|
|
|
Cash Back Credit Cards
Wouldn't it be great if you could get some of that money you
spend on credit card purchases back every year? Well, you can. A
cash back credit card is the way to go for people who want all
the benefits of shopping with a credit card, plus the...
Personal Credit Report
Your personal credit report is an electronic record of your
credit activities. These activities include borrowing money to
buy a car, applying for a loan or credit card and your payment
history of the loans you have taken. Every time you...
The advantages of consumer credit counseling
Many individuals have been helped by consumer credit counseling to take control of their finances and to eliminate debt. Consumer credit counseling can work for you by teaching money management skills which can help you throughout your lifetime. ...
The Christmas Temptation - Department Store Credit Cards
Now that we are heading at breakneck speed to the peak retail season (ie Christmas), you will soon, if you are not already, be wondering what to do about all those gifts and other expenses that need to be catered for in the holiday season. November...
Top Ten Tips For Getting The Right Credit Card
Dodging through the Maze and Getting The Best Deal Going
Purchasing any financial product can be a difficult matter. The marketplace is one fraught with complications and offers are thrown your way from all directions. Sometimes it can all...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maxing Out on the Minimum: Don’t Get Trapped Making Minimum Credit Card Payments
It’s an easy trap to fall into: you get that pre-approved credit card offer in the mail, most likely with an appealing introductory interest rate for the first six months. You feel like you deserve a little extra spending money, and the minimum payment is only 2% of the balance; even you can afford that! You promise yourself that you'll start making more than the minimum payment after the introductory rate expires, and by then you might even get that raise you’ve been expecting from work. However, we all know these plans never turn out quite like you expected. A family member falls ill, and you have to take an unusual amount of time off of work, meaning you won’t be getting that raise any time soon. Then when the car breaks down, you have to use any extra spending money you have to repair it just so you can get to and from your job. You can still afford the minimum payment on your credit card, though, and you decide to just stick with paying that. After all, what difference could it make?
The truth of the matter is that it can make an enormous difference. The minimum payment is the perfect amount to ensure you will be paying on your balance for years and years to come. In the end, you could be paying several times more than your original balance in interest charges alone. It may not seem plausible, but it’s hard to ignore when you have the numbers right in front of you. Here are two examples of what happens when you make only the minimum payment on your credit card:
Let’s say you have an meager $1,000 balance on your credit card, which has the average interest rate of 18%. Your minimum payment is $20 per month. If you pay the minimum payment, you will be paying off this balance for eight years, and you will pay more than $850 in interest charges.
However, most people have far more than $1,000 in credit card debt. Let’s try the more realistic balance of $5,000. Paying the minimum payment on this balance with an interest rate of
18% will result in a total payoff in approximately 35 years. In that time, you will have paid almost $13,000 in interest charges alone.
These numbers can be frightening, but there is something you can do. You don’t have to pay much more than the minimum to start seeing big changes in your balance. Let’s try these numbers again, this time paying slightly more than the minimum payment.
On the $1,000 balance at 18% interest, try paying $30 per month instead of the minimum of $20. Now you will only be paying on this balance for less than four years and you will pay less than $400 in interest charges.
On the $5,000 balance at 18% interest, bump the payment up to $125 per month. At this rate, you will pay off your balance in about five years, and you will pay approximately $2,500 in interest charges. You could save over $10,000!
As you can see, paying the minimum payment might seem more affordable at first, but in the long run, you will pay dearly for it in interest charges. Just increasing your payment by a little will make a big difference. The more you increase your payment, the less time and money you will spend trying to pay off your credit card debt. Do yourself a favor and don’t fall into the trap of making minimum credit card payments.
For more information on Debt Consolidation Loans and Credit Repair Tips, please visit us at Helpful Home Ideas.
About the Author
Johann Erickson is the owner of Online Discount Mart and TV Products 4 Less. Please include an active link to our site if you'd like to reprint this article. He is also a contributing writer for sites such as Helpful Home Ideas
|
|
|
|
|
| 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, ... |
| credit.about.com |
|
|