| I think that recently many of us have begun to wake up to the wonderful snow job that we have fallen victim of. We now see that too much credit is a losers game. But, you still may have credit and it may take you time to untangle yourself. In the meantime you should find out all you can about credit card interest rates. You see credit card interest rates can be affected by many things. The first thing you are likely to think of is your credit score. And it is true, your credit score will determine the amount of interest you pay on your credit card (as well as on every loan you have). But, what affects your credit score? Well, have you paid your credit card bill late... even once? If so, it's very likely that the card company raised your interest rate and dinged your credit score. They will use pretty much any type of trick they can to get more money out of you. Make sure you pay at least the minimum every month and on time. Another thing you really need to learn to do, no matter how tedious and hard to understand it is, is to read the fine print every single time you get a bill. Very often the credit card company will put some new terms into effect and that will be on your bill. But the problem comes because few people actually read over their whole bill every single month. If you don't, you may find that the terms such as the due date, or where you have to send your payment have changed. If you miss that information and you send your bill out late or to the wrong place your payment will be late. That is all the company needs to ding you and increase your interest rate. So, the moral of the story is read your bills over thoroughly every single month. Getting rid of your cards as soon as you can is a great idea also. Another thing you can do is to change cards. If you can get another card with a lower interest rate you can transfer your balance to the new card. Again, you have to read the details. Make sure that great low rate will last for a while before you transfer. Also, make sure there are no transfer fees. If you have another loan with a bank that you are in good standing with, you may want to ask that bank for a credit card. Sometimes you may get a better rate with a lender who you already have a good account with. I will warn you though that no matter if we like it or not, banks are businesses and their business is to make money. Unfortunately, primarily because of increased competition, they are trying to squeeze every penny of profit they can out of their customers. That is why you need to be on the lookout for some of their more sneaky ways of increasing your interest rate. You will be limited in the amount of control you have over your credit card interest rates, but you do have some so find out as much as you can and try to lower those ridiculous rates. |
