In order to gain control of your credit car usages and keep your charges in check, you need to have a plan. And, one good way to begin is by taking out your spreadsheet and recording all of your card specifics on the sheet. What do you list? The name of the card, the due date of your payments, the invoice date, the current balance, the interest rate, their contact info, and any other information you feel might be useful. Don’t just include your major credit cards. Include all credit cards including your department store cards.
After you complete filling out your sheet, the first thing you should take note of is how many credit cards you have. If you have more than 3, seriously consider getting rid of a few.
Next, talk to your bank and have them set you up with a way to pay your credit card bills automatically online. In just the past few years alone, late fees have virtually skyrocketed. A lot of times, because of slow or misdelivered mail, you will receive your credit card bill either late or not at all. And, a lot of times, when you mail in your payment, even as early as a week before it is due, the credit card company will claim that your check did not reach them on time. In either case, you will most likely be charged a late fee. But, one easy method of simply avoiding late fees is to pay your bills online. As long as you have enough money in your bank account, your payment will be credited to the credit card company on the day that you make the payment.
Your spreadsheet is a nice central place to keep your info and know at a glance where you stand financially. For instance, your sheet will tell you the invoice date for each of your cards. If you notice that you haven’t yet received your invoice from a card company within a few days after the invoice date, you should call them to inform them and to find out your balance for that month. And, if you have set up an online payment mechanism as described above, you will be able to pay your balance in plenty of time.
On the bright side, things are looking up a bit for consumers. Just recently, the U.S. Congress passed the Credit Card Act of 2009. Part of its provisions is a new rule which limits the amount of money that their customers can be charged for late fees to $25. This was primarily in response to some of the exorbitant late fees that many credit card holders were charging their customers for late payments. The new law goes into effect in August of 2010.
For more information about credit card and financial issues such as debt elimination services and debit consolidation, please visit our website.
