Mega Credit Cards

In the world of credit cards, there are plenty of people who are desperate to borrow money, and just as many people who are desperate to get back out of debt again. Given that, its not surprising that the industry is full of scams. Here are some to keep an eye out for.

The Debt Advisors.

Be very careful if youre offered free debt advice. There are many government bodies, legitimate financial companies and charities that give good advice, but the ones who do a lot of advertising tend to be owned or partnered with people you dont want to know. If the advice you get is to sign up for another loan from one company in particular, dont believe it the chances are that the person youre talking to is just a salesman in disguise.

The Identity Thieves.

If you dont keep track of your credit card statements and your credit report, then you could be in for a surprise. Its not that hard for someone else to apply for a credit card, pretending to be you, or to get the number of a card you already have and start buying things with it. Then, of course, they get free money, and youre left with the debt, not to mention the black marks against your name when it doesnt get paid back.

The Catalogue Card.

This is a scam thats especially common around Christmas time. A company offers you a credit card, with a much higher limit than youd usually qualify for. The catch, of course, is that you can only use it to buy things from their catalogue, at inflated prices. This is nothing but a clever way of offering you expensive finance on purchases from them.

The Only Game in Town.

More exploitative lenders might realise that theyre really the only company thats going to be offering some people any credit at all. Theyll send offers to desperate people for absolutely terrible deals, with the highest interest rates they can get away with, and no benefits whatsoever. These people will accept the offer without even reading it, relieved that finally someone out there offered them credit and their debts get even harder to ever pay off.

The Insurance Charge.

Heres one that even the most reputable lenders go in for trying to sell you useless insurance. This is usually an insurance premium that is automatically added to your interest each month, and covers you against very unlikely things, like dying and not being able to pay back your debt. It is almost never worth ticking the box to buy insurance.

The Secured Card.

A secured card is one that requires you to make a deposit before you can use it a deposit that can sometimes be as much as the limit on the card itself. Secured cards can be a good way of rebuilding your credit when its all gone wrong, but dont take one from a lender youve never heard of. With more unscrupulous companies, you will often be charged an annual fee, an application fee, and any other fee they can think of, all of which are added to your debt. Dont let it happen to you.

The credit card industry is a competitive one; all you have to do to see that is open your mailbox. For many consumers, pre-approved credit card applications can be found every week in the mail, often accompanied by offers to let you transfer an existing balance from another credit card at a low interest rate. Sometimes these rates, known as “teaser” rates, can run as low as 0%, which can make applying for one of these cards rather tempting. Be careful, though. The fine print in the terms of agreement on those cards could hide some very expensive surprises.

Here are some things to watch out for in the fine print when you apply for a card with a low-interest introductory offer:

Default rate – How high can the interest rate go if you fail to make a payment on time? This is known as the “default rate.” If you pay late, your 0% or 3% interest rate could rise to 30%. Make sure you know.

Duration of the low rate – How long does this “teaser” rate apply? Six months? Until you pay off the transferred balance? Make sure you find out, as these rates often rise to the regular rate that applies to the card after some limited period of time.

Other debts – Does this card agreement have a universal default clause? Many credit card companies will now raise your interest rate if you make a late payment on any bill, such as a telephone bill. Credit card companies claim that paying any bill late makes you a higher risk customer. You don’t want your interest rate to rise because you forgot to pay the cable TV bill, so read your terms carefully.

Other charges – These “teaser” rates apply only to transferred balances; they do not apply to new charges. If you use the card to make purchases, those purchases will accrue interest at a higher rate. When you make payments, the payments will be applied to the portion of the balance with the lowest rate first, meaning that these purchases could be accruing interest at the higher rate until you pay off your balance completely.

Any reason, or none – Most card agreements permit the company to raise your interest rate at any time, for any reason. All that is required is two weeks’ notice. Keep this in mind if you are transferring a large balance that may take you several years to pay off. Sometimes, “until you pay off the transferred balance ” only means until someone at the corporate office changes their mind.

As long as you are aware of the terms, these teaser rates can be quite helpful. If you pay late or fail to read the fine print, you could find yourself paying a lot more in interest. Read the agreement before you apply for the card.

Credit cards are no more a luxury, they are almost a necessity. So, you would imagine a lot of people going for credit cards. In fact, a lot of people posses more than one credit cards. So, the credit card industry is growing by leaps and bounds. However, the credit card industry and credit card holders are posed with a big problem called Credit Card Debt. In order to understand what credit card debt actually means, we need to understand the workflow associated with the use of credit cards as such.

Credit cards, as the name suggests, are cards on which you can get credit i.e. make borrowings (your credit card debt). Your credit card is a representative of the credit account that you hold with the credit card supplier. Whatever payments you make using your credit card are actually your borrowings that contribute towards your credit card debt. Your total credit card debt is the total amount you owe credit card supplier. You must settle your credit card debt on a monthly basis. So, you receive a monthly statement or your credit card bill which shows your total credit card debt. You must pay off your credit card debt by the payment due date failing which you will incur late fee and interest charges. However, you have the option of making a partial (minimum) payment too, in which case you dont incur late fee but just the interest charges on your credit card debt. If you dont pay off your credit card debt in full, the interest charges too get added to it. So your credit card debt keeps on increasing, more so because the interest rates on credit card debt are generally higher than the interest rates on other kind of loans/borrowings. Further, the interest charges add on to your credit card debt each month to form the new balance or the new credit card debt amount. If you continue making partial payments (or no payments) the interest charges are calculated afresh on the new credit card debt. So you end up paying interest on the last months interest too. Thus your credit card debt accumulates rapidly and soon you find that what was once a relatively small credit card debt has ballooned into a big amount which you find almost impossible to pay. Moreover, if you dont still control your spending habits, your credit card debt rises even faster. This is how the vicious circle of credit card debt works.