Credit Cards Articles

Ryan Guina is an entrepreneur and writer. He has worked for Fortune 500 companies and served six years in the USAF. He writes about money management and small business topics at Cash Money Life and military money topics at Military Finance Network. You can follow his twitter feed.

Credit cards are great tools when used appropriately, but sometimes you find yourself getting in over your head. Before you get too deep, take a few minutes to make a phone call that could save you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. I’m talking about negotiating lower credit card interest rates.

Learning how to negotiate lower credit card interest rates doesn’t have to be intimidating.

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Do you need just a few dollars to get you through to next payday? Have an unexpected expense come up, but you have no savings or credit cards to use? For many people in this unfortunate financial circumstance, the answer is a payday loan. But is this a wise financial choice to cover emergency purchases — or even everyday expenses — when your cash runs short?

Sometimes called “cash advances,” these loans were listed as one of the five most dangerous loans by Bankrate.com. How do payday loans work and what exactly is so dangerous about them?

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When looking for a new credit card, it can be tempting to go with the card offering the most incentives just for signing up. Credit card companies know they have a lot of competition to gain customers so many will use introductory tactics to bring in new business. These intro offers are very appealing but often do not reflect the actual long-term conditions of a credit card. If you do not understand what is coming down the line, you can end up hurting your own finances and credit.

Credit card companies want to attract your attention fast. They want to offer you something you think you can’t refuse so you’ll sign up without thinking past the initial offers. Som

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Dear Creditnet: I’m currently in the market for a new TV and Best Buy is offering 0% financing for three years.

My question is when you open an account like this, how big of a hit does your FICO score usually take and how long will it take to rebound?

I could easily pay cash for the TV up front, but the “finance” person in me says it’s free money—why not take the terms?

Answer: Hard inquiries for a new credit card will generally drop your FICO score about five points, but it should bounce back within a few months. In some c

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