Avoiding Credit Card Fees
Credit card bills can be expensive. Sometimes they can be simply
too expensive. Depending on how you use your credit cards, and
how much you spend, and how disciplined and controlled you are
over your own spending, you may or may not have trouble paying
your credit card bills when it comes to the end of the month and
the bill arrives in the mail. No matter what your situation is
however, there is always one thing you will not, under any
circumstances, want to see on your monthly credit card bill, and
that is a credit card fee.
There are different types of credit card fee and different
reasons for incurring them, but the good news is that many of
them can be avoided by simply following a few simple rules and
keeping on top of your finances and bills. The most important
way to minimise the fees you receive from your credit card
company is to pay your bill on time and in full each month.
Generally if you do this, you will be charged no interest of
finance charges at all, and will be receiving all the benefits
of a credit card and over a month of credit absolutely free. If
you are one of the lucky customers who can manage to maintain
your account in this way, you will be very lucky.
However, many people cannot pay their account in full each
month, therefore, they incur the most common of all credit card
fees, and this is finance charges. Credit card companies
actually charge very high interest rates to their customers so
if you have the option of borrowing in other ways that may be
cheaper it is recommended that you use these methods if you are
planning on needing the money for more than a couple of months.
It is far cheaper to pay back a short-term loan than to maintain
a large credit card balance.
Another credit card fee is a late fee for when you are late in
making your monthly payment. Many people who have more than
enough money to make their repayments simply through a lack of
organisation miss payments and incur large fees. If you are late
in making your repayment because you don't have enough money to
make it you may need some debt counselling or other advice to
help you manage your way out of this situation.
There are many other fees that your credit card company can
impose upon you depending on the company, but being aware of how
they are calculated and what sets them off is probably all you
need to know to be able to avoid incurring them in the future.