Best of Personal Finance: Credit Where Credit Is Due Edition

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Welcome to this weeks Best of Personal Finance round-up!

Ah, credit. What would we do without it, besides live simpler lives with smaller televisions?

We here at Wise Bread are fans of Credit Karma, and we're not alone. Frugal Babe gives the free credit score service a try, and reports her findings.

Believe it or not, the US government is fighting overdraft fees by reforming some banking legislation that you've never heard of (OK, that I've never heard of). And Uncle Sam is soliciting your feedback on the matter, reports Alpha Consumer.

You might think that only people with lousy finances get their credit limit slashed, but even financially well-off people are finding that credit card companies are willing to take away their credit limits, as Wallet Pop notes.

Five Cent Nickel is asked if one should pay off debt or save for retirement first.

WSJ blog The Wallet reports that Bank of America is taking over the Upromise credit card (the credit card that supposedly helps parents help save money for their children's college tuition) from Citigroup, and may lift the cash back limits on the card.

Even if you have credit cards with zero balance that you aren't using, you don't want to close the accounts, and Money Under Thirty is here to tell you why.

Then again, Ask Mr. Credit Card says that your credit score will probably recover if you simply hate the thought of having old, unused accounts lying around.

The Simple Dollar explains why taking out a low-interest car loan may be a better idea that paying all of the money upfront in one huge chunk.

One of the few good things about AmEx (and other major credit card companies) is their chargeback (refund) policies, which tend to favor the consumer. Consumerist writes about a woman who submitting a chargeback for 10k that she spent to secure a spot at the Presidential inaguration in January, which she never got to see.

Rich Credit Debt Loan discusses how to establish credit, assuming that you are one of the few people left in the world without a line of credit (or a young adult, just starting out in a world of owing).

Breaking the credit card habit can be hard, but No Credit Needed was up to the challenge.

Dough Roller looks at Kevin Trudeau's Debt Cures and finds them lacking.

What do you do if your credit report shows a delinquent account that you never opened and you can't get the collections agency to talk to you? Readers respond at Free Money Finance.

And although this is not related to credit cards, it is a blog post simply too awesome to pass up: Trent at The Simple Dollar offers honest-to-goodness productivity tips that really work. For him, anyway. See if they work for you.

If you have a suggestion for the next edition, please share them in the forum!

Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Guest's picture

I have a blog about completing college frugally at Debt-free Scholar. Would you mind linking to some of my articles nest week?

Thanks,
Nate

Guest's picture

I hvae a site with a forum where we also discuss all things finance and suggest money saving tips.

financial directory.