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15 important credit card terms to consider before applying for a credit card!!
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So it's wise to compare terms and fees before you agree to open a credit or charge card account. The following are some important...
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How to choose a Credit Card
There are literally thousands of credit cards out there to
choose from. You receive offers in the mail, in your email, over
the phone, and on the websites you surf to on the Internet. We
are inundated with credit offers, but are all credit card offers
worth taking? The answer is a definite no. There are many things
about accepting the offer of a credit card you need to know.
How do I know which credit card offers to accept and which ones
I should stay away from? Is one of the most common questions we
get at http://www.youngparentsmagazine.com , says Jennifer
Tarzian. People want to know how to choose a credit card wisely.
If there is one thing consumer advocates and the banking
industry do agree on, it is that the abundance of convenient
credit gets a lot of people in trouble because they are
financially uninformed. Financial education is not subsidized by
the credit card industry, but is included in a the most recent
version of the Bankruptcy Reform Act.
That bill, which has been stalled for years, would make it much
harder for consumers to shed their unsecured credit card debt
when they go into bankruptcy. It would also require both credit
counseling prior to filing for bankruptcy, and post-bankruptcy
instructional courses on personal financial management as a
condition to discharge debt.
So the only financial education available comes way too late,
since you're already in trouble when they offer it. All this
means we have to be even more careful when choosing which credit
cards to sign up for.
Credit card issuers are often accused of tempting consumers into
carrying more debt than their income justifies. Then, when the
customer is drowning in debt -- stumbling to make even the
minimum payment -- they will pile on late fees, jack up interest
rates and begin what often becomes a crescendo of collection
calls.
How do I avoid that? Choosing which credit cards you accept is
just as important as how you use the credit cards you do accept.
The rest of this article will focus on choosing credit cards
wisely. To find out more about how to keep your credit score
high and use credit cards wisely, go to
http://creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com , where Jennifer
Tarzian can help you.
Do You Know What You Can Afford?
Credit card mailings can be tempting, offering teaser rates,
rebates, and rewards. It's up to you to figure out whether you
are financially stable enough to accept them. According to
Tamara Draut, Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at
the nonpartisan public policy organization Demos. "When
consumers are extended credit, they think it's because the banks
see them as being capable of borrowing, while it very well may
be that they are not financially prepared to take on additional
debt."
"People say, if I can't afford it, why was I offered credit,"
says Jim Tehan, spokesman for Myvesta, a nonprofit consumer
education organization. Tehan says that credit card issuers
target consumers based on data-mining technology that
can only
give one part of the picture. "They don't know what consumers
can afford -- only a consumer can say what they can truly
afford."
But banking industry veteran Walter Wriston, former CEO of
Citigroup/Citibank, argues that credit card issuers shouldn't be
the ones deciding who can afford what. "Should we say to
somebody, say, you're 21 years old: 'You can carry a rifle and
fight our war. You can vote in a presidential election. But,
unfortunately, you're not smart enough to know how much money to
borrow?'"
That means, it's up to you. You decide whether or not you can
afford to have more credit or not. Look at the credit cards and
loans you now have. What is your total credit limit including
all of your credit cards, loans, and accounts? What is your
total debt owed to those credit cards, loans, and accounts?
These are all things you should think over before you fill out
that credit card application.
Comparing Credit Card Offers;
Many people still carry credit cards with annual percentage
rates (APRs) of 13% or higher. After all, there's a whole
industry of card issuers out there devoted to using hidden fees
and interest rate gymnastics to gouge you as best they can.
Consider this: According to Gerri Detweiler, author of The
Ultimate Credit Handbook, some credit card companies are
actually trying to get rid of card holders who pay off their
balances each month. "The card issuer might try to move you to a
card with an annual fee or a debit card," she says.
The key to getting a better credit card deal is figuring out how
much a given card really costs you. You've probably gotten a
stack of card offers in the mail over the past week, each
sounding cheaper than the next. Just plug in a few numbers, and
our analyzer will calculate the true cost -- or net interest
rate -- of each one so you can compare them side by side.
And if you're looking for a specific type of card -- one that,
say, gives you airline mileage or no annual fee -- check out our
credit card rate center and pick out those that best fit your
needs. Go to
http://www.bankrate.com/smm/rate/cc_home.asp?web=smm and use the
calculator there. Compare the offers you get in the mail to all
credit cards.
I hope you find this tool and the information we provided here
useful. Our goal at http://creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com
is to provide young parents and others how to choose credit
cards wisely, how to reduce credit card debt, how to improve
their credit score, and how to stay financially healthy in
general.
About the author:
For more information about how to obtain credit cards, get
credit reports, reduce credit card debt, or prevent Identity
Theft, go to http://creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com
Jennifer Tarzian also has a lot of information at
http://www.youngparentsmagazine.com for young parents. Chris
McElroy has been an advocate for consumer rights on the Internet
since 1995 and also runs a missing children's organization at
http://www.kidsearchnetwork.org
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| Credit Reports - Credit Cards - Car Loans - Home Loans - Credit.com |
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| Equifax Personal Solutions: Credit Reports, Credit Scores ... |
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| The FTC's web site on Credit |
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| www.ftc.gov |
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| Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Credit Center |
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| 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 |
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| Springboard - Non-Profit Consumer Credit Management |
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| www.credit.org |
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| Experian: Free Credit Report and Credit Score, Credit Check ... |
| Credit referencing and consumer targeting for the USA and other countries. |
| www.experian.com |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| CUNA: The Credit Union National Association |
| News and resource directory about credit unions. |
| www.cuna.org |
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| 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, ... |
| credit.about.com |
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