Joshua Heckathorn

Dear Creditnet: I know Capital One credit cards don't charge foreign exchange fees, but I'm frankly not a big fan of Capital One. Are there any other credit issuers offering the same perk with a no annual fee credit card? I travel overseas a lot for both play and work, so a credit card with no foreign exchange fees would save me a lot of dough.

 Remember AmEx's announcement early this year that cardholders could now use membership rewards points to pay their taxes? Since it's always annoyed me that we can't pay taxes with a credit card for free, I, for one, was excited when I heard there was a new option for paying taxes online. That is, until I dug a little deeper into the conversion rate and realized what a waste it would be to drop 200 rewards points for every $1 in taxes due. That's 400,000 points for a $2,000 tax bill—ridiculous!

 Dear Creditnet: I recently began helping an elderly neighbor pay his bills. One credit card statement arrived today and indicated that his payment is due in just 18 days. They also request that it be mailed at least 7 to 10 days in advance to avoid a late payment fee, so that only gives him 11 days to cut a check and get it in the mail. This just doesn't sound right to me. Am I wrong? Answer: I wish my grandparents had a neighbor like you. Kudos for lending a helping hand. Your neighbor's credit issuer will need to receive payment by the due date or they will most likely charge a late fee and begin charging interest on the existing balance as well. That's why they're suggesting you send payment at least a week or so in advance. Unfortunately, the mail can be quite slow sometimes.