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We are all familiar with the collision/comprehensive coverage that many credit cards offer for car rentals. If you already have sufficient liability insurance, this allows you to rent a car without paying the exorbitant (often equivalent to ~$4000/year) car rental damage waiver fees. My question is this: are there any credit cards that offer liability insurance as well? Liability coverage would be great for those who don't own cards but rent a couple of times a month to do errands. I've heard rumors that some high-end cards might offer this, but not anything that I can really track down.

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I have a student loan for $3000 (on credit report for 3 yrs), which I've been paying off little-by-little according to the payment plan. Right now, I have the opportunity to write a check for the remaining balance and be done with it. My other credit is a store card ($200 CL, 1.5 yr), credit union CC ($3000 CL, 1 yr) and big bank CC ($9000 CL, new). Would paying off the rest of my loan in one shot harm my credit? To what extent? I'm getting about 2% less interest in my savings account than I'm paying on the loan.

I'm assuming that this is a Target credit card, and that you got it in part because you are an employee there. What state are you in? If you are in California, the labor board is very adamant that employers cannot "attach" an employee's salary. If they want money from you, they have to get it from you the same way that they would a non-employee. (Collections, sue, etc)

I frequently do bank bonus deals -- $100 from WAMU for opening a new account, $76 from BOA, etc etc. I open the account, fulfill the requirements, withdraw the bonus money, close the account and move on. I'm well enough organized to do this without missing anything, and I always get my money. I've heard that opening too many accounts at one time can get you flagged in chexsystems even if you never bounce a check. I vaguely remember rumors that more than 3-4 accounts a quarter (3 month period) will get you flagged, but I don't know if they are right or not, or even if I remember them accurately. Does anyone know the safe limit to the number of accounts that I can open in a given time period before risking a bad report in chexsystems?

I'm helping my mom to reorganize her budget; one of the goals is to have all of the important bills (mortgage, power, etc) automatically taken from the checking account just a few days after the monthly retirement check arrives. (5th of the month would be ideal). Right now, she is on a biweekly payment plan; some months have 3 payments, some months have only two. What should be involved in changing to monthly payments and setting them to the 5th of the month? Is this something that should be a big, difficult deal? Or should we expect it to be easy? The loan is held by Everhome (subsidiary of Everbank).

I recently applied for a citibank credit card and was asked to verify my phone number by sending in a copy of my phone bill. The problem is that I don't have a landline, only a cellphone. In addition, it is prepaid, so it never generates a bill. Does anyone know if Citibank has a big problem with this? I'm going to call the underwriter and ask about other options tomorrow. Does anyone have any experience? What can I expect?

As the title suggests, I'm looking for information on credit unions (preferably those that are active in northern California) that offer rewards credit cards. My credit consists of about 1.5 years of revolving credit history (all PIF) and 3 years of student loan debt payments (paid down from 25k to 8k). I fear that this would not be enough to get a citibank American Airlines card, but I still want to take home a few dollars on my purchases. In my experience, credit has been easier to get from credit unions than from banks, so I've decided to look there for my rewards card. I prefer cash back or airline miles over "points" because I want to be less at risk of losing them to a rule change.

For the sake of other readers, it turns out that not all cards are handled by the same company. Another number that is used is 800-622-7747. I would really appreciate seeing that PDF if at all possible. I'm sure that it would be a great resource for a lot of people.

When I originally got my Washinton Mutual credit cards (Mastercards), they came with a booklet which lists the types of insurance coverage (price protection, extended warranty, insurance on rental cars, etc) that come free with anything purchased with the card. I lost the booklet a while ago and recently called WAMU to inquire about the coverage. Nobody had any idea what I was talking about. Did JP Morgan/Chase drop this without telling anyone? If not, does anyone have a PDF of the document that explains the coverages or the phone number to call to use it?

I'm looking to do a passbook loan to add to my credit history. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with a specific bank or credit union (only useful if its a credit union that anyone can get into) that: 1) Reports to all 3 credit agencies 2) Does not report as a "secured" loan 3) Allows you to gain interest on the deposit so that the real interest rate is (loan interest rate *minus* savings/CD interest rate) The other option that I've considered is using Prosper, but I think that a real bank might look better.

I already have the secured card, and its from wamu. I tried the bofa selector site, but it would not even let me complete a search. I am starting out with (essentially) no credit history. No negatives, but basically nothing to populate a credit report. I figured that wamu would be easier to deal with than orchard bank.

I'm looking for the best way to handle a secured credit card to both get it converted to unsecured and have a positive impact on my credit report. Should I: 1) Charge to less than 30% of the limit and pay in full 2) Charge to 80-90% of the limit and pay in full 3) Charge to less than 30% of the limit and pay more than the minimum but less than full? There are a lot of really great experts here. I'd really appreciate your help.

I was denied for the regular cards and got the secured card. I dont know yet whether I got the store card.

I've avoided credit cards, loans and the like because I've always been good with money and never been the sort of person who feels the need to live beyond their means. My car, etc. was paid for directly. As a result, I have essentially no credit. Unfortunately, this wont work forever; I need to build some credit. I would like to be able to improve my credit score quickly, while spending the least amount of money possible. Thus far, I've made one mistake. Instead of going straight for a secured credit card, I tried for a "good" card (with rewards) and an OK card (from my bank). I also tried a store credit card (dont know yet whether it was accepted or not) and as a result I have 5 inquiries on my credit report. I have no negatives on my credit report. My question for you experts is: What can I do to raise my credit score while spending the least amount of money possible? I have a secured credit card. Should I pay things off online as soon as I charge them, should I wait for a bill to come in and pay in full, or should I wait for the bill and pay something higher than the minimum but less than the total. (Bank=Washington Mutual) Should I shop around pre-selector sites for a student card? (I am a student) Should I be wary of opening new checking accounts for the $50-$200 account opening bonuses? What other sorts of accounts should I try to get? Which banks do passbook loans that report to the three major credit bureaus? (Preferably with the minimum possible $ lost to interest rate arbitrage). Are there other good ideas? I'm sure that someone here has done something like this before, successfully. I'd love to hear from you.