Overview and General Information

Welcome to the new and improved Credit Card Goodies web site, now located at www.creditcardgoodies.com. Comments and questions on the new site are welcome and appreciated (both good and bad - but we can't please all the people all of the time!)

Many publications and web pages (e.g. CardRatings.com (best rated credit cards), Money Magazine, Ram Research, Consumer Reports) attempt to list the "best credit card deals" or publish lists of low-rate cards. Too few of these reports address the segment that I belong to - people who pay off their balances every month. Hence, I threw together these pages dedicated to finding the best possible deal for people like me. I've added pages in the Card Directory for other segments in addition to the cash rewards. You might want to browse there first, then you may wish to visit other sites directed at your segments rather than this page. If you carry a balance, the first thing you need to worry about is getting the lowest possible interest rate available. CardRatings.com (best rated credit cards) and Ram Research, among other sites, offers some good advice for you.

Many people have asked about balance transfers and convenience checks. While these also apply to people like me, it's not part of the core of this page. I'll post notes about these programs in the grapevine but you won't find any definitive list of these programs anywhere on this site.

I don't claim to be the world's expert on credit cards - all I claim is that I've been there and want to make the most use of the credit cards I choose to use. If you are looking for "official" advice, I'd suggest you go to the folks at CardRatings.com (best rated credit cards), Ram Research, or even Money Magazine.

The best source of the latest information is available in the grapevine, a forum that will allow both anonymous and registered postings, but will allow for a better structure of the grapevine, and allow a free-er, more open discussion than I have provided in the past. Take a look and let the comments fly!

I've also added an card directory that gives a list of cards broken down by various categories (sorted alphabetically). Hopefully you can look through the quick summaries and find the card that is right for you.

Most of the basic advice on this front page was written by me and describes my opinion on the Rebate Card game. There is analysis that was provided by others, and I will always post the source of something if the author allows me to mention him/her by name. The most fun section of this site tends to be the grapevine. This is where you will usually find the latest and greatest deals lurking around... usually provided as a hot tip by a reader!

Finally, if you have information that you'd be willing to share, all it takes is a simple e-mail message to grapevine_email[at]creditcardgoodies[dot]com and I'll post the information anonymously!