Summer Carnival: the 156th Carnival of Personal Finance

Bananarama, Don Henley and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince can all be found at the 156th Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Prime Time Money. So can I.

My blog, "TransUnion settlement details emerge," was featured in the "Songs of Summer" edition of the carnival. It's got links to a cool 100 blog posts on all sorts of personal finance topics, as well as YouTube clips of videos for some summer-themed tunes. I'm partial to the songs by those artists named above -- "Cruel Summer," "The Boys of Summer" and, of course, "Summertime."

While you give them a listen, you can read the other posts also included in the carnival's credit section:

Vacation is (not surprisingly) on the minds of several of my fellow bloggers. The Dough Roller lists "Five great travel reward credit cards," with the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card among the credit cards making the cut. For those of you taking a driving trip this summer, take a look at Mighty Bargain Hunter and Blueprint for Financial Prosperity for their take on gas credit cards.

What about reward credit cards? Credit Addict asks: "Reward credit cards: Ripoff or real deal?"

Of course, applying for a credit card and getting denied would be a major gray cloud during your day at the beach. StopBuyingCrap.com tells us how to "Make sure you’ll be approved for a credit card."

In Texas (where I live), it's already hot. As the temperature rises further, use your extra cash for ice cream, not for paying unnecessary fees. FIRE Finance warns readers about "Sneaky credit card trick #1 - over the credit limit fees" and gives some tips on how to avoid these penalties. However, if going over the limit isn't an issue, Chief Family Officer tells us "Something I wish I’d known three months ago: Some credit card issuers do not allow merchants to impose a maximum."    

Shade is at a premium during the hot summer months. That's a good reason to save a tree while also blocking annoying junk mail by choosing to "Opt out of marketing materials," as suggested by Daily Money Hack.

Hope you learn from (and enjoy) this summer reading list.