It's becoming increasingly difficult these days to find no annual fee credit cards that offer flexible yet competitive rewards programs. Chase, however, with its launch of the Sapphire Card a few years ago, is doing its best to fill the void. And while this card probably isn't for the hardcore frequent flier who only cares about one thing - racking up serious miles to redeem for free travel - the Chase Sapphire® Card is definitely a great option for consumers with good credit who want to use their card for travel while retaining the ability to trade points in for cash, gift cards, or other merchandise.

0% interest credit card promotions with no balance transfer fees haven't come along too often during the past few years.  In fact, I think the last one we saw hit the market was for the Discover More card over a year ago. And while we don't know how much longer this latest deal from Chase will last, the good news is that the Chase Slate Card is still offering 0% interest on balance transfers for up to 15 months with no balance transfer fee.  This offer was launched towards the end of 2011 and has been quite popular among consumers since all the other balance transfer credit cards on the market right now are either charging 3% or 5% balance transfer fees.

Spring is a time of renewal and rejuvenation. For many, there's just something about the spring season that makes us want to declutter life and move forward with a fresh start. This might include scrubbing the entire house from floor to ceiling or finally getting around to cleaning out piles of junk from the old attic. But what about all the financial clutter that makes its way into our lives? Shouldn't it get some attention too?

It's true that too many credit inquiries can have a negative effect on FICO scores, but my experience has been that most people focus WAY too much on this small factor in the FICO credit-scoring model. In fact, I receive emails quite often from both readers and personal friends who are concerned about something as simple as applying for a new airline miles credit card because they're planning on financing a new home or a car in the next 12 months. Their reasoning is they don't want to risk taking any sort of unnecessary hit to their credit scores before applying for a major loan, and I completely understand that. I wouldn't apply for new credit within a month or two of closing on a home loan either.

Each year I look forward to checking out the National Foundation for Credit Counseling's Consumer Financial Literacy Survey. The NFCC has been sponsoring this report for six years now, and the results are generally released around the beginning of April in recognition of National Financial Literacy Month. As in previous years, the 2012 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey includes some pretty alarming statistics surrounding credit reports and credit scores. Here's what really caught my eye as I perused the key findings in this year's report.