Rewards

My blog about trying to set up a Facebook app to allow my friends to share my Citi ThankYou rewards points was featured in this week's Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Diva in Debt.

My friend says, "No Thanks," to request to share information on Citi's ThankYou Point Sharing app. Reaping the benefits of Citi's new rewards sharing program may not be as easy as it appears. Arm twisting may be necessary if none of my friends have that rewards card or any rewards points to share with me.

And who among my friends is going to be want give up their hard-earned rewards so that I can buy a tent or go on a cruise?

Sometimes the difference between keeping $150 and losing it is one simple phone call.

It's a simple lesson: Persistence pays. It's also one that every personal finance expert worth their salt will tell you is among the most important to learn. No one cares about your money as much as you do, and to keep it, sometimes you have to fight for it.

I learned that the hard way today during one incredibly irritating morning of back-and-forth with a major airline.

The first year of college for many freshman means getting their first student credit card. While the Credit CARD Act of 2009 severely restricts handing out plastic to those under 21, you can get a card if your parent co-signs on the card or if you can prove that you have the income to pay the bills. Your first credit card can be a great personal finance tool, but can also bring disaster if used recklessly.

A college student I know recently asked me if I had some tips for using his first credit card, so I thought I would share my ideas here as well. And for more money and credit advice, check out 10 of my favorite blog posts from personal finance bloggers from the past week.

When I filled my car up with gas recently, I saved 11 cents per gallon off the current market price by using a retail store gift card.

That's a good deal.

Several retailers around the country are offering similar deals to drive traffic to their stores. It's apparently working as family budgets are being stretched more and more with the bad economy.

I applaud them. But can they make them reloadable for it's easier on the environment?

Bank of America cardholders, if you're looking for a free way to get out of the summer heat Labor Day weekend, try your local museum.

The bank's Museums on Us program provides Bank of America credit or debit card holders with one free general admission to 150 different museums, zoos, science centers and more around the country on the first full weekend of every month through the end of the year. Some people will find the program lacking -- for example, 22 states have no museums participating -- but it's just another example of a perk given by a card issuer to lure new cardholders and keep current ones happy.

Here's 10 $20 bills, and a $5 bill. Take them. They're free. You want them? Apparently you don't.

In a time when saving is in vogue, it would seem that $200 is a sizable enough sum not to disregard. Yet the average household that participates in loyalty programs fails to redeem $205 of $622 in rewards each year, be it airline miles or points accrued from shopping and credit card use.

The weather was a mess. Cabbies went on strike, making it tough to get around. And worst of all, her most hated team won the championship.

But none of that mattered to Susie Supalo. Her trip to the Super Bowl -- earned by redeeming more than 300,000 rewards points from her NFL credit card -- was still a thrill.

Just a quick note to let the personal finance bloggers in the audience know that Taking Charge has been selected to host next Monday's version of the Carnival of Personal Finance. It will be the 295th edition of the weekly carnival, making it one of the oldest and certainly the most widely known in its genre. We've hosted four previous editions.

In my latest blog, Susie got her Super Bowl tickets. But now, I get to hang out with Beyonce and Gwen Stefani -- sort of.

Susie Supalo's six-year quest for Super Bowl tickets came to a joyous end Friday.

Supalo was one of thousands of Bank of America credit cardholders who were stunned by the banking giant's announcement in July that after August 31, 2010, the reward points they'd earned on their officially licensed NFL credit cards would expire. After the announcement, I wrote a blog on the topic, which prompted this comment from Supalo a few weeks later:

"I have been saving NFL points for 6 years for Super Bowl tickets. I had enough points last Super Bowl for upper level seats but decided not to redeem them because I had been saving for so long I thought I would wait for lower level seats. I have enough points for lower level seats and now I can't redeem them. Obtaining Super Bowl tickets with my points has been my goal for 6 years. I think BofA and NFL should have given us more notice. I would have redeemed my points last Super Bowl. Is there anything I can do? I feel cheated by the NFL, B of A and the Chicago Bears! How can they get away with this???"

Got rewards points from using your favorite NFL team's official credit card? Redeem them soon to get that Peyton Manning jersey or Dallas Cowboys helmet or they'll disappear forever.

Consider it a two-minute warning from the National Football League and Bank of America: "After August 31, 2010," the bank says on its NFL Extra Points program website, "Bank of America will no longer offer the NFL credit card program. All points must be redeemed on or before this date." Otherwise, the points will expire.

To drive home the point, NFLExtraPoints.com features a giant countdown clock just below a headline that screams "Redeem your points before the clock hits zero! Last chance to spend your points." The site also says that current NFL credit cardholders will soon receive more information on the situation.

So what's driving this? The NFL is moving its credit card business from Bank of America -- with whom its partnered for 15 years -- to British-owned Barclays Bank. According to the Associated Press, Barclays' new NFL program is set to debut in September. The NFL regular season begins September 9.

Seven of the best personal finance bloggers on the Web agreed to a group interview, and I'm happy to present it here.

Learn their tips for smart credit card use, best ways to pay down debt, find out their thoughts on the CARD Act and whether it's possible to live without a credit card.

It's a varied group, from FreeFromBroke to TheDigeratiLife to Man Vs. Debt to Mr. Credit Card, and so I'm not at all surprised they disagree on some issues. The one thing they have in common is a passion for figuring out personal finances. I learned some things and hope you will too!

"Would you like a credit card with that?"

Credit cards have been served up like French fries at fast-food restaurants.

That's about to change. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) about Chase dropping the Starbucks Duetto Visa card, credit card issuers are "pulling the plug on some of the specialized, reward-loaded plastic they pitched to consumers when credit was easy and wallets were wide open."

Just as eating too many fries clogs your arteries, too many credit cards have caused financial arrest. The explosion of niche-branded cards -- whose rewards are tied to a specific brand or product -- has imploded consumers' bank accounts.

One of the many ways I annoy my co-workers is to break out one of my favorite books, "Chase's Calendar of Events," and regale them with the random events that happened to have taken place on this particular day in history. For example, I will say, "Did you know that today is .. " and as their eyes reflexively begin rolling back in their heads, I'll continue, "... National Pig Day?"

So when we got the chance to host this, the 246th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance, and it happened to fall on March 1, I knew I could spread my for random, obscure facts. March is noted for many things, according to Chase's. Among them: March is International Ideas Month. It's National Clean Up Your IRS Act Month. It's International Mirth Month, too. International Expect Success Month is in March, as well. And don't forget, March is also Spiritual Awareness Month. Finally, cheer up, because it's also Optimism Month.

So enjoy this week's best of personal finance blogs in this carnival, sorted into the events they most closely resemble.

Taking Charge, this group blog by the editorial staff at CreditCards.com, is pleased to be the host of next week's Carnival of Personal Finance. Personal finance bloggers, please take a moment to submit your entries.

Last week's blog about the pros and cons of redeeming credit card reward points to donate to the American Red Cross for Haiti earthquake relief efforts was included in the 242nd edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. Blog carnivals rotate...

Redeeming those points was one of the best credit card moves I've made in a long time -- for more reasons than one.

In my excitement over the Emirate Islamic Bank's Skywards 100,000 bonus miles deal, I decided to go ahead and try to apply, only to discover that I've been duped.

In honor of this weekend's Super Bowl game, we've assembled a team drawn from dozens of the best players in the personal finance arena for the football-themed 189th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Italian high fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has designed a snakeskin print credit card for his brand, which fits in flawlessly with his reputation of being a master with animal prints.

On this day in 1901, Walt Disney was born. In this week's credit card roundup, we celebrate Disney's hundreds of inspiring and heartwarming films that defined many of our childhoods.

If you travel with Continental Airlines, your flight just got a little cheaper. The airline announced Tuesday it will waive baggage fees for Continental Chase credit card and debit cardholders for the first piece of checked luggage.