Mark Frauenfelder is the co-founder of my favorite sites, Boing Boing (which is a “directory of wonderful things”). Mark’s also a GRS reader. He dropped me a line the other day to tell me about a new project he’s been following.
Today, Credit.com is launching a free new online financial tool called Credit Report Card. This tool is designed to provide users with a quick snapshot of their credit reports. According to the site’s FAQ, “it breaks down your credit report into five simple-to-understand categories and gives you a letter grade for each one.”
In his e-mail, Mark offered a personal example of how the service works:

Here’s a screenshot of what a Credit Report Card looks like. It’s my own credit report card. (I’m only showing part of the report card, as I don’t want to share my personal data.) As you can see, I have excellent credit :), but I’ve made too many “Inquiries” in the [...]

This post is from GRS Staff Writer Adam Baker. In addition to writing for Get Rich Slowly, Baker blogs over at Man vs. Debt, where he often discusses traveling and the cost of living abroad.
A couple weeks ago, the New York Times featured an article entitled “Overspending on Debit Cards is a Boon for Banks“. While I usually favor personal finance blogs over the larger online media networks (call me partial), this piece was particularly compelling to me. It does an excellent job of shedding light on a topic that is positioned to be the next major debate in our government’s quest for banking reform.
27 billion reasons the banks want you to overdraft
As many other sectors of the banking industry continue to under-perform, debit cards have stepped up to become an essential profit center for banks. Fees associated with overdrafting checking accounts are expected to exceed $27 billion this year. In comparison, the article predicts only [...]

I don’t often post follow-ups to previous articles, especially after just a few days. But following Tuesday’s post on two-cycle billing, a couple of things happened that deserve mention.
Understanding Grace Periods
Several readers suggested that what I experienced was not two-cycle billing but the lack of a grace period. Special thanks especially to Kitty, who linked to the American Express document on understanding grace periods. Kitty writes:
If you didn’t pay your previous month’s bill in full, grace period no longer applies, and you are charged interest ON ALL NEW PURCHASES until you pay another bill in full. After you do it, your grace period starts to apply again, but you still have interest that accrued on all new purchases you made in the meantime.
So, when I accidentally paid my credit card bill $100 short, the grace period for the next billing cycle went away. In order for me to regain my grace period, I’d need to [...]

Important note: Despite what the credit card company told me, and despite my own mis-information, this story below apparently does NOT relate to two-cycle billing. Instead, my frustration stems from the way some credit card companies handle their grace periods. Thanks for all of the commenters who pointed out the error. Here’s a follow-up to this situation.
For almost a decade, I refused to use a personal credit card. I knew that I couldn’t control myself, so rather than risk falling further into debt, the only plastic I carried was a debit card.
But as I gained control of my finances, I decided that carrying a credit card could be both convenient and profitable. I signed up a for a Capital One No-Hassle Cash Rewards card that gave me 1% cash back on all of my purchases. And I developed an iron-clad set of rules to make sure I never lost control of my spending again:

I pay [...]

This is a guest post from April Dykman, an avid GRS reader, and a writer and editor by trade. April is a potential Staff Writer for Get Rich Slowly. In her first article, April described how she discovered freedom from mindless spending. April is an active commenter at this site.
When my husband and I went to Italy in 2006, we spent $2500 on plane tickets. We’re planning to spend much less for our next hop across the pond because as of this month we have over 80,000 airline miles — just enough for two tickets to Europe.
I used to think frequent flier miles were only awarded to, you know, frequent fliers. Or people who use an American Express for big company expenses. I certainly didn’t think little ol’ me who gets on a plane maybe once a year would be able to rack up enough miles to matter.
Then I stumbled upon Free Frequent Flyer Miles, [...]

During yesterday’s episode of The Personal Finance Hour, Jim and I spoke with Liz Pulliam Weston, financial columnist and credit score expert. Weston provided background on how the credit scoring system works, and offered tips for how to maintain (and improve) your credit score.
During the show, Weston mentioned a past MSN Money article in which she wrote about 8 secret scores that lenders keep. These lesser known (and confidential) scores are also a part of your credit profile:
You’ve heard by now of credit scores, the three-digit numbers lenders use to gauge your creditworthiness. Credit scores predict how likely you are to default on a credit account or loan; they’re used to help set interest rates and terms. What you may not know is that credit scores are just the start of the way financial institutions evaluate you, and they’re not even the most commonly used scores — far from it.
Weston enumerates eight other scores [...]