Credit Cards Without Late Fees? What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

info.dooasia.com

Homepage | Add to Favorites

Related Links

Thursday, May 01, 2025

Informative Articles

Consider a Home Equity Line Of Credit
A home equity line of credit is defined as a process of revolving your credit and using your home as collateral. Since a home is one of the largest assets of consumers, many homeowners make use of their credit line for major purposes such as...

Home Equity Loan Line of Credit Vs. Other Conventional Loans
When it comes to getting money, you have two basic options. If you are a homeowner you can choose to take out a home equity line or credit (HELOC), or you can take out a conventional loan. Both of these products will provide you with the funds...

How To Establish Credit
It's been a Catch-22 dilemma, especially for young people, since the dawn of the Credit Age. You want credit, but you can't get credit because you've never had credit before. It's a situation everyone faces as they begin to try to become...

Repairing Credit Essentials
There are essentials to repairing your credit and building your history. It depends on your situation, but in most cases you can find a way out of any debt situation. Debt relief is a stressful situation. When times are hard the last thing we...

Why Your Credit Score is Important
Your credit score can either haunt you or reward you. It all depends on how you handle your credit and payment activities. Your credit score determines what interest rates you will pay and if you are even approved for a loan or a credit card at all....

Credit Cards Without Late Fees? What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

Americans know all too well how much it costs to use credit cards. The average household in the U.S. now has nearly $10,000 in credit card debt. Carrying such debt is fine, as long as you realize that there are costs associated with it. The interest rates aren't particularly low and the fees charged for paying late or going over your limit can be steep. Late fees of $39 aren't uncommon, and they are assessed if your bill fails to arrive by the due date, even if it was delayed in the mail.

The credit card companies have been listening to consumer complaints about expensive late fees and several of them have responded. American Express and Citibank have both recently introduced cards that are both advertised as having no late fees. There may be a twist involved; Citibanks's Simplicity card carries no late fees as long as you make a purchase each month within the billing period. But no late fees? Aren't late fees the card company's way of making sure that you pay your bill at all? What happens if you don't pay your bill?

That's where the fine print comes into play. Your agreement requires you to pay your bill on time. With the Citibank card, paying late carries the usual fee of up to $39 if you pay late and haven't made a

purchase during the billing period. If you have made a purchase within the billing period, but you have still paid late, Citibank may, at its option, raise your interest rate. In fact, they can raise your interest rate as high as 23.99% above the prime rate. American Express will also raise your interest rate if you pay late twice in a year, though not as high as the 30% or so that Citibank will charge.

With interest rates potentially rising to nearly 30% and applying to your outstanding balance, you'd be much better off keeping an existing card and paying the late fee than the hundreds or even thousands of extra dollars you'd pay on a large balance after the penalty interest rate is applied. Of course, you can avoid both late fees and interest rate hikes by simply paying your bill on time and maintaining a small balance or no balance at all. If you want a card with no late fees, you probably already have one. Don't pay late, and there is no fee.
About the Author

�Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including http://www.End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to debt consolidation and credit counseling.

Credit Reports - Credit Cards - Car Loans - Home Loans - Credit.com

Credit.com offers a variety of credit related products and services including credit reports and credit scores, credit cards, car loans, home loan and ...

www.credit.com

Equifax Personal Solutions: Credit Reports, Credit Scores ...

National consumer credit reporting company that offers credit reports, FICO(R) credit scores and identity theft protection products to consumers and small ...

www.equifax.com

The FTC's web site on Credit

Credit is much more than a piece of plastic, and the resources on this site can help you become a more savvy consumer. You’ll also find compliance ...

www.ftc.gov

Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Credit Center

Features an assortment of helpful articles related to credit issues.

www.ftc.gov

AnnualCreditReport

Site set up by the big three credit reporting agencies in the United States, to furnish free annual credit reports, as required by federal law.

www.annualcreditreport.com

Springboard - Non-Profit Consumer Credit Management

Our mission is simple: To offer education on the wise use of credit. ... SPRINGBOARD has been approved to provide credit counseling services and issue ...

www.credit.org

myFICO - FICO Credit Scores, Online Credit Reports and Identity ...

myFICO.com: Get your Free credit report and Free credit score with a 30-day trial of Score Watch. All three FICO Scores and Credit Reports Available now ...

www.myfico.com

Credit Suisse Global

Credit Suisse Group is an international financial services group. - Shares part of SMI.

www.credit-suisse.com

Experian: Free Credit Report and Credit Score, Credit Check ...

Credit referencing and consumer targeting for the USA and other countries.

www.experian.com

National Credit Union Administration - Home Page

An independent federal agency that supervises and insures 7152 federal credit unions and insures 4240 state-chartered credit unions.

www.ncua.gov

Credit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Debits and Credits, a type of bookkeeping entry; Credit (creative arts), acknowledging the ideas or ... Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit" ...

en.wikipedia.org

Credit (finance) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Any movement of financial capital is normally quite dependent on credit, ... Sometimes if a person has financial instability or difficulty, credit is not ...

en.wikipedia.org

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling

DebtAdvice.org is a service provided by the Members of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), most of them known as Consumer Credit ...

www.nfcc.org

FreeCreditReport.com | Free Credit Report and Credit Score Online ...

FreeCreditReport.com: Free credit reports and credit scores from Experian. Get your free credit report and credit score now. It's free, fast, and easy!

www.freecreditreport.com

Compare credit cards | apply for a credit card | 0% balance ...

Compare over 300 credit cards, including 0% offers and balance transfers, and make a credit card application online...

www.moneysupermarket.com

Ford Credit - Auto financing for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars ...

Ford Credit provides auto financing to finance a lease or purchase a car or truck through Ford, Lincoln or Mercury dealerships.

www.fordcredit.com

The Credit Card Prank

In my lifetime, I have made nearly 15000 credit card transactions. ... Credit card signatures are a useless mechanism designed to make you feel safe, ...

www.zug.com

Credit magazine, corporate bonds, derivatives, structured credit ...

Credit magazine provides information on the international credit markets for credit investors, issuers and market professionals.

www.creditmag.com

CUNA: The Credit Union National Association

News and resource directory about credit unions.

www.cuna.org

Credit/Debt Management - Tools and Advice for Managing Credit and Debt

Drowning in debt? Trying to improve your credit score? This is the place for you. Get real world information and tips, as well as the legal low down, ...