The Sun's Financial Diary

The ideal may be to pay off credit card balances each month, but numbers don’t lie. A large number of Americans carry a credit card balance each month, and a large number of those who do often feel managed by their debt instead of the other way around. Even if household economics don’t allow for [...]

When I got a free Experian PLUS score from American Express this time last year, I thought it was a one-time thing, like other free one-time offers I got from other places. Now, it looks like I am wrong on that. Yesterday, I received an email from AMEX, which informed me that I can get [...]

Last year, President Obama finally pushed legislation through Congress that is aimed at protecting American consumers from the unscrupulous practices of credit card companies.  This week, the new credit card law finally takes effect. On Monday, February 22nd, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (the CARD Act, for short) begins guarding credit card [...]

Are you a Citibank credit cardholder? If you are, then now you can access your Citi credit cards from your mobile device, such as BlackBerry, iPod Touch, or iPhone. Citibank recently launched its mobile banking application, Citi Mobile, for iPhone which provides its customers with anywhere, anytime access to their credit card account information. Actually, [...]

Among many money related changes happening in 2010, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 is one of those that will have a big impact on our everyday life financially. Though the law itself won’t be in effect in July this year, some provisions will knick in as early as next [...]

Are you using Chase Freedom Card? If you are, then you can earn 3% cash back for a limited time, but you have to enroll in the promotional program first. From January to March 2010, Chase Freedom Card will offer cardholders 3% cash back when charging the card on Dining, Education, Childcare and Utilities, in [...]

Early last week American Express introduced a new card called ZYNC, a card that aims at young consumers in their 20′s and 30′s who are looking for credit cards that offer flexible rewards program yet don’t cost a lot to own. Since it’s a charge card, not a credit card, the cardholder is required to [...]

The holiday is right around the corner and it’s time to prepare some holiday gifts for the kids’ school teachers. In the past, we always teamed with other parents to give the teacher one gift card with contributions from everybody in the group. This year, things are little different because we are relatively new and [...]