Watch out for the following tricks credit card companies play on you:

MINIMUM BALANCE: Have you ever wondered why the minimum balance is so prominent and bold on your credit card bill?

The reason is simple. The credit card companies want you to make the mistake of thinking that you just have to make that small $20 payment on this bill. They can then assess finance charge on your balance. If credit card companies have their way, they would like everyone in America to always have a balance so they can then charge exorbitant finance charges ranging above $24% in some cases. Is it legalized profiteering!

Even I have at time been fooled into thinking that my balance is only $20 as I rush through paying my bills. So watch carefully your balance and pay the full amount. If you are not able to pay the full amount then STOP spending and cut your bill. That is the BEST advice you will ever get. Don’t be a credit card junkie and get yourself in a DEEP hole!

FINEPRINT: Have you seen the fine print lately. We always knew that ‘the fine print taketh what the bold print gives’. But credit card companies have made into an art form. Now the fine print is not only small but is also printed in light grey. Talk of  ‘pulling the wool over your eyes’. Even if you tried reading it you would have to strain so much that you would give up. This is exactly what credit card companies want. They want to get you suckered into their deals. Once they ‘got you’, make no mistake they will then throw at you the same fine print but this time in BIG bold letters.

Simple solution; if you don’t want to or can’t read the entire fine print, at least read the points that effect you (for example cash advance or transfer balance fees etc).

EASY CHECKS: How sweet it is to see those blank checks enticing you to just write whatever amount you want and make your life easier! Don’t be suckered, it is a well laid out trap.

I am amazed how many checks I get in the mail from credit card companies. Unless, they carry ZERO percent interest with no other fees (cash advance fees, balance transfer fees or whatever new fees credit card companies come out with); they go straight to my shredder. And yes, I said shredder. Please folks, get an inexpensive shredder for $20-50. It will be money well spent. If you throw the checks in the trash without shredding, you may have saved yourself form the big bad credit card companies, but you just made yourself a possible victim of identity theft.

CASH ADVANCE: Once you take a cash advance it becomes virtually impossible to kill it. This is because by the time you send your payment, there are finance charges on the time it took since last billing to the time credit card company received your payment. To get out of the vicious circle; send them more than your balance so there is no further finance charges that keep accruing. If balance is left over, just ask for a refund check.

These days, credit card companies have come up with another trick online, They don’t allow advance payment online. And if you call and pay, then they want to charge you $14.95 phone processing fee. Solution: insist that they not charge that phone processing fee because it is their fault that you cannot pay over the amount to avoid more finance charges.  The credit card companies know about the trick and if you insist they will not charge you phone processing fee.