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Do We Underestimate What We Spend On Credit Cards?
An investigation organized by Egg says consumers have greatly underestimated the amount that credit cards are used throughout the United Kingdom, what this means is consumers are spending a lot more than they think. The investigation revealed that when ...
Getting a Credit Card without a Credit History
Getting A Credit Card Without A Credit History Oddly enough, not only will bad credit work against you when applying for a loan or a credit card, but no credit will too. Even though this doesn't seem fair, it is the way things work in the complicated ...
Unsecured Credit Cards : What's the difference?
There are a lot of terms associated with the credit world. With such daunting vocabulary as variable APR or secured card, sometimes people can get confused about just what a feature of a credit card means. First, we'll discuss what a secured credit card ...
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A credit card is an authority to spend the money of the company that issued it, in return for a promise that you will repay them in the future, called payment-due date. This date is written on your card's monthly billing statement together with the total cost of the items you purchased for that month (outstanding balance). Smart credit card users pay for the total outstanding balance on the payment due date. However, there maybe instances that you will not be able to. During these times, the card company let's you borrow the money longer, until the next month's payment-due date, for a fee. This fee is calculated based on the credit card's interest rate.
Usually, credit card companies quote the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) as the "interest rate" for using their card. But, this is not entirely true. When you do not pay the total outstanding balance, interest is applied to it, called the monthly periodic rate (equals APR/12). This is added on to the unpaid amount and becomes next month's
outstanding balance. Every month, the periodic rate is applied to whatever outstanding balance is unpaid. This process is called compounding interest. So, the total of the compounding interest is the Effective Annual Rate (EAR), which is in-fact bigger than the APR. This is the TRUE interest rate of the credit card.
An introductory rate is an interest rate that is offered by a card company for a limited period (say 1st year of using the card). This is usually very low, sometimes 0% to attract you to apply. After the limited time, the EAR will be the on-going interest rate. Be sure to check this before signing up.
Also, ask whether your rate is fixed or variable. Fixed interest rate does not change from month to month. A variable interest rate changes monthly, based on some industry rate (for example, Fed Rate or Prime Rate) from which your rate is calculated (your rate is 5%+ Fed Rate). It may be smarter in the long run to choose a fixed-rate card.
Now that you have a better understanding on credit card interest rates, it is still wise to settle the total outstanding balance monthly. Else, pay only for what you can afford, as if you did not have the credit card.
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More information about credit and credit cards is available at stooze online
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CREDIT MARKETS: Huge Corporate Deal Hits As Treasurys SlipWall Street Journals (BAC) surprise repurchase of $330 million in loans due to appraisal errors was muted, according to Credit Suisse. But some investors voiced concern that the resulting loan buyouts from Freddie Mac (FMCC) MBS -- creating prepayments at 100 cents on ...and more » |
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