The Discover Motiva credit card has an intriguing bonus for anyone who carries a balance.
Pay at least the minimum due on time for six months and Discover will return your last interest payment.

Once you accumulate $20, you can receive a gift card to use at one of Discover’s 100 brand-name retail partners, or you can [...]

There’s been a lot of discussion since we pointed out that the Chase Freedom credit card has one of the best reward programs.
So let’s see what you think about the new Chase Sapphire credit card. We think it provides an intriguing combination of cash rebates and interest rates.
It charges no annual fee and an annual [...]

We think cash is a better reward than points or miles, and the Chase Freedom credit card has one of the best rebate programs right now.
You get at least 1% cash back on everything you buy.
You get 3% cash back on rotating categories for everyday purchases such as gas, home improvements and department store merchandise. [...]

Here’s a way to earn 3% on some of your money between now and the end of November.
Sears has created what it calls the Christmas Club.
Sign up by Oct. 31 at any Sears or Kmart store, or online at sears.com. No money is required to open an account.

Now figure out how much you can smartly [...]

Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and other banks have announced plans to rein in the outrageous overdraft fees they’ve been charging debit card customers.
They’re not doing this out the goodness of their hearts. They’re trying to stop Congress from cracking down on their abusive practices.
But lawmakers shouldn’t be fooled by the modest voluntarily changes [...]

Credit cards spent the summer imposing draconian terms and higher interest rates before all of the consumer-friendly rules Congress passed last spring can take effect in February.
But we may be getting our first glimpse of what life under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act might really be like — and it’s kind of [...]

If you have excellent credit, this is the balance transfer deal for you.
The Capital One Platinum Prestige credit card offers 0% financing on balance transfers and purchases through September 2010.
That’s twice as long as the six months offered by the best deals from other credit cards, such as the Discover More card.
When the introductory rate [...]

The Discover More card is promoting one of the best balance transfer deals around.
It will charge no interest on balance transfers for six months and on purchases made until the last day of the billing period ending in March 2010.
(Yeah, we know some cards used to offer 0% for 12 months, but those deals [...]

Well, you can’t say they didn’t warn us.
The banks threatened to go on a rate-raising, fee-hiking, rule-writing rampage if Congress approved the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act of 2009.
It did, and the result has been an unending stream of letters from my credit cards making good on that threat.
But I still find it ironic [...]

If you’re heading back to campus this month, you need a credit card with the lowest possible interest rate and minimal fees.
With lots of expenses and not much income, you want to spend as little as possible to get the credit you need.
In a perfect world you’d pay off your balance every month and [...]

If you can qualify for a Citi Secured MasterCard, you can take advantage of a great CD.
How great?
How about 4.07% APY for an 18-month certificate of deposit at time only a few credit unions are paying that much on 60-month CDs.
Secured credit cards are often thought of as a way for dinged-up consumers who can’t [...]

Failing to pay your credit card bill on time can cost you more than a late fee.
You could also forfeit all of the reward points or miles you earned that month — and every month until you catch up.
Sometimes those points or miles are gone for good.
Most cards also forbid customers from redeeming any of [...]

Almost every credit card agreement requires consumers to settle disputes through binding arbitration.
But that may not be the case for much longer.
Earlier this year, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed suit against a major arbitration firm, the National Arbitration Forum, alleging that it had deceived credit card customers.
In July 2009, the NAF and another [...]

Credit card companies are lowering credit limits, and even closing the accounts, of some of their best customers.

It seems an idiotic way to treat cardholders who have always paid their bills on time.

But they weren’t chosen at random for this surprising treatment.

Credit card companies are using data profiling, which looks at everything from where customers [...]

If you have a Citi credit card, you can get $5 tickets to hundreds of summer and fall concerts.
Just go this special page at Live Nation, the big concert promoter, and enter the following code: “citi??,” where “??” are the first two digits of your Citi credit card number.
That takes you to a complete listing [...]

Some of the nation’s biggest credit card companies are switching customers from fixed to variable interest rates.
Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Discover acknowledge that they’re doing it.
But they won’t say how many customers they’re forcing to accept variable interest rates because it’s a potentially costly change for those cardholders.
About two out [...]

Delta Air Lines is battling as hard for credit card customers as it is for business travelers.
It’s determined to get anyone who holds a Northwest Airlines credit card through US Bank to switch to a Delta SkyMiles card from American Express by the time the merger of the two carriers is complete.
But US Bank won’t [...]

Fred took a different approach to paying off his credit cards. He deliberately missed a couple of payments, then called the credit card companies and asked them to slash his balances.
Bank of America, Discover and Citibank all said yes, offering settlements from 40 to 60 cents on the dollar. No arguing, no fighting, no [...]

When credit card companies were fighting a new federal law to curb some of their worst abuses, they threatened to raise other fees and interest rates if it passed.
Well it passed, and now we’re watching to see if the credit card companies will start squeezing money from their customers in other ways.
Or, as Capital One [...]

We know the big bank cards are cutting credit lines and raising rates.
But store cards — the kind you can only use at one retailer — are not a good place to go for more credit.
Don’t be tempted by cashiers that ask “Would you like to save 10% on your purchase today?” every time you [...]

A new deal between the nation’s best credit counselors and the biggest credit card companies could help more borrowers repay their debts.
The credit card companies have agreed to accept smaller payments, over a longer period of time, when members of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling negotiate repayment plans on behalf of struggling cardholders.
When borrowers [...]

It will impose higher interest rates on a “small percent” of its cardholders and move some from fixed to variable rates.
Discover wouldn’t tell us how many customers are affected, or how much interest rates are going up.
But the Chicago Tribune says a couple of Discover customers had their rates raised from 16.99% to 19.99% and [...]

Once upon a time, credit cards were the best way to guarantee the best exchange rate and avoid fees when making purchases internationally.
But unlike most fairy tales, this one does not have a happy ending.
Most banks that issue Visa and Mastercards now assess a “foreign transaction fee” — 3% is pretty typical — on [...]

The American News Project has produced this report on how banks are employing a roomful of lobbyists to stop Congress from banning the credit card industries worst abuses.
And when I say a roomful of lobbyists I’m not exaggertaing. ANP has tape of them crowding into a congressional hearing. When an opponent is asked how [...]

Again. This time the letters have gone out to cardholders who carry a balance on accounts with an interest rate below 10%.
They’ll see their interest rate increased “to the low- to mid-teens” in their June statements, according to spokeswoman Betty Riess.
Bank of America says it has to do this because the cost of providing credit [...]

Under pressure from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and a class action law suit, J.P. Morgan Chase will drop a $10 a month fee it imposed on 184,000 credit card customers earlier this year.
It will also refund the $4.4 million in fees it’s already charged customers since January.
This was one of [...]

If you’ve ever shopped at Target (and we know you have), you’ve been urged to open a Target credit card as you made your way through the checkout line.
Target branded credit cards, or REDcards, as they’re called, come in two types: a Target store card, or a Target Visa.
The sales pitch cashiers were required to [...]

Lots of folks are shocked when credit cards hit them with big fees, default rates and lower credit limits.
All of the bad stuff a credit card can do you is in the contract you’re given — and accept — when you sign up for the card.
But a report in the NYU Journal of Law [...]

We all know that credit cards are slashing credit limits and closing accounts, even for customers who’ve never missed a payment.
But you may be surprised to hear just how much credit the banks that issue Visa and MasterCards, and credit card companies such as American Express and Discover intend to take away from us.
More than [...]

Judging by what we’ve heard from unhappy Chase credit card holders, the bank has been busy sending out “change in terms” letters the past few weeks.
We already told you about the $10 monthly fee and higher minimum payment imposed on 400,000 accounts.
Now we’re told that interest rates were boosted on “Prime Plus” cards, [...]