Credit Card Blog

Using your credit cards sometimes offers good deals, even if you aren’t counting on the credit card rewards program.  Here are two promotions your travels might let you take advantage of:

Receive $25 off a round trip flight through Southwest when you purchase a Southwest gift card with a value of at least $100.  Purchase the giftcard online with your Visa card before June 30th to qualify (only United States issued Visa cards will qualify).  The $25 discount must be applied on Southwest tickets purchased between July 1 and Aug 30th, and you must purchase your tickets with at least seven days advanced notice of the date of travel.
Go to www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/giftcardvisa.html for more info. 

Get a $25 Visa gift card when you pay for your Marriott Hotel and Resort reservation with your Visa credit card.  Staying on a Friday or Saturday is required, and you must give code “V12″ when booking your hotel stay.  There are some restrictions.  Visit www.marriott.com for more info.

I heard about these deals through Tom Parsons of The Dallas Morning News.

If you drive a large vehicle, you may have noticed yet another consequence of high gas prices: you can’t even fill up your tank when you pay at the pump with your credit card, because you’re not permitted to charge more than $75 in gas purchases.

Wait, what? Yes, it’s true. Many gas stations have instituted a $75 transaction limit for customers who pay at the pump with their credit cards. To pump more than $75 worth of gas, customers have to do a separate transaction or have their card swiped inside the store by a cashier.

Needless to say, many customers are angry about the transaction limits. But who’s really to blame? Card issuers insist that the merchants are the ones who choose to put such limits in place. Merchants point out that card issuers won’t reimburse them for more than $75 if a customer disputes a charge or uses a stolen card to pay for their gas purchase.

Regardless of where the guilt lies, it’s safe to blame the $4/gallon gas prices that have brought about situations like this one.

It’s a common practice for gas stations to put up to a $50 hold on your credit card or debit card when you pay at the pump for your gasoline.  It’s also extremely common for a hotel to put a “hold” on funds for staying in their hotel.  They take your credit card or debit card during check in, so that they have it on file to cover any “incidentals”, like internet use, phone calls, movie rentals, or in-room bar use.  What you may not realize is they can put a hold on $50 to $200 a night or more.

People using credit cards are less likely to be effected by the hold - but if you are nearing your credit card limit and you attempt to use the card at a restaurant later, you could be denied.  If you try to avoid credit cards and rely on your debit card (linked to your checking account), you are of course limited to the amount of money you have in your account.  Most people would experience some financial difficulty if $200 was held/frozen from their checking account for several days.

When traveling, try to use a credit card to book the room and for the “incidentals” that you won’t be using for the rest of the trip.  If you don’t count on that card, you won’t have to worry about the “hold” the hotel puts on your money.  If you like to pay for gas at the pump with your debit card, just be prepared to deduct at least $50 from the account, regardless of what you actually put into your tank for a few days until the transaction clears and the appropriate amount is deducted from the account.

Imagine that you’ve finally taken your dream vacation to Europe, only to find out that your credit cards cannot be accepted. That would certainly put a damper on things, and it’s actually happening to lots of Americans who travel overseas. Some countries have instituted a new card system that requires you to enter a PIN instead of signing a receipt after the transaction. Additionally, European cards carry a chip inside them that carries information. American cards don’t have this, and were designed for the “swipe and sign” system we use here at home. That means that American credit cards simply might not work at many European stores, and especially at self-serve machines.

If you’re an American going abroad, carry cash with you to avoid an unpleasant surprise at the last minute. And try to select stores that have an attendant on staff, rather than self-serve situations. The attendant can let you know whether or not your card can be accepted before you ring up gasoline or train ticket charges.

All of the three major credit card companies report that merchants who accept their cards must agree to accept “swipe and sign” cards, even if they have another system in place. Some merchants don’t know or don’t abide by this, though, so it’s best to be prepared when traveling.

Princess Cruises and Barclays announced a new co-branded rewards card: the Princess Rewards Visa Signature card. The card has no annual fee, and launches the new ‘Princess Points’ program that promises one point for every dollar spent on everyday purchases, and two points for every dollar spent on Princess purchases.

Starting at 2,000 points, card holders can enjoy discounted Princess merchandise, discounted air travel, cruise discounts, spa credits, champagne, and onboard credits. Princess also offers free cruises, starting at 150,000 points (no blackout dates or capacity limits).

Lloyd M. Wirshba, CEO of Barclays U.S. credit card business, said, “Working closely with Princess, we customized a credit card program that would help cruise enthusiasts earn reward travel and other amenities faster, thus making everyday purchases with the card almost as rewarding as the cruise itself.”

Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises’ senior vice-president, said that passengers have been asking for this type of credit card for a long time. Princess will start taking card applications on December 10th.

No, I’m not talking about credit card fraud, rather a little known but common-practice by credit card companies when you check into a hotel.

When the hotel swipes your credit card, it automatically reserves a sum of money – an estimate of what it would cost to cover the full stay in the hotel (based on occupancy, number of days plus extras.)

This amount actually becomes unavailable to you until you checkout of the hotel and the hotel processes your final bill and the “earmark” is removed. When you check out, whatever amount was reserved above what you actually used is returned to your available credit for your use.

This actually is beneficial to you, the hotel and the credit card company, as it prevents you from going over your limit before checking out of the hotel. But, you can run into problems if you change your mind on where you will stay and book a second hotel without actually staying in the first one because essentially they can both have earmarks. When you try to make a purchase, unless you are aware of this virtually unknown policy, you could be stuck with a maxed out card even if you have not run up any charges for the first hotel or additional charges for the hotel you actually are staying in.

Credit card companies and hotels should make consumers aware of what’s going on, and ask you to sign or authorize the reserve amount upon check in. So long as consumers are educated on why this is a good practice, I don’t see a reason to be covert about it.