What Exactly Are Finance Charges

If you have a credit card, you probably know all about the various fees and charges that may be assessed to your account balance throughout the course of the year, including annual fees, the APR, late payment fees, and so on. Most of these fees are just a part of using your card and unfortunately, many cardholders find themselves paying late payment fees more often than not. All of the other fees are unavoidable. At this time, the focus will be upon another fee that comes with using a credit card: the finance charge. [Read more]

Credit Or Debit: The Differences

In the past when you wanted to make a purchase, all you had to do was write a check or perhaps use a credit card that was backed by a bank or some other lending institution. Using credit cards to make regular purchases can result in a lot of overspending and then you will have a huge debt to pay down. Interest is charged every month on the balance of your credit card purchases and then it is combined to make the total balance owed. A debit card takes the money directly out of your bank account and there is no interest charged on this transaction. The debit card is a great help to you in keeping track of what you have spent. [Read more]

Some Consequences Of Poor Credit Card Use

More people than ever before are regularly using credit cards. Most actually have more than one card that they use to make daily purchases. Society is overwhelmingly consumer-driven. This has necessitated at least some type of credit card use to make certain purchases or to buy from online outlets. What makes this trend troubling is that with increased credit card use there is consequent epidemic of debt. This is largely due to the widespread ignorance among many cardholders of proper use and management of cards. [Read more]

Getting a Free Credit Report

There are some pretty funny commercials on television for free credit reports. You’ll also run across offers for free credit reports in newspapers and magazines as well as online. People will see these and think they sound pretty good, and decide to go for their free credit report from one of these places. They don’t stop to think that someone had to pay for that glossy print ad in the magazine, take out that full page ad in the newspaper, or have that cute commercial produced. Why would someone do this? To make money! They call it advertising, and it is! However, sometimes there is a little more involved. [Read more]

Credit Score Ratings

People are more familiar with the term “credit score ratings” than they once were because of the various commercials that mention it, but they are not really secure in the knowledge of exactly what these credit score ratings are, or just how having a high or a low rating can affect them.

Credit score ratings come from the three credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, the same agencies where you get your credit report. These agencies have a special type of software that takes the information from your credit report and compiles a score from it. This is called a FICO score. [Read more]