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Credit Repair Tips

12 Dec, 2008 | Credit | admin | Comments Off

Hopefully you didn’t find out that you have bad credit when you got rejected from a loan at the bank and hopefully you have the knowledge to check your credit report before going out for a loan. Either way, here we go.

The first thing that you should do is get your credit report from Experian, TransUnion, and EquiFax – the three main credit bureaus. Here are some tips that will help you repair your credit:

⇒ Understand that you can file a dispute for any errors on your report and you should do this because it can affect your credit score – even the smallest mistakes. You can do this by mailing a dispute letter to the credit bureau with the faulty report.

⇒ You can speak with the creditors that you currently owe money to and try to negotiate a deal to pay the debt off – usually you can save a decent amount from doing this.

⇒ To improve your credit score, it is essential that all of your payments are made on time – a late payment can really damage your credit score.


Low Interest Credit Cards

14 Nov, 2008 | Credit | admin | Comments Off

The most frequently queried factor with any credit card is the overall interest rate. People, and rightly so, are more concerned with how much interest they will be paying on their balance overall than the fancy reward schemes and introductory rates. I am one of those people. Sure balance transfer figures, cashback figures and purchase rates are important to some people, but to the vast amount of low volume credit card users, we’re more concerned with finding and using a card that simply won’t charge us the earth, if and when we happen to have a bit of spend on it. The key to this is to find low interest credit cards, and not just credit cards that offer low interest rates for the first 1, 2, 6 months - we need credit cards that offer fixed, extremely low interest rates.

I have done some looking around and there are numerous card issuers out there that offer a great APR for almost 5 years! By that time you will have probably found an even more cost effective card issuer anyway. A lot of the offers out there are instant approval credit cards, so there is no need to go through a long application process either. If you consider your credit rating to be good enough, have a look around at the various offers available, you might just find yourself a very low interest card to replace your current one.


Manage Credit Card Debt by Transferring Your Balances to One Card

2 Jul, 2008 | Credit | admin | Comments Off

Credit card debt is one of those things that can sneak up on you before you even realize it. If you have found yourself in a situation where you have credit card balances on multiple cards now might be a good time to think about consolidating your debt.
By taking advantage of balance transfer credit cards you can combine all of your current balances into one single balance. You will no longer have to pay multiple annual fees or worry about making payments to several credit card providers. With ease you will be able to understand how much you owe and formulate a plan to begin shrinking your debt.
One of the greatest rewards for choosing to transfer your balance to a single card is choosing a card that has special balance transfer incentives. Several cards offer no interest on balance transfers for up to six months. There are other cards that offer a very low two to three per cent interest rate on balance transfers but over a longer period of time such as twelve months. For example, Citibank credit cards offers a Citibank Clear Card that has a low interest rate and a zero per cent interest rate for six months.


Credit Card Offers

21 May, 2008 | Credit | admin | Comments Off

If you’ve been bombarded with credit card offers but just don’t know what to do or where to go, let us help! Here you will find everything you need to compare credit cards, compare offers, interest rates and interest-free periods. These are all things you need to consider when opting for a particular credit card.

For example, many cards offer an interest-free period, with the trade-off being a yearly fee. So you should have a think about whether you are in a position to be able to pay off your credit card quickly, and not incur interest, so you can skip the cards with the annual fee.

If however you rely heavily on a credit card, and are (for example) paid monthly so you cannot always pay your balance off within the interest-free time allowed, then you might need to choose a card with an annual charge and a long interest-free period.

Of the several St George Bank Credit Cards on offer, the Vertigo offers a very low interest rate, 55 days interest-free – but the annual fee is $45. This might be one card to consider if you need a little longer to pay off your balance and are willing to pay a yearly fee.


Choosing The Right Credit Card

25 Jan, 2008 | Credit, General | admin | Comments Off

What should you know about APRs when choosing a credit card?

Cards have different APRs for purchases, cash advances and balance transfers. Tiered APRs have different interest rates for different levels of your balance. A penalty is applied if you are late with your payments. An introductory rate is good for a fixed amount of time after opening the account. A delayed APR will give you a different rate later.

A fixed interest rate means the Annual Percentage Rate does not change. The interest on a “fixed rate” card may change after time, but the card company has to tell you before your APR is increased.

Other cards are variable, meaning the Annual Percentage Rate changes at times. The rate is usually relevant to the Prime Interest Rate or the Treasury Bill Rate. If the that rate changes, your rate may change.

What you should know about fees?

Annual fee - just for having the card

Cash advance fee - if the card is used for cash advances

Balance-transfer fee - if you transfer the balance of another card

Late-payment fee - if your payment is late.

Over-the-limit fee - if you go over the limit.

Limit-increase fee - if you request increase to the credit limit.

Set-up fee - for opening a new account.

Return fee - if the check you use to pay your bill bounces.

Other fees - most companies charge a fee for telephone payments. Some charge report to credit bureaus. Other charge just to review your account or provide customer service.



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