Okay so you have credit cards. I think we all do. Some of us have many of them.At times they can be a big help.For example if you have the need to rent a car and don’t have a credit card you are out of luck these days because without it you can not rent a car.
If you are on vacation and a car repair emergency comes up again the credit card will save the day. If you are travelling and don’t want to be carrying around a lot of cash then a credit card is a must and also a must for an emergency that might arise.
You are paying out a lot of money in interest and many times late fees if your payment is held up in the mail or if it is not in 10 days before the due date as they told me it generally takes 10 days to record your payment.So be careful what you are doing.
For example I know myself and I know if I see a good sale I would impulse buy so when I go to a store to shop I leave my credit cards at home. If I see something I don’t have the cash for I go home and think about it. If I still feel I must have it then I will grab a card and go back.This keeps me from buying many things.
As I said it is a good idea for everyone to have 1 card.If you are trying to rebuild your credit for some reason you may want more than one but use one at a time. In other words one month use one and the next month a different one and so on. You will still have to make payments on all of them whether you charge or not but it will be a small payment if you have not charged on it.
Another thing I have learned recently I will share with you. I had extra money so instead of paying the amount due I paid 5 times the amount due on each card thinking I would be paid ahead. WRONG! When one of the credit card companies called me and said my payment was overdue I told her I had paid extra and she said it didn’t matter how much extra I paid I still had to make a payment as I sent the total in one check. If you want to pay ahead you can but you need a separate check for each month and the month that it is for written on the check, otherwise it does not count and you get socked with late payment fees and interest on top of interest. I sure learned a hard lesson on that one.
One good idea that I use a lot is if I see something I really want rather than use my credit card I will put it on layaway at the store. Of course you won’t get the merchandise until it is all paid for but when you do get it then it IS paid for and you have paid no interest.
You must be careful with credit cards because you can get in way over your head and find you can’t meet all your payments. If this happens call the companies right away and make an arrangement with them.
Credit cards can be your friend or your enemy depending on what you do with them so think before pulling one out and using it.
I never let my balances go over five hundred dollars. I alternate my cards. Now suppose I wanted to cut down to one card and save myself a lot of money? What I would do is pay the minimum due on each card and take one card and pay as much as I can on it until it was paid off and then move on to the second card.
I have actually seen people charge groceries on their credit cards and use coupons to save money. What they don’t realise is they are not saving anything and are actually spending more than they normally would. So again wisely choose what you use your cards on.