What is a chip-and-PIN credit card?

By Justin Boyle

At first glance, your U.S. credit card may seem ideal for traveling abroad. You can just bring your foreign-fee-free card on your next overseas trip and cross borders without having to worry about losing spending power to unfavorable exchange rates, right?

As many world travelers have found, it isn't always that easy.

The rise of chip-and-PIN cards

In 2004, card issuers in many parts of the world started changing their credit card format. The old signature-verified model began falling by the wayside in these places in favor of EMV smart chip cards, commonly referred to as chip-and-PIN cards.

Increased security is cited as the primary advantage of a switch to chip-and-PIN cards, which feature two authentication methods: the traditional magnetic stripe, as well as an encrypted microprocessor that broadcasts payment information to the card reader. Experts in India, where the national reserve bank has mandated a switch to EMV cards for international transactions, say that the chips are practically impossible for fraudsters to decode.

But after much of Europe switched to EMV technology, travelers from the U.S. began to fall victim to the incompatibility of their U.S. credit cards in some places.

By Peter Andrew

I like optimists. Who doesn't? Optimism is one of America's defining national characteristics, and was an essential part of this country's rise to greatness. But some academic studies suggest that people with too rosy an outlook can get themselves into trouble, especially financially, and can-do can quickly turn into couldn't-do.

The trouble with optimism

Of course, it's not just Americans who can find their optimism tipping over into overconfidence or even self-delusion. Last year, Australian researchers uncovered similar traits in their compatriots. Unusually optimistic subjects in their trials tended to work fewer hours, have shorter planning horizons and fail to clear their credit card balances in full each month.

But there's plenty of that here too. A 2005 Duke University study, Optimism and Economic Choice, found a similar correlation in the U.S. And another, published in the Journal of Economic Psychology in 2007, indicated that the overoptimistic often make poor choices when choosing a new credit card.

For example, those who usually roll forward significant balances might seek out the best credit card reward programs when their rational, optimal choice would have been finding the lowest APRs. Presumably, they kidded themselves that their lives would change: Their income would grow, they'd win the lottery, or they'd magically alter their patterns of behavior and start zeroing their balances each month.

By Jennifer Goforth Gregory

Many of us bank online today without a second thought. I use online bill pay to handle the electric bill each month, and regularly check my accounts and transfer funds without leaving my house. And while I haven't accessed my bank account from my mobile phone, according to a recent study from the Federal Reserve, 21 percent of mobile phone users have accessed their accounts through mobile applications in the last year.

But when my husband recently suggested moving our funds to an online-only bank account, I was a little surprised. Each year we sit together and review the rates and terms on all our accounts to make sure we are getting the best deal possible. While looking at the information, my husband pointed out that our credit union offered an online account with a higher interest rate than we were currently earning and much lower fees.

But when I looked at the fine print, I realized that this account would not grant us free access to our local branch and would require us to give up our checkbook. Not all online-only banks require you to give up your checkbook -- many now offer check-writing privileges just like an ordinary bank -- but that was the deal with this particular account.

Because we were already comfortable using online banking, our main concern was what we would lose in services and convenience by changing accounts. Here are three key questions that we asked ourselves when trying to make the decision.

By Justin Boyle

A friend of mine recently sat me down and told me that she was in a dismal, one-sided relationship with her credit provider. She had been a responsible customer, never missing a payment and never maxing out her limit, but the terms of her contract hadn't changed since college and she didn't feel like she could talk to them about it.

Luckily for her (and for all of us), not only is it possible to reason with credit companies, but there are proven pathways to the raised limit or lowered rate that you know you've earned. By arming yourself with a few key pieces of information, you can gently but firmly encourage your issuer to hear what you have to say.

1. Know who to talk to

First of all, most companies put customers through an automated phone tree for routine services. You're not going to get anywhere presenting your reasoned negotiations to the robot that answers your call, so get out of the tree as soon as you can (this is often achieved by mashing the 0 key until you're asked to hold for an operator).

Even when you get a human voice on the phone, you're still not all the way to your destination.

By Peter Andrew

When I wrote 3 tips for avoiding an IRS audit last month, I was amazed by two statistics my research turned up: The National Taxpayer Advocate's 2012 report reckoned that nearly 60 percent of federal filers hire tax preparers, while another 30 percent use commercial software for their filings.

In my mind, another icon of Americana crumbled: No longer do most moms or dads perform the annual ritual of grim evenings spent at kitchen tables, growling at passing kids and muttering under their collective breath as they wrestle with piles of forms, receipts, pencils and erasers. Now, it's all outsourcing, laptops, tablets and even smartphones -- appropriate, I suppose, for modern America.

Of course, it's the ritual, not the reality, I miss. It's hard to get nostalgic about an annual stress-fest that saw millions with lousy arithmetic skills struggle to meet their obligations. How much better to let someone else or an electronic device take the strain. And, as families cut back further on unnecessary spending, it may well be that cheap -- or free -- software applications and e-filing services could become increasingly popular. So what do you need to know when choosing your tax-filing package?

Online or on-board tax-filing applications?

The first thing you have to decide is whether you want to buy or download an application that's going to save your results onto your computer, or one that operates in the "cloud" as a browser-based e-filing service.

By Jennifer Goforth Gregory

I excitedly told my father that I was getting a large tax refund, expecting him to be as happy as I was. I was 22 years old. I had been working at my first professional job for less than a year and struggling each month to pay rent. To me, the $4,500 IRS check headed my way was the equivalent of winning the Powerball lottery.

But instead of being happy for my windfall, my father, who has worked his entire career in the financial and banking industries, gave me a gentle but firm lecture about how I had given the government an interest-free loan on my money.

Who doesn't like lump-sum payments?

I was not alone in my joy over a large refund. According to a March poll from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), 58 percent of people intentionally receive an income tax refund instead of keeping a larger portion of their take-home pay throughout the year. But as my dad so wisely pointed out, this really isn't the best financial move.