credit cards

Credit card companies have got you covered in ways you may not know about. Taking advantage of all these hidden perks may save you hundreds of dollars a year. People often forget about these perks because they may not take the time to read more about them. Do your research and make sure you know the details of what the particular credit card you own will get you, because they may have different perks or different restrictions. Here are some benefits that may slip your mind:

• Car rental insurance: One of the most common benefits that people often forget about is that most credit card companies will cover part of your car rental insurance if you book a car with their card. Decline the "collision damage waiver" insurance, and your credit card firm will cover any damage or theft of the car that occurs during your rental.
• Purchase protection: If an expensive item is damaged or stolen in a certain period of time, you may be able to get some or all of your money back. This applies to items you've charged to the credit card and can even include stolen cell phones.
• Shopping discounts: Check out your credit card's website, and you'll see a variety of retailers you can get discounts at. They may include anything from car rentals to restaurant discounts.
• Trip cancellation: Some credit cards provide trip canceling insurance, which can reimburse you for the cost of your flight if you cancel due to sickness or injury.
• Lost luggage coverage: If your luggage has been lost, stolen, or damaged, your credit card company might cover a portion of it.

Read on for more.

Celebrity-sponsored prepaid debit cards are the new craze, but they tend to have a bad rep. Business Insider reviews the Justin Bieber card to find out if it's a dud.

Prepaid debit cards are the new celebrity fragrance.

In the past two years, we've seen stars like the Kardashian sisters, Suze Orman, Russell Simmons, and George Lopez all plaster their faces on plastic.

Related: These Are the Best and Worst Prepaid Cards Out There

For the most part, even their famous mugs weren't enough to win over personal finance critics, who have widely panned prepaid debit cards for their bevy of hidden usage fees.

Teen pop sensation Justin Bieber most recently tapped into the industry. He's earning $3.75 million to market the new SpendSmart Card, which targets tweens.

When we first reviewed the card in January, we were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't as bad as we feared. In fact, for parents willing to take a gamble on prepaid debit cards to teach their kids how to manage money, it may have a lot to offer.

Here's the main reason why:

Yes, there are fees. But they actually pay for something.

Like all prepaid debit cards, Bieber's SpendSmart card comes with its fair share of fees — including a $3.95 monthly usage fee, a $1.50 ATM fee, and a $7.95 replacement fee, to name a few.

But unlike other cards, which are basically charging you for the privilege of letting them store your cash, parents are actually getting something in return here.

The card not only lets parents get text alerts every time their kid swipes the card, but they can also set up recurring deposits to the account, track their spending from their smartphone, lock and unlock the card whenever they want, and block the card from working at certain retailers (say, a liquor store or bar).

This card could certainly be a useful tool for parents looking to teach their kids to manage money, especially if they don't quite trust them to handle their own bank account yet.

That being said, it's always wise to exhaust all your other options first. Try a web tool like Tykoon, perhaps. For free, it lets you track your child's allowance and makes sure kids save and donate a portion of their earnings each month.

There are also cheaper prepaid debit cards on the market. Cardhub.com and Nerdwallet.com are great resources if you're looking to compare the benefits between different cards.

And, of course, there's always the safest route of all — opening an actual checking or savings account on your kid's behalf and coaching them on your own.

Check out these smart stories from Business Insider:

13 Money Lies You Should Stop Telling Yourself by Age 30

10 Ways Investors Can Wreck Their Portfolios

Finally, There's a Prepaid Card For Recovering Addicts

10 of the Ugliest Celebrity Bankruptcies in History

If groceries are a common expense for you, why not take advantage of it by choosing the credit card that will give you optimal rewards for supermarket spending. After all, if travel is not your thing, it wouldn't make any sense for you to sign up for a credit card that's best for flights and hotels. Here are the cards that'll get you the best rewards if grocery shopping is one of your biggest expenditures:

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

• Rewards: Get six percent cash back when spending in US stand-alone supermarkets. The first $6,000 spent in supermarkets will qualify for the six percent cash back. After that, you will receive one percent cash back. Get three percent cash back on gas at at stand-alone gas stations and select department stores. Get one percent cash back on all other purchases.
• Sign-up bonus: Earn $150 reward dollars for spending $1,000 within three months.
• Annual fee: $75.
• APR:The APR rate is zero for the first year, then 12.99 percent to 21.99 percent.
• Pros: The points are easy to redeem and you can start earning cash back as soon as you get the card. You also get the typical benefits as an American Express card holder which includes roadside assistance, car rental damage and loss insurance, extended warranty for up to one year, and more. Further, you get access to the Blue Savings program, that offers members discounts on things like Hertz rentals (up to 25 percent off) and more.
• Cons: Fees are pretty high and don't get waived in the first year. You need a high credit score to get approved. There is a 2.7 percent foreign transaction fee and American Express isn't accepted everywhere.

Read on for more.

With a little help from Business Insider, be aware of how credit lenders can judge credit customers.

I was thrilled to pay off one of two credit cards last Fall, and as of last week, I hadn't touched the thing.

Then I got a letter from my bank, announcing a pretty incredible limited-time bonus — 5 percent back on travel-related purchases made by March 30.

The bonus just so happened to be for the card I hadn't used in months. And it was no coincidence either.

We all know that red flags like late payments, too many lines of open credit, and a mountain of student loan debt can knock dozens of points off credit scores.

But what about the little-known ways banks and lenders are judging us –– even those of us who are "low-risk" clients?

With help from Adrian Nazari, CEO of Credit Sesame, here are five ways every credit customer is judged, whether they like it or not.

Related: Money Habits to Drop by Age 30

Behavior Score. When lenders size up potential borrowers, they aren't just looking at how much they spend, but where they spend as well. If you've gotten a letter in the mail congratulating you on a freshly inflated credit limit (or a new cashback bonus like I did), chances are your lender has noticed you've been diligently paying off your card and selectively shopping where you can afford to.

"For example, if you normally shop at high-end stores and regularly pay off your card, and then suddenly start shopping at discount stores and carrying a balance, the lender could use this behavior data as an indicator that you have become higher risk and could take steps to minimize its exposure," says Nazari. "Alternatively, if your behavior data indicates you are a good risk but you aren't generating a profit, an issuer might determine how to incentivize spending."

• How to improve it: Since Behavior Scores are based on triggers like long-term credit card activity, late payments, limit breaches, and fees, if you can figure out how to improve these, you'll be able to beef up your score.

Read on for more.

Watch out, consumers. Wise Bread shares how you may have to pay a fee when you swipe your credit card at checkout.

Would you pay a fee to use your credit card? I don't even need a nanosecond to answer this. My response is this: No freakin' way.

Here's why I'm asking the question. Last Summer, there was an antitrust settlement between merchants and Visa, MasterCard, and big banks about credit card interchange fees. These are the "swipe" fees merchants pay to the networks (like Visa) to process your payments when you buy something.

The settlement called for merchants to receive $7.2 billion in cash and temporary reductions in interchange fees. This settlement also gave merchants the legal right to add a "checkout fee" when you use a credit card to pay for purchases. These fees could start popping up as soon as Jan. 27, which is right around the corner.

Related: 12 Annoying Bank Fees and How to Avoid Them

How to Know If a Checkout Fee Will Be Charged

Merchants can't sneak in the fee without telling you upfront. They have to disclose that you'll pay more for using a credit card. So if you're in a store, look for notification at the entrance or at the register. When buying an item online, look for the checkout fee to be disclosed on the homepage of the business.

Retailers are allowed to charge a fee that's the equivalent of what they pay for the interchange fee, which is between 1.5 percent and 4 percent. I was kind of surprised to find out that merchants can add a surcharge of up to 4 percent. You know, that's a lot.

Read on for more.

The hunt for the perfect cash back credit card can be overwhelming. There are so many choices out there that it's hard to pick the right one that fits your lifestyle. Consumer Reports has made the search easier by doing the research for us. It recently analyzed 53 credit cards to find the best ones to suit people's needs. For those looking for a cash back credit card, these are the top picks based on a family spending $400 a month on gas, $600 on groceries, and $1,000 elsewhere:

American Express Blue Cash Preferred

• APR rate: The APR rate is zero percent for 12 months, then 17.24 percent, 20.24 percent, or 22.24 percent after that.
• Sign-up bonus: $150 bonus after spending $1,000 in first three months.
• Rewards potential: Consumer Reports estimates you can earn up to $770 in 12 months, $1,390 in 24 months, and $2,010 in 36 months
• Cash back highlights: Six percent back at US supermarkets, three percent back on gas and at department stores, 1 percent back other purchases.
• Fees: $75 annual fee.
• To note: There is a no annual fee version called the American Express Blue Cash Everyday, but it pays out lower rewards.

Fidelity Rewards American Express

• APR rate: The APR rate is 14 percent
• Sign-up bonus: None.
• Rewards potential: Consumer Reports estimates you can earn up to $480 in 12 months, $960 in 24 months, and $1,440 in 36 months
• Cash back highlights: Two percent back on all purchases.
• Fees: No annual fee.
• To note: You have to have a Fidelity IRA, brokerage account, or 529 savings plan to qualify.

Read on for another great cash back credit card option.

Credit cards can be your best financial friend and your worst enemy. No matter how organized you are, staying within your limit, finding a card with a fair interest rate, and making payments is a monthly challenge. I get questions every day from readers about how to manage and navigate offers and keep your credit score sky-high. Here's a selection of my advice.

When Should I Cancel My Credit Card?	Can an Authorized Signer Affect My Credit Rating?	How Long Will Bad Debt Stay on My Credit Report?
Should I Keep a High Limit Credit Card I Don't Want?	What to Say When Asking For a Lower Interest Rate	Savings Tricks to Pay Off Debt
What Happens If My Husband Has Bad Credit, or No Credit at All?	How Do I Know If a Collections Agency Is Real?	Should I Cancel Idle Credit Cards?
Why Was My Credit Card Application Denied? Part I	Why Was My Credit Card Application Denied? Part II	Do I Really Need to Know My Credit Score?

Got a question? Share it with me in the Ask Savvy group.

If you've caught the travel bug, perhaps signing up for a credit card that will give you great travel rewards would be worth considering. Before doing so, keep in mind that you should only charge what you can realistically pay off soon.

That said, if you know you can pay off what you owe, travel reward credit cards will be a neat way of earning free flights and hotel stays. Here are some good options:

American Express® Starwood Preferred Guest Card

• Sign-up bonus: Earn 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase and an additional 20,000 if you spend up to $5,000 in six months.
• Earning points: Get one Starpoint for every dollar spent on most purchases and five Starpoints on every dollar spent on SPG hotels.
• Transferring points: Transfer Starpoints to over 30 airlines. The conversion rate for most airlines is one to one, so you'll be getting one mile for one Starpoint. You get a 5,000 Starpoint bonus when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to a frequent flier program.
• Annual fee: No annual fee for the first year, then a $65 annual fee for the subsequent years.
• APR:The APR rate is 15.24 percent, 17.24 percent, or 19.24 percent.
• Bonus: Stay four nights and get your fifth night free at participating resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia. You can also earn up to $100 in resort credit.
• Cons: There is a foreign transaction fee of 2.7 percent if you use it outside of the US. American Express isn't accepted everywhere. There is also a pretty high annual fee and APR rate.

Read on for more.

Wedding season is here again, and brides and grooms everywhere are busy calculating the expenses of their big day. When you're paying for your wedding expenses, you might decide to use a credit card to enjoy some of the rewards. Before doing so, keep in mind that you should only charge what you can pay off immediately. It's not worth going into debt for just one day, no matter how special it is.

That said, if you know you can pay off what you owe (preferably within a month!), charging the expenses on credit cards will be a neat way of earning back cash and other rewards. Here are some good options:

Best Overall Cash-Back Card

Pick the Chase Freedom card for more change in your pocket.

• You get $200 bonus cash back if you spend $500 in the first three months of signing up for the card.
• No annual fee.
• Five percent cash back up to $1,500 in certain categories that rotate each quarter. Here's the calendar for 2012:

  January to March: Gas Stations, Amazon.com
  April to June: Grocery Stores, Movie Theaters
  July to September: Gas Stations, Restaurants
  October to December: Hotels, Airlines, Best Buy, Kohl's

  When planning your wedding, aim to charge your down payment to the restaurant from July to September. And perhaps if you want to buy wedding favors or knickknacks from Amazon.com, January to March would be a good time to do so. If you're planning on using the same card for your honeymoon, you should opt to buy tickets and add hotel charges onto this card during the last quarter of the year.

• One percent cash back on everything else.
• The APR rate is zero percent for the first 15 months, then 15.99 percent to 22.99 percent.

Read on for more.

If you owe credit-card debt, educate yourself with these pointers from Kiplinger about how the whole collections process works and what your rights are.

Year after year, debt collection complaints rank among the most-common consumer grievances the Federal Trade Commission receives. In fact, reports of deceptive debt-collection tactics were the second-most common complaint (after identity theft) that the FTC received in 2011.

"Debt collection is complicated, and some collectors may push the boundaries of the regulations and law to get money out of you," says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. In fact, JP Morgan Chase is being investigated by the government for improper credit-card collections, he says. If you're having trouble paying off your credit-card debt, you need to understand the collection process and know what your rights are.

You have at least 21 days after your credit-card statement date to make a minimum payment. If your payment is late, your card company will report it to the credit bureaus — but you may get up to 60 days if it's your first late payment and you're a good customer, Hardekopf says. That information will remain on your report seven years after the date you first missed the payment.

If your account is 60 days past due, the late payment is noted on your credit report and your credit-card company will turn over your account to its collections department.

If your account is 90 days past due, your card issuer will repeatedly call or send letters and will likely shut down your account.

Beyond the 90-day point, your card issuer will turn over your account to a collections agency or third-party debt collector, which will contact you through phone calls, e-mails and letters, Hardekopf says. The collector can sue you and send you a summons to appear in court. If you don't show up, the collector will automatically win the case and can seize your assets or garnish your wages to pay off the debt.

Read on to find out what you should do if the collectors are bugging you.