Sun, March 8, 2009 Here's the DH snowflaking update for February 2009:
$250 - Received a check for Credit Card rewards.
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$250 - Total
Mon, February 23, 2009 Some of these are common sense, but often we still fail to avoid them anyway. I found it to be a good reminder, so I thought I'd post it here for everyone else.
The biggest one for me?
6. Missing Payments - It’s one thing to not have the money to pay; it’s another to forget to pay. Dumb, Dumb and Dumb!
[Source: thetruthofcredit.com]
keith tagged bills, credit, credit cards, debt, frugal, internet, lesson learned, retirement in debt Fri, February 6, 2009 As many people know, individuals are able to pull their credit report from the "big 3" on an annual basis. The "big 3" of course being Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. See here. I HIGHLY recommend for everyone to pull their credit reports EVERY year. It's essential for folks to check for any potential discrepencies on their reports, because the impacts of these discrepencies could be (and often are) far reaching.
However, I should note that this does NOT include the ever important FICO score - the score based off your credit reports that ranges from 300 - 850. Lenders rely on this determining loan offers.
In steps Credit Karma. This new startup pulls your TransUnion report and comes up with it's own FICO-like score, that also ranges from 300 - 850. While it likely won't match your FICO score exactly, it should be a good approximation. The best part - it's completely FREE! They are completely ad-supported, not unlike Mint.com. All-in-all, it's a great site that I'll be using plenty from here on out.
Wed, February 4, 2009 
Photo courtesy Photo8.com
With the current credit crisis, many credit card companies are beginning to close accounts that sit idle for too long.
If you find yourself in the situation where one of your cards is going to be cancelled and it’s a rewards card, make sure you follow-up to claim any rewards balance still left on the card.
I opened a notice from Capital One just recently and found out that my account was closing in the near future. I checked online and realized I had almost $200 in unclaimed rewards that I thought I had claimed last year. The letter said that any unclaimed rewards at the time of closure would be lost.
Long story short, if you have a rewards balance when your account is automatically closed, you will very likely forfeit that balance!