Lower Interest Credit Card
There are lots of low interest credit cards available on the market. However consumers need to pay attention to the fine print. They need to make sure that these low interest rates remain in effect for a reasonable period of time. Also hat there are no hidden charges to be aware of. There are many credit cards that will offer low interest rates for a specified period of time. They revert to the regular rates. Some cards will offer 0% interest rates on any balances that are transferred from other sources for up to 10 months. Then the interest rate on any Lower Interest Credit Card unpaid balance goes up to 18%. If there are any charges during that time that go unpaid this amount is also at the 18% rate. Only the transferred amount will be interest free.
If you manage your credit card debt carefully, consumers can actually take advantage of these lower credit card rates and avoid paying interest on the balances. The trick is to make sure that there is no unpaid balance at the end of the month that could trigger an interest charge. The fees and charges seem to fall into several categories for debts that are transferred from other accounts
- Zero Interest, Zero Annual Fee
- Low Interest, Annual Fee
- High Interest , No Annual Fee
Some will charge regular 18% interest on any charges for goods and services to the card if you do not pay the balance of these charges at the end of each month. There always seems to be a catch to many of these lower interest rate cards and consumers need to really examine the details before they begin to use them.
Regular Lower Interest Credit Card
In addition to low interest rates on money transfer from other debt credit cards, some cards truly do qualify as low interest rate cards. The typical store credit card is usually at 27 or 28% interest rates. Regular bank credit cards will range around 17% to 19%. There are credit cards that offer their products at much lower rates. At the time of writing these low interest rate cards were ranging around 11% for unpaid balances. This is a very low rate for any credit card product. There is usually one catch which can change this rate depending on how much you use the card and what unpaid balance you carry.
These cards will charge an annual fee for their card from $30 up to as much as $100 a year. This is an effective interest rate charge, however it is very difficult to calculate the effective interest rate.
Features, Insurance and Other Services
In some cases these additional fees may well be worth it to some consumers. For example if you travel a great deal and charge the trip costs to this card, you may be covered for health insurance, trip insurance, car rental insurance and build up points that can be used for purchases. These points can be used to buy products from a catalog or they can be used to pay for trips, airfare, hotels and rental cars. Depending again on your use of the credit card these points can be very valuable to many consumers, paying for many products and services.
Credit Rating Requirements on Lower Interest Rate Credit Card
Consumers who want to be approved for one of these cards usually must have good to excellent credit ratings. If you want one of the lower interest cards, your credit rating should usually be in the excellent range. Of course it never hurts to ask. Sometimes people will be approved even with poor credit ratings allowing them to reduce their overall interest costs and save a great deal of money.
There are so many credit cards it is difficult to know which one is best for every reader. Our advice is to list all of the features. Then decide if these features will benefit you. Compare to your current credit card that is being used by your family. If there is not an improvement, then do not bother with the credit card product. Holding a lot of credit cards may cause your credit rating to drop as well. Be careful before you decide to amass a lot of credit cards in your wallet.
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March 11th, 2013 at 2:33 am
My opinion is to stay away from all credit cards, including low interest credit cards