In Search of the Elusive Zero-Percent Interest Rate Credit Card

Take down the information on the back of each card you have and then visit your issuers' websites. See what deals they're advertising to new members and then start dialing.

Ask reps if they'll extend to you -- a loyal customer -- the same 0 percent offers they're making available to those who aren't yet paying a monthly bill. You might be surprised by the results.

Earlier this year, my wife's work computer was suffering serious issues. I knew we'd have to spend upward of $2,500 for a newer Mac to replace her machine, which neither of us was eager to do. A quick call to an account rep at Barclays got us a 0 percent deal to purchase new equipment that night. We'll pay off the loan months before interest kicks in.

If your knives aren't quite cutting it these days, perhaps you’re thinking of getting the Edge of Glory infomercial sharpener. It claims to make your knives like new.

To check it out, a Consumer Reports tester rounded up pairs of knives: one expensive, one inexpensive, and one serrated, and then he dulled one of each pair. Then the tester used the Edge of Glory to re-sharpen the dulled knives. He then sliced and diced all kinds of food, including oranges, dried sausage, tomatoes, and oil painting reproduction.

He also checked this clai—that Edge of Glory is so precise, it can turn a plastic credit card into a precision-cutting instrument. Though that wouldn’t be recommended for the average chef, the tester was able to cut up a tomato with it.

But depending on how you slice it, Edge of Glory isn’t so glorious. It left rough edges on the knives. And though it did sharpen the inexpensive and expensive knives, it did a better job on the inexpensive one.

The Edge of Glory actually sharpened the cheaper knives better than the more expensive ones, because cheaper knives are made of softer metal, which sharpens more easily. Bottom line: Skip the Edge of Glory unless you want to wow your guests by using a credit card to slice a tomato!

Consumer Reports says a little bit of TLC can keep your more expensive knives in good condition. Always hand wash and dry them right away. And store good knives in a wooden block—never loose in a drawer, where blades can get nicked. Also use a sharpening steel frequently. If the knives do become dull, then it’s time to consider taking them to a professional.

Do you go over your credit-card statement at the end of every month, checking whether you made every single purchase on it? If the answer is no, you’re not alone. According to the Israeli startup Billguard, 90 percent of people never even look at their credit-card statements. At best, they go over the large purchases they made. But all those little impulse buys, the dollars and cents of daily life? They hardly give it a second thought.

As a result, consumers fall victim to fraud. Billguard’s officials say that the average user loses $300 per year from unwanted charges that they don’t know about.

To protect you plastic-wielding shoppers, Billguard developed a platform that allows people to keep track of their bank accounts and credit cards via a website or application. They can look at a list of recent charges and even receive automatic updates any time a suspicious charge shows up.

Billguard says that the most commonly-spotted frauds are credit-card fraud, monthly subscription fees and terms of service that change once a person has signed up for a service. Company officials believe Billguard’s platform has saved users $50 million, in tens of millions of bank and credit-card accounts, in the year since its launch.

When account owners are “stung,” they mostly fall victim to common kinds of fraud. To combat this, Billguard uses crowd-sourcing. When its system spots a suspicious charge, it alerts the account owner. All customers who find a hidden or fraudulent charge on their account report it to the service, which immediately finds and alerts all other users who have the same charge.

Among Billguard’s customers are banks and credit-card companies who use the service for their customers. Raphael Ouzan, co-founder and CTO of Billguard, says that the company gives banks a threefold value: better protection, better end-user experience and a cost savings in the number of customers who contact them to clarify charges. The service is provided for free to the end-users while the banks and the credit-card companies pay for each customer. Billguard also collects a fee from merchants who owe customers their money back.

At Google’s I/O conference earlier this month, it was announced that Billguard’s technology would be integrated into Google Wallet, Google’s virtual moneybag for in-store and online shopping, and that it will also be integrated into the new version of Gmail. Billguard’s platform will serve as an additional layer of protection for users who make online payments by spotting irregularities and “gray” charges. Google’s goal is to make it easier for users to adopt Google Wallet and use it safely. Besides the prestige in working with Google in the security field, Billguard’s larger user base will enable it to improve the quality of its service.

Billguard was established in 2010 by Yaron Samid, the CEO who manages its work in New York, and Raphael Ouzan, who manages its development work in Israel. So far, the company has raised $13 million from a series of prominent investors from Silicon Valley including Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, the Founders Fund of Peter Thiel and Sean Parker, and Israeli angel Yaron Galai.