Making good financial decisions enables people to get more out of life, and I’m happy to contribute to that endeavor.
— Poonkulali Thangavelu
Poonkulali Thangavelu is a senior writer at Bankrate, addressing credit card-related consumer protection and debt management issues. She believes that making good financial decisions enables people to get more out of life and is happy to contribute to others’ financial education. She uses credit cards extensively and sees them as a good financial resource to draw on — if used wisely.
Poonka has extensive journalism experience covering personal finance and business topics. She draws on her financial education and expertise and likes to simplify the subject matter to enable readers to make good decisions. While covering the mortgage market for National Mortgage News, she curated and edited a newsletter targeting the home-equity lending niche of the mortgage industry. In this role, she cautioned that home prices were getting out of hand in the period leading up to the 2006 housing market crash.
She’s contributed to multiple business and consumer-oriented outlets, and her work has been picked up by various national publishers such as the San Francisco Gate, Chicago Tribune and McGraw Hill, along with syndication on Fidelity, MSN, Nasdaq, Yahoo! and others. Her career includes a stint doing consumer market research for global advertising agency Ogilvy as well as experience as an equity analyst and writer.
It’s great to earn credit card rewards, but don’t go overboard with your spending in order to hit a welcome bonus or bonus category cap. I like the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express since it offers cash back on groceries, which I buy a few times each month anyway. The cash back rewards even offset the annual fee, so I find it worthwhile.
Making good financial decisions enables people to get more out of life, and I’m happy to contribute to that endeavor.
— Poonkulali Thangavelu
You are generally not responsible for your spouse’s credit card debt unless you are a co-signer for the card or it is a joint account. But some state laws vary and you may be liable for this debt.
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What happens if your issuer accidentally sends you two credit cards, and how to ensure it doesn’t hurt your credit score.
The CFPB’s recent proposal to cap late fees, and what it could mean for you.
Credit card issuers must provide an explanation for denying your billing error dispute.
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If you make more than your minimum payment, the excess should go towards higher-interest balances.
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A business’ D&B rating could impact its business prospects.
Try to transfer any balance left when your promotion ends to a new 0 percent card.
Business credit card rewards are considered a rebate on spending and are not taxable
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You can get a rewards credit card without good credit if you are flexible enough.
There are advantages to keeping a credit card account, though you can always close one.
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You can carry a balance on a credit card, but not with a charge card.
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Comenity Bank, now known as Bread Financial, offers 140+ store credit cards to retailers around the world.
No matter the season, a rewards card can help lighten the load of your spending.
Need extra time to pay for your Amazon purchases? Find out your financing options here.