Personal Finance Beyond Credit Cards and Balance Transfers

By Aaron Crowe

I went to Sears recently to buy a pair of shoes for my daughter, not knowing that paying for them would turn into a math lesson for the entire family.

I paid for the $20 shoes (on sale from the original price of $30) with a credit card, and was told by the cashier that the price would drop to $6 if I opened a Sears credit card on the spot. I'm usually happy to get 70 percent off, but I declined for a few reasons -- the main one being that I wanted to get out of the store quickly after finding the shoes...

By Justin Boyle

A lot of people I know are taking steps to get their personal finances under control for the new year. They're trying just about everything, from swearing off credit card spending to keeping tight budgets of entertainment and retail expenses.

No one's given up yet, as far as I've been told, but we are only a little ways into 2012. A recent survey by New York Life indicates that a majority of Americans are setting similar goals for themselves, and that a startlingly small percentage of us seem to know what it takes to succeed...

By Megg Mueller

By now, the W-2s are in the mail and filing your 2011 taxes is imminent; some of us will get it over with as quickly as possible, while others will prefer to wait until the middle of April. Whichever way you file, one thing is true for pretty much everyone; we'd like to send Uncle Sam as little of our money as possible and if we're due a refund, we want it fast.

Since this blog isn't about accounting methods, I'll address the second desire, the fast refund. H&R Block, the venerable tax return people, are offering a fast refund for clients willing to sign up for its Emerald PrePaid MasterCard when you have your tax return prepared at an H&R Block office...

By Aaron Crowe

Somewhere deep in every home office, thrown in haphazardly or filed semi-neatly in a file drawer, are years' worth of tax returns and records that support them.

Sooner or later the files get so big that the drawer or cabinet is busting open, creating a paper mess that could be explored on A&E's "Hoarders" TV show. My one file drawer of old tax files probably isn't enough to get my office profiled on the show, but I don't want to take any chances. I'm cleaning it up...

By Justin Boyle

Chase is helping your travel dollar get even more mileage with its latest rewards partnership. The company's Ultimate Rewards plan, considered by many to be among the best credit card reward programs available today, has added the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards frequent flier program as its newest points transfer partner...

By Megg Mueller

If you're going to rob Peter to pay Paul, why would you want to pay a fee? The whole idea is to save some money, stave off debt … why incur more charges? Balance transfer fees are pretty standard across credit cards; move your balance to a new card and you're usually going to pay 3 percent to 5 percent of your transfer amount. While that often still makes better sense, as long as you're dropping your interest rate on that money dramatically, it's still a drag to get dinged for giving your business to another credit card.

A number of cards offer zero percent interest on balance transfers for a specific time frame (12 months for instance) but right now Discover More Card has a zero percent balance transfer promotion that is offering that plus no balance transfer fee...