Before buying a credit card you must be very particular about certain things. All credit card companies are there to make profit. Your personal well being is not their primary concern. Hence, they use all kinds of tricks to cheat you so that they can maximize their profit.
Some of the tricks you should keep yourself aware of are as follows.
Trick 1 - Going for uninformed change of address
Many a times, the credit card company changes its address and doesn’t bother to inform you about it. In this case, you’ll send the payment to the previous address and by the time it will reach them, it would be considered a late payment. You will have to end up paying late fees for no fault of yours. To avoid such a situation, you may find out the address in advance, by checking the mailing address of the company in your monthly statement. You may even call the company to verify the address.
Trick 2 -Tempting you to take cash advance
It is advisable to consider thoughtfully whether you need to take out cash or not. This is because the interest rate for cash advances is very high. The amount you will have to pay will also include cash advance fee and there will be no grace period in which you can pay off the interest.
Trick 3 - Charging late fees
One of the most important sources of income of a credit card company is late fees. Some companies often charge you late fees if you are late by a few minutes. You must understand that payments are due on a certain time, not a certain date. So do not consider the date to be the due date. You must make sure you know the time on that particular day, before which you must make the payment. This is because if you are past the time, then you will be subject to late fees and also an increase in interest rate. Thus, you must be very careful to make your payments before that particular time so that the credit card company can not charge you unnecessarily.
Trick 4 - Charging balance transfer fee
You may consider balance transfer if you have a very high interest credit card and are having difficulty in paying it off. Under the balance transfer method, you can transfer balance from a high interest credit card to a low interest credit card. However, you must check before you do this to find out if your credit card company charges a fee for balance transfer. If so, you must be aware of how much is the charge. Balance transfer fee is now about 3% to 4%. If you’re asked to pay more, then you should not pay.
Lastly, think twice before swapping credit card for a big purchase. They are useful when you properly use for a right purpose and also maintain a good credit report.