Credit Card Trickery

So here's a listing of fun things to do with credit cards:
1) Sign up for cards with a large initial bonus. Most reward type cards offer anywhere from $50-$100 bonuses when you first sign up (and use some nominal amount on the card). So sign up and take advantage of them. Then either keep them idle (do make sure your statements still are read) until they decide to close your account, or make some minimal purchases to keep it around as an emergency card. But remember that this can influence your credit rating both good (low balance compared to overall credit lines), and bad (more credit requests, closed accounts).

2) Apply for a card with 0% interest balance transfers and get the money. Well you don't keep it, but for that introductory period of up to a year, you can now invest that money in something safe, a CD or high yield savings account, and pocket the interest. At the end of the term you pay back the balance in full, and then you just were given free money to invest. The specifics of this trick depend on the card, but usually you can request the balance transfer and either overpay another card and get a check from them, or just get a check directly from the card. Now be warned that if you do something like miss a monthly payment, or make a regular purchase, suddenly you'll start racking up a lot of interest. If the money's tied up in a CD, this could be rather costly.

3) If you go out with a group of friends you can offer to put the full bill (or just some other people's shares) on your card and have them pay you back in cash. This will likely save the waitress/staff some effort as well, so they'll likely appreciate it. Just make sure you're good at counting the money, or trust them enough to pay fairly. Most of my friends will round up with their cash, so I could come out a bit ahead, though I toss the extra amount into the tip figure.

4) Use your credit card responsibly. If nothing else, this is the most important bit. If you don't then all the rewards they offer couldn't possibly make up the fees and interest you'll be paying. My personal take on this is, your credit limit is the money in your bank account for spending. Whether this means a specific sub-account or your general money pool is up to you and depends on what you spend on with your card(s). With online accounts to check up on my spending just about daily, I always know where I stand.