Top Ten Tips Pitfalls Of Credit Cards
By: Max Hunter
Dodging through the Hazards and Ensuring YOU Have the Right Deal
A credit card can be amongst the most important tools you’ll ever have at your disposal. By offering you easy, flexible and sometimes relatively cheap spending power it can be used to spread the costs of home essentials, the occasional luxury, or sometimes just to plug the gap ahead of pay day. Used incorrectly, however, and it can lead to a stream of debt problems that can take over your life.
Common sense is the most important ingredient when dealing with financial products. Apply this and a little restraint and you should be okay. Nevertheless, the multitude of advice on offer can be overwhelming. Who, exactly, do you listen to? To simplify matters, and make it easier for you to get the best deal possible, we’ve compiled our top ten tips for steering past the hazards and ensuring YOU have the right credit card deal.
1) The first and most important thing to understand before you even consider any financial product – particularly a credit card – is this: You must have income sufficient to pay your current bills and overheads PLUS any new financial undertaking. Don’t be taken in by the polished words of a lender’s marketing literature: it’s an assessment only you can make.
2) Be smart and be cautious. If only credit cards with a high rate of interest are available to you, don’t go mad with spending on them. Use them for small purchases and pay off the balance in full at the end of every month. That way you minimize interest payments, but also – by paying back in a timely manner – you prove your worth as a lender and boost your credit rating. This will enable you to get lower APR on future credit card deals, and boost the chances of larger credit lines being made available, such as auto loans and mortgages.
3) The very nature of borrowing means that interest increases over time and if it isn’t dealt with promptly, it can spiral out of control and land you in trouble. Particularly with credit cards, when interest payments are large, and a minimum payment offers a seemingly manageable solution it can lead to unmanageable debts if not attacked properly. What actually happens if you just pay the minimum payment is this: the balance is barely eroded and might take many years and many dollars in interest rates to disappear. You need to adopt a radical approach, where chunks of debt are eaten away each month.
4) If you have a large outstanding balance, don’t just let it sit there attracting large interest charges. Consider a credit card balance transfer to a lender offering a lower rate of APR. This will mean you spend less on interest payments each month and start to attack the overall balance with real venom.
5) A large balance and no immediate prospect of paying it off can be a nightmare. Don’t just pay the minimum payment each month – this is playing into the hands of the credit card company. Consider taking out an unsecured loan as a way of consolidating your debt. Personal loans can give you a consistent cheap debt, and as you must make the repayments each month, it helps provide structure to your repayments. Those with poorer credit scores might not always get the best rates, but it’s still often a cheaper option than paying back credit card debt each month, and even in the long term a faster method of repayment.
6) If you feel you might be in trouble with credit card borrowings, don’t feel stigmatized by your debt woes and don’t bury your head in the sand. Help is at hand should you seek it, and a solution is never far away.
7) If you have a poor credit record, the sad fact is that you’re most vulnerable from the unscrupulous machinations of rip-off lenders. Be wary of "special deals" touted for credit cards for borrowers with poor or no credit history, especially if they're being offered by small-time lenders. Poor credit deals often involve inflated interest rates and onerous repayment terms.
8) If you have a large outstanding balance, but money in the bank – use your cash! It might sound obvious, but the interest paid on savings is usually far less than interest charged on borrowing, so paying off debts with savings makes plenty of sense.
9) There’s a vast array of different cards on the market – not just credit cards. ATM cards, charge cards, even different types of credit cards can be confusing to many consumers. Make certain you know what you’re letting yourself in for before applying. The wrong financial product can be a costly mistake.
10) Remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.
So long as you’re sensible, however, there should be nothing to worry about. If you’re aware of some of the pitfalls; are cautious, without being too wary; and mindful of the commitment you’re entering, you’ll be fine.
For many people, credit cards provide sensible short term, flexible lending, that’s both cheap and convenient. You should always try and proceed carefully, but tens of millions of Americans use credit cards cheaply and conveniently every year. With a little common sense, you too can be one of them.
About the Author:
Max Hunter is the author of many credit related articles. If you are looking for help with Home Loans or any other type of credit issue please visit us at http://www.creditcardunlimited.com
Credit Cards...Choose Wisely And Prosper
By: Terry Till
The use of credit and credit cards is today looked at as much as a necessity as a choice and therefore the selection of which credit card you choose to apply for and use is of the greatest importance. With so many credit cards being offered to us today there are several factors that are worth considering before you make any application, remember that every time you make an application for a credit card, or any other form of credit, a mark against your credit score is made.
Your credit score is a universal indication, used by the credit industry as a whole, as an indication of your credit worthiness and will affect what credit and applications of credit you may be allowed in the future.
So before filling in any credit card applications first of all see what credit card offers are available and look not only at immediate benefits but how much interest you may be paying over the year on your outstanding credit balance.
Its interesting to note that some companies offer a differential rate of interest on new card purchases as opposed to credit card balance transfers, like wise different companies may charge you different interest rates for withdrawing cash from a credit card as opposed to using the credit card as a means of product purchasing.
With special interest introductory rates it is also of vital importance to look at what rate you will be required to pay after the initial reduced rate expires and your card reverts to the normal annual percentage rate, or APR.
Where credit card companies do look at making money is with late payment fees and with this in mind I would always suggest setting up a direct payment to the credit card company for the minimum monthly payment, remember you always have the option to make additional payments in order to reduce your monthly interest charge.
Credit is an important factor in today’s lifestyle for so many people so by choosing wisely in the first place and administering the balance on a weekly basis will pay dividends and will in fact allow you to use the credit facility to your benefit and not be a monthly nightmare.
About the Author:
Copywritr 2005 Terry Till http://www.credit-card-offer-deal.info
Bad Credit Credit Cards
People who have bad credit have many more credit card options today than they did just a few years ago. Maybe this is contributed to the theory of supply and demand or maybe the credit card companies just realized how much more money they can make by charging high interest rates to people with bad credit. I personally think it may be a little of both.
But no matter what the reason why, there are many credit card companies willing to grant credit to people with bad credit these days. This is good news to those with tarnished credit records. But people with bad credit should evaluate what actions got their credit into bad shape in the first place before applying for more credit. For many people their bad credit is due to uncontrollable circumstances like the loss of a job or medical reasons. But for other people, their bad credit is due to irresponsible financial decisions. If you have bad credit and it was caused by the second reason, it is imperative that you change your credit habits. Otherwise you will never improve your credit score and will always end up paying high interest rates and fees.
Higher interest rates are obviously the price you have to pay in order to obtain a credit card if you have bad credit. Fortunately, if you are responsible with your bad credit credit card and make your monthly payments on time, over time you can improve your credit score and eventually get a lower interest rate. Make sure that the bad credit credit card you are applying for frequently reports to the major credit bureaus. This will insure that your credit score will improve as quickly as possible by having your positive payment activity reported.
There are credit card websites that have researched the best bad credit credit card deals available and have listed them in an easy to read format. Visit www.amex-visa-mastercard.com to look at the details. Many of the bad credit credit cards listed on this site do monthly credit bureau reporting.
We have all run into hard times and made mistakes with our credit activity. Thankfully there are bad credit credit card offers available that will still give you the freedom of having a credit card along with giving you the chance to rebuild your credit.
About the Author:
This article was written by Beth Pardue who has over 10 years of experience in the financial industry assisting clients with assorted financial needs. To learn more about credit cards or to apply for a credit card online please visit: Visit
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