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Have you ever looked at your credit card statement? I'm not
talking about just making sure that all the transactions are
correct. I'm talking about looking at the finance charges.
I daresay that sometimes that figure is almost as great as
the minimum monthly payment you're making. After all, as
long as you can keep the creditors at bay by paying the
minimum, that's all you care about, right?
If you agreed, I urge you to reconsider.
I'm sure that by now, many of you realize that you lose
money by buying on credit. Still, I don't think many of you
appreciate just how much your credit cards are costing you.
I'd like to really drive that point home.
Let's say that Joe decides he needs new patio furniture. He
doesn't have the $2,000 cash, so he slaps down his plastic
card knowing that he can make the minimum monthly payment,
no sweat.
And so that's what he does, month in, month out, year in,
year out, and pretty soon he's been doing this for one full
decade. Surely it's paid off by now!
No, not even close. In fact, if Joe continues to make the
minimum monthly payment, he will be paying for that
furniture for the next 38 years! And once he has made the
final payment on his original $2,000 purchase, he will have
paid an additional $5,300 in interest! Pretty disgusting,
isn't it? And this is at 14% APR. Many cards run higher.
Some of you more savvy credit card users out there might be
thinking that you already know this, so you don't fall for
that trap anymore. You only get credit cards with a much
lower interest rate, right?
But do you notice that it's only for a few months? And do
you pay attention to what the interest rate jumps to after
that short introductory period? You kind of have to hunt
around for this figure since they don't put it in plain
view. Believe me, credit card companies are not losing
money on these lower introductory rate offers.
WATCH OUT for those tempting balance transfer offers!
Credit card promotions are becoming even more devious. Now
the credit card companies are offering 0% interest on all
balance transfers for up to 18 months! Wow, well, you've
GOT to take advantage of that, right? I'll show you three
reasons why you shouldn't.
First, even though you might be "pre-approved", it is in no
way certain that you will actually get this low rate. The
credit card companies reserve the right to reconsider their
original offer based on your qualifications. They will
often go ahead and issue you a credit card, but it could be
at a substantially higher rate. Don't assume that what you
applied for is what you are getting.
Secondly, there are often balance transfer fees that are
substantial enough to gobble up any savings you might make
on a lower interest rate. Transfer rates run anywhere from
3% to a hefty 5%, with a single transaction costing as much
as $65.
Thirdly, and this is the sneakiest part of all, in order to
secure the 0% rate on your transfers, you are required to
purchase a minimum amount on your card for several
consecutive months. At first, this doesn't sound so bad.
However, the fine print tells you that the interest rate
applied to these new purchases is NOT the same 0% rate, but
a different, much higher rate.
What's more, all your payments will always be allocated to
the balance that will earn the credit card company the most
money. This means that the balances with the lowest rates
will be targeted first, while the balance with the much
higher rate keeps accruing and compounding interest month
after month. So, if you transfer a large sum in order to
take advantage of this seemingly generous offer, you will
likely be paying on it for a very long time before you ever
get around to paying down the mandatory purchases, which are
racking up some pretty serious charges in the meantime.
And we've only looked at interest rates here. There are
also default penalties, late charges, over-the-limit fees,
transaction fees, ATM fees, stop-payment fees, cash advance
fees and annual fees, all of which are on the increase.
Over half the states in the union have no limit on what
credit card issuers can charge for annual fees and yearly
interest rates. These companies are gouging their customers
with charges that are downright outrageous, and
unfortunately for us, legal.
So how DO you avoid falling into these sneaky traps that the
credit card companies set?
If you are lucky enough to not be playing the losing game of
credit card roulette, for heaven's sake, don't start! If
you are already involved, get out as fast as you can. Here
are a few basic steps.
- Don't carry a credit card. It's amazing how easy it is to
ignore this obvious first step.
- Apply any extra money to your debts first. If you're
saving a little nest egg earning at a rate of 5%, but you
have debts gnawing away to the tune of 12%, it's not
difficult to see that this is a losing proposition.
- Target one debt for elimination at a time. Pick the one
that can be wiped out the most quickly first.
- Take all the extra money from the first debt and apply it
to your second target.
- Continue in like fashion until you have dug yourself out
of this miserable pit.
And finally, breathe a major sigh of relief and vow never to
pass that way again.
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