July 2011 Archives

As you're reading this, I'm probably on a plane from Austin to Seattle for my delayed honeymoon. We will also go to Vancouver for three nights and Whistler for one night. The wedding was in March, but we're just now getting the chance to get away.

I've heard and read horror stories of couples who go into major debt for their honeymoon and later regret it. That's no way to start off a marriage! While I will be using a credit card for most purchases, we're determined to go in and out of the honeymoon without debt, so I will be paying off the balance immediately after returning. We received some, but not a lot, of money in wedding gifts. That is helping with a big chunk of it. But here are some of the many other ways we plan to save. Plus, read about 10 of my favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week, many of which have great advice about saving money and preventing debt.

A warning to credit card holders: The U.S. government's borrowing problems could soon become your borrowing problems.

Right now, in Washington, politicians are fighting over whether to raise the U.S. debt ceiling -- which determines the amount of money that the nation can spend on its debt -- above $14.3 trillion. If the debt ceiling isn't increased, the United States won't have enough money to pay all of its bills. That could result in a default on its financial obligations.

I leave late next week for my delayed honeymoon, and we'll be spending time in both Seattle and Vancouver. It's funny--at first, I figured I would just use my normal debit card in Canada. We both use currency called dollars, and so many things about the countries are so similar. I quickly realized that while the value is very similar, a Canadian dollar is still different from an American dollar, and I would incur a foreign transaction fee for every payment.

Instead, I'm going to be using my trusty Capital One credit card that I always use for my international travels. It has no frills, but it also has no foreign transaction fee. We've been saving up money for the trip in an online savings account, and I was hoping to directly use that money via a debit card. Instead, I plan to use the Capital One card for nearly all of the purchases made there. Then once I'm back, I'll pay off the credit card balance with the amount saved. It adds an extra step, but avoiding a fee of several percent for every single payment is very much worth it! And I used my Chase Continental Airlines OnePass credit card for some of the big purchases made in advance in American dollars, such as our AmTrak train tickets, so I will also rack up some reward miles from the trip.

But I'm not leaving just yet. Read on for a roundup of my top 10 favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week, including several about managing money as a couple.

It's Day 1 for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- the new federal agency charged with watching out for consumers when it comes to credit cards and other financial products.

Starting today, consumer complaints about credit cards will be collected by a single government agency -- rather than a hodgepodge of regulators that existed before.

Help us kick the tires on this new complaint system. If you have filed a complaint, let us know how it went. Was the form easy to understand? Did you experience any technical difficulties on the website?

Would you offer up your Facebook friends for money?

American Express wants you to. The credit card issuer launched a "Link, Like, Love" social media campaign asking cardholders to allow AmEx to tap their circle of friends, interests and other "likes" in order to offer customized shopping discounts.

Next time you travel, remember this: Hotels are always a hotspot for credit card fraud scams.

Since I've spent my share of time traveling over the last few months -- for everything from a college buddy's wedding to a family trip to Disney World - stories about credit card scams at hotels have caught my eye recently. Though the scams feature different clever tactics, each has the same intent: getting a hold of a tourist's credit card info.

And they all drive the point home that, no matter how tired you are from travel, no matter how crabby your toddler's being that day, no matter how sunburned you get waiting in line at the water park, you need to keep your guard up when you're traveling.

Run for the Borders!

I told you back in January and now I really mean it: If you have a Borders gift card you've been meaning to redeem, do it now. Now. Let the dog walk himself. Skip the weekly lunch bunch. Tell your boss you have to leave early because you have to meet the sprinkler guy. Whatever. But go as soon as you can, either directly to the store, or online, and cash out that card.

After failing to sell itself off, the company is liquidating, with stores beginning to close as soon as Friday.

People are always finding new ways to game frequent flyer programs, and I just learned about a very clever one. NPR reports that some travel addicts use their airline credit cards to purchase U.S. dollar coins, which are shipped for free from the government. The consumers then go to the bank and deposit the coins, and use them to pay off the credit card bill. They are getting enough in credit card rewards to get free flights, but they aren't actually paying for it.

Several consumers are interviewed and tell of all of the free miles and trips they have earned from this tactic. But according to NPR, "their purchases from the Mint contribute to a huge and growing buildup of one-dollar coins in Federal Reserve vaults." The program where you can order the coins directly from the Mint was made so that more of the coins would go into circulation, but these frequent travelers are causing them to do the opposite.

While it isn't technically illegal, it's an abuse and violation of the system. NPR's article says that as long as credit card issuers don't intervene, people will continue to game the system with their airline rewards credit cards.

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

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a quarterly performance report in late June that gives great insight into what's happening in the world of mortgage loans. In a Time article, it pointed out one of the more striking numbers: "46 percent of all loans written in the first quarter were to borrowers with credit scores over 750."

It was only 29 percent in the third quarter of 2008, which is when the Lehman Brothers crashed and burned. But Time notes that it hasn't risen due to the fact that consumers have better credit; it's because lending has tightened and it's harder for just anyone to get approved.

Time offers several great tips for improving your credit score if you're already working on it. For those and more tips that will help improve your credit and finances, read on for my list of the top 10 best personal finance blog posts in the past week.