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A substandard credit card isn’t worth your time or money, but unfortunately, the market is flooded with them. If you’re not careful, your credit card could rip you off – but it doesn’t have to. All you need is some savvy advice on how to tell a worthy card from a waster.
The biggest thing you need to know before choosing a credit card is what you need from a credit card. If you don’t normally pay your credit card balance in full each month, you’re probably best suited to a 0% balance credit card – this way you can transfer your balance and pay it off over the period of the 0% offer, without having to pay interest. There are two key things to keep in mind with 0% balance transfer offers, though. First, keep an eye on the balance transfer fee – most cards will charge you between two and three percent of the balance transferred. Do some maths before you transfer your balance to make sure the cost of transferring doesn’t outweigh the interest saved.
The second key thing to keep in mind with a balance transfer card is simple: don’t spend on it. Unless your balance transfer card offers you 0% on new purchases as well as balance transfers, any purchases made on the card will tip you into the interest-gathering red zone. Our best suggestion is to keep your balance transfer card for one thing – balance transfers!
Whatever card you get, keep an eye open for the myriad opportunities credit card providers offer to help you contribute to their bottom line. High standard interest rates (APR), obscene charges for cash withdrawals, and extra, hidden fees are just some of the card tricks you don’t want to fall for. Low minimum monthly repayments (MMRs) are another. If you don’t pay your card debt in full each month, steer clear of credit cards with an MMR of less than 2.5%. With most credit cards charging an interest rate of over 15½%, consistently paying the MMR can inflate a modest debt to gargantuan proportions and stretch it out over decades, leading to huge income for your credit card provider.
There’s one (legal) scam every credit card holder needs to beware of, and that’s payment protection insurance (PPI), also known as card repayment protection. Without a doubt, payment protection insurance is a colossal waste of money, increasing the cost of your credit-card spending by an average of 9.15% each year, even if you pay your bill in full each month. For the sake of your wallet, steer clear of PPI!
