5 Tips to Keep Your Credit Card from Trashing Your Credit
Posted by Joe Villanvera in Uncategorized, tags: business, credit, credit cards, finance, money, personal finance, UncategorizedBless those credit cards. They come to our aid in our time of need. A pox on those credit cards. All they do is try to fleece us. Does this sound like ambivalence? It is, and the truth is, credit cards are just little pieces of plastic. They are neither good nor bad. The person using the card is the catalyst for good or evil when it comes to whether their credit is gold or lead. Unheeded usage of credit cards is about the fastest way anyone can trash their credit.
Conversely, to those who handle the credit card with care, they become a tool to sagely build up their credit and protect their financial future. The question is really not whether you should use a credit card but how you should use it. Using that rationale, here are five tips from the financial experts on the proper care and management of credit cards.
1) Do some research and don’t just grab at the first credit card offer you see. A big mistake that people make when choosing a credit card is simply to sign up for the first one they can. The low interest, no annual fee cards are probably not the one you are looking at. These cards do not come with the fierce marketing strategy of the cards with the high APR. Read the accompanying literature as you will be the one stuck with the fees if you don’t.
2) Don’t pile up the number of credit cards you own. It is enough to track one card, let alone spending that time on two, three or more. Stick with just one all purpose credit card and leave the rest alone.
3) Opt-out of interest rate increases. Everyone complains when their credit card company decides to increase the interest rate on their card. What they don’t realize is that they have a choice. In this case, when your credit card company’s trying to raise your interest rate past what you’re comfortable with, you can “opt-out”. You won’t be able to charge anything more to that card, but you’ll still have up to 5 years to pay off your current balance. (Check this policy with your credit card company before signing on the dotted line.)
4) Use your debit card instead. A debit card can be used in the same way as a credit card but draws funds for the amount of purchase immediately from your checking account. This makes them as flexible and convenient as a credit card, without running up a debt you can’t pay. Cash is practically obsolete, but the debit card is a fine substitute for cash and will keep you from running up an exciting credit card bill.
Lastly…
5) Let your creditor know if you’re not going to be able to make a monthly payment. Believe it or not, creditors aren’t the big bad monsters people make them out to be.
Being responsible with credit card usage can make the difference between that card becoming a benefit or a bete noir. It’s all up to you.
If you happened to have enjoyed the above article, it is possible to go and take a look at more comparable writing at MoneyOnTheGo or this moneyonthego.net post.
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