Credit Card Quick

How to Compare Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers

Choosing Credit Card

If you have debt from different sources and are looking to consolidate that debt onto one, manageable card, then you may have considered a balance transfer offer from your credit card. Although balance transfer offers aren’t as plentiful as they once were, consumers can still find good deals on balance transfer offers if they have the good credit to back it up.

It is important to note, however, that all balance transfer offers are not created equal. Don’t get pulled into a credit card’s balance transfer offer by promises of low introductory interest rates and loads of hype; instead, carefully read each card’s terms and conditions regarding the balance transfer offer so that you can make the best decision.

What to Look for in a Balance Transfer Credit Card Offer:

• Introductory Period – A flashy introductory period is what often pulls consumers into choosing one balance transfer credit card over another. However, introductory periods, however fantastic are just that: introductory. In other words, don’t just look at the great introductory rate; look at the length of that introductory rate so that you can determine if the card’s terms are right for you. For example, a 3.9% introductory rate for 12 months may be better than a 0% introductory period for 6 months.
• Interest Rate – One of the most important considerations when choosing a balance transfer offer from a credit card is the card’s interest rate, once the introductory period has ended. A fantastic, low introductory rate may not do you much good if you still have a balance and the rate just jumped to 20 percent. Don’t get caught with a high interest rate credit card once the introductory period ends; instead, pay close attention to the card’s interest rate so that you won’t pay big in interest charges.
• Balance Transfer Fees – Balance transfer fees are those pesky, often-hidden fees associated with balance transfer offers. Balance transfer fees can add up to hundreds of dollars and are typically calculated as a percentage of the overall balance you will be transferring. It is important to remember that balance transfer fees can vary widely from one card to the next, so it pays to shop around for a balance transfer offer that’s right for you.
• APR for Purchases and Cash Advances – Always remember that your balance transfer rate often doesn’t apply to purchases and cash advances, so make sure you understand this before making any purchases or cash advances on your balance transfer credit card.

The Three Most Common Ways Consumers Handle Their Debt

Credit Card Debt

If you find yourself in the middle of too much debt and are looking for ways to manage that debt effectively and practically, then you may have a few options. Provided your credit is strong, you still have a variety of options when it comes to handling your debt.

• Personal Loan – A personal loan is still a popular form of debt consolidation. Personal loans require no collateral, and are therefore a bit more difficult to get than other types of loans. Because personal loans are considered unsecured debt, they may also come with higher interest rates. However, if your credit score is still strong and you’ve always paid all of your debts on time, then you will likely still qualify for a personal loan. Personal loans are often offered through credit card companies, banks and other lenders.
• Credit Cards – If you have debt from a variety of lenders, many of which have high interest rates, then consolidating your debt using a low-interest credit card may be right for you. Many credit cards offer great deals on balance transfers, thereby allowing you to consolidate all your debt onto one, easy-to-manage credit card. Be careful about balance transfer fees, however, as well as introductory rates, to be sure that you’re getting the best deal on your balance transfer credit card offer.
• Home Equity Loans/Lines of Credit – For many homeowners with equity in their homes, a home equity loan or line of credit may be an option when consolidating debt. These types of home loans generally offer low interest rates and a longer repayment period, thereby making them a popular loan for homeowners. However, it is important to remember that these types of loans use your home as collateral; in other words, if you are unable to repay your loan, your home may be used by the lender to repay that debt.

Whichever type of loan you use to repay your debts, it is important to always consider all of your options. And, as always, develop a game plan, right from the start, regarding the repayment of your loan so that you can plan your budget accordingly.

Are you Taking Full Advantage of your Rewards Credit Card?

Credit Card Rewards

Many of us have taken advantage of rewards credit cards because they reward us for spending. However, do you know if you’re fully taking advantage of everything your rewards credit card has to offer?

There are many ways to ensure that you are getting the most out of your rewards credit card:

• Before applying for a rewards credit card, do your research on a variety of different rewards cards to be sure that you are getting the card that best fits your lifestyle and spending habits. In other words, it doesn’t make much sense to have a credit card that offers airline travel rewards when what you really need is a gasoline rewards credit card because you travel by car much more than you do by air.
• Once you receive your rewards credit card, read the cardholder agreement carefully, so that you fully understand how the card works. In addition, read any information that is sent with your monthly statement, as this may contain important information about your credit account and rewards system. For example, many rewards creditors offer additional rewards or benefits when you use the card at certain retailers, and these benefits usually change on a monthly basis.  In other words, it always pays to check your cardholder statement!
• Read the reward terms carefully, too! This is a very important step that many cardholders fail to do, which therefore leaves them in a quite a bind when they learn that their rewards points have expired or changed. It is up to you to learn about your rewards, and that includes how to redeem them, how to use them, where you can use them, when you can redeem them, etc.
• Don’t lose all the advantages of your rewards credit card by racking up interest charges. The best way to get the most out of your rewards credit card is to pay your bill in full, if possible. After all, it doesn’t make much sense to earn rewards when you end up paying much more in finance charges.

Don’t let your Credit Cards get the Best of you

Credit Repair

Your ability to obtain and use credit can be incredibly useful and practical, but it can also be a veritable nightmare if you abuse or mismanage this privilege.

The goal is to use your credit responsibly so that you can be afforded the luxury of purchasing both large and small things on credit. However, many consumers have abused this privilege over the last, few years, due to the sheer availability of easy credit.

The result of the lax consumer credit industry of previous years, and the now-stringent industry that has taken it place, is that many consumers are left with large amount of debts and no plan on paying it back.

If you are one of the lucky few who has managed to dodge the credit card mess that has taken over the country, it is now more important than ever to maintain your good credit rating so that you can continue to enjoy the privileges that come with a great FICO score.

How to Avoid Sinking into Credit Card Debt:

• Don’t Live Beyond your Means – Using your credit cards to achieve a certain lifestyle is, for sure, the easiest way to get into credit card trouble. Purchasing expensive electronics or taking lavish vacations are fine – if you can afford them. However, if you find yourself making these purchases on your credit cards, and not being able to afford to pay off the debt, then it may be time to rethink your financial strategies and priorities.
• Remain Aware of the Warning Signs – If you find yourself purchasing necessities, such as groceries and gasoline on your credit card because you simply don’t have the cash, then you may need to rethink your budget and financial situation.  Instead of relying on your credit cards to make everyday purchases because your paycheck isn’t stretching as far as it once did, then it is probably time to make a budget, find ways to cut expenses, and live within your means.
• Don’t just Pay the Minimum – One of the fastest ways to incur a substantial amount of credit card debt is to make only the minimum payments on your credit cards. One of the best ways to manage your credit is to find money in your budget to pay more than the minimum payment on your credit cards so that you don’t find yourself in over your head in credit card debt.

Protect your Credit: Order a Copy of your Credit Report Today!

Credit Score

What you can’t see won’t hurt you, right? Wrong!

For many of us, ordering a copy of our credit report is downright frightening, as we simply don’t want to deal with the details of our credit report and what is may or may not contain.

However, monitoring your credit report is one of the smartest things you can do to maintain your credit score and work towards an excellent FICO score.

The key is to remain proactive when it comes to your credit. Just think of how satisfying it would be to have a clean credit report, free of errors and discrepancies!

It’s Never Been Easier…

The fact of the matter is that it has never been easier to get a hold of your credit report, as the three, national credit reporting agencies – TransUnion, Experian and Equifax – are all obligated to offer consumers a free copy of their credit report every year.

So, what are you waiting for? Bite the bullet and take a good, hard look at your credit report.

Once you have a copy of your credit report, it is important to check it carefully and immediately contact the appropriate credit bureau if you find any inaccuracies or errors. It is important to understand that the information found on each of the three credit reporting agencies may be different, so you may find an inaccuracy on one and not the other.

Making Changes

For many consumers, examining their credit report is a difficult task, mainly because they may have to take a good, hard look at their credit card debt and of their spending habits. Although this may be a difficult thing to do, know that it is an important step to recognizing the state of your credit and for making the necessary changes for the future.

For many of us, ordering a copy of our credit report may be a necessary step to changing our spending habits. After all, it is a lot easier to ignore your credit problems than it is to face them head on.

Take advantage of your free credit report and start down the road to financial responsibility – today!

Where has my Credit Limit Gone? The Reason why Credit Lines are Disappearing

Credit Card Types

The credit industry is in a bit of a tight situation. The new credit card legislation has changed the practices of the industry, which has left many creditors struggling to make a profit.

As with most everything else, there are positive angles and not-so-positive angles with change. Although the new credit card legislation was designed to help consumers and reign in on the questionable practices of the credit card industry, it has also created turmoil as creditors seek to find other ways to either make a profit or simply keep their losses to a minimum.

Creditors begin to make Changes

A perfect example of this is that many creditors are cutting back credit lines to less-than-stellar customers in an attempt to cut waste; and the easiest way to do that is to cut their credit lines, either by hacking their credit limits or by simply cutting them off for good.

In the past, creditors sought out nearly any type of customer, and did so with low interest rates, promotional rates, and even gifts and rebates. Times have certainly changed, though, and now creditors are scrambling to find these consumers and cut their chances of incurring debt and not paying it back. In other words, creditors must act because their hands are tied and their profits are dwindling.

What we can begin to Expect

Some of the actions from the credit card industry that we can expect to see include: cutting off all inactive accounts; cutting off subprime consumers; and reducing the credit lines for countless others.

Many industry experts believe that creditors may cut nearly $1.2 trillion worth of credit to consumers this year alone, and that by 2010 the number is expected to rise to $2.7 trillion.

For many of us, our credit cards serve as an everyday convenience, as well as a lifeline in case of emergency situations. It is therefore in our best interest to do what we can to keep the credit we already have, as to protect ourselves and our credit score.

Get Ready, Get Set: Charge!

Credit Score

With the downfall of the economy over the last year, and the fear that has been instilled into many consumers’ minds as a result, the number of consumers charging on their credit cards has dramatically decreased, and understandably so.

But is abandoning your credit cards really the right decision to make?

Perhaps not.

Although there certainly are reasons why consumers should stop using their credit cards, for most consumers this may be a poor decision.

Maintaining your FICO Score

The reason is because much of our credit rating, or our FICO score, is directly related to our ability to responsibly handle credit. And the best way to demonstrate our ability to handle credit is to charge on our credit cards.

Of course, there are certainly situations where charging on our credit cards is NOT the right decision: we have outstanding debt on our credit cards that is not paid off; we recently suffered a layoff or termination from our job; we have difficulty handling credit responsibly; or we have fallen behind on other bills that need our attention.

However, for the average consumer, often the best way to keep our FICO scores up is to simply use our credit cards. There are a few catches, though.

Using your Credit Responsibly

One of the worst things we can do to maintain our FICO score is to incur a significant amount of debt on our credit cards, as this simply raises our debt to income ratio, which then lowers our FICO score.

Therefore, if you have outstanding debt, work on paying it off instead of spending.

For the rest of us, using our credit cards throughout the month and then paying the debt off is not only practical, but very smart in terms of our FICO scores.

A good rule of thumb when charging is to always remain aware of our purchases so that we aren’t caught off guard when our bill comes. Otherwise, charging can be a practical and convenient way to pay for a wide variety of things throughout the month.

As always, the key to working towards an excellent FICO score is to charge responsibly and make a point of paying off our debts in a reasonable amount of time.

The Importance of Reading and Understanding your Monthly Credit Card Statement

Introduction

Understanding your credit card statement should be on your list of things to do each and every month. Reading and understanding your credit card statement can accomplish a few things:

·    It can eliminate mistakes or inaccuracies on your bill.
·    It can provide insight regarding your spending habits.
·    It can provide you with valuable information regarding your card’s fees and interest charges.

However, each creditor’s monthly statement can look markedly different, making the process of understanding each creditor’s statement a bit complicated at times.

Although credit card statements may appear different, they all contain the same, basic information.  Here’s a breakdown of what you may find on your credit card statement:

New purchases – New purchases consist of any new purchases you made since the end of your last billing cycle. Make it a point to learn the billing cycle on your credit card so that you can better understand all of your new charges.

In addition, make it a point to keep all of your previous month’s receipts so that you can easily check your monthly statement for accuracy.

New charges – Besides purchases, you may see new charges appear on your credit card statement. This can be late payment charges, over-the-limit charges, cash advance charges or balance transfer charges.

 Finance Fees/Charges – These charges are associated with cash advances, purchases and balance transfers, and are usually separated as such. Pay close attention to these charges to make sure that your interest rate charges are accurate for each type of charge. For example, most creditors will assess higher interest charges for cash advances, or they may be offering a low, promotional rate on balance transfers.

Previous Balance – Your previous balance is the amount owed on the card at the end of the last billing cycle.

Payments/Credits – Any payments or credits from your last billing cycle should appear separately on your statement. Make sure your payments are applied properly so that you don’t pay unnecessary finance charges.

What you need to Know about Traveling and your Credit Card

Card Security

Traveling with a credit card provides us with many conveniences and advantages. It eliminates the need to carry a large amount of cash; it protects us against fraudulent spending; and it even provides us with purchase protection insurance. Best of all, most major credits are accepted at destinations all over the world.

It is therefore important to always plan accordingly so that your travel plans won’t be interrupted by credit card problems.

• Call the company ahead of time – It always a good idea to call the creditor before you depart on your vacation to let them know that you will be traveling and perhaps charging more than you typically would. Many creditors, when they see a great deal of credit card activity, especially in a different location, will flag a credit card for fraud. It is therefore important to inform them, ahead of time, so that you won’t have to deal with a frozen credit card account while you are on holiday.
• Check your balance – There could be nothing more impractical than not having enough credit on your credit card while away on vacation. Therefore, it is best to check your balance before you leave and, if necessary, contact your creditor and request a credit line increase to accommodate your travel expenditures.
• Beware of using your credit card at suspicious locations – Use your credit card only at trusted locations while traveling, if possible; especially while traveling abroad.
• Always carry a backup credit card – If you experience problems with your credit card, it is always a good idea to carry another, major credit card as a back-up.
• Keep the credit card phone number in a safe location – Write down your credit card’s phone number and store it in a safe location while on vacation in case you need to contact the creditor. You may choose to keep it in a separate piece of luggage, or you may ask your travel companion to carry the number. Of course, you don’t want to carry the number in your wallet or purse, as it won’t do you much good if it is stolen, too, along with your credit card.

What Kind of Credit Card Spender are you?

Choosing Credit Card

There are loads of credit cards available, many with special features and perks. But not all credit cards are right for every kind of spender. Understanding which kind of spender you are will help you to better understand which type of credit card is best for you and will provide you with the most benefits:

So, which kind of credit card spender are you?

• Jet Setter – Do you love to travel? Do you travel frequently for business or pleasure? Then you’re the jet setter credit card spender, and you may benefit from the perks of a travel rewards credit card. From free hotel stays to reduced or free airline tickets, travel rewards credit cards are ideal for those that travel frequently, either for business or pleasure.
• Big Spender – Do you use your credit card to make large purchases? Do you charge a considerable amount of money each month on your credit card? Do you use your credit card for everyday purchases, from gas to groceries? If so, then a credit card with cash back rewards may be right for you. Because, if you’re going to spend money, you might as well get cash back while doing it!
• Fair Weather Spender – If you enjoy having a credit card for emergency purposes, or if you find yourself spending infrequently on your credit card, then a credit card with a low, fixed interest rate is probably best for you. You probably wouldn’t use any rewards or perks programs, so it is best to simply secure a great credit card with a low, fixed interest rate.
• New Spender – If you are a college student or new to credit cards, you may need to search for a credit card aimed specifically at individuals with little to no credit. These types of credit cards, although they have lower credit limits and higher APRs, allow individuals to build up their credit and show creditors that they can handle credit responsibly.
• Recovering Spender – If you have poor credit and are making steps to repair your credit for a better future, then you may want to consider applying for a secured credit card. You must provide the creditor with upfront cash (that will be put into a special savings account for you) in order to obtain a secured credit card, but it is a great, first step to repairing your credit and moving forward.