Are you thinking about transferring a high interest credit card debt to a new card with a seemingly great balance transfer offer? If so, it pays to read the fine print. That offer on your balance transfer card may not be all that it is cracked up to be.

Often, a great introductory rate is advertised on a balance transfer card. An APR of 0 percent may be offered, making choosing the card seem like a slam dunk.

Despite a great introductory rate offer, be sure to verify when a balance transfer must be completed by to qualify for the offer. For example, the Citi Simplicity card offers a 0 percent APR on balance transfers for 18 months from the first transfer. Sound’s easy enough, right? Then, if you read the fine print, you’ll notice that the first transfer must be completed within 4 months of account opening. This isn’t completely unreasonable, but it could be very misleading to the untrained eye. Just imagine how many people who skimmed or neglected to read the terms entirely would be surprised that they have to pay interest on a balance transfer because they didn’t get it done on time.

The same applies to other Citi cards, as well. Cards such as the Citi Diamond Preferred card and Citi Platinum Select MasterCard have the same 4 month requirement as the Simplicity card. So, just make sure that your chosen card doesn’t have similar strings attached and you should be able to avoid paying interest on your balance transfers for a while.

Dear CreditShout, I was wondering what your take is on the Speedway MasterCard and gas rewards program. I was thinking about signing up since gas prices keep rising, but after reading your BP Pump Rewards review I’m having second thoughts. What should I do?

Great question. Before we answer this I would like to give our readers a little background on this program. The Speedway Platinum MasterCard is station-specific gas rewards card which offers points that can be used for discounts on gas and other items. On the surface, this card appears to offer great rewards. Is this the case or in this just another lackluster gas card? Let’s find out!

On most Speedway purchases (whether you have the Speedway Platinum MasterCard or not), you’ll earn 20 points per dollar spent. There are a few items that do not qualify for points, including tobacco, alcohol, lottery tickets and others. So, if you plan on hitting the jackpot by buying 1,000 lottery tickets at Speedway, you won’t hit the jackpot in points. Just be sure not to purchase too much alcohol if you don’t win, as you won’t earn points for it, either!

Ah, it’s time to go through the hassle of buying a new car. Maybe you loaned your existing car to a friend and he drove it into a lake. Maybe your old van’s 12 mpg isn’t cutting it anymore. Whatever the case may be, the time has come to haggle with dealers and hope that your chosen vehicle wasn’t made by a retiring employee with a vendetta. Regardless of how it turns out, you may as well get some rewards for your purchase, right?

Most auto dealerships won’t let you purchase a vehicle outright on a credit card (although there are a few exceptions). The fees that they’d be hit with would be high, cutting into their bottom line.

Instead, you can coax many dealers into letting you pay for some or all of your down payment with your rewards card. Auto dealerships typically limit credit card purchases to anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000. So, on an everyday, point A to point B type vehicle, you can probably put your entire down payment on your rewards card through some dealerships.

If you need cash but don’t feel like heading to the bank, you can now use your Discover card to get cash from a local store. So, if you’re already out and want to save time or a participating store is closer to your home, your Discover card can basically act as an ATM card.

There are currently 63 retailers that participate in this program. Many are grocery stores or other well-known chains. These include Wal-Mart, ACME, Genuardi’s, Kroger, Dollar General and plenty of others.

Frankly, I was expecting this program to require you to jump through hoops. However, it’s actually very simple. Just use your Discover card at checkout and ask for some cash back, also known as a “Cash over” amount.

The really great thing about this is that there are no direct fees to use this feature. Think of it as making a purchase on your card. As long as you pay the balance off on time, you won’t pay a dime for it making it a superior alternative to a cash advance.

Note: There is a $120 daily limit on this feature, so you may want to head to the bank if you urgently need $250 cash to buy hockey tickets from your friend. Also, most stores have their own cash over limits, so you may end up with a lower limit than $120.

Yesterday it was reported that Apple sold in excess of three million 3rd generation iPads in the four days since launch. There is no doubt that this is one of the most sought after gadgets ever.

If you’re looking to upgrade or are buying an iPad for the first time don’t overlook the thousands of credit card points you may have accumulated over the years! Many people are surprised to find out they can get redeem their points for the latest Apple gadgets. However not all rewards programs were created equal and today we are going to compare the various programs.

We’ll assume that you are looking for the 16GB with Wi-Fi and 4G version of the new iPad, which is listed at $629 at the Apple Store. Most credit card points are valued at $0.01 so we will use that number for our comparison as well.

Let’s take a look at how many points you’ll have to use with each issuer to get the a 3rd generation iPad (when they become available through the respective programs).

Do you feed your family and your vehicle with Kroger food and gasoline? If so, let’s hope that you put food on the table and gasoline in the vehicle, as any other combination could cause a problem. Also, you can get points for doing so, which is probably why you are here.

To earn points at Kroger, you’ll need a Kroger Plus card. This is just like any other grocery store credit card out there. You’ll have to fill out an application and they’ll give you a card on the spot. Sounds easy, huh?

When using your Kroger Plus card, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar spent on items in Kroger stores. It is important to note that only in store items qualify for points, as fuel purchases do not earn points.

You’ll earn 2 points per dollar spent on gift cards. You may want to look into buying gift cards and then buying groceries with those gift cards, as you’d earn more points by doing that. It would be humorous to see the look on the cashier’s face as you buy gift cards, go get some groceries and then pay with those gift cards. I don’t have firsthand experience going this route and I‘m not even sure if you can purchase groceries with those gift cards, so exercise caution if and when you try this out.

Finally, you’ll earn 50 points per non-federally funded prescription that you have filled at Kroger. So, if Uncle Sam isn’t footing the bill, you can earn a cool 50 points with each prescription that you fill.

Note: You can earn and use points at the Kroger Family of Stores, which includes Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fry’s Food Stores, Gerbes, King Soopers, Quality Food Centers (QFC), Smith’s and, you guessed it, Kroger. So, any of those that have fuel stations should work just well for using fuel discounts. You can also get discounts through Shell.

We continue our journey into the world of gas rewards today with the Murphy USA credit card and gas rewards program. The Murphy USA Private Label credit card is a fleet gas card that is tailored for Murphy USA and Murphy Express customers. Every purchase with this card qualifies for a rebate of at least 1 cent per gallon. Other than that, it offers few other benefits.

As mentioned, purchases with the Murphy USA Private Label card qualify for at least 1 cent off per gallon at Murphy USA and Murphy Express locations. Your fleet will never pay full price as long as this card is handy.

Cardholders can also earn additional savings as the volume of monthly gasoline purchases increases. The following is a list of rebates that are offered at various volumes of monthly gas purchases: