November 2011

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.