How many times have you walked out into the parking lot of a supermarket and spotted a penny on the ground? Plenty of times no doubt. You might bend over to pick one up if you see Lincoln staring at you, but for the most part you just keep walking by.

Believe it or not, I know people that have revolving credit-card debt in amounts of $6,000 or more with rates over 20% and they’re not interested in getting a better rate. That’s just crazy! The first defense against being gouged for high rates and fees is finding new creditors.

Ads abound almost everywhere (online and off) selling books, systems and secrets to help you fix your credit in a hurry. Many of these programs have claims, which read like the covers of supermarket tabloids, “In 3 hours my credit score jumped from 580 to 676!”…”Erase bad credit and smash your debts with just 2 Magic Letters!”…”Create a completely new credit file in 24 hours!” Are these types of claims ALWAYS too good to be true? The answer is “Yes and…no.”

Debit cards have become a very popular way to pay for everything from fast food to rental cars. The Federal Reserve reports that debit card transactions have been growing more than 20 percent annually and have surpassed credit card transactions. The appeal is understandable. Debit cards are quick and easy to use. But using a debit card can cost you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. We’ll show you why you should never carry a debit card.

Joan owes Visa $2,500. The credit card company has an interest rate of 19.6% APR. The company requires a minimum payment of 2% of the unpaid balance, rounded to the nearest dollar. Joan makes no additional purchases with this credit card and makes only one minimum payment monthly. How long will it take her to pay off $500 on the $2,500 balance? (16 months, 36 months, 56 months, or 76 months)

I have been told that certain credit cards (e.g. Capital One, Cross Country, and others like those) do not carry a lot of weight on your credit report. I was always under the impression that all credit cards carried the same weight. What is the truth?

I would like to use a credit card introductory rate to pay off a bank loan. I will need to borrow $13,000.00 credit to pay off the loan. I have heard that if my credit report shows too many credit card company requests within one year that I will be turned down for new credit cards

I am a recent college graduate and I have accumulated about $4,000.00 worth of debt spread out in 4 different credit card accounts. I would like to transfer all of the balances to an account with a lower APR to save money and to make monthly payments more convenient. The problem is that I have not been able to be approved for a credit card with a limit of over $1500.00. Is there anything that you can recommend?

I am a 53-year-old female with a husband that abuses credit cards. I have sold 2 houses and taken out an equity loan to pay off credit cards. Tell me how to talk to a man and tell him how stupid he is. I have the only retirement account. He has some cattle. I just heard you on the radio today about using credit cards to pay off the debt. Maybe I could convince him of that…

When was the last time you took a look at your credit card APR (Annual Percentage Rate)? What do you do if you discover that you are paying too much for your loans? Well, quite simply, make the bank lower your rate. Sound impossible? More than half of the time I’ve been able to make my banks lower their interest rates. The trick is to have the right deal-breaker.