But the credit card has far from ‘had it’s day’. There are still a wide range of positives that you can have from owning a credit card and spending money on it.

How a Credit Card is Useful

First and foremost it allows you access to money that you don’t have. This is both a positive and a negative – but the positive side is very useful. It means that you can access money when you would otherwise not have any funds – especially useful in an emergency and you just have to spend money on something (like a new boiler, or gas money home).

It enables you to take that peace of mind with you anywhere you go. You can always know that should the worst come to the worst there is always a bit of money that you can fall back on.

That ability to travel with you is useful as well. A credit card can go almost anywhere. It’s not like it takes up much room so you can take it wherever you go, and unlike cash a credit card is able to be used in almost all countries as well.

It is also useful from a distance as well as travel. You are able to buy over the telephone, over the internet, via mail order, however you can think of. If you are looking to buy something that you can’t personally see right now a credit card is the answer – because it is an easy way for the merchant to accept money over a distance.

It also affords you considerable protection as well. You are able to do something called a ‘charge back’ with credit cards. This means that if you feel that you were sold something that was misrepresented and they won’t take it back you can raise a dispute with your credit card company. If you are right they will take back the money and refund you… providing you excellent protection should any problems arise.

You are also protected from fraud as well. If, when buying over a distance for example, someone takes your card details and starts using it fraudulently, all you need to do is talk to the credit card company and they will look into it – if they feel you are correct they will then refund the money – perfect for peace of mind when distance buying.

Obviously there are down sides to a credit card as well, such as interest charges, fees for missed payments etc. But these negatives are out weighed by the positives that you are able to gain from having a credit card – even one that you only use from time to time.

A Credit Card – An Amazingly Useful Tool is a post from: Best Credit Cards

But why is it such a big mistake?

The Small Print

In almost any deal that involves credit or debt you ALWAYS need to be considering the small print. We could talk generalities but it might be more illuminating to consider specifics for a second. Let us take a look at credit cards:

With credit cards you might think that you are getting a great interest rate… but that is often just a cover charge. Many credit cards offer a wonderful interest rate for the first 6 months, but after that you will revert to the ‘normal’ interest rate which is far less attractive and will, in fact, be likely to cost you money.

Many credit card companies try to hide their fees. Everyone will miss the occasional minimum monthly payment – even if for nothing less suspicious then forgetting to make the payment. Very few companies are prepared to admit just how much they will charge you for this kind of problem.

Monthly payments are something that is creeping into every day life for such things as credit cards. We’re not talking about minimum monthly payments for money that you owe, what we mean here is monthly payments for using their services. This information will usually be hidden in the small print.

What does any insurance you have on the card cover you for? Many companies will be happy to tell you that there is insurance on the card and any purchases made by it – but they are less forthcoming about what it actually covers.

Credit cards, as in this example. And debt in general, can have a lot of hidden extras. Always read the fine print before signing up – otherwise you are playing fast and loose with your finances.

Pay Attention to the Fine Print is a post from: Best Credit Cards

But if they are offering great deals, and the Government aren’t going to stop them, then why not take advantage? There are a number of very good reasons to own a credit card… the problem is not whether to get one, it’s which card you should get! How can one possibly choose the right ‘bit of plastic’ for them from such a wide selection?

Look Deeper

No, not deeper into your soul, deeper into the offers. All credit cards like to shout about the attractive new all singing, all dancing offer from the roof tops. But they are usually shouting about is the superficial parts, those bits that matter less but seem attractive.

They want to tell you about the APR for the first 6 months, not the next 5 years. Or the Amazon vouchers that come with them, or the cash back scheme in place. The offers keep going, but one thing they forget to tell you – what matters. It is hidden there in the fine print.

So what do you need to look for?

You want, when you boil it right down, a credit card that will give you an ongoing APR that is as low as possible, from a renowned company that has an upfront fee set up and a customer service that you can both access and believe in.

>> Compare credit card lenders

Amazon vouchers are nice, but they should just make any deal that you do make that much better – they should never be something that you base as important a decision as what credit card to choose around.

What to Look For When Choosing a Credit Card is a post from: Best Credit Cards

For example, if you are rigorously disciplined and ensure that any spending balance is paid off at the end of the month it is due, then no interest will be charged and your use of a credit card gains ready access to interest-free credit. Although you will want to avoid the relatively few cards that charge a registration or monthly administration fee, the choice of card will be very wide, since it could include even those which apply a higher than average rate of interest on outstanding balances. Including the latter would allow the choice of those cards offering “rewards” for, or cash-back upon, purchases made with the card.

On the other hand, you might be the kind of card user who welcomes the opportunity of ongoing credit and are prepared to pay monthly interest charges on it. In that case, of course, the rate of interest will affect the card you choose. Competition is as keen as ever among the many providers, so credit cards offering the most competitive rates of interest will be the ones to suit you best. Naturally, you will still want to avoid adding to the cost of holding such credit cards by paying a registration or administration fee and it will be necessary to examine carefully whether any offers of rewards or cash-back come only with a higher rate of interest.

For credit card users who have already accumulated a significant balance of credit debt, it is still possible to take advantage of the 0% interest free deals on balance transfers. Once again, this demonstrates providers’ eagerness to attract new customers by offering to take on existing debit balances on which no interest is charged for an introductory period of up to a year or so. Clearly, this represents an attractive option and an opportunity during which the outstanding debt can be tackled without the continuing accumulation of interest. There are a number of things to take into account when considering such a transfer, however, and the first will be the cost of any balance transfer fee itself. It will also be important to make a careful note of the expiry date of the interest-free period and the rate of interest that will apply once this has passed. If it reverts to a less than attractive rate, of course, it might be necessary to start the whole process all over again and seek out a further balance transfer – at the prevailing transfer fee at that time.

Some credit cards will offer not only a zero rate of interest on balance transfers but also on any purchases made during the initial introductory period. These will be attractive to both existing and new card holders alike, though once again, it will be important to keep a careful eye on the expiry date of the offer, when the provider’s standard rate of interest will start to apply.

Credit cards – what suits you best? is a post from: Best Credit Cards

1. Prioritise your spending and pay your bills first and then look to buying any extras with the cash you have left. Lots of people find themselves struggling with their finances because they spend their money twice – once in cash from the bank and again on the credit card.
2. Look at your regular monthly payments and see if you can downsize any bills by visiting web comparison sites and reviewing your utilities, car and home insurance and credit card rates.
3. While you’re doing this, see what bills you can chop like that gym subscription you never use.
4. Stick all the stuff you don’t want on eBay. Don’t even worry if it’s a broken computer or something – as long as you mark it as not working someone might buy to cannibalise for spares.
5. Fire up that hob and cooker and buy in some fresh ingredients to serve up some home made gourmet delights instead of paying for ready meals or takeaways. A fresh food diet is much better for you anyway.
6. Stop buying food at work and take a packed lunch.
7. Look at your lifestyle. Do you really need the latest phone with all those prepaid texts and minutes or the full monty of packages on satellite or cable TV?
8. Consider buying supermarket brands for home essentials like soap, washing powders and basic cooking ingredients. Shop around – you may find your weekly shop comes in at significantly less by visiting two supermarkets instead of one.
9. Save fuel if you have children and live within walking distance of the school. Keep the car on the drive and gently a breath of fresh air and some exercise having a stroll with the kids.
10. If you have a spare bedroom that just collects dust, why not take in a lodger? The taxman will let you charge £82 a week without charging any tax under the Rent a room scheme. If you are a pensioner or claiming benefits, the scheme should not affect your income.
11. Don’t play Scrooge all the time, put some cash aside for the occasional treat, even if it’s something simple like renting a DVD or buying some chocolates. Times might be tough but you need something to look forward to as well.

Summary

• Prioritise your spending and make sure you protect your credit rating by paying your bills first
• Have a look around the house and garage – sell everything you don’t want on line or at a boot sale.
• Cut your spending and buy cheaper brands
• Don’t take things too far – save a few pounds for a treat

Making your money go further is a post from: Best Credit Cards

First, you should think about how you plan to use the card. While some people use credit for larger purchases, and plan to pay the bill off over an extended period of time, others use their credit card as a convenience instead of carrying a lot of cash around, and they subsequently pay the balance off in full every month. If you plan to use the card for large purchases for which you will carry a monthly balance, you should be paying particular attention to the annual percentage rate of interest on each card.

This rate can vary quite a bit between cards, so before choosing a card, research this carefully and select the card that has the lowest rate for the style of purchasing that you plan to use the credit card for. You will also want to make sure you understand how the finance charges are calculated. This is the type of information that is usually in small print so make sure to ask lots of detailed questions when speaking to a card representative about what the conditions are of their particular card.

If you plan to pay off your card balance every month to avoid finance charges, then you will want to pay particular attention to what the grace period is for the card. This period varies between cards, but as a rule, it is stated in the number of days from the billing date. If you get a credit card with a longer grace period, you will have more time to pay your bill before you incur a fee for the month. However, you will want to understand the terms of the grace period because sometimes, special rules apply, such as what would apply to new charges when you already have a balance due on the credit card. These special rules are how the company makes their money.

There are also other types of fees that are sometimes associated with credit cards. These can vary between banks and card providers, and they can sometimes be difficult to figure out. Some common fees that are often associated with credit cards are late fees, annual fees, and fees that you will incur if you go over your credit limit. There might also be other types of convenience fees for transactions such as requesting additional statements, or for making your payments over the phone. To avoid surprises later, make sure you clearly understand these fees before getting the card. Understanding the fees and rules will allow you to use your credit card without incurring unnecessary costs.

Paying Too Much on Your Credit Cards? is a post from: Best Credit Cards

• Consolidate Credit Card Debt Because Of Interest Rates

  An overwhelming reason why you may want to consolidate your credit card debt is due to interest rates. Not all credit card companies offer the same interest rates; and in a highly competitive market, some credit card companies offer significantly lower interest rates than others. If you think that to consolidate your credit card debt will equate with significant savings, this may be a very sensible option to take.

• Consolidate Credit Card Debt Because Of Annual Fees

  With more and more credit card issuers now asking their members to pay annual membership fees, finding a credit card issuer that does not ask for such a fee from its members may well prove to be a worthy reason to consolidate your credit card debt. However, if you do consolidate credit card debt because of the issue of annual fees, make sure that your card issuer neither has any additional hidden fees, nor will they charge you any additional annual percent rate (APR) on outstanding debt amounts to make up for this. The reason you don’t want to consolidate credit card debt here is because the overall costs of funding the debt may add up to more per annum than would have been the case if you just paid the annual fee in the first place!

• Consolidate Credit Card Debt As A Personal Loan

  Many of us are becoming tired of the stress levels placed on us to make sure that we make at least minimum repayment of our credit card debt each month. Also, with the favourable unsecured personal loan interest rates currently available, it becomes economically more sensible to consolidate the credit card debt as a straight-forward unsecured personal loan.

• Consolidate Credit Card Debt Because Of Bad Credit

  Finally, more and more of us these days need to consider the option of consolidating our credit card debt as part of our overall debt management program. In such cases, we have usually overspent significantly and are now looking for ways to repay this debt. As credit card debt is normally the easiest, and most expensive, form of short-term credit available to us, this is one area where debt consolidation, by means of a consolidation of credit card debt, is one the rise!

Consolidate Credit Card Debt is a post from: Best Credit Cards

It almost goes without saying these days that the UK is a land of consumer spenders. Consumer spending has rocketed. And, most of this consumer spending has been financed by short-term credit card debt. In short, applying for, and obtaining, a credit card has become almost too easy and as consequence we have gone from a nation famous for saving to a nation famous for overspending. Whilst not wanting to sound too blunt, these days you need to be aware of what you’re letting yourself in for when you apply for a credit card.

CREDIT CARD LIMITS

When you apply for a credit card you’ll need to declare what your monthly or annual earnings are. From this figure, which will likely need to be evidenced by a wage slip, the lender will determine how much of a credit limit you’re worth – usually this figure is around three times your monthly salary. However, in addition to detailing your current earnings, you are also required to detail what your current expenditure is, which includes any sums you already have outstanding on credit cards. Failure to do such could subject you to a charge of fraudulently completing your application form. Conveniently, however, most lenders don’t push this issue until such time as you are having problems repaying your debt.

INTEREST RATES ON CREDIT CARDS
Interest rates on credit cards can vary widely. Nonetheless, short-term borrowing by means of a credit card is expensive. Interest rates can be as high as three times the Base Rate set by the Bank of England. Furthermore, borrowing cash on your credit card is probably the most expensive form of legal borrowing that you can do.

REPAYING YOUR CREDIT CARD DEBT
Repaying your credit card debt could not be simpler. In short, you have the option of repaying the money that you have advanced on the next repayment date. Alternatively, you can make repayment of the minimum repayment amount on the next repayment date.

DEFAULTING ON CREDIT CARDS
If you find yourself in a situation where you are not going to be able to met your next minimum monthly repayment, you should take the following steps immediately, so as to avoid any potential repercussions:

• notify the card owner of your current problems. Ordinarily a card owner will try to assist any cardholder through any short-term shortfall in cash. After all, they are trying to recoup all of their money, not just some of it in the bankruptcy courts.
• consider the other borrowing options available to you. If you have a significant amount of credit card debt, it may well be the case that you can consolidate these into a new debt with much less of an onerous burden on you; for example, by taking out a personal loan to repay your credit card debt. Alternative credit cards, with lower interest rates may also be an option.
• lock-away your cards! Make sure that any repayment you make remains a repayment and that you do not fund your next month’s living expenses through the use of the credit facility that has just become available again.

Whatever you do, make sure that you keep the credit card company aware of when you are next going to be able to make a repayment. Also, make these realistic; don’t just tell them things you think they’re going to want to hear to leave you alone.

CREDIT CARD INSURANCE
As with all things in life, it is possible to obtain (in fact it is likely you’ll be urged to) a credit card insurance policy. Essentially a credit card insurance policy insures against the theft and use of your credit card. However, it can also insure against any loss of income that you may suffer as a result of losing your job or income revenue stream. As such, careful consideration needs to be given to weigh up whether or not you think insuring against any of theses events may be of benefit to you.

CREDIT CARD OR NOT
Finally, we return to the issue of whether or not a credit card is the best way to fund consumer spending. In all fairness to credit card companies, if you are a debtor who repays the entire outstanding balance on the next repayment date, then a credit card is a very useful tool to have. However, it is also the case that by doing this you are not going to be considered the ideal credit card customer. What the credit card company wants is someone who is always reliable to make payment of the minimum monthly repayment and never to default on that. That way they’ll maximize their profits. If you happen to be such a borrower, then there are several other ways which you may find much cheaper to fund the purchase of your consumer item than via a credit card; for example, a personal loan.

Whatever you decide to do, remember that one in four people in the UK these days has a bad credit record – yet we still manage to spend ever more amounts on our credit cards. If nothing else, this should tell you to be extremely careful about budgeting when using a credit card.

Is that credit card really suitable for your needs? is a post from: Best Credit Cards

So the first thing you should be very wary of doing if your credit rating is poor, is attempting to get credit again, until you are sure that your history is as clean as possible.

Cleaning up your credit history is easier than you would think. The first stage is to find out just how bad the situation is. Equifax (www.equifax.co.uk) and Experian (www.experian.co.uk) are the two main credit reference agencies, and hold records of your credit history. You have a right to see what is held against you, and if you send them £2, they will post you a pack with details of everything currently held against you (visit their websites for details).

Experian
Consumer Help Service
Experian Ltd
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG1 5GX

and
Equifax
- can apply online
or send a cheque for £2 to them on
Credit File Advice Centre
PO Box 3001
Glasgow
G81 2DT

When the pack arrives, don’t be nervous. This is an unavoidable part of cleaning up your rating, and with your record in front of you, however bad it is, you can start working to make yourself credit worthy again.

So have a look through your history. The first stage is to look at items that have been paid. Wrong or misleading information is common in credit histories, and banks and lenders have a duty to return a rating of ‘Satisfactory’ once a debt has been paid. Few actually do. If anything that appears on your history has been paid but not been noted, write to the original lender and request that they inform the agencies of the fact it has been paid. Stage one is complete – at least now what is against you is accurate.

Next thing – the people you live with. Your credit rating is affected by the people you live with, but does not have to be. You can ask the agencies to dis-associate you from the people you live with, and this will helop your rating if the people at the same address have had problems or currently have a bad rating.

CCJs are up next, and these are rough. Don’t be under any illusions – even if you have paid off a CCJ (County Court Judgement), that will remain on your history for 6 years. However, all is not lost. If you have paid a CCJ, then you can request a Certificate of Satisfaction from the court. Sent copies of this to the major agencies, and the fact that the CCJ has been paid will be noted on your file. Your rating will still be far from perfect, but this can help a little.

You can add notes to your credit rating. You are legally entitled to add relevant information to your profile to help your rating. For example, if you have missed two payments on a loan due to injury, you have hardly committed a major crime, and if you note this on your file, lenders are more likely to consider you. There are times when people can’s avoid missing credit payments, and lenders, however satanic they seem, will bear this in mind.

Make sure you are on the Electoral Register at your current address. They will find you, whatever happens, but if you are not on the electoral role, lenders view that very badly and it harms your credit rating. You are a better risk to the lenders if they know eher you live, and there is plenty of evidence that you are not the kind of person that hides from debt. Other things that can improve your rating are, frankly, silly. Or so it seems to me. Married people are rated better, and being employed rather than self-employed helps.

Finally, if you want a decent credit rating, make sure you make what payments you have on time, every time. One slip, and you won’t be able to get credit for 3 months, and that slip will stay on your record much longer, harming your rating. Even being late with a payment will be noted on your file.

Credit is a strange world, and there are plenty of pitfalls. Avoid, at all costs, those companies who claim to be able to repair your rating – they can’t. Companies that say they will consolidate your debts are also to be steered slear of. They will consolidate your debts, but you will be paying off one huge loan, with massive interest, for many more years to come.

Finally, don’t worry about your rating. As long as you conduct yourself well, and pay the banks what you owe, when you owe it, then they will be happy, and your credit rating will reflect that. Even if you can’t pay them, let them know – a phone call will normally avoid delayed payments haunting you in the future.

For more information on how you can improve your bad credit rating – without paying hefty fees visit Uk credit secrets

Improve your credit rating is a post from: Best Credit Cards