Sunday, April 29, 2012

Lowest Rate Credit Card – What Makes A Best Deal, How to Get It, and More


There comes a time when offers for the lowest rate credit card find their way into your mailbox and flood it with so many bargains like credit card balance transfer deals. And most likely, these kind of spam mails turn up during the Yuletide season where credit card bills go ho-ho-ho. Stressful enough. Will you be able to pay them off in time for vacation? Well, that to say is, if you can even afford to have one with such pressure.

Looking for the Best Deals
Finding the lowest rate credit card is not that difficult. Ever heard of google? Searching the net can give you tons of information and a long list of potential candidates. It is recommended that you go for fixed instead of variable rate cards. Don’t be fooled by low teaser rates initially offered by variable cards. You’ll see that after a few months such rate will come to an end and neither debtor nor credit score will benefit from hopping around for better deals. Instead, look for the lowest rate credit card with a fixed charge. Information for the best deals in town is readily available but in the process of searching for one, make sure to read the fine print carefully. Sometimes, certain fees or requirements are hidden in such size to prevent the user from seeing it.

How To Get Your Hands on Them
Let’s say you just found the lowest rate credit card deal. And you can’t wait to have it. But wait, reality check, do you have the appropriate arsenal to obtain it? Think first before you act. Now there are almost as many ways to get the lowest rate credit card as the number of best deals there are but the most elementary and guaranteed of them all involves fixing your credit      assuming your credit isn’t that exceptional as such is the case for many. There are quite a number of credit card companies out there who are very much willing to lend you money but having an undesirable credit rating will urge those companies to implement higher rates on your credit.

Other Important Points to Remember
Having the lowest rate credit card is not an assurance that you will be debt-free. At the end of the day, it will all boil down to personal management. If you are wise enough, you can make something work to your benefit by taking time to consider why you do such things. But if you are not, you could make sudden choices without thinking resulting to deception and hardship rather than benefits you thought you would have enjoyed. How do you go about it? First, list down all your debts and reconcile accounts to determine your current financial situation. Set up the percentage rates for every debt. Pay the minimum for each account and allot excess for the one with the highest rate. Once that debt is paid off, do the same for the next until all debts will be erased in no time. Just like interest compounding, even a small adjustment in the way you come up with your financial decisions can make a big impact. One such impact would be having peace of mind, which needless to say is priceless.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

Low Interest Balance Transfer Credit Cards

You might have encountered several credit card issuers offering low interest balance transfer credit cards promising you that what they give you is the answer you have been waiting for so long.  They boast about offering the lowest of interests, which some can get as low as 0%, but in reality they are merely arrangements or promotions to attract new customers. This of course is not totally a sham but remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. So before we can say whether such transaction is good or bad, we have to know the what, how and why:

Back to Basics

A credit card balance transfer, as its name suggests, is a type of credit card deal wherein you move or transfer the balance of one of your credit cards to another. What for? Perhaps the most obvious reason and probably the one most bank on is the prospect of an approach to cut down on costs, particularly on the interest charges you pay.

You see, credit cards are a big business today and most credit companies make big money out of the finance charges you pay. Interests can climb to as high as 16% and because this interest is charged consistently, some might find it difficult to pay off. So in an effort to lure people who suffer from this setup, many companies offer balance transfer for credit cards at low interests. And to make the offer more attractive, these deals come with incentives, benefits and grace periods during which you get to be charged with rates far lesser than your old credit card.

What’s In It for Me?

 If you are savvy enough, this is a perfect opportunity to reduce your credit card debt. With zero or lesser interest charges, you get to pay more for the balance without worrying about being burdened by the high costs of interest. Plus with the right strategy, you can live off opening new accounts as the others expire; so called a credit card hopping strategy, that could save you quite a lot of money over the years.

How Do I Go About It?

Before you sign up for a go for a new balance transfer credit card, make sure that you get a fairly good deal. Balance transfer credit cards have quite a handful of rates you need to compare and consider so you can arrive at the best decision. Compare the rates of your prospect and your current credit card. You also need to know if there are some balance transfer fees included just in case you decide to apply for it. And as a precaution against future tangles you might end up in, make sure qualify for the promotional rate or have the available credit and resources to pay off that new liability or else you might end up paying for more.

Debt is inevitable and incurring it may just be part of our lives. Balance transfer credit cards that promise low interest may just be the solution to your perennial debt dilemmas but know that although it provides you an opportunity to avoid paying your credit card bills, there still lies the probability that it could go the other way. After all when you think something is too good to be true, then it probably is.