Episode 2: Banking and Credit Cards

09/28/17 • 53 min

Welcome to episode two of Moneysplained. We’re talking banks, fees, and credit card offers. This is a beast of an episode. From avoiding bank fees to evaluating three separate real-life credit card offers, there’s a lot to cover. I’ve got Kim Palmer from NerdWallet, which is an excellent website for doing comparison shopping for checking accounts, credit cards, online brokers, and loans.

This episode is all about being a smarter consumer and Kim will walk us through how to avoid confusing offers from credit card companies. Remember, they WANT you to rack up debt. They only make money when you rack up debt.

All those fancy travel rewards points are just the carrot on the stick. If you’re super strategic and can manage your credit card payments so you’re never carrying a balance, points can be awesome, and in a later episode I’ll detail how I spend seven nights in Italy relying completely on travel rewards points. I’ve been late a few times on my monthly payments but am generally good at paying off the balance each month.

If you’re spending beyond your means, aka you definitely couldn’t have paid cash, you might not be a great candidate to sign up for a credit card. And if you’re in serious credit card debt, we’re going to talk about getting help and repairing your credit and credit score in the next episode. First we have to learn how to be discerning consumers.

Previous Episode

Episode 1: What is Money?

This is episode one of season one of Moneysplained and we’ve got the entire world of money to cover. Later episodes will have clear themes like Episode 2 on Credit Cards and your credit score or episode 5 on the finances of freelancing or my favorite episode so far, How to Invest $1000. Instead of giving you a lifeless history lesson on money I thought I’d start out with a bunch of finance terms I hear all the time in the financial media but am not confident I actually know anything about. I’m making this podcast for you my listeners of course, but this is my financial education, as much as it is yours. Interest rates, credit unions, and bonds, that’s where we’ll start. And if none of those interest you, stick around for later episodes. I promise there’s something here for you.

The information in this show is for education purposes only. I hope it is helpful but should not be taken as accounting or investment advice, for that, seek help from a licensed professional.

Next Episode

Episode 3: Your Credit Score

Credit scores matter a whole lot. A good credit score (between 620 and 850) will often make you eligible for the best travel rewards and cash back credit cards and lenders will be able to offer you the lowest interest rates on home and auto loans. My guests is Liz Weston, who I immediately hit it off with because I’m from Los Angeles and she lives just minutes from my dad’s house. Liz knows a lot about credit scores and we had a lovely chat about the highs and lows of credit scores...AND THEN THE NEWS ABOUT THE EQUIFAX BREACH DROPPED. So I freaked out and got back on the phone with Liz to talk about how we can all protect ourselves. A lot of things can negatively impact your credit score, like falling behind on credit card payments. If you do fall behind and your score suffers, you DO have options.