6 Ways to Use Credit Cards to Improve Your Personal Finance
With credit card usage on the rise it’s critical for consumers to use their credit wisely in order to maintain a worthy credit profile. 1. Rather than making purchases on credit cards as a monthly habit, use your debit card. It can be beneficial to keep a small balance on your credit cards but it’s usually not wise to spend to the limit before paying it off. Instead, use your debit card for daily purchases. 2. It surely goes without saying but we would be remiss by not mentioning it. Get the lowest rate that you can on your credit cards! If this means moving a balance to a new card with a lower rate then that can often be beneficial. It’s also worth the time to call your current lender and see if they will lower your rate instead of moving to a new card. 3. When using credit cards as tools in your personal finances it’s crucial to be mindful of the due date of your payment. Getting your payment credited prior to the due date will ensure that you don’t have any late payments. Additionally, be sure to keep an eye on your account frequently. It’s not [...]
Banks Now Pushing Prepaid Credit Cards
Consumers Should Beware as Banks Openly Admit to Finding Other Ways to Make up Nearly $8 Billion in Lost Revenue Now that the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Law has taken affect, banks could stand to lose up to $8 billion annually and they are not taking that loss sitting down. Despite the recent law going into affect that caps what banks can charge merchants at 21 cents, banks feel it is their duty to recoup this revenue and are looking at any and all possible means. Most large banks initially instituted a monthly fee for debit card users. The most famous was Bank of America who announced a $5 per month fee. Consumer backlash was intense and was amplified even more by the watchdog media. Even President Obama got in the mix and the banking industry was not happy about the response. One of the primary avenues the industry will begin to push to recover their lost revenue is prepaid credit cards. These cards are not subject to the capped fees implemented on debit card transactions. However, if the principle of the Dodd-Frank act was to keep banks from charging consumers from using their own money, this avenue does essentially does [...]