Try finding a credit card that lets you earn points towards products, services and vacations. Other people who don’t use their cards wisely charge their vacation expenses to their charge cards and come home having a stressful bill. If you want to learn to use credit cards wisely, keep reading this article.
Interest Rate
Make sure you know your card’s interest rate. Before signing up for any card, knowing the interest rate is crucial. You could be charged much more than you originally thought if you are not sure of the rate. A higher interest rate will make it more difficult to pay off your debt.
You may want to find a co-signer if you don’t have enough credit to get your own card. Anyone who has good credit can be your co-signer. They have to be willing to state they will pay what you owe if you are unable to pay it. This can help you get a first credit card, and start building your own credit.
Credit Card
Understand the terms and conditions for any credit card prior to agreeing to the use of the card. If you don’t fully read the terms and conditions, you could be shocked by the interest rate, the fees and the payment schedule of your credit card. To ensure you understand the credit card’s terms, take the time to read the fine print.
Verify the legitimacy of an online seller before using your credit card on their site. You do not want to deal with a merchant that does not provide a physical address on his or her site. Dial up the phone numbers shown on the merchant’s site to verify that they are in operation.
Available Credit
Keep your accounts open. While you may think a closed account will lead to a credit score rise, this is, in fact, incorrect. The reason for this is that the credit reporting agencies look at your available credit when considering your score, meaning that if you close accounts your available credit is lowered, while the amount you owe remains the same.
Always make sure that the company you give your account number to, online or by phone, it a trustworthy company. When someone calls you, be very wary of giving out your credit card number. You can’t be sure they are who they say they are. A number of scams are circulating whose sole purpose is to procure your credit card information. Be relentless in protecting yourself.
Don’t send a credit card number through fax to anyone. Faxes typically sit in baskets waiting for recipients to pick them up and could be viewable to all passersby. It is possible that one of those individuals has bad intentions. It exposes you to fraud and all of its associated problems.
Even without the advantages of points and perks like vacations, charge cards can be great tools to have at your disposal. As long as you use your bank cards responsibly you will have no problems. If you spend recklessly on your bank cards, however, you could find yourself stressed out due to huge credit card bills. Use the things that you’ve learned from this guide to make wise decisions on spending money using your bank cards.