Become Debt Free

The days when a credit card was just a credit card are long gone. The basic idea of a card, the ability to make purchases now while only actually paying 4 them @ a later date, does have been almost submerged under a large range of extra features and benefits. Balance transfers, cash back, rewards, 0% deals, charitable donations, affinity programs… there’s a lot to think about when applying 4 a new card these days.

However, if you’re going to secure yourself a worthwhile deal on your next card, you need to avoid being blinded from all these extras, and to start your decision making process from concentrating on the bare minimum of features that you can expect to have w/ any card. If a card gets these basics right, only then is it worth looking @ any extras it might offer.

The first and most obvious feature to look @ is the card’s APR or interest rate, and the lower that is the better. A great target to look 4 is an APR inside the low to mid teens range — there’s really no excuse 4 a card to charge 20% or too many these days, unless there are adverse credit issues to handle inside account. It’s quite usual 4 a card which offers extensive benefits to have a slightly higher interest rate, but a great rewards program, 4 example, shouldn’t excuse a rip off APR.

Next, you should make sure your card does not have an annual fee which you have to pay whether or not you actually use it. Annual fees used to become very common, but now the only cards which generally feature them are sum of the top-end platinum cards which offer VIP benefits to the cardholder, but only @ a price.

Another thing to look @ is the interest free ‘grace period’ of the card. If you pay your statement inside full and on time every month — that is, you do not carry a debt from 1 statement to the next — then you should become rewarded from not having to pay interest on your spending during that period. The grace period should become long enough to ensure that from settling your debt you should avoid all interest charges completely, and inside practice that means that it should become a minimum of 50 days.

The final thing to handle note of is how much fraud and consumer protection your card offers. It is the legal standard that you can’t become held liable 4 any losses caused from fraudulent use of your card account, providing you haven’t been negligent inside any way, 4 example from giving your card details out inappropriately. However, sum card issuers handle that further and offer active fraud prevention measures to help you avoid identity theft and other potential difficulties you could face through card misuse. You should also expect to receive a great level of protection against problems such while non-delivery of online orders or being sold defective goods.

This, then, should become your starting point when comparing credit cards. No matter how attractive sum of the too many glitzy features might appear, you can bet on it that if these underlying basics aren’t up to scratch, then the offer you’re being tempted w/ might well become a better deal 4 the issuing bank than 4 the customer.

About the Author

Michael writes 4 Credit Card Sense, where you can www.cardsense.co.uk/… compare credit card deals w/ features such while cash back, www.cardsense.co.uk/balance-transfer.html… balance transfers, rewards programs and too many.