With Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, do I have to book my travel through the Capital One Rewards Center, or can I book it myself?

Q:  With Capital One® Venture^SM Rewards Credit Card, do I have to book my travel through the Capital One Rewards Center or can I go anywhere (i.e., Travelocity) to book my travel and still use my reward points for the purchase?

A:  The Capital One® Venture^SM Rewards Credit Card makes it pretty easy to redeem your miles. You can either directly use the miles you've already accrued by contacting the Rewards Center (toll-free) to book your travel. OR you can shop around and book the travel yourself using your Venture Rewards Card – online, in person or over the phone.

If you choose to book your own travel you can redeem the miles you earn online to get reimbursed for the cost of the travel purchase. This means if you book your own travel, you'll earn miles that you can then redeem for a statement credit, cash back, gift cards or merchandise. (Note: you have 90 days from the date your travel purchase posts to your statement to redeem your miles). It may seem a little complicated, but it helps to think of your miles as something you can either spend directly on travel (by using the Rewards Center) or convert into cash back (by booking the travel yourself, and then using the miles you earned to reimburse yourself with a statement credit).

We really like the Capital One® Venture^SM Rewards Credit Card because users earn a straightforward 2 miles per $1 spent on all purchases….and they can redeem those miles online without a hassle.  But if you'd like to shop around, check out all our Travel Credit Card Reviews.

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Will applying for a credit card hurt my credit score?

Q:  I am looking to apply for a secured or unsecured credit card to help me boost my credit scores. If I apply for an unsecured credit card, will it drop my credit score when my credit history is pulled? Will applying for a secured card be the better option or does that also drop my score? How can I apply and obtain a credit card to rebuild my credit score without having my credit history pulled and my score negatively affected?

A:   According to FICO, the gold standard of credit score providers, applying for one new line of credit (whether it's for a secured or unsecured credit card) won't hurt your credit score very much. In fact, "for most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO score". Where you need to start being careful is if you're applying for multiple lines of credit (aka, credit cards) over a short period of time. This can be perceived as risky credit behavior and drop your credit score more than just a single credit card application would.

Since it seems one of your primary goals is to rebuild your credit history, you should definitely be applying for a credit card that reports to all 3 credit bureaus. Some good examples are cards developed specifically for those with poor or limited credit, like the Orchard Bank Visa Card and the Capital One® Secured Mastercard®. However, these cards (like all credit card applications, whether they are for secured or unsecured cards) will pull your credit report to determine your creditworthiness.

If your bigger concern is the credit card application not having ANY impact on your credit score, you can try a prepaid debit card like the PrePaid Visa® RushCard.  When you apply for the Rushcard no credit check is run, but it probably won't help improve your credit because it does NOT feature 3-bureau reporting. Instead it reports your payment history to lesser-known (and used) LexisNexis® and PRBC®.

If you're worried about how your credit score fluctuates over time (especially when you apply for credit cards or lines of credit), consider signing up for PrivacyGuard. PrivacyGuard's top-rated credit monitoring service provides 3-bureau credit monitoring as well as monthly updates to your 3-bureau credit scores and reports. Right now PrivacyGuard is offering NextAdvisor readers a 30-day trial for $1. When you sign up for the trial you'll receive all 3 credit scores and reports, and they are yours to keep even if you cancel during the trial period.

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Best Credit Cards for Average Credit

Have you always considered yourself to be in the middle of the credit score spectrum? Maybe you don't have excellent credit, but you don't have bad credit either? We have the solution—credit cards developed specifically for those with average or limited credit. These cards offer many of the features seen in credit cards for those with "excellent" credit, like 0% purchase and balance transfer APRs, no annual fees and cash back rewards. The only difference is you don't need stellar credit.

We've rated the best credit cards for average credit out there, and our favorites are the Capital One® Cash Rewards and Capital One® Cash Rewards for Newcomers. Capital One Cash Rewards features a 15-month 0% intro APR on purchases, an effective 1.5% cashback  and no annual fee. Capital One Cash Rewards for Newcomers offers 2% cash back on travel and 1% off on everything else, no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. Or take a look at all our Average Credit Credit Card reviews and find one that is best for you.

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I have a Wells Fargo credit card with a $8,000 balance, if I transfer the balance to the Citi Diamond Preferred – $200 Statement Credit card what charges will apply?

Q:  I have a Wells Fargo credit card with a $8,000 balance, can I transfer the balance to the Citi® Diamond Preferred – $200 Statement Credit card? And what charges will apply? 

A:  You can definitely transfer other credit card balances onto the Citi® Diamond Preferred® – $200 Statement Credit card, but the total amount you can transfer depends on what your new credit line will be. Credit card issuers take a number of factors into consideration, including your credit reports and scores. They then determine what your credit line will be on the issued card, in this case the Citi Diamond Preferred card. If you are given an $8,000 or more line of credit, you'll be able to transfer the entire balance from your Wells Fargo credit card onto the Citi Diamond Preferred card. Since the balance transfer fee for this card is "$5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater", if you transfer the whole $8,000 at once the fee will be $240.

If you're looking for a balance transfer credit card without a balance transfer fee, take a look at the Discover® More card. It features a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months and users will earn cash back for their purchases. Specifically, you'll earn 5% cash back in purchases within select rotating categories and  .25% cash back on all other purchases until you have spent $3,000 annually.  After the $3,000 spent you'll earn 1% cash back. Plus you'll save money on balance transfers because there is NO balance transfer fee for transfers that post to your account by July 10, 2012, a feature we love.

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My wife and I each have different AmEx cards with $85 annual fees. Should we cancel those and get the TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express?

Q:  My wife (traditional Green) and I (traditional Gold) each have different American Express Cards. Each has a $85 annual fee.  Should I cancel those and get the the TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express?  I am a big Costco buyer, I also buy my gas there, and I spend maybe $5,000 per year at Costco. 

A:  I would say the TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express would be a better choice for you based on your spending patterns. Both the traditional Green and the Gold AmEx cards reward users with 1 point for every dollar spent, while the TrueEarnings Card features generous cash back rewards. Additionally, the TrueEarnings Card is a "2 in 1 card" and has no annual fee with your paid Costco membership – that's a savings of $170 up front ($85 x 2).

With the TrueEarnings Card you'll earn 3% cash back on gasoline purchases of up to $3,000 (1% thereafter), 3% cash back at restaurants, 2% cash back on travel purchases and 1% cash back on all other purchases including at Costco. Based on your stated spend of $5,000 a year at Costco, you could earn up to $110 cash back per year on just your Costco expeditures ($3,000 for gas and $2,000 for everything else), nothing to sneeze at. Plus you'll earn cash back on all the purchases you make outside of Costco, so your earnings could be substantial.

Regarding cancelling your 2 other credit cards, if you are concerned about your credit score you might want to consider keeping them. Cancelling any credit cards can negatively affect your credit score because it reduces the overall amount of credit available to you, which in turn hurts your credit utilization ratio. Additionally, most credit score algorithms take in account how long you've had credit lines and if you've had those cards awhile it may hurt your credit score to cancel them. If you're interested in what your credit scores are now, PrivacyGuard is offering a $1 30-day trial where you'll get all 3 credit scores and reports.  And your scores and reports will be updated monthly so you'll know what your latest score is. Plus you'll get 3-bureau credit monitoring and a bunch of other goodies.

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I opened a department store credit card this week. If I never use it, will it still hurt my credit score?

Q: I opened a department store credit card this week. If I never use it,will it still hurt my credit score?

A:  Opening a new credit card account may impact your credit score in the short run, whether you use it or not. That's because most credit scores take into account any new credit you've opened when calculating your score. Opening a new credit line is generally perceived as a having a slightly negative affect on your credit score.  However, by adding new credit to your existing lines of credit (other credit cards, etc) you are increasing the total amount of credit available to you which can be a good thing.  I'll explain below how this might actually help you in the long run.

Using the popular FICO score as a base line for how all credit scores are calculated, you can see from the diagram below that there are 5 different factors considered.  These are your payment history (are you making your payments on time), the amounts you owe, the length of your credit history, new credit and the different types of credit you use.

The 2 factors that come into play with your situation are "new credit" and the "amounts you owe".  Although applying for a new credit card may hurt your credit score a little bit in the short run, increasing the overall amount of credit available to you helps improve your credit utilization ratio which can help your score in the long run.

For example, if previously you had a total of $7,500 worth of credit available to you and you used $5,000 of this credit, your credit utilization ratio would be 67% ($5,000/$7,500).  But if the department store credit card added another $2,500 to the total amount of credit available to you and you still were only using $5,000 worth of credit a month your new ratio would be 50% ($5,000/$10,000).  Since you're now only using 50% of your available credit, this should help improve your credit score over time.  And since "amounts owed" constitute about 30% of your total credit score this is a good thing.

The take away here is that while getting that department store credit card might ding your score for a month or two, if you never use it your credit utilization ratio will improve, which will help your credit score over time – a good thing.  But if you do use it, it won't help your credit score because your ratio won't really improve much.

If you'd like to find out what your 3-bureau credit scores are now, consider signing up for Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® credit monitoring.  Right now they are offering a free 30-day trial, and you'll get all 3 of your credit scores for free when you sign up.  You can cancel any time during the trial period and you'll get to keep your credit scores free of charge.  Identity Guard also updates your credit scores every 3 months so you'll know how they change over time.

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Does the TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express include travel insurance and coverage?

Q:  Does the TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express include travel insurance and coverage?

A:  Yes, the TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express includes up to $100,000 in Travel Accident Insurance. This insurance is automatic and is included free of charge with the card. You just need to pay for your travel costs (airline ticket, train ticket, etc) with the TrueEarnings card in order to be covered. Other travel benefits include Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance for rental cars and the Global Assist Hotline which provides 24/7 assistance for medical, legal, financial, or other emergencies while traveling more than 100 miles from home.

We really like the TrueEarnings Card because in addition to it's travel benefits, users will earn 3% cash back on gasoline purchases of up to $3,000 (1% thereafter), 3% cash back at restaurants, 2% cash back on travel purchases and 1% cash back on all other purchases including at Costco. But if you're not sold, you can take a look at our other top-rated cash back card reviews and select a card that meets your needs.

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Which credit cards offer a 4 percent cash rebate on gas?

Q:  Which credit cards offer a 4% cash rebate on gas?

A:  The Chase Freedom® Visa – $200 Bonus Cash Back card offers 5% cash back in certain rotating categories.  From January 1, 2012 to March 31, 2012, users will earn 5% cash back on all gas station and Amazon.com purchases.  They will also earn 1% cash back on all other purchases and $200 cash back if they spend $500 in the first 3 months of receiving the card.

Or if you're interested in a cash back card that also has a 0% introductory APR, take a look at the Chase Freedom® Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back + 0% Intro APR card.  Just like the Chase Freedom® Visa – $200 Bonus Cash Back card, it features 5% cash back in rotating categories, and from January 1, 2012 to March 31, 2012, users will earn 5% cash back on all gas station and Amazon.com purchases.  Users will also earn a standard 1% unlimited cash back on all others purchases and $100 cash back after spending $500 in the first 3 months.  In addition to all these rewards, users will benefit from a 0% purchase APR for 6 months and a 0% balance transfer APR for  12 months.

If you want to read all our Cash Back Card reviews, check out our Cash Back Comparison page.  Or see all of our credit card categories and choose the best fit for your needs.

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What is a Purchase APR?

Q:  What is a Purchase APR?

A:  The Purchase APR is the interest rate users pay for purchases made on their credit card.  It differs from a Balance Transfer APR, which is the interest rate paid for funds transferred onto a credit card from another credit card.  APR stands for the "annual percentage rate", also known as the interest paid for a whole year.  It's the fee or finance charge users pay for carrying a balance of debt on their credit card.

Typically if the balance is paid in full each month the finance charge (APR) is waived and the user is not charged this fee.  That's why, if at all possible, it's always a good idea to pay off your entire balance (or as much as possible) each month.  If this isn't possible, it's smart to consider a Low APR Card.

Low APR cards offer a low or 0% APR for an introductory period.  This means that the user can carry a balance and not be charged for it during this period.  Some of our top-ranked APR cards include the Citi® Platinum Select® Visa, which has a 0% Purchase and Balance Transfer APR for a lengthy 21 months.  We also like the Citi® Diamond Preferred® – $200 Statement Credit card, which features a 0% Purchase and Balance Transfer APR for 18 months AND a $200 statement credit after you make $500 online purchases in your first 3 months.

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What is the Citi Diamond Preferred – $200 Statement Credit balance transfer fee? Does it offer reward miles for usage of the card?

Q:  What is the Citi® Diamond Preferred® – $200 Statement Credit card balance transfer fee?  Does it offer reward miles for usage of the card?

A:  The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card – $200 Statement Credit card has a balance transfer fee of  $5, or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater. As an example, if you were transferring $3,000 the fee would be $90 (3% of the transfer amount, since it's greater than the $5). We really like this card because it features a lengthy 21 month 0% introductory purchase and balance transfer APR, the longest 0% intro APR period of any card we've found. That means you can consolidate your balances from other cards and not pay any interest for 21 months, a pretty darn good deal. In addition, users will earn a $200 statement credit after they make $500 online purchases in the first 3 months.

The Citi Diamond Preferred Card does not offer reward miles.  If you're in the market for a card with both a 0% introductory on balance transfers and purchases AND reward miles, take a look at the Escape by Discover® Card. It features a 6 month  0% introductory APR on balance transfers and purchases. The balance transfer fee is 3% transfer fee for balance transfers requested with application, and 5 thereafter. Users also earn two miles per dollar spent on all purchases. In addition you can earn 1,000 bonus miles each month you make a purchase for the first 25 months – that adds up to 25,000 bonus miles!

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