A recent post on high limit credit cards has led to a lot of questions, so we though a clarification would be helpful.  As stated in the original article, no company we are aware of offers even the slightest insight into what your credit limit will be until you have submitted a credit card application.  Whether you apply online or by phone, the situation is the same.  We called three major credit card companies and asked if an estimate of credit limit could be given.  The response was the same from every company:  no.

If you’re looking for a credit card that offers a high credit limit, your search may not be as easy as it seems.  While many credit cards advertise credit limits of up to $25,000, the actual credit limit you receive will vary based on a number of factors, none of which will be made known to you. 

Determining credit limits is an internal process that varies substantially from one credit card company to another.  In fact, the only thing credit card companies have in common when it comes to determining credit limits is that none of them can provide you with as little as an estimate of your limit until you have submitted a completed application.

In a nutshell, this means that you will not find out your credit limit until your application is processed and approved.  This can take anywhere from a few business days to a few weeks, based on the issuer, your credit, and a multitude of other factors.

Finding a credit card with a high limit is a lot like playing three card monty.  You select a card and wait to see if its the right one.  However, there are steps you can take to get the credit limit you desire.

First, apply for credit cards that advertise high credit limits.  (We have made a list of these high limit credit offers at Smart Credit Choices for easy review.)

Second, consider applying for more than one credit card.  This strategy provides a number of benefits.  First, it can provide you a combined credit limit that meets your needs.  Second, it increases the chances of a credit card showing up in your mailbox quickly.  Most importantly, however, it gives you the option of reviewing the final offers of multiple credit cards and using the one that works best for you.

For more information, please visit the high limit credit card section of SmartCreditChoices.com$

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

Getting a 0% APR for 1 year on both purchases and balance transfers is not as easy as it used to be.  In January of 2007, just about every credit card company issued at least one credit card with a 0% APR that applied to both types of transactions.  As of march 14th of this year, the number has dwindled dramatically.  Currently, both Chase and CitiBank issue credit cards that offer 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers.  The remaining issuers either offer a 0% APR on either purchases or balance transfers, or 0% rates that are less than one year. 

Bank of America also issues a number of credit cards that offer a 0% APR on balance transfers and cash advances.  However, they do not offer a card with a 0% APR for 1 year on purchases and balance transfers.

Discover offers a tiered structure of 0% for 1 year on balance transfers and 0% for 6 months on purchases. 

American Express still offers one card with a 0% APR on purchases for 15 months, but no cards with 0% deals on purchases and balance transfers.

Lastly, Capital One just removed the 0% rate on purchases on a number of their “No hassle” credit cards. 

Overall, the movement away from offering consumers a 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers is a disturbing trend.  Hopefully, the credit card companies won’t strip us of all the good offers.

A number of recent articles in the Wall Street Journal as well as MSN money have cited reports that credit card companies are pulling back on consumer lending.  One area of particular concern to saavy credit card users is the 0% APR offer.  In an MSN Money article published Monday, the author explored the ominous theme, “Are 0% APR Offers Disappearing?”

As of now, the number of 0% offers hasn’t changed.  However, recent visitor feedback seems to indicate getting approved for a top tier deal, such as a 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for a year, is getting harder.  A number of visitors who believed they had very good credit wrote they were either rejected or recieved a card with a lower than expected credit limit.

 Smart Credit Choices will be monitoring the situation.  As more details become available, we’ll let our readers know here.