Credit Card Tips: Featured Article

Credit Cards: A Must Have in Today’s Economy

Credit cards are here to stay. They make our lives so much more convenient. Many purchases like renting a car or online shopping or even reserving a hotel room are starting to be done almost exclusively with credit cards. While you can always print an online order form and mail your order with a check or money, buying with credit cards can bring your purchase to you quicker.

The sad thing is that not everyone can afford to have a credit card. Many companies have stricter rules and not allowing those with a bad credit history to have a credit card. If you have made mistakes in the past chances are that obtaining a credit card is harder. While there are companies making credit cards available to people with bad credit, it usually comes with higher interest rates and other charges. Many people believe that the extra expenses are not worth obtaining a credit card.

For many people, having credit cards are just a form of convenience as well as safety.

Being able to purchase anything from small ticket items to large ticket items at the spur of the moment without having to carry cash. Most credit card companies will not charge interest if the cardholder pays the bill in full. The typically low monthly payments usually set for credit cards also make long-term payment arrangements available for larger purchases.

Always Stay Within Your Limits

Always stay with your limits. This requires self-discipline. Try to pay off your bills as fast as possible. It would be ideal if you can pay off the bill completely. Not only will this be great for your credit ratings, but it will also keep your credit card expenses down to a minimum.

The vendor understands that when you use a credit card he will have to pay a fee. Usually the fee is very small, about half of a percent or at the most two percent. This is the cost of doing business. The retailers will factor this into their pricing.

Some people see credit cards as a necessary evil in today’s economy. Some see it as an extremely valuable tool to make their lives more convenient. Especially in-between paydays, the credit cards can come in very handy indeed!

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April 22, 2009

What You Should Know About Cashback Credit Cards

This article reveals the truth about how banks allocate the monthly repayment in the bank’s interest by establishing a hierarchy predicated on the various interest rates they charge, so that holders of cashback credit cards will always be punished, whatever action they take. It also shows why it is important to renew your plastic once the opening cashback credit card offer time finishes.

A leading finance lender lately started a television campaign which made great play about the awful truth that a large majority of card suppliers split up usage habits into various categories then allocated a different interest rate depending on which category was taken into consideration. These different levels were based upon the perceived spending models of the average credit card holder. Such people include holders of cashback credit cards.

If you go by the advert, a large majority of credit card companies presume that the card user will start by transferring the balance from a previous card (thereby wiping the balance out) for an average period of 39 weeks. This will be at zero percent interest rate for that time. The credit card owner will then make a new purchase using his or her plastic which will on average draw an interest rate of approximately 15%.

The card user may also use the cashback credit card for getting some ready cash. Your interest rate for cash is set higher than the rate charged for purchases, and this is on average between 19% and 21% but which might reach as high as 23 percent or over.

Now here’s where the trickery starts. As the monthly payment comes around, the cashback credit card lender will ensure the less costly purchase items are at the head of the list when the time comes to pay the minimum, or whatever proportion of repayment has been decided by the card holder.

Thus the most expensive parts of your credit card usage - and that’s usually the cash component - is put right at the back where it will rack up more interest, and where all that interest will be further compounded when interest is charged to the existing interest (we all know how it works, don’t we?)

The cashback credit card user may believe that they are clearing things in a uniform manner, and that if one type of cash attracts a higher interest rate then that will be balanced out by the goods purchase which will be charged out at a lower interest rate. The reality is very different. Because the bank will always put the less costly portion first in the paying hierarchy, and allow the more expensive parts to just sit there accruing interest.

These higher interest rate segments will thus always be the last to be paid. In the average case, for the first 9 months of this cashback credit card all the repayments will be used to pay the zero interest portion while the new purchase and the cash component remain clocking up interest.

More importantly, the more expensive parts will always be at the back, always being paid off last. Last to go will be that cash advance, with its massive 21% or whatever it is. It is ironic to think that the longer the 0 interest period, the longer the interest will rack up! Then when you add on the fee that most cashback credit cards nowadays charge for making that balance transfer, then you know why the credit card companies are making so much money.

The only credible solution is to dump the cashback credit card and transfer the balance to a new card when the interest free period ends. Based on what we’ve seen the banks do as a matter of course, that really is the only option. No exceptions.

An excellent free service which does all the above is the Credit Card Balance Transfers site in the States and the similar Credit Card Balance Transfers UK site in Britain.

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Reconstructing Your Credit Rating After Bankruptcy : Is It Possible

You might well be considering how you will be able to repair your credit rating after bankruptcy, right? Well, really bankruptcy, as much as possible, shouldn’t be proclaimed by anyone because this is a very unfortunate condition for the individual who is in debt as well as the lenders.

What’s sad about this is that, there are people who consider this as their last course of action and they are left with no other option. While others find it a bit hard but are still able to deal up with the state of affairs, still look for choices that would help them reconstruct credit after bankruptcy. The question now is, what are the real possibilities of doing so?

Let’s think positive , we know life must go on. If you declare bankruptcy your valuable account history doesn’t matter any longer. Anything that would be declared after bankruptcy is a means of beginning all over. It can be a battle but it is still achievable to rebuild credit after bankruptcy.

You will be really fortunate if you can find financial companies that will lend to you after a declaration of bankruptcy. However this is a case by case matter, it would really calculate on how loaning firms are able to see your credit report and whether they will consider you worthy of their trust.

Let’s say that you find a means to reconstruct credit after bankruptcy, then hold onto it because that’s your beginning point. Don’t miss the chance of showing these lenders that you are in for a change. Building a sound credit history with the company would be a great beginning too.

Everybody should have an opportunity to continue life after declaring bankruptcy. If everything went bad earlier, then he or she can reconstruct a new standard of living and live by that. You can acquire all the help you desire from financial consultants.

Reconstructing your credit after bankruptcy through thorough research and learning how the financial system works would help. You don’t have to rush things because what is important is that you have options to check into. All you have to do is to do your own research so you can realize the most out of your time waiting.

 

Read more on how do I improve my credit score

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