My gawd, for 2 consecutive days, I received credit cards from 2 different credit companies! What are they doing? I didn’t even applied for it and never have plans of really getting new credit cards. For me, it could be temptation so I am only activating one card, which has a LOWER credit limit. Besides, I am very loyal to the card that gives me travel reward points! We are close to having 2 roundtrip HK tickets, which I am hoping to use by next year. Still charging and swiping the card to get 4 roundtrip HK tickets instead. This would make the husband agree for a trip next year!
Read from Goodhousekeeping Magazine how to use credit card wisely. It says that it can work for you or againts you. A credit limit of 50K allows you to spend the 50K even before you receive your income but it doesn’t give you additional spending money of 50K. Gets?
But because credit card processing nowadays is becoming easy and card companies just send you free cards, here are some tips to remember to make that plastic card your bestfriend and not regret being affiliated with any.
1. Charge only what you can afford to pay. I read from a book before that your total payments for debts, loans including credit card bills should not be more than 15 to 20 percent of your take-home pay. Now, do your own math. Set only a monthly limit of charges.
2. Pay your credit card bill on time and as much as possible in full. I totally agree with this. You are avoiding the finance charges which is usually like 3% of your total balance. At the very least, pay the minimum amount due every month.
3. Check your bill against copies of sales slips for your purchases. I have a system for this. I have an envelope which I keep for all my charge slips. When I receive my credit card bill, I check it vis-a-vis all the slips to ensure that I am charged correctly.
4. Be aware of your monthly cut-offs. Doing this would make you plan out payments. You don’t want to charge too many in one monthly cycle.
5. Check out discount offers and 0% offers. Being familiar which boutiques or restaurants offer discounts and freebies by using the credit card can make you save more money. Also, being aware of some 0% offers especially for bulk puchases can be a great way to work within your budget.
Tags: Money Talk
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