few weeks, several people have written to me asking about the credit cards that I actually use. I use two of them, and here’s how I use them and why. My primary card is the Citi Driver’s Edge Options Platinum Mastercard (here’s Citi’s page about the card). It gives me 6% cash

I often get emails from readers asking me what the “best” credit card offer is. I write back and say there isn’t one, which I’m sure doesn’t win me any friends, but it’s the truth. There is no best credit card for everyone, but I’ll certainly say that the best offer for you probably wasn’t

A reader recently sent in this question about her boyfriend’s credit, which seems to be on the cusp of being quite good. My boyfriend was recently denied financing on a used upright piano because of poor credit. He actually has enough cash saved to buy it outright, but the fact that he couldn’t receive financing

I often write these posts with CNBC on in the background for some noise (interestingly, I usually can’t see the television), and for what seems like the fifteenth time in the last hour, they’ve played a commercial for the Chase Freedom credit card. You’ve probably seen the commercial if you’ve had your television on at

Over and over and over again, readers ask me some variation on this question: I have $1,000 in my hand. I am trying to decide if I’m better off paying off part of my credit card debt or investing it. What should I do? The thing is, my answer is almost always the same, and

We are at that very point in time when a 400-year-old age is dying and another is struggling to be born — a shifting of culture, science, society, and institutions enormously greater than the world has ever experienced. Ahead, the possibility of the regeneration of individuality, liberty, community, and ethics such as the world has

Recently, AllFinancialMatters posed the following question: which method of getting out of debt works better, Suze Orman‘s or Dave Ramsey‘s? Here are the compared plans: Here’s Dave Ramsey’s Snowball Method for paying off credit cards: Step 1 – Make a list of all your credit cards, ranked in order from the highest balance to the

Five Minute Finances is a series of tips on how you can save significant money or reorganize your financial life in just five minutes. These tips appear Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on The Simple Dollar. Tip #2: Call your credit card company According to CardWeb, the average American household has approximately $9,200 in credit card

One might have expected that the person who unleashed the credit card on the world would have been a captain of finance, an individual who headed a large bank (or at least an officer at one) or perhaps was the founder of MasterCard or Visa or Diner’s Club. In fact, none of the above were

I used to have a big pile of in-store credit cards for various chain stores. I would go into a store ready to make a big purchase and the person at the counter would say, “You can save 10% by signing up for our store credit card!” and I would think, “Yeah! It’s like a

Recently, I received an email from a reader of The Simple Dollar who laid out an interesting yet familiar story: My girlfriend is a junior in college and she’s managed to dig herself into about $2500 worth of high-interest debt by accumulating credit cards from retail stores (20-24% interest rates). She always makes her minimum

Occasionally, I like to highlight comments about various articles on The Simple Dollar for several reasons. One, it lets me highlight some of my best readers and let them know that I really value their comments. Two, it lets everyone else know how integral comments are to The Simple Dollar. And three, after sifting through

Most people think that the phrases “charge card” and “credit card” are interchangeable; that they refer to the same thing. The truth is that they’re not. So let’s step back, look at the differences, and see which one is best for you. A charge card is basically just a means of obtaining a very short