Secret #4: Your credit card may not have any grace period at all.

Most credit cards give you 25 days before charging you interest if you're not carrying any unpaid balance; some give you 30 days. But here's what you really need to look out for: Others have cut back to 20 or even 15 days, and a few have NO GRACE PERIOD at all, charging you interest all the time on anything that you buy.

Dolan Smart Money Move: Check the small print and choose the longest grace period that you can find, typically 25 days. Never go with a credit card that doesn't allow any grace period. You're just getting ripped off.

Secret #5: Late-payment fees may not be the only ones you're paying.

Don't get us started on this one. We understand fees for late payments (even though credit cards have been quietly raising the fees to ridiculous levels), but what really gets us are the other ways credit card companies are finding to rob you.

Here are some of the biggest offenders:

1. Fees for closing your account
2. Inactivity fees for failing to use a card for a period of time (such as six months or a year)
3. An inactivity fee for not carrying a balance (If your card does this, cut it up immediately.)
4. Over-limit fees if you charge more than your pre-set credit limit
5. Transaction fees each time that you use your card

Dolan Smart Money Move: Don't sign on with a card until you have a list in writing of all fees the company charges. You can find these in the small print section of your credit card application. Or, if you apply online, you will have to agree to all of the terms and conditions. You can always call the company, too. Whether in print, online or on the phone, read carefully before you agree!

Secret #6: Your credit card company would love for you to take advantage of their generous ‘skip-a-payment' plan.

You're familiar with these, right? Usually around the holidays, the credit card company sends you a warm and fuzzy letter "offering" to let you skip making your next payment.

But, shocking as this may be, they're not letting you skip a payment because they like you. They're doing it because the want your money! What they bury in that letter is that you still owe interest - every penny of it - on that money even when you skip a payment. Sneaky, huh?

Dolan Smart Money Move : Say thanks, but no thanks to this "generous" offer. And we'll say it again: Pay your bill ON TIME!!

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