This is a post from my friends at Credit Shout.

If you are looking to save money online with your credit card, there are a number of programs that you can take advantage of. Depending on the type of credit card that you have, there are a wide variety of great money saving methods for you to explore, including “partners” who can offer you discounts and other special bonus offers.

“Partners” refer to the many store merchants who offer significant discounts on their merchandise. Whether directly at a merchant’s website, such as Walmart, J.C. Penney or Target, or through the credit card company’s members shopping page, the discounts and savings are numerous. Below are a few examples of the way your credit card can save you money online.

Discover Cardholders

If you are a Discover Card cardholder, then you would benefit from Discover Card’s ShopDiscover rewards program. Valid for all Discover Credit Cards, the ShopDiscover rewards program offers numerous savings for cardholders to take advantage of. Usually card members will need to register with the services and link to the retailers who offer significant savings to Discover cardholders. Each retailer will have their own set of terms and conditions in which the Discover cardholder must agree to. Once everything is agreed upon the cardholder can begin shopping online and receive up to 1% cash back from Discover on the purchases made with the partner retailers. The cashback bonuses will show up on the cardholders account.

American Express Cardholders

Much like the ShopAmEx website is more of a comparison shopping website. In order to access the ShopAmex rewards website, you will need to have Blue Cash from American Express or any other American Express credit card. However if you plan on using your membership reward points with any of the featured retailers, you will need to have at least 68,000 points. What happens with ShopAmEX is that you key in an item that you are interested in purchasing and then ShopAmex pulls together the partner retailers who you can use your rewards points to buy the item from. ShopAmex saves you money only because you can use your rewards points to purchase items online.

Visa Cardholders

No matter who your banking institution may be (Bank of America, Capital One, Charter One, Chase, Citibank, Navy Federal, US Bank, and others) Visa offers all Visa cardholders significant discounts with participating merchants at their own online portal. This includes people who carry cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards.

Be sure to check the terms and conditions for Visa and the participating merchants so there is no confusion. When you log on, you will notice that there are featured discounts (whether for a holiday or back to school) as well as everyday discounts which Visa cardholders can take advantage of daily. These discounts also apply to Visa small business card holders, Visa mid-size and large companies, as well as Visa government card holders as well. While the vendors may be different for business account holders, significant discounts are available as well.

MasterCard Cardholders

MasterCard also has an online program that is tailored toward cardholders who are interested in saving money. With MasterCard Easy Savings, cardholders can get an automatic rebate in which Easy Savings merchants provide rebates to cardholders who have registered for the program. Once you make purchases you will see your rebates applied to your monthly statement.

If you are a MasterCard cardholder you also have access to MasterCard marketplace which recently launched and is comparable to ShopDiscover and ShopAmex.

Depending on what card you hold and sometimes which financial institution that the credit card is connected to, the online savings that you will receive can be quite substantial. Additionally, those programs that allow you to build up rewards points can be increasingly helpful in your quest to save money. The fact is that rewards points can work just like cash or a credit card when you are purchasing items. The more rewards points that you have, the easier it will be to not only save money but get any items that are of interest to you. This can be a good thing if you are on a budget and need to save a little cash.

Everyone is a consumer,  yet few are the ranks of consumer advocates.   Corporations have lobbyists, spokespersons and public relations organizations shouting their perspective through every available media, but consumers have just a few advocates with their lonely voices on the back pages of the paper and increasingly, on blogs like this one.

Prices Must Mean Something

Last week, I went to a restaurant.    The menu said one price, and my bill said another.   Actually, the bill listed the correct price, along with an undisclosed surcharge.    You can read the entire story over at my personal blog Steele Street.

Ultimately, I found out that an entire shopping center here in Colorado was having it’s tenants add in a surcharge to all of their customer’s purchases.   It seems the city of Lakewood Colorado, just outside of Denver, agreed to give the merchants of this particular shopping center a small tax break in sales tax in exchange for collecting a slightly larger percentage that they would use for the maintenance of the shopping center.   My frustration derived from the fact that the surcharge was not disclosed anywhere at the restaurant or on the menu, it was just added in to the bill, apparently in the hopes that customers would not notice or care.    Admittedly, I had been to the shopping center a handful o f times before and had not noticed.

This time, I did notice, and through my efforts, the city has agreed to require all merchants to post the surcharge.

Transparency

I define transparency, when applied to finance, means that all parties to a transaction are aware of the terms of the transaction at the earliest possible point.   When the surcharge appeared on my restaurant tab, after I ate the meal, that was the exact opposite of transparency.   Likewise when a bank adds all sorts of tricks, traps, and hidden fees, they are purposely obscuring the potential costs of the transaction.   Failing to disclose the terms of a transaction, or hidding them in pages of fine print are other ways of obscuring consumer’s ability to evaluate a transaction.

The CARD Act

As I have observed, the CARD Act made great strides in reducing the tricks traps, and hidden fees that were the bed bugs every bank’s credit card agreement.   Predictably, banks raised their interest rates to compensate for their reduced fees.   In the interest of transparency, this has been a fantastic trade off.     Interest rates are prominently disclosed, typically in large print on the credit card application as well as in multiple locations on each statement.   This kind of transparency approaches the gold standard, the gas station.    Think about it, when you drive by a gas station you always  see a large sign indicating the price you will pay in a common format, per gallon.    It is perhaps the last advertised price that still includes all taxes and fees.  On the opposite end of the spectrum is a car rental, which can include a multitude of taxes, fees, options, surcharges and every conceivable gotcha in a multi-page contract.    To compare one company to another, you can’t even get close to apples vs. apples as no rental car company will even tell you what kind of car they will rent you.

My point is to utilize the new protections in the CARD Act.  If you pay interest on your balances, it is now easier than ever to shop for the smallest interest rate, knowing that the other conditions will be much more fair, if not equal.     By the way, the higher rates combined with the lack of tricks and traps makes this the best time to pay off your balances.

If you never carry a balance, you have less to fear from surprise charges than ever.   Now is the best time to really shop aggressively among the outstanding reward card offers out there.   We may truly be in a golden age of consumer choice in the credit card market.

Cardholders of the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard® can receive 4% cash back and discounts when shopping with Baby Catalog of America through Citi Bonus Cash Center.

Cardholders can currently take advantage of an offer to receive a free carry bag with purchase of a Britax Blink Stroller as well as a number of sales and discounts on other infant and toddler purchases.

While supplies last, American Express cardholders can save 1,125 points and redeem 6,475 Membership Rewards points for a $75 gift card collection which includes Old Navy, Red Lobster and Olive Garden, (which is a 15% savings).

The collection includes one $25 gift card each for Old Navy, Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

The Membership Rewards Program is available for the following cards:

American Express (R) Preferred Rewards Gold Card

Platinum Card(R) from American Express

This guest post was written by Go Banking Rates, bringing you informative personal finance content and helpful tools, as well as the best interest rates on financial services nationwide. Follow them on Twitter at @GoBankingRates.

These days, you’re lucky if you qualify for a decent credit card, let alone one with a high limit. Often, the period of time between sending in your application and getting your card in the mail is spent wondering if you’ll be approved and for how much. Exactly how a credit card company determines your credit limit is a mystery to many, so here’s what you should know in order to get the highest limit possible on your next card.

How Your Credit Limit is Determined

There are two main factors that go into determining whether or not a person will be approved for a credit card and what the limit will be: credit score and gross annual income. This means the higher your score and income, the higher your limit.

Credit Karma also explains that each individual credit card company will employ a special set of metrics to aid in the decision. This additional scoring is referred to as behavioral scoring and examines how you interact with that particular company. Behaviors that are reviewed can include any late payments you have made in the past and whether or not you take out cash advances or carry a balance.

However, the bulk of the decision relies on the two numbers above—which means you have to get them right if you want a high credit limit.

Improve Your Credit Score to Boost Limit

This is the number you have the most control over. You will not only enjoy lower interest rates on your credit card with good credit, but creditors will also be more willing to extend you a bigger line of credit.

If your credit score is less than stellar, there are a few things you can do to improve it. The following are the factors that make up your credit score, in order from most to least heavily weighted, and how you can elevate each one:

• Payment History: The best thing you can do for your credit is pay bills on time. Any late payments should be made up ASAP.
• Amount Owed: Having lots of available credit is good, but using it all up at once isn’t. Creditors like to see that you’re trusted with credit but don’t rely upon it heavily.
• Credit History: The sooner you start using credit the better. A long credit history means you’ve been consistently responsible.
• New Credit & Types of Credit: These two area affect your credit score about the same. Try not to open several accounts at once, but vary the types of credit you have (i.e. credit card, student loan, mortgage, etc.).

Keep in mind that building good credit takes time. Even if you follow these recommendations exactly, you won’t see results immediately.

How Your Income Relates to Credit Limit

Just because you have an amazing credit score does not mean you will be granted a high credit card limit, however. You have to prove you have the means necessary to pay back a large sum of money. This means you must have a high gross annual income.

Of course, everyone wants to make loads of money; that’s just not always attainable. All you can do is understand that your income is considered as well, so don’t be surprised if your excellent credit isn’t reflected by your credit limit when you don’t make much. You don’t have to be rich to enjoy higher limits, but it certainly helps.

Most importantly, know these two main determinants are not set in stone. The limit of your credit line is ultimately the decision of the individual lender and certain financial characteristics can be weighted more strongly than others. However, if you are able to maintain a good credit score and bring home a big paycheck, you’re destined for the highest limit you could hope for.

Here’a another year end By Invitation Event from the Platinum Card from American Express. On December 5th, 2010, Chefs David Chang and Tien Ho will be having an event at their latest restaurant Ma Peche. They were the founders of the famous Momofuku restaurant.

The evening will start with a tour of the kitchen. You will also be provided with cocktails by Beverage Director Colin Alevras. You will be able to speak to the chefs and culinary expert Dave Arnolds will also be present.

Dinner will be prepared by Chef Tien Ho and wines will be selected by Momofuku’s Sommelier-at-large Christina Turley. To end the event, guest will get a personalized copy of Chef Chang’s cookbook Momofuku and there will be a unique treat by Chef Christina Tosi of Milk Bar Bakery.

The event costs $495 per person or you can use 61,875 Membership Rewards points. Each card member can book up to 8 packages. A total of 60 packages (slots) are available. You can start booking for this on 9th September 2010 at 3pm EST. You can also call 800-321-7787 to make your reservations.

Citi ThankYou Rewards members can currently redeem151,900 points for the Samsung LN46B650 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color, which is usually 316,900 points.

The Samsung 46 Inch LCD HDTV includes:

# 46-inch LCD HDTV with full HD 1080p resolution and red Touch of Color design
# Auto Motion Plus 120Hz , 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 4ms response time, Wide Color Enhancer 3
# Flickr, YouTube via your broadband connection; side-mounted USB port for displaying JPEG/MPEG files and listening to MP3 audio
# Inputs: 4 HDMI-CEC, 2 component, 2 composite, 1 PC, 2 USB, 1 Ethernet, 1 optical digital audio output
# Includes removable stand; 10-watt x 2 bottom mounted speakers with subwoofer

The Following Cards Have The ThankYou Network

Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card

Citi Forward® Card

When the CARD Act passed, some skeptical observers complained that it had a big loophole.   The CARD Act only covered personal cards.   Business cards, also known as professional cards were deemed exempt.   At the time, I speculated that credit card companies would be unlikely to have two different sets of rules for business and personal cards.   Apparently, I gave the banks too much credit.

Some Business Cards Go By The Old Rules

According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, some banks are choosing to exploit the business card loophole.   The article cites CitiBank as applying payments to the lower interest rate balances first, and for raising interests rates sharply in the event of a missed payments.   Both actions would be prohibited if the card was a personal card, not a business card.   The article does give Capitol One recognition for applying the CARD Act rules to it’s business cards.

What Is The Deal With Business Cards?

Frankly, I have always wondered why these cards exist.   They are a great tool for someone like me who wants to receive multiple sign up bonuses.   When a really killer deal is out there, I have been known to sign up for both the personal and the business cards.   As for legitimate uses, my belief has always been that a business card can allow you to segregate your business expenses from your personal expenses.  I have operated a number of small ventures, but I never had any trouble distinguishing my business expenses from my personal ones.   If my business grew, I could see how it would be nice to have a different card, although I am not sure why it would have to be a business card, rather than a different personal card.

Some business cards offer the feature of having multiple additional cards for employees with the rewards accruing for the primary cardholder.   I would hate it if my job asked me to charge a bunch of stuff to a company card where I didn’t see any rewards.   Hypocritically, I would be the first to have such a card if I had people under me who needed to purchases for my business.

For now, I would still consider getting a business card for the sign up bonus, but as always, I don’t imagine really using it much.

Amex’s Platinum has another By Invitation Event at the Per Se, which is located in NYC overlooking Central Park.

On 10th November 2010, Per Se (NYC) is holding an exclusive event where you could experience one of the world’s most sublime foods from Piedmont, Italy in peak season. To use the language of the iron chef America series, the secret ingredient will be the white truffles. The event will start off with a spread of Autumn truffle harvest over champaigne, cocktails, and canapes served to live music.

This will be followed by a nine-course dinner tasting menu that is designed by Chef Thomas Keller and Chef de Cuisine Eli Kaimeh. The dishes will showcase the white truffle. Wines will be selected by Per Se sommelier Michel Courveux.

The cost per person is $1195 and you would need a whopping 149,375 Membership Rewards Points to redeem. Each Platinum card member can get 6 packages and there are a total of 60 packages available. Booking starts on 3rd September 2010 at 3pm EST. You can also call 800-321-7787 to make your reservations.

American Express cardholders can redeem their Membership Rewards points for a very fashionable Vera Bradley Zip ID Case. The ID case is available for 3,500 points and conveniently holds identification and other cards in a handy little zip case.

The Vera Bradley Zip ID Case includes the following:

• Silver signature key ring
• Front ID window
• Interior compartment for cards and cash
• Easy zip top
• Machine washable

The case is available in five different colors/designs, Call Me Coral, Loves Me, Make Me Blush, Night and Day and Simply Violet.

The Membership Rewards Program is available for the following cards:

American Express (R) Preferred Rewards Gold Card

Platinum Card(R) from American Express