I’ve talked about risks associated with traveling in earlier posts in this series. Credit cards are amazing for protection against unfortunate events along your travels, and apparently they are helpful even if you cannot make your trip or cannot complete your trip for unforeseen reasons.
For those of us that travel and drive often, rental car insurance is a pretty big concern. You hit the road with a car that you have never driven before, and drive hundreds of miles a day to see the Grand Canyon, the Yosemite, the Hoover Dam,….
Accidents are a real risk, and can ruin your trip, especially when you are thousands of miles away from home in unfamiliar territory. Rental car agencies understand the fear, and sell product that insures you against rental car accidents. Added together, these insurance products can be more costly than the cost of renting the car itself.
One of the most popular insurance products for rental cars is collision damage waiver, a policy that releases you from the liability for any damage taken on the car during the rental period. This service usually costs around $15 plus tax a day. It’s really not a bad idea to pay $15 a day for the peace of mind. But if you travel a lot, it adds up quickly.
Continue reading 10 reasons to use a credit card – Part 7: Rental car insurance
Have you ever bought something from a website or a store and realized a month later that the exact same thing was being sold elsewhere for much cheaper? That TV you had bought from Best Buy the week before for $600 was selling for $500 on Newegg? In my college days, I hated it every time it happened.
And then I got a credit card, and I’ve never had to feel that way again.
Continue reading 10 reasons to use a credit card – Part 6: price protection
Last week, I featured Bank of America’s BankAmericard Cash Rewards credit card, compiling most relevant information that is more or less public, meaning that you can obtain the information without actually having the card. As an actual cardholder, I have the advantage of knowing exactly what’s inside Bank of America’s online banking system, what other benefits a BofA card offers, as well as the details of the card’s features.
Continue reading Bank of America’s credit cards: an insider’s view
The first time I spent an extended stay in New York, I was amazed by a lot of things. In the mind of a recent college graduate with a bachelors’ degree in economics, New York was a finance kingdom, a prosperous land for financial institutions. This impression was enhanced by the presence of millions of banks and offices in tiny, packed Manhattan. It didn’t take long for me to realize though, that there is one bank that seems to have offices and ATM’s on every street corner? When I hang out with friends in New York and come out of a bar non-sober and see everything as patches of color like an impressionist painting, the most prominent color I observe is blue. It is the same kind of blue on emergency posts that I was used to at Colgate. It is the blue of Chase.
In my last post: Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 1, I talked about the option of being added as an authorized user to someone else’s credit card. Unfortunately for international students like me, this option rarely exists. The next best option is to try to obtain a credit card through your bank. Continue reading Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 2
In my first blog post: Personal Finance 101, I explained the benefits that typical credit cards offer. When it comes to choosing a particular credit card to apply for, it’s hard to make a decision sometimes because of the ocean of options available. I’ve put off writing about credit card offers in favor of helping you – my dear readers – build a knowledge base of credit profile and credit cards. However, today is special.
Dear readers, today is the best day to apply for the Discover More, the signature credit card by Discover, one of the largest card issuers in America. Among my credit card portfolio, the Discover More is my favorite, and I’ve had it for just 2 months! If you’re reading this and already have a decent credit history that is longer than 6 months even if you do not have a credit history at all, you should apply for the card. And here’s why: Continue reading Discover More
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