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Savers love cash-back cards, which return a fraction of what you spend in good old U.S. currency. Disciplined consumers can bank hundreds of dollars yearly: The key is knowing how to maximize your payback.
Banks offer all sorts of credit cards. For the savers, there are cash-back cards. For the indebted, there are balance transfer cards. For the shoppers, there are retail cards. And for travelers like me, there are rewards cards.
We've schooled you on what CardRatings.com ranked as the worst credit cards of 2011, so it's only fitting for us to share which pieces of plastic would actually be wise to carry in your wallet this year.
Millions of Americans use credit cards, but are we getting the best deals we could? For those who confined their search to the major banks, the answer is probably not. Today, we kick off an ongoing series in which we'll profile some of the best offerings in plastic.
We Americans can't live without our credit cards -- but there are a few varieties of plastic that should be kept out of consumers' wallets. Here's CardRatings list of the five Worst Credit Cards of 2011 (plus one that you might want to reconsider).
Suze Orman is trying to succeed where the Kardashians failed. The host of the popular TV money show is offering a new prepaid card that works much the same way as a debit card. Her goal: Offer a credit card alternative that doesn't charge you an arm and a leg.
Sometimes it pays to wait; sometimes it doesn't. Just ask the roughly 10 million cardholders who were part of the Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust class action lawsuit settlement. After a decade of legal wrangling, the settlement funds are finally being disbursed -- but a suit this large can dilute even $336 million.
Have you ever left a store or restaurant without looking at your receipt, only later to find a bogus charge? In most cases, the errors are innocent enough -- an extra soft drink, say. But some receipts merit a double-take because of the sheer outrageousness of their totals, or the bizarre nature of the expense.
Remember Bank Transfer Day? Well, mark your calendar: Dec. 11 is being publicized as "Balance Transfer Day," with Americans urged to transfer their credit card balances from high-interest cards to low- or no-interest ones.
Washington's efforts at financial reform keep having strange and unintended consequences. In response to a law that was meant to lower excessive debit card transaction fees on merchants, Visa and Mastercard found a way to raise the fees on a host of small businesses.

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