Ramit Sethi's 3 Favorite Credit Card Hacks

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KEY POINTS

  • The author of "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" has some hacks for making the most of credit cards.
  • Sethi recommends taking advantage of important cardholder benefits.
  • He also suggests using your card's concierge service.

Could they work for you?

Ramit Sethi is the author of I Will Teach You to be Rich and is a self-made millionaire. Sethi is also a popular personal finance guru with lots of advice for his many readers.

Unlike certain other finance experts, such as Dave Ramsey, Sethi is a proponent of making full use of the perks and benefits that credit cards provide. In fact, he's suggested three credit card hacks that could help people make the most of their cards. Here's what they are.

1. Get help from your card issuer if your purchased items are damaged or stolen

Sethi's first tip relates to credit card purchase protection. This is a feature many card companies offer. The company will pay for losses if an item you charge on your card is stolen or damaged within a certain period of time after you've purchased it.

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Sethi indicated he'd used this purchase protection personally, telling CNBC's Make It that he was able to send the bill to his credit card company after spilling coffee on a laptop he'd purchased with his credit card.

While card companies have limits on the amount they'll reimburse when a problem develops, these limits can be relatively high, sometimes totaling as much as $10,000. You're usually covered for around 60 to 90 days after you've made the purchase, although you'll want to read the fine print on your own card to find out the details.

2. Take advantage of extended warranties

Sethi also advises that you make full use of extended warranties that many cards offer as a perk for members. Often, card issuers will double the extended warranty on items that come with a manufacturer guarantee.

This could give you a year or two of extra protection for expensive items, and it means that you can avoid purchasing extended warranties on things like appliances and electronics which can come at a huge cost.

"A lot of the money you're spending on extended warranties -- don't spend it, you can save it," Sethi told CNBC.

3. Use your card's concierge service

Finally, Sethi advises that if your credit card company offers a concierge service, it's worth actually using it. Many people overlook this cardholder perk or assume that it won't be much use to them, but Sethi has explained that your card company may be able to do things like help you get coveted reservations to restaurants or book tickets to events.

"You can call , you can ask them to book certain reservations for you, and they will do the work for you. So, if you don't have your own personal assistant, call up the credit card, make them do the work for you -- they're happy to do it," he told CNBC.

While most people are familiar with their card's rewards programs, these other unique cardholder perks are all too often underutilized despite the fact they have significant value. You may want to consider taking Sethi's advice and checking if your own credit card offers these features. If it doesn't, it may be worth signing up for a card that makes these perks part of the features customers can benefit from.

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