You know, it’s so easy to get lured in from credit card offers. And a lot of times they lure you in with the points system. But a couple things you really should check out before you apply for certain credit cards and accept them based on the terms that are up front. Number one, what is their percentage, their interest if you’re late on a payment, or if you have a situation where you can’t pay or whatever. There are some credit cards that are extremely excessive with interest.
High Interest Credit Cards
Like the PayPal credit card is probably the highest interest ive seen on a credit card. I want to say between 34 and 36%, which is outrageous. But I would not suggest getting rid of it because then that could affect your credit score. Just downgrade it.
The other thing is you want to watch yearly fees. That’s really, really important. American Express charges very high fees for their gold cards that can be over $300 a year. Even though they may give great points back, the question is, are you making the money in points back that you are paying in fees and interest? Probably not, So it always looks attractive when it says cash back, but people don’t generally pay attention to the part where they’re shelling even more cash out. So always check these things before you sign on.
Consider Balance Transfer Cards
One thing I actually do like, but it’s very difficult to find ones that don’t charge you anything for doing it, is balance transfer cards because they allow you to pay off slower and to avoid interest. And I’ve had a lot of good luck with those, especially with cards that charge very high interest when I’m not ready to pay them. So definitely look at balance transfer cards on sites like Bankrate. Goal is to keep as much of your money as possible , because you never know what may come up and this is a great way to hold on to your money and you could keep it in the high interest savings account while you pay smaller amounts each month and make money on your money.