Joshua Heckathorn

Home / Author / Joshua Heckathorn
Joshua Heckathorn's picture
Joshua Heckathorn

Joshua Heckathorn is a credit expert and has been featured on CNNMoney, FOX Business, Yahoo Finance, The Street, and many other national publications during the past twenty years.  He received a Bachelor of Science in Management (Finance) from Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Business and earned his MBA from Seattle University.

Visit 's Google Plus profile for more.

Recent Blogs

To Pin or Not to Pin

November 30th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

chip and pin credit cards If life takes Visa, and Mastercard covers everything except those priceless moments money can’t buy, then all I need to enjoy my trip overseas is my credit card, right? Not necessarily, as some Americans have found during trips abroad over the past few years by getting stuck in train stations or embarrassed in restaurants and shops when their credit cards are declined. This can happen even when travelers take the recommended precautions, like making sure their accounts are in good standing and contacting their card issuer before the trip to make sure fraud detection safeguards aren’t activated by the first overseas purchase.

Top 5 Ways to Say No to Retail Credit Cards

November 23rd, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

"Would you like to save 10% on your purchase today?" You're going to hear this question a lot this holiday season, so avoid the awkward silence and be prepared with a quick comeback to throw the cashier off guard.  Here are 5 of my top favorites:

Discover More Card Offers $150 Holiday Bonus

November 17th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

Update: This offer is no longer available.

I reviewed the Citi Diamond Preferred Card last week because they're running a special holiday promotion that offers $200 cash back after you spend $500 online during the first 3 months.  While this a great sign-up bonus, I personally wouldn't use the card for anything more than scoring a free $200 on Cyber Monday. Beyond the $200 cash back, it doesn't offer any rewards program and is really more of a balance transfer credit card due to its long 0% interest period.  Since I never carry credit card balances and am a self-professed rewards junkie, that makes the card pretty much worthless to me in the long run.  Many of you may feel the same.

British Airways Switching to New Avios Program Tomorrow

November 15th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

Many of us, myself included, took advantage of the British Airways Card 100,000 mile promotion earlier this year. What we soon found out was that rewards flights from North America to Europe on British Airways carried hefty fuel surcharges of $500 or more! Our dreams of jaunting to Paris in 2012 courtesy of BA quickly faded. Effective tomorrow, British Airways Executive Club miles will be replaced by Avios points, which has a lot of cardholders even more concerned about the future value of their miles. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly what the new rewards program will entail because British Airways has refused to release any details.

Ask Creditnet: Using Credit Cards to Finance Medical Expenses

November 14th, 2011 by Joshua Heckathorn

Dear Creditnet: I want to get eye surgery, but I was told I need to have a credit card to be able to set up a payment plan. Unfortunately, I'm already in debt, have bad credit, and I can't seem to get approved for any credit cards right now. I do have a stable job, but $7,000 is too much to pay in one lump sum. I really need to get this surgery. Is there any credit card that will approve me?

Pages