Dear Creditnet: I'm trying to buy a house this summer and my credit scores are just a bit too low to qualify for the best possible interest rate. My mortgage broker is suggesting we do something called a "rapid rescore" in order to quickly improve my credit before we close, but I don't understand how this works. Can a rapid rescore actually improve my credit scores, and how can I be sure that it will help me get approved for the loan? - Max S. from OR

Dear Creditnet: I recently incurred $5,000 in surprise dental expenses and had to charge it on a credit card I've used since 1982. I've never had another credit card in my life, but now I'm interested in exploring my options so I can transfer this balance to a new 0% interest card and pay it off. I would like the card to have no annual fee, no balance transfer fee, a long no-interest balance transfer promotion and great customer service from a reputable outfit. I'm not really interested in airline rewards or cash back, and I do have excellent credit. Is there any credit card out there you recommend? -Sarah S.

Dear Creditnet: I have a bunch of private student loans totaling about $25,000 in debt, and I've been diligently making payments on time for the past five years. I unfortunately lost my job six months ago and I'm worried about keeping up with all of my payments in the coming months. Is there some way I can consolidate all of these loans right away so I only have to worry about making one payment to one company? Would this allow me to lower my payments and save some money while also buying additional time to land a new job? - Jackie S. from TX

Dear Creditnet: I got a secured credit card from Capital One over a year ago so I could finally begin rebuilding my bad credit. Since then, my FICO scores have risen from the low 500s to around 675, but I still don't have any other credit cards or loans in my name. My question is how much longer should I continue to use this secured credit card? Is it time to finally try to get a better card? -Ryan P. from MI

If you're interested in the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card, but missed out on the big 50,000 point sign-up bonus that quickly came and went last year, Southwest hasn't left you completely hanging.  There's still a 25,000 point bonus to be had after making your first purchase on the card. This is actually the same deal Southwest and Chase were offering new cardholders back in August of 2011, so it's nothing we haven't seen before.  And as I said when I've previously reviewed this card offer, it certainly isn't a bad deal for a $69 annual fee, but it's not superb either. In addition, based on what we've seen in the past, I think it's fairly safe to say that we'll continue to see sign-up bonuses for the Rapid Rewards Card bounce back and forth between 25,000 and 50,000 points in the coming year. We may even see it bounce back up to 50,000 before the end of 2012, but that's just a guess on my part.