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Credit Cards Help You Save

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Best Cards:  Every little bit helps. Except when it doesn't. A number of financial institutions offer reward cards that promise to help you boost your net worth by contributing to your savings accounts, your retirement plans, your college funds or even your mortgage. Each of these cards, however, has traps for the unwary that could undo most or all of the benefits they promise. You should read the fine print of each offer, note how rewards are accrued and refrain from carrying balances; otherwise, any benefit you get from the savings-reward program will be more than wiped out by interest costs. Fu...

on January 20, 2010 0

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Why your rates go up

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Card Insider:  Read your credit card agreement carefully. It must state the reasons your credit card interest rate may increase. Typical triggers include late payments and overlimit transactions, the expiration of an introductory annual percentage rate, or APR, or prime rate movement -- if the card has a variable rate. You may find more arbitrary rate-raising conditions buried in the fine print. If the bank states that it can impose the penalty rate if you pay other lenders late, this means the bank practices universal default. One slip-up with an unrelated creditor and your rate could skyrocket. Yo...

on December 3, 2009 0

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Fight Fees with Low Fee Credit Cards

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Best Cards:  Do you have credit cards? Do you know exactly which fees you pay, and how much of your monthly payment is devoted to such fees? If not, you’re in good company; too many of us don’t know exactly what we’re paying for when we make our monthly payments. And card companies have been accused of making credit card terms and conditions too complicated for the average card holder to understand. What’s a consumer to do? First, know what’s out there. Fees come in the form of annual fees, late fees, penalties, fees for cash advances, fees for international purchases, and even fees for paying...

on November 20, 2009 0

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