Those hidden fees!

[Kathy]

Be aware. I discovered that many credit cards offer free fees <insert small words: for a year> and then you sign up and forget that in a year you will be surprised with a charge on your credit card bill for an annual fee.

If this happens, pick up the phone and call customer service and ask for the fees to be waived or if your credit card can be converted to a no-annual fee card.

There are plenty of no-fee cards out there. If you must carry a credit card, go without annual fees.

[sagespot]

I've actually discovered just how much you can request of your credit cards...

Shortly after I got married, my husband and I decided to pay down all the individual credit card debit that we entered the marriage with - about 7K if I remember right.

As we paid down each card, I would call the company and see if they could lower the rate, remove the annual fee, change the payment dates, have smaller minimum payments, increase our limits, etc. If they didn't offer something that we could really use, then I simply cancelled the card.

It was nice to discover that credit card companies could do something nice for you. :) I learned that there is always room to haggle.

Sage

[clogaholic]

What drives me crazy are all the "late" charges that they like to hit you with for any and everything. I'm usually not late but sometimes the mail is slow. I've found that if you call or write, often those charges are dropped :)

[Kim308pl]

What gets me are the ones who continue to let you charge over your limit and before you know it you are like 500.00 over your limit so every month they get you with over limit fees, then if your late you get that + the late fees.

It seems to me if they say A 1000.00 limit, they should stop it at that. I have seen this happen to so many people, it happen to me once. It is terrible.

Kim

[PositivelyMental]

Credit cards have their purpose, I guess. There are just so many ways to get hurt by this type of debt ... be careful, girls!

I am in the process of paying mine off and will be going to one card that gets paid in full each month. I hope to be there this summer!

[mezzo soprano]

Overlimit fees, late fees, -- yep, I've heard of 'em.

Also, beware of the "delinguency rate" -- sometimes once you're late on a payment, your interest rate goes sky-high. And sometimes it stays higher FOREVER.

Bottom line, though -- and this is my "banker" side coming out.... it's the customer's responsibility to know how much they've charged on their credit card, not the card company's responsibility. Most credit card companies allow a 10% overage before you are bumped for "overlimit", partly so that a transfer fee at an ATM (for getting cash) won't push you over limit. Also, there are still the "paper merchants" who do not process their transactions online. They are becoming fewer and fewer as time goes on, but it's still very possible for the card company to not be aware of all of the transactions on your account. In other words, if you have a limit of $1000.00 and your balance is $975.00, and you go purchase something for $20 at Starbucks (online merchant) but then go to your local antique store (paper merchant) and purchase something for $20, you're going to be overlimit, but the two merchants don't know that, and neither does your credit card company! It's up to you to know your balance.

You may also find that you get turned down for being overlimit when companies put out authorizations for purchases (travel agencies and car rental firms are notorious for this) which have not happened and may not take up the whole authorization amount. So until those authorizations are taken away, less of your credit limit will be available.

Man...... did this ever turn out to be long! Probably way more information than you needed to know. :)

[blondgrl]

I really agree with all of you about all "those hidden fees". I choose not to deal with credit cards b/c of this. I've also noticed in the fine print they'll say a really low interest rate "for the first so many days" then, that rate goes WAY up later! It sounds great at first, but then when you look at the big picture, I'd rather wait and save until I can purchase the items without the threat of all that added interest.

[palmasy2002]

Even scarier, I was just reading that not only will your CC rates go up, but the rates of your other lenders may as well based on your deliquency with the CC company.

Positively Mental - Congrats on your plan! I also will be down to one card for emergencies by the summer. I started with 7000 in CC debt when I separated fom my spouse in June. It is now 1800....whew! :) Getting there slowly but surely!