You will be forgiven to believe that a credit card is a bad thing, thanks to all the rants and raves about credit card debts in the recent past. A credit card can be very convenient in most situations. To say the least, you will be able to build a good reputation hence establish yourself as a good financial unit in the society. That said, how good or how bad you handle your credit is what will matter. You will only feel like a victim of credit card debt if you let the credit control and dictate your life.
You need to step up and manage your credit card wisely. The first way to do this is to get rid of all other charges but the interest rate. This you can do by remitting your minimums on time each month. Always getting late may tarnish your credit rating in addition to having an extra late fee charge of $30-$50. When your name gets tarnished, it goes without saying that you will have a very bad credit score report. To help you achieve this, it is wise to keep an updated tracking system to help you know the due dates of whatever payments you have.
Although credit card management advisors will tell you never to pay the minimums, it would be pointless to get late paying extra few dollars, where you will also be charged late fee, rather than just paying the minimum on time. Equally, keep watch on any extra fee, such as membership or credit protection fee that your creditors may be charging you. You can cancel your credit card with a company any time, even if you have an outstanding balance, if the company is charging extra fees. Remember, the credit card business is very competitive and more often than not, they would rather remove the extra fees than lose your business.
You may also want to look into interest rates, call your creditors and negotiate for a fair interest rate, or threaten to close the account. Taking control of your interest rate will mean you will be paying more for your principal amount and less for the interest. Get a rate that you are comfortable with and be the boss, don’t let your credit boss your around. Getting control of your debts is very rewarding in that you will have your payment morale boosted, knowing you are controlling something very tough yet so easy to lose control of.