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Hey Students! Don't Cosign Your Friend's Credit Card

New regulations that were part of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 have made it more difficult for students under 21 to get approved for student credit cards unless they have an adult cosigner or sufficient income. Unfortunately, this has led to a situation in which many older students are now cosigning for their younger friends in order to help them get approved for a credit card.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2011-10-24 17:00

Ask Creditnet: Best Travel Rewards Business Credit Card

October 24th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

Dear Creditnet: I run several small businesses and am looking for the best travel rewards business credit card. I plan to spend a few thousand per month on each card and the balances are expected to always be paid in full. What do you suggest?

Small Business Saturday is Back: Get $25 or More on Nov. 26th!

October 21st, 2011 by Elisabeth Chan

My favorite Saturday of the year is back! For the 2nd year in a row, American Express is sponsoring Small Business Saturday on November 26th, the day after Black Friday. If you missed out in 2010, don't make the same mistake again. This promotion is just too easy for Amex cardholders to pass up, and it's for a great cause too!

Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card: 50,000 Bonus is Back!

October 19th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

I reviewed the latest version of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card just over a month ago. If you missed it, my main point in that review was if you could manage to wait for a better offer to come along from Southwest later this year, then you should. Well, I love it when I'm right!

Interest Rates and Your Credit Scores

If you carry a balance on your credit card, what interest rate you're charged should be very important to you. Obviously, the lower your interest rate, the less you'll pay in finance charges until the debt is paid off.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2011-10-17 17:00

Citi ThankYou Preferred Card Review: 50,000 Bonus Promotion

October 13th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

*Update* Oct. 24th, 2011: This card offer is no longer available. Check out the current details of the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card instead. For those of you that have absolutely no interest in shelling out a $125 annual fee for the Citi ThankYou Premier Card, Citi just launched a new credit card offer last week that you probably won't find in your mailbox or many other places online. Here's a quick overview of the card if you happen to be in the right financial place to take advantage of a great signup bonus this Fall. The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card provides new cardholders with the opportunity to earn up to 50,000 bonus ThankYou points during the first year of use. That's worth up to $500 in gift cards via the ThankYou network or perhaps even more if you redeem the 50,000 points for travel. In order to get the full 50,000 bonus points, you'll have to meet the following two requirements:

Top 6 Ways to Reduce Identity Theft

October 12th, 2011 by Logan Abbott

This past week, I've heard the phrase "I never thought it would happen to me" more than ever before. A rather crafty scam artist took a list of names and phone numbers and started sending multiple phishing texts and phone calls to my clients and others across the nation. Because of the timing and persistence of these points of contact, many people were tricked into entering their card number and pin. Now before you go thinking you would never provide such information to somebody, let me tell you that the methods of this scammer were quite convincing in many instances. Luckily, we are positive the list was not secured via our database, so no sensitive information was compromised, but the growing risk of identity theft has never been more apparent to me.

How to Deal with New Annual Fees

You're a responsible credit card user. You live within your means and pay your balances in full each month.

It's likely you even have several credit cards in your wallet, although the majority of your monthly expenses are charged to the one that helps you bank the most rewards. As for the other cards, you keep them active to help boost your credit score and serve as backup in case of emergency.

What's wrong with that? Well, in the past you had little to worry about. But times have changed.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2011-10-10 17:00

CARD Act Loophole: Interest Rates Still Increased After 15 Days

The CARD Act of 2009 requires credit card companies to provide cardholders with 45 days' notice when interest rates are increased. While most credit card users assume this means they'll receive notice at least 45 days before their interest rates rise, this actually isn't the case in most circumstances.

What this new rule really means is that you must have 45 days' notice before you pay the higher interest rate. There's still nothing stopping your credit issuers from increasing the interest rate for new purchases on the 15th day after the notice is mailed.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2011-10-10 17:00

Denial Doesn't Hurt Your Credit Scores

Consumers are often worried about applying for new credit cards because they don't want to get denied and hurt their credit scores. While no one likes to get rejected, the truth is the rejection itself actually doesn't hurt your credit scores.

The small hit your scores will take, usually around 5 points or less, occurs when you apply for the credit card and your credit history is pulled by the credit issuer. Whether your application is accepted or denied will have no immediate bearing on your scores.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Thu, 2011-10-06 17:00

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