Review your Credit Cards: 5 Day Credit Card Check-up

"Do you know what credit cards you have? Were they a good fit when you got them years ago but now permanently hide behind your insurance card in your wallet? Join our five-day credit card checkup to cast out the dead weight and find cards that are a better fit."

From The New York Times (January 13, 2020)
"How long has it been since you've actually thought about the credit cards in your wallet? Do you know how much you spend in annual fees? We want to help you."

"We’ll send you one email a day for five days to help you figure out which credit cards you need, which ones you don’t, how you can pay down debt, and more."

https://mailchi.mp/05c133531e59/creditcheckup?te=1&nl=your-money&emc=edit_my_20200113?campaign_id=12&instance_id=15152&segment_id=20291&user_id=bde4c6c63beab087f13b761e1ee9fe1e&regi_id=8372066420200113

Best Credit Cards for 2019

"Credit cards are a useful financial tool if used responsibly. With a credit card, you can charge items and services that you need and then pay them off at a later date. If chosen wisely, a credit card can even be used to earn rewards or to build credit."

Writing for Consumer Affairs, Beverly Harzog provides an excellent, easy to use guide to choosing a credit card and evaluating the ones you hold. Data current as of 3/29/19.

Looking for best "balance transfer" card? airline miles? cash back? hotel, business or travel cards?
Check out:
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/credit_cards/credit_cards.htm#

Another example of the value of government regulation: The Card Act of 2009

Beside the obvious everyday advantages of vehicle safety regulations like requiring seat belts and air bags in vehicles, many federal laws protect consumer privacy and financial transactions.

"May 22 is the 10th anniversary of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009. The game-changing CARD Act, which was passed by Congress during the Obama Administration and has since been enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has saved consumers billions of dollars in credit card fees and predatory “penalty rates,” despite industry predictions that it would kill the credit card market. Sadly, nearly half (47%) of consumers surveyed by CompareCards, a Lending Tree company, said they’d never heard of the CARD Act. Now’s your chance to learn more about what the CARD Act has done (and continues to do) to protect consumers like you." source: Consumer Action Insider.

Here's a reminder about how banks and credit card companies used to take advantage of consumers and how the world changed for the better 10 years ago.

What the Credit CARD Act of 2009 Means for You

You might not know it, but the Credit CARD Act of 2009 changed your life in a powerful way.

By Beverly Harzog , Credit Card Expert |Feb. 20, 2019,
https://creditcards.usnews.com/articles/what-the-credit-card-act-of-2009-means-for-you?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=c4ee986f-51de-4c8a-a008-0d1eaef48ad2

Paid credit card late fees recently?

"Credit card companies usually set small-dollar minimum payments, so there’s really no excuse for incurring fees for late card payments."
"Yet many consumers fail to pay on time. In a new study, British researchers found a no-brainer solution that is highly effective: setting up automatic payments of our credit cards."
"The researchers started out with a different premise: that customers might learn, over time, to prevent maddening late fees after having to pay them numerous times. The researchers roundly rejected this after following nearly 250,000 U.K. credit card holders over two years.  When it comes to late fees, we do not learn from our mistakes."
"What they noticed, however, was a clear distinction between card holders who incur late fees regularly and those who don’t or who stopped incurring the fees.   Setting up autopay 'all but eliminates the likelihood of future [late] fees,' while the probability remains “persistently high” (about one in five) among people who did not, they said."
It's a no-brainer. Set up autopay for your credit cards!
Thanks to the Squared Away Blog: http://squaredawayblog.bc.edu/squared-away/autopay-ends-credit-card-late-fees/

Cash Back Credit Cards

Reward Credit Cards: How Much Cash Can You Get? By Robin Sidel, The Wall Street Journal, December 9, 2016. 

Of course the downside is that they encourage consumers to overspend!