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Credit Cards Discuss credit cards - user experiences, credit card rates, and which companies offer the best credit card.

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  #16 (permalink)  
Old 07-16-2009, 11:00 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: ATL, GA
Posts: 142
Default Re: How to use credit card

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike2000 View Post
Do the banks have the right to charge whatever interest rate they want?
Yes and No. Credit issuers base their credit decisions off your credit. This could be one or all three FICO credit bureaus or even one of hundreds of different credit modals. Generally, the worse your credit is the higher interest rates you will pay because you are seen as a high risk, as in high risk of defaulting on your loan. Credit card companies do have some regulation but not much and have virtually no transparency when it comes to hidden fees, billing cycles, due dates and charges. I've personally seen interest rates as high as 40%! I agree higher risk borrowers should pay more, but 40%, thats insane!

Many people probably have seen there interest rates go up over the last year. Even people with great credit. This is because CC companies need money and also want to weed out some of the high risk borrowers on their books.

Coming the beginning of next year new credit laws will become effective making it illegal to charge extremely high interest rates on fixed rates. To get around this, many companies, such as Bank of America and Chase, have started switching their fixed rate cards to variable rate cards.

You can read more about the new credit laws here:

Credit Card Help: What the new credit card law means for you

And more about Bank of America and Chase here:

Say goodbye to fixed-rate cards; 2 major banks switching terms in months leading up to reforms

and another:

Fixed-rate credit card seems on its way out - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

There's a lot more info out there, just google new credit card laws and/or fixed/variable credit cards.

Hope that helps.
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  #17 (permalink)  
Old 12-05-2009, 06:10 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York-USA
Posts: 4
Default Re: How to use credit card

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Originally Posted by toptaxguy View Post
The best card will have no annual fee, no transaction fees, a low interest rate and a generous grace period. Typically you want a card with no annual fee and a grace period of at least 25 days.

Plan on always paying off the card as the interest and other fees will kill you in the long run.
I agree, but such offers are really rare
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  #18 (permalink)  
Old 03-15-2010, 07:35 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Arkansas/US
Posts: 15
Default Re: How to use credit card

if you are looking for a type of credit card to apply for I would recommend a secured credit card so that you can build up your credit score.
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  #19 (permalink)  
Old 03-15-2010, 07:36 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Arkansas/US
Posts: 15
Default Re: How to use credit card

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Originally Posted by Lumber Joe View Post
I agree, but such offers are really rare
I agree, it can be hard to find a "perfect" credit card but it's always best to get as close as possible.
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