Posts Tagged ‘Best Credit Cards’

How to Choose the Best Credit Card to Meet Your Needs

Standard Credit CardsAlmost every bank or financial institution offers a standard credit card. These are unsecured offers, which mean they require nothing to secure the credit limit other than a good credit record to back you up. The interest paid on standard credit card accounts varies and depends on your credit history.

Introductory periods are a way to entice you to apply and use a particular card. These savings can be substantial, especially when making a large purchase. Be sure you read the terms and conditions of every card you apply for and understand how the interest rates and user fees will increase after the introductory period.

Transferring a high rate balance to a lower interest rate credit card is another way you can use a standard card to your advantage. Be careful that you understand the transfer fee that may apply and the time limit at the lower rate to be sure that it’s worth the effort making the transfer.

Reward Program CardsThere’s a reward program for just about everyone’s interest, hobby or business–from airlines to telephone companies. The typical reward program pays 1% cash back or equivalent value gift card or merchandise. Additional rewards are sometimes given for purchasing from the issuing or select merchants. For example: purchasing from Amazon.com with an Amazon credit card earns double the reward points. Airlines offer points to be redeemed for airline travel.

Due to the cost of running reward programs, an annual fee is sometimes required. Be sure to read the terms and conditions to reap all the benefits of being enrolled in the program. Reward credit cards are a great deal for those who pay off their balances each month as its like money in the bank.

Offers for Consumers with Bad CreditThe easiest credit card to qualify for to help rebuild or repair a damaged credit rating is the secured credit card. Collateral of some sort, whether a security deposit, jewelry, stocks or other items of value, is used as a security deposit against the credit amount that is authorized. Typically, the value of the item needs to be of equal or greater value than the amount being borrowed.

A low credit line of less that $250 is often available to those who need help rebuilding their credit. These carry additional charges and penalties but can help you overcome the credibility problem you may have with lenders and get your credit back on track.

One last consideration in handling a bad credit situation is the prepaid credit card. These work like a debit card in that the amount available is already secured by having it deposited upfront into a bank account. The risk of running up your debt is eliminated by using these cards. However, there are fees that may apply such as startup, over limit, ATM and more. Be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully.

Specialty Credit CardsBusiness cards are specialty credit cards offered to meet special credit needs of businesses. Like traditional cards they offer rewards, low intro rates, balance transfers, etc. There are additional benefits that may make these offers attractive: additional cards for employees, business rewards, separate expense reports for business and personal purchases and higher credit limits.

Student cards are offered to begin the process of building a healthy credit history. The credit limit is kept low to help the first time card user become accustomed to a monthly pay-off or payment.

Which Card is For You?Only you can decide the purpose of credit in your life. Be a smart consumer and comparison shop. Learn about all the terms and conditions and how they apply to the offers you are considering. Read the fine print.

Avoiding Credit Card Debt Before It Sneaks Up On You

In this modern time where the economy has been such a challenge for everyday people like you and me to keep up, it’s easy to get into credit trouble when your credit bills begin to stack up. So if you are in the position to just start learning the ropes of the world of credit cards, there are a lot of things you can do to avoid credit card debt before it sneaks up on you and keep your nose clean, as they say.This is an outstanding goal for you if you are just getting your first credit cards. If you know or talk to anyone who is battling tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, you know what a jail sentence it can be. Once that credit card debt gets that high, the time it will take even under the best of conditions to bring it down runs into the years if not decades. And for all that time, thousands of dollars of money goes down the drain to credit interest that doesn’t buy you any food, tickets to the movies or new clothes. It just goes away with no value to you at all.But if you are new to the world of credit, getting a credit card is a good thing. But once you get one, keeping it under control is job one. You will find it amazingly easy to use a credit card once it comes. In fact, the retail world makes it difficult to conduct transactions any other way. You can pay for gas at the pump that way and even charge your groceries at the grocery store. And while all of these great uses for credit are helpful, you can end up with a whopper of a credit card bill at the end of the month. And if you don’t pay that bill off, that is the first step on a lifelong jail term in credit card debt jail.So there are some guidelines you should follow to both use credit responsibly but also to keep building your credit rating which has a real value to you. Remember that what the credit card companies don’t tell you is that making a charge on a credit card is a loan. Even if you just charge ten bucks to go to the movies, you took out an unsecured loan to finance that movie ticket. So once you start using a credit card, keep in mind that you will be paying back everything you run up on it. It is NOT free money. A good practice is to save every receipt every month and keep a running tally of what you have spent on credit. Now only can you use that to cross check your credit card, it keeps you honest because each time you add a charge to your credit card, you can update your tally so you know for certain that you will be able to pay it off when the bill comes.Paying off the credit card each month is the number one best way to keep your credit problems under control. Now it isn’t a bad idea to let a little bit of the debt drift from month to month. This builds your credit history and credit rating which will pay you well down the road when you want to buy a larger purchase. But by staying on top of your credit and what is going onto your card, you will start out with the kind of habits that will lead to a life of good credit use without credit card jail. And that is a wonderful gift to give yourself early in life.

Credit Card Tricks

when it comes to the dozens of credit card offers that you get in your mailbox every week, you might think that some of these credit card companies would like to be on the next series called “Stupid Credit Card Tricks”.These promotions that you get for credit cards seem to be playing on just about every tactic they can find to get you to take out yet one more credit card. You would think that the fact that credit card debt is a virtual epidemic in this country would let the credit card companies know that its time to get on the side of the consumer to learn responsible use of credit. Instead they do all they can to get you to have more, not less, credit cards and use them as much as you can.We need to be smart consumers because as much as credit card companies try to make credit cards seem fun and happy and like big toys in your wallet, they are not toys. We should never forget that a credit card is nothing more than a way for the credit company to extend to you dozens of small unsecured loans that they will create credit payments on the fly to enforce through your credit card bill that will include high interest rates and additional fees as they see fit.This is not to say that having a credit card is not a good thing. Good credit is one of the real assets any responsible adult will use to help make life easier and to make the necessary purchases in life. And more and more credit is becoming the currency of choice replacing cash and checks as the preferred method for paying for gas, at restaurants and any more even at retail outlets and grocery stores.While the spread of credit as actual currency is a fact of life for us, it is also a major move by the credit card companies to take over the economy and to make you even more dependent on them. So the best defense is to take charge of your credit card life and make sure that you are the boss of your credit cards, not the other way around.The stupid credit card tricks can be really fun to look at and sometimes enticing. They will appeal to your sense of school pride by giving you a credit card in your college school colors. You can get credit cards that give donations to save the environment, help the poor or create a college fund for your kids. There are all kinds of premiums, cash back concepts, frequent flier miles and gifts and toys that credit card companies will fork over just to lure you into getting more credit cards and using them a lot.To put it bluntly, you and I need to learn not to be suckers for these deals. We can laugh at the stupid tricks they try to use. But if a credit card company is going to try to trick you into getting a card or using one, they are not doing business honestly with you. You want a credit card company that deals straight with you. They should offer fair rates that don’t change at the drop of a hat. They should sustain a reasonable credit limit and not always be jacking it up to try to get you to buy more stuff on the card. And they should have good customer service and be ready to renegotiate your relationship with them so you are getting good value from their service, not just paying for a bunch of toys and frills that do you no good whatsoever.By keeping in mind what a credit card company actually does and that credit cards are mature adult tools, not games or toys, we can keep in perspective how to use our credit cards and how to keep from abusing credit which will lead to the nightmare of credit card debt.

Get a Good Deal on a Credit Card

Credit cards have emerged as an efficient option for making purchases. Credit cards are preferred mostly because of the facility that it offers- “buy now, pay later”.  Credit cards allow buyers to make huge purchases without worrying about paying for it at that point of time.  Credit Card Company sets a spending limit on the credit card.  It also decides the minimum amount which a buyer has to pay off each month. If the cardholder keeps the balance under that said limit, and pays the minimum amount, credit cards can prove to be a safe and efficient way of purchasing. There are companies who also offer prepaid credit cards. They work similar to a credit card, but one has to pre-load the balance with cash. The amount of cash which is added to the credit card is called the credit limit.  If you finish this amount, the card is empty. The major disadvantage of prepaid credit card is that you’ve to give a small fee to open an account and add money to the card.  The prepaid cards functions more like a gift card.While opting for credit cards, you must be updated with the terminologies like interest rate, annual percentage rate and minimum payment.  Interest is mainly the amount that a person pays to the bank for the facility of using that bank’s money. As you’re not paying for the particular item at the time of purchase, a small fee is collected by the banks for this support. The amount of interest is determined by the bank and is generally based on how much of a credit risk the customer is. This is decided by seeing the billing history of a buyer. If bills have been paid by him/her on time, it’s less of a risk to lend this person money, so interest rates will obviously be lower.  The bank often asks for the minimum payment to be paid each month by the cardholder. Keeping credit cards are advantageous as it provides a clear record of what money has been spent on. It also allows delay payment in case if funds are not available at the time of purchase.While looking for a credit card, you must look at various companies, the rates and incentives they provide. It is essential to compare companies and offers to find the best deal for your specific situation.   But when you are using credit cards just see that you are not trapped into a credit card debt. In the situation of debt, credit card debt consolidation can be a very effective tool to eliminate or reduce your overall credit card debt.