Sick Of Paying Bank And Credit Card Fees - How To Avoid

Sick Of Paying Bank And Credit Card Fees? Here's How To Avoid 3 Of The Most Common - By Steve

Banks, credit card companies, and other businesses love to charge you fees for violating their rules. Whether it's late fees, ATM fees, check stop-payment fees, overdraft fees, bounced-check fees, or any other fee, businesses are determined to get every dime out of you they possibly can. But there are ways you can avoid paying these fees. You just have to be shrewd. Here's how to avoid paying three of the most common fees.

1) ATM Surcharges -- Any time you use an ATM that doesn't belong to your bank, you're going to pay for it. Sometimes the charge is only a dollar. But it can be as high as $4 or more, depending on the bank. And sometimes your own bank will charge you for using another bank's ATM. That makes for a really expensive withdrawal.

How to Avoid -- The best way to avoid these fees is to plan ahead and withdraw money from an ATM your bank owns. But you do have another option. Many grocery stores, drugstores, and discount stores (such as Wal-Mart) will allow you to get cash back from the register when you use a debit card to check out. The bank you use typically won't charge you for these transactions.

(2) Credit Card Overdraft Protection -- Many banks offer a credit card to protect you from overdrawing your checking account. But the protection comes with a price. While the fees are usually cheaper than overdraft charges, they're still expensive. Most of the cards will charge a fee each time the protection is used (up to $20 per transaction). And they count the transaction as a cash advance, which almost always carries a higher interest rate. To make matters worse, the transaction begins to draw interest the day it's made. There is no grace period.

How to Avoid -- The most obvious way to avoid this is to keep enough cash in your checking account to make sure you never overdraw the account. If that's too difficult, put some money in a savings account and set it up as your overdraft protection. Just make sure you put the money back as soon as you can. Otherwise, you'll deplete your savings.

A Word of Caution -- Many banks will charge you a hefty fee for overdrawing your account. And they'll charge the fee each time you do it. So if you use a check card or debit card to purchase small items, such as coffee or meals, each purchase that overdraws your account will rack up another $30+ charge to your account. Before you know it, you're charged $150 without even trying.

(3) Credit Card Late Payment Fee -- When you use a credit card, you have to make a payment by the due date. If you don't, the credit card company charges a huge fee (up to $39), and it damages your credit report. Even worse, credit card companies do everything they can to make you late for your payment. For instance, they have the due date on Sunday. But the company is closed on Saturday and Sunday. So the payment is actually due on Friday. If you plan to have your payment arrive on time, the mail won't arrive until Monday -- and you get slapped with a late fee. They also change their mailing address with no warning. If you make payment using auto-bill pay, you'll mail the check to the wrong address. And the company won't give you credit for the mistake.

How to Avoid -- If your bank offers a bill-pay feature, see if it also accepts electronic bills directly from your credit card company. If so, you can sign up for electronic billing and then set up your payments to be paid either immediately upon receipt of the bill or by the payment due date. Either option will allow you to avoid late charges. If electronic bill-pay is not an option for you, you'll need to make your payments early or get rid of your credit cards and use cash only. Actually, there's one other choice, but not many cards offer it. Some credit cards will let you sign up for the company to withdraw the full amount due on the due date from your checking account. I don't like the idea of giving them access to your checking account, but it's usually better than paying late-payment fees.

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Credit Card Reward Points - A Consumer Guide

Credit Card Reward Points - A Consumer Guide To Choose Smartly Among Many Reward Options- By Jaydeep
ICICI Bank has perhaps the largest credit card base in India and also has one of the most elaborate reward programs among the banks. They are the ones who started the express reward program which gives accelerated accumulation of reward points depending on the total purchase on a card and it gives incentive to customers to spend on ICICI card as they can accumulate points at up to five fold speed than the normal pace of 1 point for every Rs 100 spent. The express reward program of ICICI Bank became popular in no time as customers were accumulating more points than other cards and their express reward program were soon emulated by other banks like HDFC.

The first thing that a consumer should understand that it is not only the number of reward points that matter but also the kind of gifts that are available for redemption and the number of reward points required to redeem them. I have been using credit cards for the last 10 years for personal and business expenses and always do my analysis before redeeming the points which I accumulate on a regular basis. I have cards from almost all leading issuers like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered and HSBC Bank and if you ask my pick I would say HSBC among silver card and HDFC among gold.

ICICI Bank which is the most aggressive player in the credit card space but it has also the most hyped reward program. Initially it had very good reward options like Taj and Welcome group hotel vouchers for its gold members but those has been withdrawn long back. Actually their express reward program has lost its attraction as you need more ICICI reward points to redeem a gift (say a Pantaloons voucher worth Rs 500) compared to other cards like HSBC or HDFC.

Usually the banks have more or less the same gifts for its reward program but now individual banks are working to differentiate in their offerings. Still the common items across all reward programs are the departmental store vouchers, vouchers for apparel and fashion accessory brands, fast food restaurant vouchers and some consumer durable products like mixer/grinder, toaster, OTG and microwave. But a consumer having more than one credit card will do well if he first compares and then select the right reward points for claiming a particular voucher as I have found that you need almost double reward points in ICICI card than that of HSBC to claim some particular gifts.

If you have a gold card then probably you have a wider choice as most banks have some special reward options for gold card members which are generally leisure products like hotel vouchers, perfumes and collectibles. The HDFC gold card program allows you to choose between some good perfume and EDT but I would not suggest the collectibles like Victorinox Swiss Army Knife or Magpie bar set as I don't think those deals are attractive. For ICICI gold members the deals are not so good anymore as now they have more deals which require you to pay additional money and not just reward points.

ICICI Bank has something called spotlight rewards where they try to push junk and cheap Chinese made electronics products like digital camera, USB pen drive and so on and that too sometimes on cash and reward points. The spotlight rewards are highly avoidable and basically they provide the least value in any reward category by any bank. I personally ordered once for a foldable tea table by redeeming for more than 1000 points under the spotlight reward category and the stuff I got was actually defective and would hardly cost Rs 100.

It is not only ICICI that ships defective materials but other banks too and so the choice of the gift is very important if a customer wants to make the most out of its reward points. I ordered once OTG from my HDFC Gold card and the OTG was found defective. After lots of complaints and persuasion that defective OTG was replaced with another defective one and since that day I decided to never go for any consumer durables.

I think a smart consumer should avoid consumer durables and any electronic items as these credit card companies seems to source factory seconds to cut cost which is actually shameful. The best things you can get are the vouchers but don't forget to make the comparison if you have multiple credit cards. Some other things you can try are perfumes, magazine subscriptions and collectibles but make sure that they are not asking for too many reward points.

If you are holding a co-branded card like Citibank Jet Airways or Amex Indian then converting the reward points to Air miles are a good option. HSBC silver cards also offer Jet Airways and Kingfisher air miles and that's why I think it has one of the best reward programs as on today.

The final advice is don't get yourself in a debt trap by getting lured by the gifts and express reward programs. A smart consumer pays all bills and expenses thru credit cards but also pays the credit card bill in full. This is the best way to accumulate your reward points and redeem them for cool gifts at a later point with incurring interest or additional cost.

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Using Your Card: What Is Its Purpose?

There is a wonderful feeling to having a credit card when you need one, but that blanket term "credit card" can be misleading at times. Not all credit cards are the same, and this goes beyond the APR that most people are aware of. Before choosing a credit card, consider what it is that you plan to use it for. This can make a big difference in how you use it and what you will pay in charges and fees for using it.

There are some consumers who will pay off their bill each and every month, and rarely, if ever, carry the balance over into the next billing cycle. If you intend to follow this routine, then APR will not matter as much to you. Keep in mind that finance charges do not kick in unless you carry over a balance. If you pay in full, you do not incur finances charges which are based on the company APR.


For those who will be paying the full balance each month, consider a credit card that has a longer grace period and has no annual fees. This allows you to use the credit for little, if any, charge. Do keep in mind, however, that if you happen to lapse and carry a balance, you will have to pay the finance charges and then APR will matter to you.

Most people, however, do carry over a balance and for those individuals it is important to find the credit card that offers the lowest annual percentage rate (APR). The APR is the number that the credit card company will use to calculate your monthly finance charge so the lower this number the less money you will pay.

If you think that you may use your credit card to get cash advances, you will certainly want to look at the fees and charges for that service.

It is important to remember that many, if not most, of the credit card companies charge a higher rate for cash advances than they do for purchases. Some companies will charge a substantial amount more and you would do well to avoid using these cards for cash advance purposes.

Many people are lured into poor credit card choices by the promotions that many companies offer. These might include such things as frequent flyer miles, phone minutes, rebates and other things. There is nothing wrong with opting into these programs if they are benefits that you are going to actually use. The old adage that nothing is free applies here as well. Many of the companies that offer these promotions will have a slightly higher APR to help offset the cost of the programs. Make sure you look for that before you sign up, as it may not be in your best interest to pay higher rates for benefits that you will not use.

In order to find out what the APR and other fees are for any particular company, you can visit their website or you can look at the information that comes to you through the mail. Federal law requires that all solicitations and applications for credit cards include key information on the rates and fees that they charge consumers. This information must be clearly printed and if you have to hunt for it, then you may want to avoid dealing with that company.

Peter Kenny is a writer for The Thrifty Scot, please visit us at Credit Report and Credit Cards
Visit http://www.thriftyscot.co.uk

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How To Buy The Good Wallet?

When most people think of wallet buying tips, what comes to mind is usually basic information that's not particularly interesting or beneficial. But there's a lot more to learn in the real world The information about wallet buying tips presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know already know about this topic or it will teach you something new.

Search for a good wallet is not an easy or difficult job as we all know that it is really depends on so many factors such as life style, objectives and personal preference. However, the most important thing that people would want to is getting a wallet that will be practical as well as functional when they have to choose new wallet. Moreover, according to my own experience, I would like to say that many people still do not use wallet that they bought in full potential of the wallet, or in other words, they may not consider much enough before they buy, then chosen the wrong type as a result.

For example, people who have no credit cards but they have chosen the wallet that have a lot of credit card slot, they bought the wallet just because they like the colour and design. Meanwhile many other bought wallet that have no slot for coins or small gadgets but they are always carry this kind of thing. This is considered as waste of money. Therefore, it is compulsory for you to know about what function that you will use wallet so you can define what type of wallet that you want exactly. The following detail gives you more about things you have to consider when you have to buy new wallet. Be sure that you read over all of the tips below, and you can even pass them on to your friends for when they go to buy a new wallet.

The first thing that you have to think about is the size of the wallet. It is one of the most important that you have to consider. This is because the size of the wallet really matter to the usage of the wallet itself and it is really relate to comfort when you carrying the wallet. Choosing too big or too small wallet may cause difficulty of usage. The best way to avoid this problem is you have to think about what you have to carry during the day and what you want to put in the wallet. The basic gadgets like credit cards, bank notes, coins earrings are common and you can consider small to medium size to contain these gadgets. However, if you want to put more stuff like check book you may have to consider the bigger wallet.

The design is also important. Yes, I can say that it is also important but not the most important. However, you have to consider the design because it relates to the price and how much comfort you will get when carrying the wallet. For example, long and double fold wallet may be expensive and not comfortable as small wallet. The number of pockets or slot also the thing to consider as The more pockets the better, so make sure that you unzip or unsnap the wallet and check out the inside, and see how many credit card slots there are.

PisanK is the writer of http://www.allsilkwallet.com site, if you see this article helpful,please visit our site to get more information.

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Credit Card Debt Consolidation Service

Credit Card Debt Consolidation Service - Use It To Regain Financial Freedom
What is ‘Credit card debt consolidation service’?

‘Credit card debt consolidation service’ is a very common sentence that you must have heard of very often and merely on the internet, there're thousands of sites offering professional help on credit card debt consolidation services as well.

Every now and then your favorite magazines, newsprints, TV channels will also be discussing or advising topics related to credit card debt consolidation and the professional services they offer.

So what is this “Credit card debt consolidation” about and what kind of professional services do they offer? why is it such a popular topic?

As the name implies - “Credit card debt consolidation” refers to consolidation of the numerous debt on various credit cards into one single credit card (most of the case)
and there are services which offer professionals' help who would take care of everything for you.

Basically, the main idea is that you switch from a higher APR credit card to one with a much lower APR.

You might be wondering ‘why?’

After you understand the overview of how the entire cycle of credit card debt can be a "nightmare", you will instantly realize the general logic behind it.

Credit card debt increased in two common ways. One is largely due to further incurring of new debt on account of new spending on your credit card and the second being due to interest charges to the existing credit card’s outstanding debt which are not paid on a stipulated date.

The first occurs because of your use of credit card but the second one is largely due to overdue interest charges which are calculated based on the interest rate or the APR of your credit card which you first applied.

A lower APR rate implies that your credit card debt will increase at a slower degree and hence changing over to a credit card with much lower APR makes logical sense.

Another commonly known name of “credit card debt consolidation Service" is also called a balance transfer service because you would be transferring the balance debt from one credit card to the other one meant for this purpose.

Packages or offers are made even more tempting by the credit card suppliers by offering various benefits with them when promoting their credit card debt consolidation service. (or balance transfer service)

This industry is very competitive so an obvious logic behind offering these perks is the fact that a keen prospect would be made even more keen to choose their service over competitors' less tempting packages upon comparisons.

One of the most tempting and common benefit offered by these Credit card consolidating services is 0% interest on balance transfers (or also called credit card debt consolidation).

This 0% APR (interest rate) is basically good enough for a period of time (i.e. 3-6 months), after which the standard APR is will resume.

It's common to find other competing credit card debt consolidation services offering things such as a "zero" interest purchase for a designated period, points rewarding
program, gift vouchers...etc.

Engaging help from Credit card debt consolidation services definitely is a good way of overcoming the problem of credit card debt and that is one good factor why there is so much of discussion and news pertaining to this area as such.

Learn more FREE Tips on "Credit card debt consolidation service"in order to
help save you more precious time and money here:
http://www.top-site-review.com/creditcarddebtmanagement

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Credit Card Wallet Selection Tips

When you're learning about something new, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the huge amount of relevant information that is available on the internet and other resources. This informative article should help you focus on the central points. If some of the facts and tips about how to find perfect credit card wallet are out-of-date. You could imagine that how it will that affect your actions and decisions. Make sure that you don't let important card wallet information slip by you. Of course, it's impossible to put everything about how to find credit card wallet into just one article. But you can't deny that you've just added to your understanding about card wallet, and that's time well spent.

Some people may be confused of what is credit card wallet. I would like to explain a bit more. Credit card wallet is a separate wallet that you can use to put your credit card in. You may carry credit card wallet together with your purse. The main objective of using credit card wallet is to help you manage you credit card easily, because they are kept separately. Particularly if you are the person who uses more than one credit card, so you need extra wallet to keep them.

Having separate credit card wallet has pros and cons. That is when you have credit card wallet, it means that you can carry them every where, especially when you shopping. However once you get there you see lots of goodies at "special prices" and since you have your credit card with you, you start spending. This is the problem that many of credit card owner have as they can not control themselves when they have credit cards on hands. Therefore, this could come to your consideration first of all to decide whether you should have separate credit card wallet. This is a very important step as it concerns to your financial status and spending.

However, if you decided to have a credit card wallet, consider to read the following paragraph below about how to choose good quality and suitable credit card wallet. There are many factors that you should consider when buying credit card wallet. As credit card is very important property and they should be protect in very good quality wallet. Firstly, you have to look for a wallet that could contain all of your credit cards. I believe that many people have at least two or three credit cards. You have to consider the wallet that has number of slot enough to contain all of your credit cards. You may also choose the wallet that had spare slots to contain additional credit cards that you have in the future. The other important factor is the quality of the material and characteristic of the wallet. Most people prefer to buy two fold wallet and leather wallet. I can confirm that they are the best type that you can choose as a credit card wallet. However, in case if you have very limited budget, you may choose wallet that made from other material such as canvas. In summary, the first think that you have to consider id whether you want credit card wallet, the pros is you can manage you credit card easily and the cons is you may have to be careful when you spend because you can carry them every where.

PisanK is the writer of http://www.cardwalletonline.com site, if you see this information useful, visit us to get more information.

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