I don't know about you, but I've seen a lot of advertisements lately for apps and programs that can analyze your credit card account and bank account and notify you of recurring payments that you may have forgotten about.In general, this is an awesome idea.  You absolutely shouldn't be paying for services that you aren't using.  And I'm sure it's something that many people do.However, you don't need a special app to do it. Privacy … [Read more...]

I love rewards credit cards.  I'm not a hardcore user, one of those people who spends time opening and closing cards to max out benefits, but I have two rewards cards that I use regularly and appreciate the rewards coming to me.In choosing two cards, I picked rewards that would be easiest for me to earn and rewards that I would use.  My main card is a Chase Amazon.com Visa.  I use Amazon.com a lot, and I have Amazon Prime, so I earn 5% back … [Read more...]

With Thanksgiving behind us, we have officially entered the season of shopping.  I don't know about you, but I always end up spending so much money in December, picking up last minute gifts for people, dinners and drinks out with friends, and of course on holiday travel.I've talked about it here before, but I do most of my spending on credit cards.  I only use my debit card when I need to get cash back, and I very rarely have more than twenty … [Read more...]

When you go to the store, you're often asked what your payment method will be.  Cash, credit, or debit?  And people are very opinionated about which method is their favorite.  Let's take a look at the good and bad of each method of spending.Cash GoodWell, you can't overspend.  You either have the money to spend or you don't.I know a lot of people really like the envelope method of budgeting.  You have $X to spend each month on all … [Read more...]

I was reading through some personal finance forums over the weekend, and I realized something pretty important.Some people don't know what it means to use a credit card.Now, like with everything else, there's no shame in not knowing, but you definitely need to know what you're doing when you use a credit card.So you've been using your debit card for years, but you see a cool new credit card out there that comes with rewards just for … [Read more...]