The American Express® Preferred Rewards Green Card (see www.americanexpress.com/applyforgreen) is an American Express charge card that offers new applicants a number of special options.  First, new applicants recieve 5,000 bonus points upon approval.  This is enough points to redeem for a $50 giftcard.  Or, should you like, you can transfer your points to one of 17 frequent flyer programs.

In addition to this bonus, new card members pay no annual fee during the first year of membership, a $95 savings and free enrollment in the Membership Rewards® program.

You can learn more about this offer at Smart Credit Choices or apply online at www.americanexpress.com/applyforgreen

The Blue Sky credit card from American Express (see www.americanexpress.com/mybluesky) offers consumers a 0% APR for up to 12 months on purchases as well as a fee free travel rewards program.  With the Blue Sky credit card, card members earn 1 point for every dollar spent.  Once a sufficient amount of points have been accumulated, card members can redeem points for airline tickets, hotel stays, car rentals, cruises and more.

One of the key features of the Blue Sky credit card is that rewards can be redeemed at any time without blackout dates or travel restrictions.  In this way, points earned with the Blue Sky credit card can actually be more valuable than those earned with an airline specific credit card, as many airlines tend to have blackout dates.

For more information on the Blue Sky credit card, visit americanexpress.com/mybluesky.

You can also compare Blue Sky with similar credit cards in the travel rewards credit card section of this website.

www.americanexpress.com/chooseblue is a web address used for mail offering of Blue from American Express®.  The Blue card is one of the most popular credit cards from American Express, as it allows users to pay over time.  Additionally, unlike American Express charge cards, Blue from American Express® charges no annual fee and offers consumers a fee free rewards program.

A final (and very important) difference between Blue from American Express® and standard Amex charge cards is that this offer comes with a 0% APR on new purchases for up to 15 months as well as a 4.99% fixed APR on balance transfers. 

To apply online for a Blue from American Express® www.americanexpress.com/chooseblue offer, visit American Express online.

The Citi CashReturns (SM) Card is popping up in a number of new commercials.  The commercials focus on the cashback rewards program offered by the card.  Here, we will examine the Citi Cash Returns reward program as well as important interest rate information.

At present, the Citi Cash Returns card is offering a 0% APR on balance transfers for up to 1 year, as well as an APR of 10.24% for purchases(accurate as of 4/18/08).  This APR for purchases is well below average for cash back rewards credit cards, which tend to charge higher APR’s to offset the cost of operating a cash reward rebate program.

Earning cash back with the Citi Cash Returns card is a pretty straightforward process:  you earn 1% on all purchases.  Additionally, at the end of your first year as a cardmember, you receive a 20% bonus, effectively raising the cash back rate to 1.2%.  Cash back rewards are automatically dispersed via check once you have amassed $50.

You can learn more about the Citi Cash Returns card by viewing the online application.

Similar Cash Back Credit Cards

Below is a list of related cash back credit cards:

The Citi Professional Cash Card:  Earn up to 3% cashback

The Discover Open Road Card:  Earn 5% cashback on gas purchases

The Citi Dividend Platinum Card:  Earn 5% cashback at gas stations, supermarkets and drug stores, convenience stores, and utilities including cable for 6 months and 2% thereafter.

You can also view all current cash back credit card offers on our main site.

There are a number of ways to pay taxes with a credit card.  However, there are two expensive consequences of doing this.  Here, we will explore the hidden fees attached to paying taxes with a credit card.  At the end of this article, there will be a list of 0% APR cash advance credit cards that can help you save hundreds of dollars if you choose to pay your taxes with a credit card.

THE PROBLEM:  The most straightforward hidden fee you will incur by paying your taxes by credit card is a 3% cash advance fee.  This fee, which has no dollar limit, will cost you $30 for every $1000 you pay in taxes.  Unfortunately, there is no way around this fee.  All credit cards charge a 3% cash advance fee.  It is, however, important to keep this in mind.

Now, the complicated part.  As someone who has spent way too much of his life reading credit card fine print, I consider myself privvy to all of the nasty tricks credit card companies play.  And the trick I am about to explain is by far the worst.  Here’s the basic deal:  all payments you make to your credit card apply to the balance with the lowest interest rate.  So let’s say you have a $3000 balance on your credit card from purchases being charged a 12% interest rate and you take a $3000 cash advance.  A typical cash advance interest rate is between 22% to 27%.  Therefore, if you send in $3000 to pay your bill, you will pay off the low rate balance and be stuck paying 20% interest on the cash advance you took to pay your taxes.

The Solution:  While the number of these offers is limited, there are a handful of credit cards that offer a 0% interest rate on cash advances.  This rate lasts for up to 1 year.  With a 0% APR cash advance credit card, you can easily save over $600 on interest, plus prevent the headache that comes from using your previous credit card.

Here are credit cards that currently offer 0% Cash Advances:

1. Bank of America Cash Rewards Platinum Plus® MasterCard® Credit Card
2. Bank of America World MasterCard® with WorldPoints^TM
3. Bank of America Visa Signature® WorldPoints^TM Rewards

If you’ve already used a credit card for a cash advance and are paying astronomical cash advance interest rates, you may want to consider a credit card that offers 0% APR balance transfers.  With one of these credit cards, you can also save hundreds of dollars on interest.  You can compare all balance transfer credit cards in the balance transfers section of Smart Credit Choices.  Also, below is a list of the top three offers:

1. Discover® More Card
2. Citi® Professional^SM Cash Card
3. Bank of America® Platinum Plus® Visa® Card
4. Chase Free Cash Rewards^SM Visa® Card