The U.S. Mint has closed a loophole that allowed owners of credit cards with airline miles to rack up free fares— without spending any money. Credit card users across the country are smacking their heads and asking themselves why they didn’t think of that earlier. In an effort to spread $1 coins into circulation, the U.S. Mint had been offering what it thought was a zero-sum deal to consumers: the ability for citizens to purchase large quantities of $1 coins at face value.  In other words, you charge $5,000 on your credit card, and a few days later $5,000-worth of $1 coins would arrive on your doorstep.

Congress has pushed through a last-minute bill that will arrive on President Obama's desk this afternoon. In addition, the White House has already stated that even though this bill is imperfect, the President will immediately sign it to ensure the debt ceiling is raised and our government is able to continue paying its bills.

Hurray, the debt ceiling crisis has been averted. Way to go guys and gals! You beat the deadline by a few hours…it's a miracle.

Where would we be without Twitter? It's amazing that Twitter is only five years old. The ability to get quick information that's specifically relevant to you has revolutionized the way the world communicates. Nowadays, the world announces news, sports scores, celebrity gossip, and every other conceivable bits of information on Twitter timelines. It's not all fun, though. The one drawback of Twitter is the oversaturation of useless accounts. Finding a good account to follow can sometimes feel like picking a needle out of the world's largest haystack. Nevertheless, Twitter is an excellent source for insight on personal finance. From tips on the best no annual fee credit cards to advice on investments and saving, the Twittersphere is ripe with fruitful money knowledge. You just need to know who to follow! Here are the top 9 tweeters out there on the subject of personal finance:

[caption id="attachment_4493" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption=" "]Photo by TaxBrackets.org[/caption]

Credit cards certainly aren't a new phenomenon. In fact, credit cards are nothing more than a physical representation of an old accounting technique that simply puts things “on account” –accounts payable if you owed someone and accounts receivable if you were expecting payment from a customer. Generally, such transactions were limited between businesses, and much of the system was based primarily on the integrity of the company doing the borrowing.

However, consumer credit using cards officially began in the 1920s when select oil companies and hotels would give pre-approved customers the ability to put their charges on account. Such “cards” were limited to transactions occurring only between select customers and the firm from which they were purchasing. Several years later in 1938, companies began to accept cards from other retail merchants too.

The recent ups and downs of the economy provided quite the challenge for credit card companies. While many think they were raking in the cash from fees and interest, we can’t forget all the money they lost because of charge-offs and bankruptcies. As many consumers fled the credit world, Visa, MasterCard and others had to kick their customer-acquisition efforts into high-gear. Because of fluctuating, and often falling, revenues, these companies wanted to be part of our every day laughs and praises to friends. The art of the commercial has thus skyrocketed, and now you can barely turn the TV on without catching a 30-second blip about credit cards. And true, we probably shouldn’t apply for a credit card simply because of an awesome commercial, but we definitely should enjoy all their great work! Below are 5 of the best credit card commercials ever: 5. Capital One, David Spade on Credit Card Rewards http://youtu.be/Mv3M-XotQkQ One of the best ways to overcome the fear and frustration of credit, is to break the tension with humor. Capital One pokes fun at an annoying conversation that we have all had at some point or another. Once we’re all nodding along with the clip, they drop the news that what they have is different - a credit card with rewards program that is easy to understand and use. Very effective.