Welcome to CreditCardWhizKid.com! The only place where I, Sean Masterson, will provide you with cutting-edge, in-your-face, up-to-the-minute credit card tips and advice.
Why should you listen to anything I have to say about credit cards? Because I'm 24, debt free and living well -- the way millions wish they could.
So what does someone my age know about credit cards? Everything, actually. I know what games the credit card companies play, and how to beat them. I know how hard it can be to wake up, suddenly realize you're thousands of dollars in debt and wonder how you got there and how the heck you're gonna dig yourself out of the hole. Been there, done that, not doing it again. And that's where this site comes in.
I'm not just a numbers geek. I care about the millions of people, both young and old, who need help with their credit card situation. Whether you've never had a credit card before, have perfect credit or have credit that's so bad the secured card companies won't even look at you, I've got the right advice.
So forget everything you thought you knew about credit cards. This site is going to show you everything you wish you knew about credit cards and everything the credit cards companies pray you never find out. Let's get going...
In recent years, credit card issuers have hit upon an amazingly profitable sales tactic: incredible introductory rates. In some cases, they can be as low as zero percent -- which, on the face of it, seems like a great reason for you to transfer your balance immediately.
After all, with such a low (or no) interest rate, you can manage your money better... so it makes sense to switch, right?
Not necessarily.
Debit card holds, also known as pre-authorizations or "blocking off", represent an aspect of commercial purchasing that many consumers are completely unaware of. But placing holds on debit purchases is a common practice, one you've probably been subject to more than once.
Usually this sort of pre-authorization isn't a big deal, but it can be costly and annoying if your bank account balance is low to begin with.
In the world of credit card security features, the credit card alarm has to take the cake. That's not to say that it's a bad idea, because it's not; but it's definitely unique. Unlike most security features, it's neither embedded nor passive. It lets you know immediately if something's wrong.
Let's take a closer look at what it's all about.
When it comes to overall sneakiness, gift card scams have got to take the cake.
Now that people are becoming more aware of identity theft, it's getting harder for those oh-so-clever high-tech criminals to snatch information from debit and credit cards that they can use to buy free goodies and otherwise line their pockets.
But gift cards, those limited-use credit cards we love to give each other for Christmas and birthdays -- they're still fair game, because most consumers and, worse, the retailers, haven't caught onto their tricks yet.
Have you noticed any unusual credit card fees on your statements lately? I'm not talking about charges for cases of caviar or plane tickets to Aruba that you don't remember buying, although you should certainly pay attention to those. But it's easy to miss a finance charge miscalculation or a payment protection fee.
Let's take a look at the little ways that the issuers can pad your card fees.
While recent regulations have placed tight strictures on the way that credit card companies do business, new technological advances and a willingness to start lending again have paved the way for some very nice credit card perks.
Let's take a quick look at what's available.
If you're about to spend thousands for a business trip or vacation, then you might want to invest in some trip cancellation insurance -- just in case.
We've all heard of flight insurance. Well, this is similar, but it's a more general category of protection. It's a good idea, given life's uncertainty; and interestingly enough, your credit card may automatically cover you.
Needless to say, there are a few caveats to that statement, so let's take a closer look.
Dirty credit card tricks should be thing of the past, given the reforms recently passed under the Credit CARD Act of 2009... and perhaps in an ideal world elsewhere in the spacetime continuum, they are. But this is the real world, and while the old abuses have been curbed, we now have new ones to deal with.
It was naïve to think that the much ballyhooed Credit CARD Act of 2009 would put an end to the dirty credit card tricks that issuers try to gouge us with on a daily basis. Sometimes, I think the only winning move with credit cards is what the computer decided at the end of the movie WarGames: not to play at all.
Finding the best gas credit cards is no easy task. You have to be a very savvy consumer to get by in our world, and when you're dealing with credit cards, that's doubly true. Everyone's well aware that we're in a recession, so credit card companies are competing for your business -- while trying to cut corners of their own.
If you follow this blog you've heard me say it before: read the fine print. That is the best, the only way to make sure you're not going to have any unpleasant surprises when your bill arrives, and with gas credit cards, that's doubly true. Here are a couple of the things you want to watch out for when you're choosing the best gas credit cards.
