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A Couple of Ways to Get the Best from Your Credit Cards This Christmas |
‘tis the Season to be jolly, with a Hey Nonny
no” and much slapping of the thighs etc and all
that humbug – I know this makes me sound like a
cross between Dickens’s Scrooge and a grumpy old
man but I have just finished wading through a
whole raft of sales promotion material from a
series of Credit Card Companies and it really
does beggar belief at times.
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OK so they are having hard time of it at the
moment – no everything is relative, being
unemployed and homeless is having a hard time, a
downturn in the profitability of the Credit Card
Companies is long overdue.
All of the false bonhomie and good cheer of the
leaflets got me to thinking that they are really
being disingenuous at best and two faced at
worst. Basically the issue boils down to the
fact that they are really now paranoid about the
whole issue of Identity Theft and the knock on
effect it will have on our welfare.
Not too sure about this. Yes Identity theft is
not good and we could all do without being
infected by this the latest in growth industries
but what the Credit Card Companies are really
worried about is being caught “holding the baby
so to speak” and having the “cough up the money”
when we realise how we have been ripped off and
it wasn’t us that used the card in the first
place, it was a representative from the local
underworld trying to purchase a present online
for Mum for Christmas!
This got me to thinking about real ways to look
after your Plastic this Christmas and ways to
ensure how they really work for you and not
someone else.
First of all check on the fine print of your
statements to ensure that small charges or
worse, large charges aren’t able to be slipped
in without you noticing “in lieu of” increased
membership fees etc.
Secondly, unless you find yourself totally cash
strapped and without any other means of funding
the next few hours till the local Bank opens or
you get home then do not ever use your Credit
Card to withdraw cash.
These happy chaps will rob you blind as soon as
look at you if you withdraw cash using your
Credit Cards. Sky High interest rates here we
come but you can also forfeit interest free
periods and also suffer punitive withdrawal fees
as well.
Thirdly, shop around for the best rates possible
as these boys are going to be bringing in even
more ridiculous rates soon mark my word. With
Base rates rising, the Card suppliers are going
to try and push their minimum APR to the region
around 16% as soon as they think they can get
away with it.
Their excuse? Well Central Bank rates are rising
and here in the UK the base rate has just risen
to 5% so they feel they have to respond. Well
nice work if you can get it. Base Rate 5%,
Credit Card Rates 16%, you go figure who is
having hard time of it?
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