Making Purchases

Considering getting new furniture? Maybe your morning coffee just slid off your tilted kitchen table. Or there’s a constellation of stains on your living room couch. Or you’re planning to move and can’t imagine taking the hand-me-down furniture you have in your current place.  Furniture is one of those big-ticket items we tend to keep...

Cars are expensive. They’re expensive enough that most car buyers take out car loans to buy them.  But there are debt-averse buyers with deep pockets who prefer to pay for their cars with cash so they own them from the get-go. Somewhere between the traditional car loan takers and the all-cash crew are the buyers...

Are you suffering from buyer’s remorse because of some recent purchases you’ve made? Do you want to know how to cure it? Drive back to the mall and return some things. As long as you’ve complied with the retailer’s return policy, when you return the item the retailer will generally issue a refund equal to the cost of...

Credit cards often offer benefits over using debit cards, like fraud protection, points or cash back, and in some cases return protection. We break down the details of credit card return protection, showing how to use this handy benefit to get your money back when the retailer won’t accept your return. Retailers have different and...

At some point in all of our credit card-using lives we’ve probably heard the words, “I’m sorry, but your credit card has been declined.” Dealing with a declined credit card while holding up a long line of customers at the cash register is embarrassing, and it often leaves the consumer angry or concerned about fraud....

Yes, you can use credit cards to buy gift cards at most retailers that offer them. And you wouldn’t be alone if you did. According to a Consumer Gift Card Preferences Study in 2018, 91% of consumers surveyed say they have purchased a gift card (not necessarily using a credit card), so it’s good to...

Wanna hear something crazy? There are 10 trillion possible combinations of credit card numbers out in the universe, and card issuers are only using about 65 million of them. With odds like that, the statistical likelihood that a criminal will chance upon a valid account number — and then upon your account number — is very low....

You can usually rent a car with a debit card, but before you do there are a few things to know about the requirements. Each major car rental company has slightly different hoops to jump through, and what’s needed may also vary by rental location. In general, debit cards are only accepted if they have...