Archive for April 22nd, 2007
Unfortunately it’s almost impossible these days to live without a credit card of some type - especially if you spend some of your time online and want to take advantage of online shopping.
The banks have responded to this need by creating debit cards - these act just like credit cards but the money comes directly from your savings or cheque account rather than being put into a credit arrangement. These are great for new purchases if you are trying to pay off old credit card bills.
Using a debit card automatically links to your savings giving you a built in limit - with none of the fees attached to a regular credit card.
Many cards these days are being offered at an interest rate of 0% for a balance transfer.
By moving your balance around from card to card, you cna definitely reduce the amount of interest you are paying. I recently telephoned my bank and they reduced my interest rate from 17.25% to 10.99% just because I asked them too!
Don’t be afraid og going elsehwere to do your banking to get the best honeymoon rate.
There are, however, two points to be wary of if you are shopping for credit card rates: firstly, if you swap credit card companies too often, this may impact your credit score. So plan to get your credit card paid off within the honeymoon period.
The other issue can be what happens when the honeymoon is over. Often the rate when the honeymoon is over is exorbitant - the company makes money by betting that you will not pay your credit card off when you are getting the cheap interest rate.
So if you do decide to shop around, just be aware that you will need to pay your card off as fast as you can once you are on that honeymoon period!
Have you seen the “advertising” flip-flops? They are the ones that have advertising logos and messages scored into the soles, so that when you walk on the beach, you leave a trail of messages in the sand!
Neet Feet is the originators of the “talking soleâ€, supplier of the finest footwear, flip flops, and many other promotional products. Visit their web site’s showrooms to see the many models of sandals specially tailored for promotional use and discover what the Fortune 500 companies, exclusive resorts and hotels, spas and a myriad of other successful businesses, large and small, have discovered with Neet Feet’s promotional sandals.
So if you are looking for a really “Neet” promotional item, maybe to raise funds for your charity, advertise your store or service, get your Custom Flip Flops from Neet Feet!
One thing I have noticed about credit cards these days - the interest rates are fantastic, but the fees and charges they now attract are horrendous! It used to be that if you tried to charge something to your credit card but it would take you over your credit card limit - the transaction would be refused. These days, my credit card company will let me go above my limit, but they will charge me a $30 fee to do so! They also charge me around $75 for the priveledge of having each card.
All of these fees and charges add up - it it is all possible, the best things to do is to try and consolidate all of your credit card debt onto the one card. This will reduce the fees and charges you incurr because you have been running multiple cards, with multiple fees and yearly charges.
Don’t wait for your credit card bill to arrive if you want to pay if off as fast as possible. Although you only receive a statement once a month - interested is actually calculated on a daily basis.  So if you are paid weeky, pay some off towards your credit card every week, as this will save on the interest charges you accumulate. It’s not alot but every little bit helps and you will definitely find yourself paying off your credit card bill faster this way.
