Helpful Advice For Using Your Credit Cards
A credit card can get you out of any number of financial predicaments. You may need to pay for something, such as an important bill, but have no liquid cash. There is no problem! Pull our your credit card and you’ll be fine. Is it your goal to increase your credit score? It is easy to do that with a credit card. Read this article to learn about more benefits you can get from a credit card.
Pay for your credit card on time every month so that you can maintain a high credit score. Tardy payments hurt your credit record and result in expensive penalties. Establishing automatic payments through your bank can be a great way to streamline the process and generate savings.
Check out the integrity of your seller before using your credit card for online purchases. Call the company to be sure they are still in business, and never buy from a store that has no street address listed.
Do not close credit accounts. You might think doing so would help, but your credit score may be damaged by closing accounts. When you close an account you have a higher amount of debt with a lower amount of available credit.
Credit Bureaus
Try to avoid prepaid cards when looking at secured credit. In reality, they are debit cards and don’t send reports to credit bureaus that might help improve your record. In addition, a number of them also charge additional fees, and they are really only another checking account. Place a deposit and get a proper secured credit card which will report to all major credit bureaus and raise your credit score.
Don’t lie about your income when applying for bank cards. If a company doesn’t verify that the information regarding your income is true, you may get that higher limit – and you may rack up charges that you truly cannot afford to repay.
Whenever you can, steer clear of cards that come with annual fees. Typically, cards without annual fees are available to those with solid credit histories. These fees wipe out perks your card would have provided. Take a few minutes to run the numbers for yourself to see if the deal makes sense for you. Any fees for a card are more than likely typed in fine print. If you need to, use your reading glasses. Learn if the benefits outweigh the fees. Many times the fees do not outweigh the benefits, so consider carefully.
If you are paying a higher annual percentage rate (APR) on your bank cards, but have good credit, call your credit card company and ask if they will lower it. In many cases, they’ll be more than willing to oblige. This will save you tons of money in the months where you will carry over a balance.
Place a piece of paper in a visible location in your home, and write down what you put on your credit card. This way, you’ll be reminded of how much you owe and what you are spending your money on. It can be very, very easy to get deeper and deeper into debt without being aware of it.
Although you may be tempted to make all your purchases with your credit card, it is often better to use cash for small purchases. Stores often have a minimum purchase amount for credit, meaning you may find yourself looking for extra items to add to your purchase that you did not intend to buy. Only use credit for purchases of more than $10.
You are probably getting the sense now that there are a lot of different ways you can use your credit cards. You can use them for everything from boosting your credit score to paying for things in the supermarket. Consult the information you have just read before you begin using any credit card.