Play your cards right

Credit-card companies have tricks to snag your money. Here's how to protect yourself.

 

You may have a MasterCard and a Visa in your wallet, but it's painfully clear that the credit industry holds most of the cards, at least for now. In recent months, many credit-card issuers have been changing the way they treat our plastic, from how much we must pay to borrow money to how quickly we have to pay it back.

It's become a tricky time for credit- card holders. But it doesn't need to be. If you want to win the credit game, or at least not lose too much money in the process, it's time for a new plan. What worked in 1999, or even last summer, probably won't work in 2009.