Are Your Credit Cards Charging You Unnecessary Fees?
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by: barrywaters
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Youre a savvy consumer. You know not to be taken in by offers of 0% interest rates, and you know your regular APR from your default APR. But do you know all the other stunts credit cards can try to pull? Before you fill out a new application, check to see whether it is on this list of credit cards to avoid.
• Credit cards bearing a yearly fee. Annual fees are a throwback to days when credit was hard to obtain and credit cards were the province of the rich. Now that consumer credit is so plentiful that every chain offers its own credit card, theres no excuse to keep demanding annual fees. If you find an offer thats perfect apart from an annual feel, call the company and ask them to waive the fee. Many issuers are happy to waive the fee in exchange for your custom.
• Credit cards that charge fees for online or phone payments. These fees will soon be as obsolete as annual fees, but right now, many issuers still charge their tech friendly customers to pay electronically. If the card you want levies these fees, check to see whether only expedited payments carry a fee, or all payments are hit. If normal electronic payments dont have a fee and only expedited payments (rush payments you make when there is no time to get any other form of payment in before the deadline) carry a fee, the card may still be a good deal. (Just keep an eye on your due dates.) If the card requires fees for any other online or phone payment, toss it out and find a card thats ready to join you in the twenty first century.
• Credit cards with monthly maintenance fees. These cards are aimed at consumers with credit ratings so bad that they have little to no chance of getting any other cards. Worse, cards that charge monthly maintenance fees usually have low, low credit limits that quickly go toward the monthly fees, meaning that the lender is allowed to demand money from its customers while issuing almost nothing in credit in return. If your credit rating is desperately low, dont try to improve it by taking one of these cards. Get together a small deposit and take out a secured credit card with a reputable lender. The credit limit on a secured card is the amount of the deposit you leave, and the credit line is backed by the deposit.
With a plethora of credit cards from reputable lenders on the market, even people with poor credit can find a credit card that does not charge exorbitant and unnecessary fees. Do your research before you sign anything, and be willing to negotiate the terms of the card with the lender. You deserve to have credit cards that do not charge you ridiculous extra fees.
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