The Credit Card Low-Down

Posted on June 23, 2010 by admin

Getting a decent deal with interest rates can be a tricky business if you don’t know what you’re looking for.  Getting a credit card with a decent interest rate is somewhat easier, thanks to the wealth of information available to us daily.

Be it via Internet or physically talking to credit card providers about the different rates available, it is so easy to find out what you need to know.  Some websites will display comparison tables for all the major banks, finance companies and other lenders, ranked by state, country or continent even.  And usually right next to the provider name will be the interest rate for that scheme.  By clicking on one of the links provided, you may even be able to apply online once you reach the provider’s home page.

Most importantly, look for a credit card with a low interest rate. The lower the interest rate, the less money you have to pay over and above what you originally spent.  Beware, though, of committing to a credit card when there is an interest rate special on it.  An advertisement might read “4.99% balance transfer on store cards if you apply for a credit card….,”  but be sure that it either extends for as long as you will need to repay the original amount, or increase your repayment amounts to cover the reduced time available.

If you do take advantage of a promotion offering a lower interest rate than normal, make sure you check to see when that special offer ends and how much the new rate will be after.  Also, if there are any other associated costs and how much they are.  Quite often, people neglect to read the fine print and wonder why they suddenly owe more than they did two years earlier when they were first issued the credit card.  In this case you were probably better off where you were!

While you can try to get the lowest interest rate you can when applying for a credit card, the government also has its finger in the pie, and nationwide interest rates can change dramatically without warning.  That’s where the option of fixing your interest rate can seem like a great idea. No worry about having to pay extra interest if the rate increases. The downside however is that if the interest rate drops, you are left paying more interest than you needed to.  You don’t know how long any interest rate will remain unchanged though.

Whether you fix the interest rate on your credit card to a set rate or not, choosing a credit card with a low interest rate and low fee structure are going to be two of the easiest ways to get out and stay out of credit card debt.

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Good Riddance to Bad Credit

Posted on June 23, 2010 by admin

Credit is a word all of us will be familiar with at some stage of our lives.  The difference between good and bad credit, and which one you have, can mean the difference between having and not having.  To know whether you have good or bad credit, you need to get a credit check.  From there, you will have a much more accurate picture as to your personal credit rating.

A credit check will check to see what sort of consumer you are and what level of risk you carry.  It will let you know your credit history, where you have bought on a purchase agreement and how you handled repayments.  You will be able to see at a glance whether you are the only person making transactions on your behalf.  If you are worried about identity theft, which is becoming a “trendy” crime, a credit check will go some way to alleviate those fears.  If anyone has been using your identity to make purchases, you will be able to see anything that shouldn’t be there.

It is recommended that if you move home or change your details to add a credit check to your list of things to do.  This will help make sure that your details will shift with you properly and don’t end up with someone else of the same name.  Should you find anything that needs to be updated, do it right away before you make your next impulse buy and get stuck without the right paperwork.  Don’t be afraid to ring and ask the Credit Reporting Bureau if you don’t understand your report.

If you do find something wrong, you will need to satisfy the Bureau’s criteria in regard to disputing information contained within your credit check, before they can remove and repair your credit rating.  For some, this can be a stressful time, especially if identity theft is an issue and a credit repair firm may be a better option.

Some law firms will conduct a credit repair service, but there are companies who specialize in credit repair.  The faster you can get your credit fixed and clean again, the better for you.  Consider the amount of time we spend and the range of activities we conduct over the Internet every day. As a general rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to get a regular credit check every six months or so to make sure you haven’t left your credit “door” open for anyone to walk in to.

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Credit Card Planning With Personal Loans

Posted on June 23, 2010 by admin

Credit cards can be an excellent aid in managing your finances, but it’s too easy to make poor choices. Sometimes the events in our lives are unpredictable, and take us beyond our expectations, at great expense to us. A few months of unexpected extra expenses can leave us way behind financially, bewildered at how to catch up. Do we have any choices? Yes, we do, and one of the better ones is a personal loan.

If you have accrued several large credit card charges, you may consider a personal loan.  A great deal of people are making this choice, and adding a personal loan to their financial portfolios. Here’s an explanation of how to go about the process of doing it.

First, add up all of the credit card bills you owe. Then factor in the extra expenses you don’t know of until you receive your credit card bill. Add to that 10-20% of the total, considering this amount to be the “I forgot about that,” factor. That gives you your total figure to use to start shopping around. Many personal loan businesses will welcome your business.

Once you’ve received your loan, pay off all of your credit card bills. Consider hiding your credit cards, so that the temptation to use them is decreased. One effective way of doing this is to freeze your cards in water and keep them in your freezer. Now, instead of having several credit card bills with high rates to pay monthly, you have one payment, with a lower rate, due at the end of the month. This process is called “consolidation.”

It may not seem obvious at this point why consolidation is a good idea. Firstly, you may save up to half the amount that you would pay in credit card interest rates. Secondly, you will receive one bill a month, as opposed to several bills of differing amounts. This will prove to be an important advantage to your budget.

Credit cards can be an excellent way to buy whatever you want and need, and can also function as a financial management tool. But it’s easy for the bills to get way out of hand, and it happens to the best of us. Choosing a personal consolidation loan will reduce your interest rates, which will ultimately save you a great deal of money, and paying one bill at a fixed amount monthly, rather than several bills of differing amounts, will be of great help in organizing your budget.

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Credit Card Fraud and What You Can Do

Posted on June 23, 2010 by admin

Imagine that in the past month, you have used your credit card once, say, to buy your niece a little birthday gift. So you’re not worried about paying the small charge on your statement when it arrives, and why should you assume anything is out of the ordinary?  The statement arrives, and, with checkbook in hand, you’re ready to take care of it in plenty of time.  Imagine your surprise when you see your statement is full of charges, to Sears, and other stores and places where you’ve never even been to, much less shopped there. Suddenly, you are a victim of fraud and in your shock, don’t know what to do.

Are you aware of your legal rights, as stated by the Federal Government, as a victim of fraudulent purchases made on your credit card?

Fraudulent charges on your credit card are defined as charges that you, yourself, didn’t make. Should this happen to you, there is a federal law that endows you, the victim, with certain rights, and limits the billing responsibilities placed on you. It is called the Fair Credit Billing Act, and limits your billing responsibility to $50.00. You must follow a specific procedure right away to claim your rights and resolve the issue.

Immediately call your credit card company and explain that these charges were not made by you, and you don’t know where they came from. The company will then give you a list of instructions for you to follow. It’s a good idea at this point to check any other statements you have, to confirm that there are no more unauthorized charges that you may have missed.

Your credit card company will most likely have you sign a statement confirming that the charges were unauthorized. It’s important that you do not use that specific credit card until the dispute has been resolved.

After the charges have been disputed and then removed from your credit card, and all is resolved, you should get copies of your credit report from the three major credit report bureaus. Make sure that the credit card record has been updated with them.  It’s likely that during the dispute and resolution process, these charges may have been reported to them as late payments, and you need to be sure that if this is the case, that they correct your credit report right away.

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