August, 2010

Credit cards are often the cause of financial troubles for many people today. They are often so easy to get – but they can also be so hard to control. However, by taking advantage of some special balance transfer credit cards, help can be found that could bring some ease to financially tight situations. This article will focus on how to choose the best balance transfer credit card, making sure that the card you pick is the right one for you.

What Is A Balance Transfer Credit Card?

This particular kind of credit card allows you to take an existing credit card balance, which is at a standard rate of interest – possibly as high as 29%, and put it on another card. The new card makes the transfer appealing to you by offering either a low monthly interest on the transfer, or even no interest on the balance – for the life of that transfer amount. Making this kind of a credit card balance transfer not only makes good financial sense, but it is also easy to do.

What Are The Special Gimmicks Of The Card?

Obviously, a credit card issuer is not in the business of giving an opportunity like this away without any potential strings attached. Here are a few things that you might want to read the fine print in the offer and look for.

Transfer Charges

Some credit card companies seem to want to play with the fact that not everybody reads the fine print. So, for the unwary, there could be a fee for making the balance transfers, or, it is possible that other advantages made in the offer could offset the transfer charges. You will have to look it over and compare it with other card offers. Ideally, if you accept a card with transfer charges, try to get one that puts a cap on the amount – for example, around 60 to 75.

Yearly Charges

The transfer may be free, and the interest, but there could be an annual fee for the use of the card. This means whether or not there is any balance on the card – you will still pay the fee for as long as the card is active. Many cards will carry no annual fee.

New Purchases

Here is another thing that you need to look for. A balance transfer credit card may offer you 0% interest on the amount transferred, but the amount of interest on new purchases could be very high.

Introductory Rate

Every card has an offer to get you to get their card. One common feature is the promise of a low rate for new purchases. Be careful about focusing only on the promise of 0% interest on credit card balance transfers. Check out the length of time for the introductory interest rate, too. Compare that also with other card offers.

What Are You Going To Use The Card For?

Another consideration about which card to choose should be based upon why you need such a card. If you have a lot of credit card debt, then the purpose should be only to put on the card your current credit card balance transfers. This means that you should try to get a card with 0% interest on the balance transfer amount, and that you will not use it to make new purchases. Also, seek to pay as much as you can as quickly as you can.

When choosing your balance transfer credit card, the ball game is in your hands. It can either help you – or hurt you, if you get a card too hastily. Do a little research, compare cards, and then proceed with comfort – knowing that you got the best one for your needs.

There are literally thousands of credit cards out there to choose from. You receive offers in the mail, in your email, over the phone, and on the websites you surf to on the Internet. We are inundated with credit offers, but are all credit card offers worth taking? The answer is a definite no. There are many things about accepting the offer of a credit card you need to know.

How do I know which credit card offers to accept and which ones I should stay away from? Is one of the most common questions we get at http:www.youngparentsmagazine.com , says Jennifer Tarzian. People want to know how to choose a credit card wisely.

If there is one thing consumer advocates and the banking industry do agree on, it is that the abundance of convenient credit gets a lot of people in trouble because they are financially uninformed. Financial education is not subsidized by the credit card industry, but is included in a the most recent version of the Bankruptcy Reform Act.

That bill, which has been stalled for years, would make it much harder for consumers to shed their unsecured credit card debt when they go into bankruptcy. It would also require both credit counseling prior to filing for bankruptcy, and post-bankruptcy instructional courses on personal financial management as a condition to discharge debt.

So the only financial education available comes way too late, since youre already in trouble when they offer it. All this means we have to be even more careful when choosing which credit cards to sign up for.

Credit card issuers are often accused of tempting consumers into carrying more debt than their income justifies. Then, when the customer is drowning in debt — stumbling to make even the minimum payment — they will pile on late fees, jack up interest rates and begin what often becomes a crescendo of collection calls.

How do I avoid that? Choosing which credit cards you accept is just as important as how you use the credit cards you do accept. The rest of this article will focus on choosing credit cards wisely. To find out more about how to keep your credit score high and use credit cards wisely, go to http:creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com , where Jennifer Tarzian can help you.

Do You Know What You Can Afford?

Credit card mailings can be tempting, offering teaser rates, rebates, and rewards. Its up to you to figure out whether you are financially stable enough to accept them. According to Tamara Draut, Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at the nonpartisan public policy organization Demos. “When consumers are extended credit, they think it’s because the banks see them as being capable of borrowing, while it very well may be that they are not financially prepared to take on additional debt.”

“People say, if I can’t afford it, why was I offered credit,” says Jim Tehan, spokesman for Myvesta, a nonprofit consumer education organization. Tehan says that credit card issuers target consumers based on data-mining technology that can only give one part of the picture. “They don’t know what consumers can afford — only a consumer can say what they can truly afford.”

But banking industry veteran Walter Wriston, former CEO of CitigroupCitibank, argues that credit card issuers shouldn’t be the ones deciding who can afford what. “Should we say to somebody, say, you’re 21 years old: ‘You can carry a rifle and fight our war. You can vote in a presidential election. But, unfortunately, you’re not smart enough to know how much money to borrow?’”

That means, its up to you. You decide whether or not you can afford to have more credit or not. Look at the credit cards and loans you now have. What is your total credit limit including all of your credit cards, loans, and accounts? What is your total debt owed to those credit cards, loans, and accounts? These are all things you should think over before you fill out that credit card application.

Comparing Credit Card Offers;

Many people still carry credit cards with annual percentage rates (APRs) of 13% or higher. After all, there’s a whole industry of card issuers out there devoted to using hidden fees and interest rate gymnastics to gouge you as best they can. Consider this: According to Gerri Detweiler, author of The Ultimate Credit Handbook, some credit card companies are actually trying to get rid of card holders who pay off their balances each month. “The card issuer might try to move you to a card with an annual fee or a debit card,” she says.

The key to getting a better credit card deal is figuring out how much a given card really costs you. You’ve probably gotten a stack of card offers in the mail over the past week, each sounding cheaper than the next. Just plug in a few numbers, and our analyzer will calculate the true cost or net interest rate of each one so you can compare them side by side.

And if you’re looking for a specific type of card one that, say, gives you airline mileage or no annual fee check out our credit card rate center and pick out those that best fit your needs. Go to http:www.bankrate.comsmmratecc_home.asp?web=smm and use the calculator there. Compare the offers you get in the mail to all credit cards.

I hope you find this tool and the information we provided here useful. Our goal at http:creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com is to provide young parents and others how to choose credit cards wisely, how to reduce credit card debt, how to improve their credit score, and how to stay financially healthy in general.

If you are fed up with one of your credit cards or simply dont use it, then perhaps is the right time to cancel that card. However, cancelling a card can be tricky, as the company obviously wants you to stay with them. If you follow these simple steps then cancelling a card can be hassle free and will not affect your credit rating:

Pay it off

Obviously, the first thing you need to do before you can cancel a card is to pay off the balance. Although it can be hard to stop spending on the card, it is best to pay off the balance first. This will make it much easier to cancel and you wont incur any penalties when you do so. If you try to cancel the card whilst you still have a balance, the credit card company could put your interest rate up to the maximum whilst you pay the balance off.

Phone the credit company

After you have paid off the balance, the first step in cancelling your card is to notify the credit card company by phone of your desire to cancel. The number for your card issuer is usually located on your statement or the back of your card. When you call to cancel, expect the company to try and convince you otherwise.

Listen to their offer

When you cancel your card, the credit company might well offer you a new deal in order to keep you as a customer. They might offer you a lower interest rate or some other perks such as an upgrade to a platinum card. If the offer is good, then think about whether you should cancel. If you are trying to get rid of cards, then maybe you can get rid of another one. However, if the offer is not forthcoming then cancel your card without hesitation. If you have really set your mind to cancelling that card for whatever reason, then do so.

Write a letter

After you have cancelled your card, you should write to the credit card company and inform them that you want your credit report to show you cancelled the card voluntarily. If your credit report just shows you have had an account closed, other lenders might think the company closed it, and this will harm your credit score.

Check your report

Wait about a month after sending the letter, and then request a copy of your credit report. You want it to show that you cancelled the account. If the report says closed by creditor, then you need to do something about it because this will reflect badly on you. Call the credit card company again to let them know the mistake and follow up with another letter, along with a copy of the original letter. You need to do this because it is your responsibility to make sure your report is correct

When not to cancel

If you are trying to improve your credit score, then it might be a bad idea to close accounts. If you have unused credit this looks better than having used most of your credit. For example, if you have 5,000 used credit and 8,000 total credit, getting rid of one 2,000 card means you are using 5,000 out of 6,000 credit. This looks like you are more in debt than when you have free credit. However, if you know you need to close the account to avoid spending it, then cancelling a card is a good option.

Throughout your life youre the history of you credit repayment will follow you. Ensuring, therefore, that you have a good prior history of borrowing money is vital. Insofar as credit cards are concerned, the following is a brief guide to how to build your credit card credit history.

If you have never financed a purchase on credit previously, applying for a credit card can be a little tricky, as the issuer will have no record of yours to judge whether or not you are a credit risk or safe to lend to. As such, before you apply for any of the major credit card issuers, youll likely need to apply to either a minor credit card issuer, such as store, or apply for some form of hire purchase, such as a car loan or to buy a television. Once you have done this, it is then very important that you make the repayments timely and in full.

Provided that you do pay your statement invoices on time and in full, youll start to create a good credit history. Obviously no lender will take one payment as evidence of your capabilities to repay your debt on time and in full. However, so long as you continue to this for a period of time, even a relatively short period of time, such as three or six months, youll then start to find that other lenders are willing to lend you money based on your good credit history.

If applying for a store card or hire purchase loan doesnt seem an acceptable way for you to create a good history of credit, an alternative you can consider is a secured credit card. Essentially a secured credit card requires you to maintain your credit card from a bank account and the limit of your credit will be a percentage of your account holdings. While not strictly a credit arrangement, the issuer then gets to see that you have the capabilities to repay the credit.

Keep in mind that your credit rating will be essential to any credit card application you make. Consequently, before applying for a card you should really make an application to a credit rating agency to ensure that you have managed to build your credit card history up sufficiently not to have too much difficulty applying. In the event that you think the credit rating report is wrong, you should immediately set out the reasons why you think this to the agency so that you can correct any errors in you history before you apply for the credit card