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All  |   Discussion (0)Credit & store cards (General)

You know you have too much credit card debt when . . . Your debt is not decreasing and you cannot make any savings. You make minimum payments on your credit cards. You have more than two or three credit cards, and you're at or near your credit limit on at least one of them. You take out cash advances on your credit card to pay other bills. You've tried to purchase something with your credit card and it has been declined, or you've been denied credit, or your checks have bounced. You get calls from debt collectors. You lie to your spouse or other family member about your spending or hide credit card statements from family members. If you realize that you are in over your head, the sooner you act, the easier it will be to get out from under the burden of debt. There's no easy fix, but it is possible to turn your finances around if you work at it. You can make a start by making a priority of paying off the loans that have the highest interest rates. Another method is to pay-off a small debt first, just to give you confidence.   thesource (378)

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Avoid credit cards: by using a cash or debit card rather than a credit card you won't be able to spend more money than you have. If you tend to get carried away when shopping you should seriously consider this option.   thesource (378)

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Know that credit card companies are designed to earn their income via consumer debt repayments. They know very well, and deliberately profit from, the irrational optimism of consumers. That is, people usually believe their ability to repay a debt in the future will be better than their ability today.   kellyjones00 (593)

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Card Management: If you have several cards, you are best off accruing your points on one only, with a backup card in case you max out your main card, or their system is down when you go to make a purchase. But that doesn't mean you should get rid of your other cards, though you should make it impossible to use them. Choose two that are most favourable and put the rest in a relative's house somewhere where they won't attract attention - like in a garage or something. Alternatively, freeze them in a small container in the freezer.   myxlfidian (150)

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If spending more than $200, it's best to use a credit card as you'll get extra protection under consumer law if the company you buy from goes bust or the goods are faulty.   kellyjones00 (593)

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Getting a home loan: Something you might not realise is that credit cards are treated as liabilities, even if they have a zero balance. The reason being, at any given time you could max out the card. So if you have a $10,000 credit limit, your lender is likely to treat that as a $10,000 debt when assessing your application. If you don’t use your credit card much, or pay off the balance in full each month, it would be worth getting as low a limit as possible on it if you’re looking to get a home loan approved.   myxlfidian (150)

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See also:
Money

 

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