Several major credit card issuers, including Citibank, Fleet, American Express, Discover and First USA, are pushing cards with zero-percent interest rates. "If you have good credit this is definitely a good chance," says Jordan Goodman, the author of Everyone's Money Book and spokesman for the Cambridge Consumer Credit Index. "If you follow the rules, you can't get any better than zero percent."

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The stresses of life may be without number these days. But your debt is easily quantified. And with the U.S. economy struggling in the wake of Sept. 11, sizeable debt loads pose an even greater danger than usual: layoffs are mounting and bonuses are shrinking, but creditors will continue to expect their payments. Ideally, experts say, your total monthly long-term debt payments - including your mortgage and credit card payments - shouldn't exceed 36 percent of your gross monthly income. That's one factor mortgage bankers consider when assessing the creditworthiness of a potential borrower.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Plastic can be fantastic. Using credit cards responsibly builds a good credit history, so you can land a loan when you need one. Cards let you avoid carrying large amounts of cash, which is convenient when you have to buy something expensive or if you're abroad. They even come with perks like frequent flier miles. But credit cards work a bit like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: they have a hidden ugly side. If your charging gets out of control, you may find yourself handcuffed to a large monthly bill with escalating interest charges. Try putting a dent in that balance with your monthly cash flow, and you may have to charge your way out of a cashless pinch. And if you pay only the bare minimum, the balance on the card never disappears.

If you have been paying off your credit balance in full each month it is possible for this to happen especially if you returned damaged goods and the refund for the return was credited to your card’s account.

This is sometimes up to the individual merchant. However in most cases the refund must be facilitated by the credit card company and more than likely they will just credit it to your credit card account.

After the merchant processes your refund it can take from one to or four weeks to process it. This is so another month can pass and you can be hit with balance charges. Remember the credit card company is in this to make a profit, not issue refunds.

ViSA has a security program called CISP that stands for a Cardholder Security Information program. This standard of security is so successful that the other major credit card companies have also adopted it as well.

Your credit score is nothing but a three-digit number but how high it is absolutely crucial to your financial well-being. It is an indicator of other's people's faith in you that you can be prosperous and pay your bills as well as a predictor of whether or not you are likely to default on a loan or be likely to make a claim on an insurance policy!

Your credit score can have a tremendous impact on your pocketbook, your future and also your general peace of mind. If your credit score is not great it can cost you tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of extra dollars in your lifetime in the form of excess interest, fees and charges. Of course if this same money was invested over a lifetime, it could make you a millionaire rather than a slave to debtors who keep charging higher and higher interest rates the lower that your credit score falls.

Perhaps the best way to explain the long term consequences of mediocre or poor credit score is to give you an example that compares the way two different women have handled their credit over a life time. Let's take the example of two women - Joan and Kelly - who for the sake of our little example have led identical lives. Both women: - have exactly the same income - carry an annual balance of $8000 on their credit card every year - financed their cars after graduation with $20,000 car loans and replaced the vehicle every seven years until the age of 70. - Bought her first home with $350,000 mortgages at age 30 and then bought a new larger house that cost $450,000 at age 40 - Have never been turned down by a credit card company