Tuesday, August 12, 2008

So What' S Stopping You From Getting A Credit Card

Category: Finance, Credit.

So what's stopping you from getting a credit card?



Wrong! It's because you don' t want to get one just because everyone else has them, right? You probably do not want a credit card for other, like the fact, more practical reasons that you don' t want to deal with interest rates, or you' re too scared you won' t be able to pay off your debt faster than you can rack it up. The part about getting a credit card that people are worried about the most is the question of whether or not you can control your debt. Here are a few tips to help put your mind at ease, so that if you get a credit card, it won' t be because your friends told you to, and it won' t be because of those little fears that hold you back. Honestly, that part is up to you, the card holder. Remember, the biggest goal here is to stay as far out of debt as possible while still taking advantage of the convenience that credit cards offer us in a modern and technological world.


Whether or not you can control your spending habits to stay in correspondence with your payment ability depends upon your discipline skills. A great way to do that is to pay off your debt on a regular basis, balancing the amount you spend and the amount you pay back so that your debt does not exceed your payment ability. Another hassle of credit cards is the interest rate issue. Paying off credit cards regularly will be great for your credit score because it shows that you are disciplined in managing your credit and paying back what you owe. There are tons of cases where a card holder was shocked to discover that their interest rate had shot up after a late payment, or even for no reason they knew of. It may start out with a great interest rate, but those percentages sometimes have an expiration date written in a very small font size on the back of a 5000 word agreement. The best way to avoid this is to make sure you know the terms on your credit card.


As painful as it may be, read that fine print and know what you' re getting into before you take the credit card plunge. Something that you can' t control is theft. Also find out how high your rates will increase with late fees, and what other kinds of penalties you could receive. Having your credit card stolen can create some serious credit damage if the stolen card is not canceled and is misused. Because of this option, the person who stole your card has no way of spending the money. To avoid this, the best thing you can do is call the credit card company immediately and cancel your credit card account, making it completely void and gives you peace of mind. If they had stolen cold hard cash, there's no way you could stop them from spending it, and you would never get it back.

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