January 2011 Archives

Welcome to CreditCards.com's newest blogger, Ann Brenoff, who will be keeping a close eye on the financial slips and falls of some of the most wealthy citizens in the United States -- our beloved celebrities.

This week, Ann dishes on the money woes of "Desperate Housewife" Eva Longoria and "Batman Forever" star Val Kilmer.

A recent Wall Street Journal article (that quoted CreditCards.com) says that unpopular bank fees are slowly but surely on the decline. I'll toast to that! Thanks to the Card Act and consumer discontent with bank fees, the major banks have been trimming their penalty rates and fees. Interest rates aren't better according to our data, but if you ever pay a credit card bill late or travel abroad, you will find some major relief from these changes.

It's major that issuers are starting to get rid of foreign transaction fees. Previously, Capital One was the only issuer with that benefit, which is why I carry one with me whenever I travel internationally. The article adds that in this current financial climate, consumers have the power (especially if they have a good credit score) and should consider negotiating with banks when setting up accounts to get more favorable rates and fees.

Keep reading for my list of my top 10 favorite posts from the personal finance blogosphere this week.

I got a gift card myself for Christmas, and I'm heading to Borders today to use it.

That's because news leaked out last week that the long-troubled bookseller has hired bankruptcy attorneys to help it sort through its options.

Consumers should do themselves a favor and get to the nearest Borders now to make sure they get full value from their gift cards. While Borders has said it still hopes to evade bankruptcy, I'd get there pronto, the history of retailers honoring gift cards after bankruptcy filing is mixed, and your rights to redeem that card are not guaranteed.

Have you seen the latest teen shopping video? No, it's not a public service announcement of the "This is your brain on drugs" genre. It's more like, "This is your financial future on overload."

"Going to the Mall," a song and video by artists School Gyrls (yes, that's how they spell it), is a three-minute glamorization of excessive spending. It features five girls dressed in school girl plaid skirts who happily talk about their shopping excursions to the mall.

It's reminiscent of the "haul videos" that have become popular on YouTube. They feature young shoppers, most often females, who are showing off their latest purchases and any bargains they've bagged.

Over the weekend, AAA told me that my credit card had been stolen.

Getting an e-mail from AAA -- primarily known for roadside assistance, travel information and membership discounts -- about my credit in itself wasn't unusual. That's because back in 2009, I signed up for the free credit monitoring provided through my membership with the Texas chapter of the automobile association.

As part of that monitoring, I receive monthly e-mails alerting me to any changes in my credit report. Typically, those e-mails indicate all is well.

Could you pay off $18,000 in debt in one year? Writer Anna Newell Jones did. She racked up over $23,000 in debt, and when it became unmanageable, she decided to go on a spending fast.

In an opinion piece on CNNMoney, Jones explains how she spent an entire year only purchasing necessities and no longer indulging with things she simply thought she deserved. She explains that she came to understand why others didn't pay down their debt; it seemed impossible and it was easy to pretend it would just go away.

Jones stopped shopping, eating out and going to movies. She started riding the bus religiously, which she estimates saved her about $1,400 for the year. And after a year of total frugality, she ended up saving $17,911.89 in just one year. Do you think you could do this, too?

Get your own frugality ideas with my roundup of my top 10 favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week.

That does it. I'm using my elbows from now on to punch in my PIN number at an ATM.

Headline writer on both sides of the pond are having great sport scaring the public with the results of a new study showing that ATM keypads are as filthy as public toilets.

I graduated college in May 2007, and I started writing for CreditCards.com that fall. Shortly after beginning my job, I noticed that gas prices began to surge. Then the mortgage crisis emerged and the bottom of the economy fell out. It was quite an interesting time to be in the personal finance industry!

The cost of oil continued to soar throughout the beginning of the recession, and nearly everyone I knew began cutting back on driving in some capacity. Here in Texas, where we don't have very good public transportation, nobody wanted to pay $4 a gallon unless they absolutely had to. More than ever, interest sparked in carpooling and using public transportation more frequently.

Much to everyone's relief, oil prices eventually fell back down and stayed there for a long time. Just a few months ago, I noticed the prices climbing again, though I hoped it was just a fluke. It didn't alarm me too much until the last few weeks, when I have noticed it getting closer and closer to $3 a gallon here in Austin. Then, yesterday, I filled up at $3 a gallon. The horror! I immediately felt a panic and realized that if it keeps rising, I will need to combine errands, budget more for gas, and not drive unnecessarily all over again.

I recently read in Huffington Post that John Hofmeister, Shell's former president, predicts that gas prices will continue to increase as oil demands rise, and he thinks Americans may be paying $5 per gallon of gas in 2012. If that's true, that will put a huge dent in many of our wallets.

Read on for my roundup of my top 10 favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week!

While it's nice to get a nod of approval from lenders, I haven't applied for a loan recently. In the meantime, I'm happy to see that WalletBlog -- host of the latest Carnival of Personal Finance -- approves of my credit score. Or, perhaps more accurately, a recent blog post about my FICO score.

That blog post was selected for inclusion in the carnival along with a score of others.

On Jan. 5, 2011, the 112th Congress convened its session. While Democrats maintained control of the Senate in the November elections, Republicans took over the House of Representatives. Democratic former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi passed the gavel on to Republican John Boehner of Ohio.

Leading up to the election, one of the major Republican platforms was that President Obama's administration was massively overspending and that our government needed to become more budget-conscious and spend less. Now that the Republicans are in power, it will be interesting to see what happens with our country's deficit. Being early January, many Americans (including myself) also have a renewed interest in organizing finances and sticking to a budget. But will these resolutions be here to stay? Let's hope so.

Read on for my roundup of my favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week and get some great tips and tricks on managing your money!

What do my eight years of credit history, three open accounts and no missed payments equal? According to FICO, a "very good" credit score of 746.

Ahead of the holidays, FICO sent me a gift card with a promotion code that enabled me to request a free score and report from myFICO.com. (Ah, the perks of writing about credit scoring!) The "FICO standard" package (which typically costs $19.95) included information from my TransUnion credit report as well as big, bold letters declaring my TransUnion FICO score to be 746.

"Your TransUnion FICO score is very good," the report informed me. "Your score is above the average score of U.S. consumers and demonstrates to lenders that you are a very dependable borrower." Yes, yes I am!

My blog exploring the likelihood that frugality and saving habits are here to stay made the New Year's edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

This week's personal finance host, Sustainable Personal Finance, chose several blogs that look toward key decisions about taxes, investing and work that consumers will have to make in 2011.

It's worth a look.

Guest what one of my Christmas presents from my fiance was? An extremely detailed budget spreadsheet in Excel that will help me track and organize every cent I spend. I mentioned a few months ago that I was going to be starting a budget, but I have procrastinated big-time and haven't done it yet.

Now that the new year is here, I resolve to take budgeting seriously. Especially since my sweet man poured so much time into creating a fully functional, fully customized document that computes everything for me. I can't claim that I'm not math-savvy enough now. I'm out of excuses; it's time to start watching where my money is going. With our wedding happening in three months, this will give me some time to get used to budgeting before we get hitched. What's your New Year's resolution this year?

Read on for my roundup of my favorite posts from the personal finance blogosphere in the last week, several of which touch on New Year's resolutions.