Get A Better Rate: Get A Credit Card Deal
When people look for a credit card option to help them through
Christmas or a holiday, over half the time they just take the
first credit card deal thrown their way. Some people get an
application in the mail and fill it in without even checking the
details, only to be amazed when they get their card to find it
has a tiny spending limit, or it's secured and requires money to
be deposited, or it has an interest rate in six months time that
hits 20%.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Some of the best credit card
deals are right under your nose - you just don't know it yet.
Some credit card companies offer 'honeymoon rates' that give you
six months of a year of interest free, or low-interest,
purchasing http://www.
exeterdaily.com/category/finance-news. These can be 0% APR
to 4% APR, which looks like a great deal, but the devil can be
in the details. MBNA, for example, will give you six months of
no-interest spending, but whenever you withdraw money from an
ATM, they'll hit you up for $7 in fees, and apply 19% interest
to that withdrawal. When you get your statement and wonder where
this interest came from, you'll find the fine print says your 0%
credit card deal only applies to over the counter purchases -
writing checks on your card (with those 'convenient' check books
they send you) will see you paying 19% interest AND $10 per
check in fees. And if you think that's a scam, it gets worse.
MBNA will call you up a few months into your credit card account
and offer you 'credit card insurance' - a deal where, should you
get sick and not be able to pay your monthly payment, they'll
cover it for you for a while. That sounds like a good deal,
especially when they say "it only costs 75c" - what they avoid
letting you know is that it's 75c PER DAY, and that you'll soon
be seeing $50 per month coming off your credit card balance to
cover it. And if that puts you over your limit - then they'll
charge you ANOTHER fee - a late payment fee - of $25. Not much
of a credit card deal, eh?
Of course, MBNA is not known for being charitable. In fact, they
recently pushed the White House to put through a new bankruptcy
bill that says, if you get cancer and can't pay your credit card
bills, they can now take your home in lieu of payment. Yikes!
Your government working for you...
That said, there are some very good credit card deals out there.
Look out for any deal that offers you a free 0% balance
transfer. What this credit card deal allows you to do is move
the $5000 you owe MBNA to another company, at 0% interest, so
you can shut that awful MBNA card down and not be extorted any
more. Of course, the new card will likely switch that debt to a
heavy interest rate within six to twelve months, so make sure to
look at the fine print, but in the meantime you can save
yourself hundreds of dollars, and when the new interest rate
kicks in - just get another card to do it all over again!
While that seems like a never-ending credit card deal of 0% -
just switching from card company to card company - do understand
that the credit card organizations don't like you doing that. In
fact, after a few transfers they'll start to show your pattern
on your credit report, and that will make you less of an
attractive borrower in future. It's fine to do this a couple of
times, but do it forever and they'll hit you with the credit
score black mark.
Additionally, getting another card only works if you CANCEL your
other card as soon as the balance is zero. Keeping it open 'just
in case' will inevitably lead to you racking up a SECOND credit
card debt, and that's no deal at all.