Credit Cards, Store Financing Deals and Receipts Hacks !

Credit Card Hack

If you pay your credit cards off in full every month (which you do, right?), you can give yourself an interest-free loan of a month or more on major purchases simply by charging big-ticket items right after your card's closing date.

Let's say your statement typically closes around the 20th of the month. You charge your big-ticket item the day after, the 21st.

The charge doesn't show up until the next month's bill, and you typically have 10 to 15 days from the closing date to pay it, effectively giving you a 30- to 45-day interest-free loan. (You'll want to confirm the closing date, since they can change month to month, but typically that just takes a visit to your card's Web site or a call to the 800 number.)

You can take this hack a step or two further by using three credit cards.

"Make sure their statement closing dates are evenly spaced throughout the month, say on the 1st, 11th, and 21st of the month (many cards do allow you to specify your closing date if you ask). Delay major purchases until the day after a card's statement closing date, and then use that card for the purchase."

Store Financing Deals Hack

Warning: This is an expert hack, recommended only for folks who have good money management skills.

"Whenever I buy a big ticket item, I make sure I have the cash to pay for it. Then I wait for store financing offers -- same-as-cash or deferred interest for an extended period. I opt for the financing, put the cash in a (certificate of deposit) that matures just before the end of the promotional period, and pay it off before the deferred interest becomes due. It's like a free loan from the stores and I can earn interest while I enjoy the item!"

Obviously, this hack works ONLY if you keep your mitts off the invested money and if you pay the bill before it comes due; otherwise, you could pay a truckload of finance charges. If you do it right, though, there are benefits, as sneakers explains:

"Circuit City recently had a special (of) no payments until January 2008. I bought a flat-screen TV, the camera I've been ogling for two years, and a bunch of other little things I needed, like printer cartridges. Total $2,500. Put $2,500 in 2-year CD earning 5.25% APY. That's $262.50 I'll earn during that time."

Organizing Receipts Hack

Receipts now go in one of three compartments in my wallet. Receipts that I probably won't need for long, such as those for routine purchases, get stuffed in with the bills; receipts that require action, such as a rebate, get put in the center section; tax-related receipts and those for big-ticket items go in the third compartment. Every week or so I clean out my wallet, taking action on the middle-compartment receipts and filing the tax-related ones.

The "short-term" receipts get put in a folder marked "This Month." At the end of the month, I move them into the folder marked "Last Month," while the receipts from that folder get moved to the "Two Months Ago" folder and the contents of THAT folder get dumped in the trash.

This system ensures I keep receipts long enough to check against my credit card statements, if I need to, and to make any returns. But I no longer have to spend valuable time sifting and sorting.


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