Don’t Let Reward Credit Cards Lead You to Bad Credit
card for bad credit
Today, credit cards come with different reward programs such as Travel rewards, Gas rewards, and Cash backs. These cards are meant to give its holders more benefits from their spending. Unfortunately, many reward credit card holders are in trouble. Instead of being rewarded, they find themselves stuck in debt and headache. The reason?
Stop Chasing Rewards If It Means Bad Credit
Charging expenses to your reward credit card just for the purpose of collecting points or earning rewards could be a dangerous habit. Don’t forget that credit cards with rewards carry higher interest rates and fees than non-reward credit cards. If you’re not careful about using them, you can easily get stuck in bad credit.
Most reward credit cards carry interest rates that range from 15% to 19% or more. Annual fees for these cards also range from $50 to as much as $80 or higher. Imagine paying $80 each year just to keep your reward credit card active. Furthermore, imagine paying an additional 19% interest from your total charges each time you carry over a balance for the next month.
Obviously, charging large purchases to your reward credit card can put you in big trouble if you can’t pay them off in full by the end of the month. For this reason, consumers are advised not to get a reward credit card if they intend to carry a balance from month to month. Before charging a purchase to your reward card, be sure that you can afford to pay it off in full on your due date to avoid the high interest. Otherwise, you’ll be better off with a non-rewards card if you can’t eliminate the extra costs of a rewards credit card.
Some card holders maximize their credit limit just to earn reward points more quickly. However, doing so can cause damage to your credit history. Maximizing on your credit limit can send a negative impression to creditors. To maintain a high credit score, financial experts advice all consumers not to exceed 50% of their given credit limit. More than this, using up your entire credit increases the risk of bad debt.
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