Credit Cards to Avoid
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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 take out a new card, check to see whether it is one of the types of credit cards to avoid. • Credit cards bearing a yearly fee. Once upon a time, credit was extended only to the wealthy, and they were willing to pay to own a credit card. Annual fees are a relic of those days. 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 are soon to be a throwback, but for now, many companies are still getting away with charging more tech savvy consumers for using electronic methods of payment. 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 watch your deadlines.) 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. Cards with these fees are designed for consumers with poor credit ratings who cannot qualify for any other cards. To make matters even better, such cards usually have a credit limit so low that the fees quickly eat up the available balance. If your credit rating is desperately low, dont try to improve it by taking one of these cards. Instead, find a lender who will give you a secured credit card, which is backed by a deposit which you place when you take out the card. 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. More related information Credit cards -- Bad credit credit cards -- Low interest credit cards --
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Read more articles about student credit cards, visit www.getsmart.com/credit-cards.
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by: barrywaters
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