Credit Cards

This is not your "standard" Credit Card advice. Of course, you don't want to use credit if you have cash. You don't want to pay high finance charges. You should never spend more than you can afford. Pay your balance in full every month... If you are running a balance, pay down the highest interest rate first, yada... yada... yada...

But, I'm beyond that "spending more than I can afford" because I can't afford hardly ANYTHING!

But, something to look into: your rewards program!

My sister has a Capital One card, but didn't realize that she had like a BILLION points and that those points have CASH VALUE!!!!

Yup! With most cards, you can get actual cash money for those points!!!

You just go online and look at your rewards program and you can cash them in. Now, double check because all plans work differently and you want to be smart about it. Some of them are not a 1-for-1 reward. For instance, one of my cards will give you $50 for 7,500 points (0.0066¢ per point), but $100 for 12,000 points (0.0083¢ per point). If you are in this position and are close to the "12,000 point" level, hang on a little bit if you can. Do it smart! Get the most money for those points.

But most of those rewards cards, you can get cash or statement credit. Watch out with the statement credit that it is going to get credited in time for (or will count as) your payment on your card. But if you are over your limit because your interest charges posted, you might want to use that to get you under your limit and help salvage your credit report a bit.


And, keep in mind the rewards plan when closing cards or using cards. If you can get 1% back on one card and nothing back on the other... if all other factors are the same (interest, credit limit, ease of use) but the rewards program is way better on one than the other, then it's an easy decision.

One more quicky little note, and this is probably not going to make me sound like a very good person, but if you are planning to file bankruptcy, cash in every penny of your rewards first or you will lose it!


Now, as a small business owner, I can tell you that "on the other end" of the argument, I HATE THESE CARDS because those rewards payments are being passed through to us business owners. The better the rewards program, the more that the business owner pays to accept your credit card during a transaction. So, if you have a friend who owns a small business, pay cash to him ALWAYS!