Saturday, August 16, 2008

Spend With The Credit Card Where Possible

Category: Finance, Credit.

If you ve got a credit card did you know that you can do more with it than just use it for payments. For those times when a credit card will not be accepted.



For one you may receive a credit card cheque book which will enable you to pay with your card account via a cheque. You may also have the opportunity to get a cash advance. This is great if you need cash in an emergency. A means of withdrawing cash directly from your credit cardeither from a cash machine or directly to your bank account. But there s a catch to both these credit card account features, so be wary. Almost all credit cards charge a much higher interest for credit card cheques or a cash advance. You Will Pay Much More Interest for the Service.


You may forfeit any interest- free period, which means that you will start paying interest on the money the minute you spend the money. Plus using an ATM could raise the fee further still. You will also find that most cards will also charge a fee each time you take a cash advance or use a credit card cheque. You Will Pop Up On The Credit Company Radar. This will be recorded and noted in the credit card company s records and mark you as someone who possibly shouldn t receive the best deal. Whenever you use a credit card cheque or take a cash advance, you re revealing the fact that you re not just using a credit card for it s convenience, you really do need the money.


As they see it, you won t be going anywhere. Try avoiding using cash to pay for small things and only to find you have to take a cash advance or use a credit cheque to pay for bigger things. Spend With the Credit Card Where Possible. Instead do it the other way around. Think carefully how you spend. If you re in a situation where you re relying on a cash advance, you should start using your card for the smaller things where you wouldn t usually consider it, in order to avoid taking the advances and paying the extra interest. There are few bills now that need to be paid for with a cheque, consequently there are fewer reasons to ever use a credit card cheque.


Most companies accept credit cards now. If you re willing to make a call and wait in their queue for a while or there s a facility to pay online, the chances are you can get them to accept a credit card payment. The fact is they re loosing out if they don t. If you start to rely on cash advances, you ll eventually run into an advance limit. Be Wary Of Advance Limits. The credit card companies don t advertise it, but many of them have limits on how much of your balance can be cash advances and how much must be in purchases.


Cash Advances Get Paid Off Last. Check these limits before you start taking cash advances. When you begin to pay back your credit card balance, most lenders will put your payments towards the lowest- interest money, first and once, your purchases this is cleared towards any other lending. This being the case you will always be paying the higher interest on the cash advance or cheque until you clear your credit card debt completely and get your balance back to zero.

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