Are you tired of fighting high credit card fees? Why not lower your interest payments by transferring your balance to another card. Balance transfers are one the smartest and easiest ways to reduce credit card costs. Just be sure you understand the terms and conditions of the new card, so you can maximize your savings.
Before you run out and switch credit cards, consider whether you want to keep your current card. If you do, simply ask for a lower interest rate. Tell your credit card company you’ve found another card with a much lower rate and you’ll have to transfer your balance if they can’t cut you a deal. However, be prepared to do so if they refuse your request.
Why Use a Balance Transfer?
Balance transfers can provide card holders with a number of advantages. Transferring balances to a lower rate credit card can drastically reduce your interest rate and fees. Credit card companies charge varying interest rates on balance transfers and purchases. The most common rate is 0 percent for six through 12 months.
For example, the Chase Ultimate Rewards MasterCard and Citi Platinum Select MasterCard charge no interest for 12 months on balance transfers and purchases. The Discover Platinum Card and the Hess Visa from Chase drop the introductory rate after eight and six months, respectively.
Some cards link the introductory annual percentage rate (APR) to billing cycles. The GM Card and Fifth Third Bank Cash Rewards MasterCard, respectively, charge 0 percent APR for the first six and four cycles.
Transferring balances can also give you access to more perks. For example, you may be able to get a new card that has no annual fee, a longer payment grace period or cash back on purchases and other rewards. Some cards also offer car rental insurance, identity theft protection programs and money saving discounts.
How to Transfer Balances
Credit card companies commonly use low interest rate balance transfers to attract new customers. There are three main ways to transfer the balance on a card. One way is by simply filling out the paperwork provided by your new card issuer. Or you can contact the credit card company that you want to transfer a balance to and make arrangements for a balance transfer.
You can also shift balances by writing balance transfer or convenience checks. These simple checks look and act like regular checks. You simply write a check for the amount of the balance transfer and send it to the company you want to transfer a balance from. Some checks have an expiration deadline, so make sure you use them within the appropriate time frame. If you don’t, you’ll be charge the regular interest rate set for your card.
Regardless of which transfer method you use, you can only transfer as much as your credit limit on the card you are transferring allows.
Transaction Cost and Other Fees
Banks generally treat balance transfers like cash advances and have similar transaction fees. There’s no fee for balances transferred in response to special offers. But for Citi Platinum Select and many other companies, the transaction fee for balance transfers is 3 percent of the amount of each balance transfer, with a $5 minimum and $50 maximum. Keep in mind that a small amount of funds may not be worth transferring because the transaction fee may outweigh your potential savings.
In addition to standard transaction costs, banks also charge special fees that can take you by surprise. Some of the most common special fees include:

Late fees – Some banks wait a few days before assessing a late fee, but many impose it the day after the payment was due. Companies either charge a flat fee, such as $10 or $15, or a percentage, such as 5 percent, of the minimum payment due. To avoid late fees, mail off your payment so it arrives in plenty of time before it’s due. If you pay your bill at the bank’s branch or ATM, find out how long it will take to process your payment. Sometimes payments made at a branch or ATM aren’t credited for a few days.
Over-credit-limit fees – Most cards assess a fee if you charge more than your credit limit. These fees are charged each time you go over your limit, so you could be hit with several of them during the same billing period. Banks typically charge $10 or $15 for this fee or up to 5 percent of the amount you’re over your limit. These fees are in addition to interest charges.
Lost card replacement fees? If your card has been lost or stolen more than once and you need a new one, some companies will charge you for a replacement. These fees are range from $5 to $10.

Making Payments
After you transfer balances, be sure to make all your payments in full and on time or you’ll automatically be hit with higher fees. Generally, there’s no grace period for repaying balance transfers, so interest will accumulate immediately. (No interest will actually accumulate if you have an introductory 0 percent APR.)
When making payments, it’s important to understand that the payments you make will first be applied to balances with lower or promotional balances and then allocated toward higher APRs. That means you’ll be paying down 0 percent balance transfers before you even touch the balance on regular purchases which can be charged at a rate of 9 to 18 percent. As a word of advice, consider using a different card for your regular purchases and pay off the balance each month. Keep your balance transfers restricted to a separate card.
After the Promotional Honeymoon Ends
You need to keep a close eye on the promotional period. As soon as it expires, normal interest rates will apply. The standard variable APR for Citi Platinum purchases (8.99 percent) will be applied to all remaining purchase and balance transfer amounts. Likewise, the standard variable APR for cash advances (19.99 percent) will be applied to all remaining cash advance amounts. If you default on Citi Platinum’s card agreement, the company can immediately increase the APR on all balances including any promotional balances to a variable default rate of 28.99 percent.
Your post-introductory APR will depend on your credit history. If this interest rate is significantly higher than the rate on your old card and you have a remaining balance, you’ll wind up losing money. Of course, you could always transfer your balance to a new card with a lower promotional rate. Just be careful not to entangle yourself in a vicious cycle that could backfire later
To Compare Credit Card
http://www.bestcreditrates.net

So you have decided that you want to get a credit card only you may have credit that is not so hot or even no credit history what so ever. Many consumers wonder how it is possible to build a credit history with no credit or credit that might not be so swell. Surprisingly enough it is very possible for consumers finding themselves in these two particular situations to begin building a solid credit history without having to have a traditional credit card.

A secured credit card would be quite simple for someone with no credit or less then perfect credit to be able to qualify for and receive. All you need to do is complete the application for the secured credit card and make the required security deposit. After those two steps are completed you are well on your way to building a solid credit history. Just keep in mind that you need to apply for a secured credit card that will report all of your credit activities to all three of the major credit reporting agencies.

Department Stores such as Sears and Macys will often take a chance on someone who may not have any credit and give them a credit card. So if your luck hasnt been great in applying for traditional credit cards try your luck in applying for a department store card to use as a tool to start a solid credit history foundation.

Many gas stations will allow people with tarnished credit or no credit history to have a gas station credit card. If you are in either of these situations try applying for a card at your local gas station to begin building a credit history.

These are just a few suggestions of steps that you can take to start building a credit history if your credit record may not be so good (or non existent). With a little creative thought and research you will be well on the way to getting the credit and the credit cards that you deserve.

When looking to get a new credit card, there are many things to watch out for. Whether this is your first card or youre simply looking to transfer your balance of an old card onto a new one, there are many items youll want to beware of, including how long your 0% interest will be. One of the main issues of transferring your balance is what happens when you apply purchases onto the same credit card you transferred a balance on.

If you are in the market for a credit card to transfer a high-interest rate balance, there is one particular thing youll want to watch for. For example, a credit card company may claim to have a 0% interest rate for 6 months on a balance transferred from another card. This, in fact, is quite common. However, the catch is simple when explained.

Use this card for any purchases and youll be paying an interest rate of approximately 16.9% interest on your purchases. The 0% interest does not apply to any purchases you normally use a credit card for and if you have your transferred balance on the card, as well as purchases, your repayments will go toward paying off the balance transfer first. Therefore, youll be accruing interest on the purchases and have no way to repay them unless you pay off the balance transfer first.

Unfortunately, this is why the majority of these companies offer cash backs and rewards. They want you to put purchases and increase your balance. In this particular case, they make a lot more money from you, while you spend years trying to pay it off.

Does this mean this is the death of the 0% balance transfer offer? No, it does not. To get around this, youve simply got to be aware of the fine print within each particular programme. If the offer states that it is 0% interest on balance transfers, cheque for how long it will remain 0% and what the interest rate will be once the time is up. Youll also want to know and evaluate what the minimum transfer balance is. Most credit cards are approximately 100. You must decide at this point if you believe the balance will be paid by the time period is up and if not, can you handle the interest rate.

The next step is to keep this card only for this balance transfer. Do not put any purchases or draw any cash from this card, no matter what kind of offer they give you for rewards or cash back. If you can do this, the 0% balance transfer will be beneficial to you.

Another thing to watch out for on credit card offers is if there is a handling fee. There are some companies that will charge a one-off 2% fee for balance transfers and they also put a minimum charge of 2 and a maximum of 50. While there are still some offers that will not charge a handling fee, they are becoming rare.

When looking to use a credit card for a balance transfer, it is very important to read the fine print on each and every offer before you make a decision. Look at what the interest rate will be and after what time period, as well as any handling fees involved. Evaluate each 0% balance transfer offer and go with the one you feel would work best for you.

Don’t Trap Into A Credit Card Debt, It Too Costly!

While swiping the credit card is a very effective way to pay without using any type of paper money, it has led many people into a debt trap.

Majority of people simply look at whether or not they can afford their monthly repayment when using at their credit cards. Many of them don't even try to figure out how long it will take to pay them off and how much they are costing them over the long run.

For instance, 2,000 doesn’t seem like a huge balance on a credit card. In that case at an 18% interest rate, your payment is only around 40 a month. Sounds pretty affordable at the moment, doesn't it?

Well, if you take a closer look at the number, approximately 30 of your payment goes towards interest. As a matter of fact only 10 is paid towards the 2,000 balance each month.

In case if you are only paying the minimum balance each month, it will take you over 30 years to pay off that 2000. Thirty years, that is too long. In addition you will have paid back 5,000 in interest in that time. Therefore your 2,000 credit card bill will really cost you 7,000 including interest in the long run.

The above payment does not include the extra payment incur in the case when you miss or delay your monthly repayment. In fact, many credit card companies are hoping you will miss your repayment so that they can charge you with extra interest and late payment fee and this would normally extend your payback period for the rest of your life.

There are many credit card debt calculators available on internet and you can use these calculators to calculate how long it will take you to pay off your current credit cards by using the minimum payment method. You will normally be shocked. And it is worth for you to put effort in finding ways to reduce and pay off your credit card debt.

If your credit card debts are reached to an unbearable stage; then, you may need to get service from a debt consolidation company to consolidate all your credit card debts. They are widely expert in dealing with creditors and help you to negotiate with your creditors for a better repayment plan. Follow the plan to pay off your credit card debts.

Credit cards have successfully minimized the use of paper money and become one of the most convenient ways to make payments for a shopping spree or while traveling. Though, if not used with restraint they may soon lead to a huge mountain of debt which leads you to a tizzy of financial woes. In simple terms credit cards are a really costly form of credit. If you must have one, paying off the balance in full each month so that you will not trap into a credit card debt.

Almost all the activities carried out every day facilitate the use of credit cards. Due to the prevalent use of credit cards, the buying capacity has increased; since people have the breathing period to repay the credit availed of. The buying decisions do not wait until the salary is received. This has made the usage of credit cards in all walks of life right from dining, to stay in a hotel, purchase of an air ticket, grocery purchase, petrol refilling etc.

Getting the right credit card from a reputed company extending genuine offers has become a concern nowadays due to fraudulent practices carried out while selling credit cards over the internet. Care needs to be taken in order to avoid to falling prey to the fake companies offering bogus offers to the customers.

A few useful tips to find out bogus credit card offers:

Normally a credit card issuer wont ask for hundreds of dollars for a processing and application fee. Only nominal amount will be charged. Also they do not ask for money upfront.

The annual fee is printed on the first credit card statement. So only when you are sure, fee payment should be made.

Person having bad credit problems are targeted by the bogus credit card offers. This is not the case with reputed banks or card issuers, since the repaying capacity is what a genuine person will look for. If an offer says that they even provide credit cards to bad credit people, then one should be cautious enough to reject the offer.

If a person receives mails from unsolicited sources offering a credit card, beware of the mail and mark them as spam at once.

Do not rely on other companies or brokers to get a credit card, as it is of no help. Applying for the same with a reputed company directly will educate more on the details regarding fees charged, penalty details, by going through the policies, terms and conditions of the company on your own.

It is advised to go for counseling with the consumer credit counseling service in case of credit related issues than falling prey to the company which claims that by collecting a fee from you, it will facilitate you to correct the bad credit. When you can correct it yourself for free why pay others?

A gold or silver card offered by a company might end up only to be used for overpriced products or from the very own companys catalogue. So one should be careful to study the status of the company and its credit cards, in detail.

It is better to buy from known sources and reputed companies, than going for offers lent by unknown companies.

Even if you write the check while waiting in line, it will take you forever to pay by check in most stores. They have to see your drivers license, write down all of your info, circle your address and then run it through the system. It isnt the stores fault. The need for all of the double-checking is caused by check fraud and identity theft.

Many shoppers, myself included, have turned to debit cards. Debit cards arent really like credit cards, they are an electronic check. But some banks are starting to offer frequent flier miles, rebates and cash rewards to regular debit card users. The lines are blurring for some consumers.

When you shop with a debit card, you need to know how it works and the drawbacks.

There are two types of debit cards: PIN cards and signature cards. With a PIN card, the money is automatically deducted from your account. You must use your PIN number to use the card. Sometimes you can even get cash back from a merchant.

Signature cards are often called check cards. The money is deducted from your checking account within usually two or three days. You dont have to enter a PIN, you simply sign the receipt.

Most cards today will perform as both types of cards. You can use it as a PIN card and receive money back or as a signature card. Both types will work in an ATM machine. With a PIN card, the money comes out of your account immediately. With a signature card, you have to keep track of your receipts, because, like checks, the money will not come out for a few days.

Debit cards are a good alternative to credit cards. You have the convenience of a card with a limitation to the money that is in your checking account. While you cant go on a spending spree, you must keep track of when you use the card. It can be quite surprising how it all adds up.

Debit cards dont have some of the legal protections that credit cards have. Credit cards give you the right to withhold payments on an item that is defective. Debit cards dont allow this, so you would have to try to get a refund or replacement item. For large purchases, you are often advised to use a credit card. Then simply sit down and make the payment to your credit card company that same day.

Debit cards require that you report a theft of your card within two days of discovering the loss to recoup some of your stolen money. If you follow all guidelines, you will only be liable for $50. After two days, you are liable for $500. After 60 days, you are left holding the empty bag.

Credit cards often will offer more protection than the law allows. Several cards offer zero liability for unauthorized use of a debit card.

While a debit card often gives you the ability to use it in place of a credit card, say for telephone or internet shopping, there are times that you should use a credit card instead. Hotels, rental-car companies and even gas stations will place a hold on your account for a certain amount of money until you check out or return the car. The practice ensures them that you have the money to pay the bill.

If you use a card with the available credit, you probably wont have any problem. But when using a debit card, be careful. The amount they place on hold is exactly as if it has already been spent. This could prevent you from having checks go through or withdrawing money from your account.

The best advice for using a debit card is to be meticulous about keeping your receipts and writing them down in your register. It is so convenient, often we loose track of how and where we have spent the money.

Two minus four equals trouble when you are talking your budget. If you spend more money than you make, you will have money problems.

The problem is that you usually don’t realize what you’ve done until it is too late. It’s hard enough to keep track of checking account spending, but add credit cards, and spending can get out of hand. How many times have you used your credit cards to buy clothes, impulse items or even groceries, and said you’ll pay it back? But at the end of the month, you have nothing to pay it back with.

It’s easy to say you will pay it back next month, or when you get that bonus at work, or when you get your tax returns. Before you know it, it’s added up to a mountain of debt.

While credit cards aren’t the only way to spend more than you make, they are a number one enabler. Other ways to spend more than you make is by taking out cash advance loans or having an interest only mortgage. In the long run, they rarely work for your benefit.

It’s not easy to stop spending more than you make. But it is possible. Start by creating a budget. List all of your bills and all of your expenses and see what you have left over. Do this every paycheck. You have to know exactly how much money you have if you want to avoid spending too much. If you need to, sit and look at your bank account register for three minutes every morning. Write down what you’ve spent the day before.

Personally, my husband and I have found that the longer we go between looking at the checking account ledger, the more we spend. When we know every day how much we have left, we are able to spend more frugally. But if we both just assume that we still have x amount left, we get into trouble.

If you are a shopaholic, then there are ways to cut your need to spend. The number one way is to never step foot in the store. If you know that you will buy too much other stuff at Walmart, don’t go there for groceries. If you want to go in Hobby Lobby just to look, but know that every time you look, you spend $200 — don’t go in.

Another way to reduce that need is to go through what you already have. When you see how many things you already have, the need for more is lessened.

You know, everyone has lapses. If you have lived on a $5,000 a month spending habit on a $3,000 income for a while, you may be used to juggling things. And even when it starts falling in, you want to spend that $5,000. You may go out and spend too much every once in a while — you just have to deal with yourself when you do. Then get back on track.

There are people out there that live comfortably on $500 a month. There are others that make $5,000 a month that can’t make ends meet. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, it’s how you use that money. By keeping close daily track of your income and purchases each month, you can make it on almost anything.

In 2007, having a credit card is no longer a luxury or even a convenience – it’s a necessity. You can’t rent a car, check into a motel, or order online without a credit card. If you want a cell phone, you’ll probably have to purchase prepaid minutes – at a premium – unless you have some plastic with your name on it. And without a credit card, you either have to carry around a lot of cash, make frequent trips to the bank, or hope that the stores you patronize will accept your personal checks.

Credit Cards Can Be Lifesavers in the Case of an Emergency

Worst of all, people who lack sufficient access to credit are the most likely to use payday loan services. Later in this series we will explore this subject in depth, but for now, just consider this: If a single mother is hit with a sudden, unexpected expense – say a car repair for $600 – what can she do if she doesn’t have the money? She needs the car to get to work, and she doesn’t know anyone who can afford to lend her the money out of friendship. So she decides to use the local payday loan shop and ends up paying a 530 percent APR (annual percentage rate) interest. If, instead, she had a credit card with at least $600 of available credit, she wouldn’t have had to use the payday charlatans, and would have paid a much, much lower interest rate. Many people who use payday loan services, even once, fall into an inescapable spiral of debt, where they work all week to pay back their payday loans, and then have to take out new payday loans to meet their weekly expenses. People who use their credit cards responsibly never fall victim to this scenario.

Credit Cards Can Help With Budgeting

Credit cards help spendthrifts easily track their expenditures. One simple technique is to use one credit card to automatically pay your recurring monthly expenses (phone, cable, utilities, etc.), another to buy your groceries and gas, and a third for all other expenses (entertainment, eating out, etc.). When you get your bills each month you can compare how much you spent on your wants versus your needs and make adjustments as necessary.

Protections Offered by Credit Cards

Although the media likes to focus on the “epidemic” of identity theft, the truth is that using a credit card is much safer than using cash, a check, or virtually any other means of exchange. If you’re carrying cash and your wallet is stolen, you’ll never see a dime of your money. If a merchant cashes your check and refuses to grant you a refund, chances are, you’re out of luck. But in either scenario, using a credit card would have offered you protection.

If, for example, your wallet full of credit cards is stolen, you will not be liable for any more than $50 of fraudulent charges, per card. This is the legal limit, but in reality, most card issuers don’t even hold you liable for the first $50 – they just stick the merchants with the bill. And if a merchant refuses to give you a refund that you deserve, you can file a “chargeback,” in which the credit card company will side with you 99 percent of the time. Paying in cash or with a check offers no such protections.

Your Credit Card – Don’t Leave Home Without It

Credit cards are ideal for traveling abroad because they automatically convert to the local currency. This means you won’t have to waste time with the money changer or carry around several foreign currencies, and of course, not carrying cash makes you much less susceptible to pick-pocketing.

The main thing to understand is that credit cards can be wonderful tools that greatly enhance our lives. All that we need to do is be informed, active, and responsible users of these powerful little pieces of plastic.

Why are we in debt? Why is a majority of all people living with debt beyond their means? We all have debt, this seems to be the nature of life, but why is it that our debt at least equals or exceeds what we can afford?

It is really quite simple. This is what the credit card companies allow, this is what they want and this is how they make it rich. The worst part is that they love for us to fall behind.

Everybody likes to get paid on time, but your creditors actually prefer the opposite. They want you to be late!

Now granted they dont want you to be too late or to default, but a week or two is just great. Lets just think what a late payment means to them. You are still paying, but you are a week or two late. Their late fee is $30. They just made $30 for doing nothing. You are already maxed out, so this fee puts you over your credit limit. This earns them another $30 for, again, doing nothing.

You can now make your minimum payment of $20. The math does not work in your favor. Lets just say that you have $15 in interest for the month. Your total costs are; $15 in interest + $30 late fee + $30 over limit fee = $75 charged to your account. You pay $20, which leaves you $55 worse than when you started and you have nothing to show for it.

This is why credit cards are evil and we must learn to do without them!

The first step in this process is to gather up all of your credit cards and destroy them. You can save one or two, but get rid of the rest. Just pick the ones with the lowest interest rates and preferably no annual fee. Store your select few in a safe place that is not easily accessible.

This may seem extreme, but most people do not have the will power to simply not use the card. They look at their statement, see $50 or $100 dollars in available credit and look at it as free money. There is no such thing.

If you cant bring yourself to cutting up your cards, at least gather them all up and store them somewhere that would take some effort to get to. A safe deposit box is always a good idea. You can also have someone that you trust hold on to them or hide them.

The key is to not have them accessible for those impulse purchases that we come across every day. Once we pass the moment, chances are that we will realize that we dont need to make that purchase or probably forgot about it all together. We are now even closer to getting out of debt.

Dont forget to cancel the cards that you are no longer going to use. Most credit cards have an annual fee, anywhere from $30 to $100. This is wasted money that you can use to apply towards the balance.

Some cards may charge you a closed account fee to persuade you to stay with them. At this time you need to analyze the impact. I recently cancelled a card that is charging me $3.50 a month in closed account fees. My annual fee is $59. 12 months at $3.50 is $42. I am still ahead of the game by $17, or more, if I pay it off within a year. The most important part is that there is no way that I can use that card again and worsen my situation.

Now that the temptation is out of the way you can start paying them off. Just remember to pay at least the minimum, pay all accounts on time, and stop using credit. Now step back and enjoy the road to financial freedom.

Credit card debt is one of the leading cause for needing to file for bankruptcy or take out mortgage loans on your home or other drastic measures. Studies indicate that credit card debt is slowly making a consumers financial situation bad or worse than ever before, and can also cause psychological depression and contribute to lower GPA’s and increased substance abuse among college students. Credit card debt can build up quickly, especially if you have more than one card and a habit of charging everything.

Interest

The interest is the money paid on a balance to a lender by the borrower, which is to be paid every month, if you roll over your balance from month to month. Interest doesn’t usually go down on its own, and when only minimum payments are made your balance can grow to un-manageable amounts. If you are late on a payment your interest rates can increase to 35 percent, making it very hard to pay off balances. With interest rates still on the rise, there’s no better time to take a good close look at your finances.

Payment

Debt, especially credit card debt can accumulate very fast and many people soon find themselves barely able to even make the minimum payments. Remember if you are late on only one payment, your rate could increase drastically. If you are not good at remembering payments, it’s wise to set up direct debits to pay your credit card bills. It’s always best to control your spending and try to pay more than the required minimum payment whenever possible.

The main problem with credit cards is that they make it very easy for you to spend money. The most important step take to reduce credit card debt is to not use your credit card for every little thing, use cash whenever possible. Studies show credit card debt is higher for males than female debtors, and even higher for joint accounts. The problem with carrying credit card debt is that the interest on the card will typically accrue much quicker when you only make minimum payments.