An area in which so many people have trouble with is in using their credit cards.
So many people are even unaware of the day that their credit card bill is due that the card companies have literally set up profit centers based purely on handling consumer late charges.
To get control of your credit car usages, you need a plan.
And, a good way to start is by taking out a spreadsheet and listing all of your cards on the sheet.
List the name of the card, the date your payments are due, the invoice date, the current balance, the interest rate, their contact info, and any other information you feel may be useful.
Don't just include your major credit cards.
Include any department store cards as well.
Now, after putting together your sheet, the first thing you should notice is how many credit cards you have.
If you have more than 3, seriously consider getting rid of a few.
Next, set up a method to pay your credit card balance online.
In the past few years, late fees have become outrageous.
Many times, because of the mail being mis-delivered, you get your bill late or not at all.
And, many times, when you mail your payment, even as long as a week before its due, the credit card company will claim that it didn't get them in time.
In either case, you will be charged a late fee.
One way of avoiding late fees is to simply pay your bills online.
As long as you have enough money in your bank account, you can be sure that the payment will be credited to the credit card company on the appropriate date.
Your spreadsheet is a nice central place to keep your info and know at a glance where you stand financially.
For instance, your sheet will tell you the invoice date for each of your cards.
If you notice that you haven't yet received your invoice from a card company within a few days after the invoice date, you should call them to inform them and to find out your balance for that month.
And, if you have set up an online payment mechanism as described above, you will be able to pay your balance in plenty of time.
On the bright side for consumers is the fact that, recently, congress, in the Credit Card Act of 2009 and the Federal Reserve Board passed a new rule where the most a person can be charged for a late fee is $25.
This was mostly in response to some of the outrageous late fees that many card holders were charging for late payments.
The new rule goes into effect in August of this year.
So many people are even unaware of the day that their credit card bill is due that the card companies have literally set up profit centers based purely on handling consumer late charges.
To get control of your credit car usages, you need a plan.
And, a good way to start is by taking out a spreadsheet and listing all of your cards on the sheet.
List the name of the card, the date your payments are due, the invoice date, the current balance, the interest rate, their contact info, and any other information you feel may be useful.
Don't just include your major credit cards.
Include any department store cards as well.
Now, after putting together your sheet, the first thing you should notice is how many credit cards you have.
If you have more than 3, seriously consider getting rid of a few.
Next, set up a method to pay your credit card balance online.
In the past few years, late fees have become outrageous.
Many times, because of the mail being mis-delivered, you get your bill late or not at all.
And, many times, when you mail your payment, even as long as a week before its due, the credit card company will claim that it didn't get them in time.
In either case, you will be charged a late fee.
One way of avoiding late fees is to simply pay your bills online.
As long as you have enough money in your bank account, you can be sure that the payment will be credited to the credit card company on the appropriate date.
Your spreadsheet is a nice central place to keep your info and know at a glance where you stand financially.
For instance, your sheet will tell you the invoice date for each of your cards.
If you notice that you haven't yet received your invoice from a card company within a few days after the invoice date, you should call them to inform them and to find out your balance for that month.
And, if you have set up an online payment mechanism as described above, you will be able to pay your balance in plenty of time.
On the bright side for consumers is the fact that, recently, congress, in the Credit Card Act of 2009 and the Federal Reserve Board passed a new rule where the most a person can be charged for a late fee is $25.
This was mostly in response to some of the outrageous late fees that many card holders were charging for late payments.
The new rule goes into effect in August of this year.
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