Credit card companies are just like every other business. There are essentially three concepts to understand when dealing with a business, especially credit cards:

• They exist to make as much money as possible,
• They have relatively well documented rules and operating procedures,
• They’re willing to break #2 in pursuit of #1.

So, to that end, here are 7 unwritten and often forgotten credit card tricks or “secrets” (I hate the term “secrets” because how much of a secret can they be if I know it?) that may save you a few bucks someday. If you don’t learn a single secret or you have a secret of your own, please let me know! Secrets are better when you tell everyone!

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After taking out three 0% financing balance transfers last year and dealing with the hassles of them, I told myself that all the work wasn’t really worth it and that I wouldn’t apply for any more cards for the purposes of balance transfers. I am happy to report that I have not applied to any more credit cards and that this time the balance transfer offer sort of fell into my lap. I wrote on Monday about how you shouldn’t cancel your old credit cards because you never know when you’ll see something nice, like a balance transfer offer for no reason, and yesterday I initiated a new balance transfer off the Citi Platinum Select MasterCard.

The major downside to applying for a new card and requesting a balance transfer is that it will have a significant negative impact on your credit score. Since your credit utilization will increase and you’ll have yet another credit inquiry, it’s guaranteed your score will fall. This isn’t a concern if you aren’t planning on going after a mortgage or other large loan but I really didn’t want yet another item on my credit history so this particular scenario is perfect. I can get a balance transfer without another credit inquiry, so in essence it’s “free.”

Now, if you happen to find one of these free balance transfers, you should request a credit line increase before the transfer. On a typical arbitrage play, the card is brand new so the credit card company won’t increase your credit line limit but if it’s an “old” card, you won’t have this problem. Request the increase so you can put more onto the transfer! Sometimes you’ll get an automatic offer of an increase of a thousand dollars or so, just take that and make the transfer. Those offers usually require no credit inquiry and so they are perfect, if they don’t offer you that and instead require you to fill out a large form, just skip it. Since you’re taking advantage of the “free” nature of the offer, you don’t want a credit inquiry muddying it up.

Good luck!

My friend Perry recently had a legitimate charge on his card, for a Mac Book Pro which retails for around two thousand bucks, trip a red flag with his credit card company. They did the reasonable thing by calling him up and asking if the purchase was legitimate, he said yes, and the charge was processed. While he was surprised, I wasn’t because most personal credit cards have a liability limit of $50 (some have a liability limit of $0, because, honestly, customer satisfaction is worth more than $50) and so it is in their best interests to monitor potentially fraudulent behavior and stop it before they pay out.

I had a personal experience with this just recently when I paid for two classes (about $3000) at Johns Hopkins on my Citi Platinum Select MasterCard except Citi summarily rejected the charge on the basis that they believe it was fraudulent. No phone calls or emails either. I only knew about the rejection when Johns Hopkins sent me a letter that my account was past due (no monetary penalties, I just couldn’t register for the next semester until I paid). So, right before I pressed SEND on my online payment, I called Citi and let them know that a $3000 charge was coming through from a well known educational institution and they should process it.

So, the lesson of the day is that if you are going to use your card in any atypical manner (charging a large amount, charge amounts in a geographic area you normally aren’t in, etc.) then let your credit card company know… otherwise they’ll think someone stole your card (even if you’re paying for classes!).

The other day, someone searched for “gas card 41 cents cash back credit card,” which I assume is about the Shell branded credit card (they ran that commercial with the little yellow boxes with red 41’s written on them a little while ago). Personally, I don’t like getting a gas station branded credit card because you’re then forced to go to that station in order to get the 5% at their gas stations. The Shell card itself, though offered by Citi, has a promotional offer where you can get 15% cash back gasoline for 90 days, after which it’ll revert to the normal 5%. While 15% cash back sure is nice, it’s only valid for 90 days and only at Shell gasoline stations.

Before the 5% cash back on the Citi Platinum Select card was canceled, I would’ve advocated for that card over a card like the one from Shell. Now, however, it’s not as easy to find a 5% cash back card on gasoline these days so maybe that Shell card sounds a little tempting… if only for 90 days. I think you shouldn’t get it because it’s simply not flexible enough and there are other options out there.

Two that I know of, one of which I just applied for, are the Citi Driver’s Edge Platinum Select and Discover’s Open Road Card. The Citi Driver’s Edge Platinum Select card will give you, among other sweet driver related benefits, 6% cash back on gasoline for a year whereas the Discover Open Road Card will give you 5% on gasoline (and auto related) purchases on your first $1,200 in purchases for the foreseeable future.

Or, you can just check out my list of the best cash back credit cards and select one that will give you better cash back on more categories outside of gas.