Entries Categorized as 'Credit Card Tips'
People often wonder how many credit cards they should have. Is one great cash back card enough? Should they have a travel rewards card as well? And what about a zero APR balance transfer card? These are the questions people wonder about, when really, there’s a different question they should really be asking.
There are those who feel that credit cards should only be used in emergencies, or for certain special purchases. And then there are those who understand that using a credit card to cover your basic, everyday expenses is an extremely savvy way to handle your finances.
When you go through a big life event like a serious illness, the loss of a job, a divorce, or another change in circumstances that affects your financial standing, one of the things that often happens is that your credit suffers. This can feel like adding insult to injury when you’re already hurting from whatever the life change was. Luckily, no matter how far your credit score may have fallen, there’s a way to boost it back up again, given enough time.
One of the great things about signing up for a new credit card is getting to take advantage of a terrific signup bonus. You may see an offer for 40,000 frequent flyer miles, hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards, or a free round trip flight and get excited. You think, do I really just have to sign up for this card, use it once, and I’ll get this reward?
Here’s a truism that you might never have considered: you don’t know what you don’t know. That is, there’s not way we can be aware of all the things we don’t know. So if someone asks you what you don’t know about credit cards, you might not really be able to give them an answer!
Where would we be without credit cards? They let us buy things online, reserve rental cars, and finance big purchases we otherwise would not be able to afford. In the past few decades, credit cards have gone from luxury novelties to indispensible tools that the majority of Americans don’t leave home without.