Credit Cards

There are many reward credit cards that offer points in hotels’ loyalty programs. But how much are these points worth? The answer: only as much as the hotel rooms you can actually book. And unfortunately for hotel reward card users, the points awarded by many of the major programs were just severely devalued within the… Read More

The simple truth is that those who carry a balance should remain focused on finding a credit card with the lowest interest rate possible. While this may seem like a simple task, it can actually be a challenge. Credit card issuers offer a wide variety of products with interest rates and features that are all… Read More

Credit card users in the U.S. are pretty lucky to live in a time and place where banks are fiercely competing to earn our business. Amazingly, this competition results in rewards bonuses that we can earn just for receiving a new card and meeting a minimum spending requirement. These rewards can be in the form… Read More

Federal regulators drew a lot of ire from payment processing companies a while ago when they placed limits on the amount those companies could charge to merchants for accepting debit payments, but the nation’s central bank recently reaffirmed its stance on these fees and said it would not allow them to be changed. The current… Read More

Rewards points and miles have a rather ephemeral quality; their entire existence is subject to the whim of a corporation’s loyalty program. On the other hand, cash back will always be the most valuable currency when it comes to credit card rewards. Unlike points and miles, cash can be used to pay your mortgage, to… Read More

One problem that can lead many credit card borrowers to have more significant debts than they might have bargained for is repeatedly making only the minimum payments into their balances every month, and now one major national bank is trying to give them incentive to start making larger contributions to their balances. Bank of America will soon… Read More

Identity theft has become a significant problem in the past few years across the country, and it seems that there is a shifting trend in the ways in which thieves are compromising credit and debit accounts in particular. As recently as 2010, more than 40 percent of card fraud was taking place with thieves skimming card… Read More

Rebuilding credit can be tough to do. The best way to improve your credit is to open a new account and create a record of timely payments.  Yet, predictably, few banks are willing to grant credit cards to those who have a poor credit history. You don’t have to give up hope, though, as there… Read More

A recent settlement between the world’s two largest processors of debit and credit card payments and a number of merchant groups allowed the latter to begin charging customers more for making payments with credit, but now a number of states are moving to ban this type of additional cost being passed on to consumers. When the settlement… Read More

Rewards credit card users are getting used to the idea of earning valuable points, miles, and cash back for their spending. At the same time, the card issuers are becoming ever more dependent on offering these rewards in order to attract and retain new cardholders. But in their frenzy to acquire valuable new customers, do… Read More