9 Year Mortgage on Credit Card Pitfalls

These days, when a bird flaps its wings, a U.S. credit card company raises the APR (annual percentage rate) on your credit card. At least that is how we’re all feeling, especially after the findings from Consumer Advocate, a nonprofit consumer advocate firm. Of the 22 credit card companies surveyed, 17 (including the 10 biggest credit card companies) said their policies allow them to increase  a customers annual percentage rate or change their terms at any time for any reason.

If you think you’re immune to the dangers of credit cards, you may be wrong. Even if you always pay your balance in full and on time, you still may be at risk. Read on and 9 Year Mortgage will tell you how to avoid some of the most dangerous, and yet common, credit card pitfalls.

9 Year Mortgage discusses Credit Card Pitfalls

What you could be doing wrong

Credit card companies move fast to punish behavior that increases a borrower’s risk. Bank of America and Discover consider too many credit cards and too many inquiries on credit reports enough to justify increasing interest rates. If your credit score drops even slightly, many credit card companies will increase your interest rate. Credit card companies also pay very close attention to your behavior with noncredit accounts you may have with them. They may also look at credit cards you have with other companies. Nearly 50% of lenders factor in your payment record and current interest rates with other banks when determining rates. Chase, Bank of America and U.S. Bank also look at your history with their in house accounts, such as your mortgage and checking accounts.

Credit Limit Reductions and Late Payments

When it comes to giving you your credit limit, credit card companies look at many of the same factors we’ve already discussed.  Several companies even reduce your limit as you pay down your debt. They will try to make your limit as close to your balance as possible, to make it look like your are spending more and more of your available balance, which is not really the case. Often when the credit card company does this you will not receive any notification of the change, which then causes some declined charges or exceeding your balance, which may then trigger issues with your other credit card companies.

Late payments are the most common credit-card pitfall. Every credit card company charges a late fee, and the average late fee is $24 for a fixed-rate and $29 for variable-rate cards. One late payment, even if its just a day or two late,  is enough to trigger a sky-high default APR (the average is 26.87%). Getting your rates back down to normal is a much harder thing to do. Most credit card companies require six months to a year of paying on time before they’ll even consider lowering your rate back down. If you are late paying any bill that gets reported to the credit bureaus, the credit card companies may raise your credit card interest rate.  They can do this at any time for any reason because it is in the fine print of most credit card companies.

9 Year Mortgage on How to Handle Credit-Card Pitfalls

How to Fight Back

Five credit card companies offer you more lenient opt-out policies for broad-sweeping changes in card rates or terms. Capital One, Chase, Citibank and U.S. Bank allow you to reject changes, like an increase in your APR, without you paying your balance in full. 9 Year Mortgage suggests talking with your credit card company about changing your payment due date to a time in the month when you are more likely to have the money to pay the bill. 9 Year Mortgage also suggests that you read the fine print of your credit card and every month when you receive your statement. Credit card companies often include the terms and conditions in the monthly billing statement. Also your credit card company may have set time limits to opt out, so its a must to call in as soon as you see a negative change to your interest rate or credit limit. 9 Year Mortgage thinks another key point to keeping your debt in control is to pay off higher interest rate loans such as your credit card bill, before you would pay off any lower interest rate loans, like school loans. But 9 Year Mortgage would like to remind you that no matter what it is key to keep up to date with all your payments. If you can’t pay your balance in full, still pay the minimum amount and pay on time. 9 Year Mortgage thinks its best to become what credit card companies refer to as credit “freeloaders” or a “deadbeats”. These terms are known throughout the credit card industry as people who don’t pay interest or fees on their cards because they never carry a balance. The only reasons they have credit cards is for reward points and the convenience of paying with cards.

Wrapping it up With 9 Year Mortgage

So the next time you think about putting something on your credit card, 9 Year Mortgage wants you to stop and ask yourself if you can I afford it and pay off the balance off in full. If not, can you at least make the minimum payments on time? If you answered no to some of these questions then perhaps consider buying the item on a later date when you can pay cash instead of having to charge it. 9 Year Mortgage encourages you to comparison shop when you’re considering a new credit card, just like you would with any other ordinary purchase. Also, don’t get over-wowed by the introductory rates, instead look at the rates that will come six months from now. 9 Year Mortgage wants you to know that all of the cards contain the same tricks and traps.

Will 9 Year Mortgage work for me?

Not everyone qualifies or will benefit from the 9 Year Mortgage program so there is no easy answer to that question.   We are very careful with who we let into the program.  We go through a qualification process to make sure we can provide you a viable financial plan that will work before we let you into the program.  Our representatives are trained to ask the right questions and gather the information necessary to quickly find out if we can help you.  If you would like to go through this process you can Click Here to begin filling out some basic information so that a 9 Year Mortgage representative can start working on your financial plan right away.