Your Guide To A New Credit Card

A close up of a hand holding a credit card

It's a familiar sight: you open your mailbox and see a bunch of envelopes... and half of them turn out to be credit card offers. Your email inbox often looks the same. Credit cards can be a great way of building or rebuilding credit, but it's important to understand the terms and conditions that come along with accepting offers of new lines of credit. Your attorney through our Legal Protection Subscription Plans for Individuals & Families can help you understand the legal language in these agreements and contracts, protecting you and your money before you ever sign on the dotted line. Learn more about our Legal Subscription Plans and read on for a few tips regarding new credit cards.

A "Low Interest Rate" offer is a familiar hook that credit card companies use to lure in new customers, but it is important to understand the terms of the offer. Low interest rates are often billed as "introductory," meaning that they end after a period of time and the interest rate will go up (in some cases, dramatically) when that period ends. This can lock you into high payments that you may not be able to afford. Make sure you understand what the interest rates will be during the introductory period and what they will be when they expire as this will have an enormous impact on your ability to repay.

Another interest rate-related item is that there may be different interest rates depending on the type of transaction. For example, cash advances often carry much higher interest rates than consumer spending, While this information is included with your agreement when you sign up, it is often in fine print and is sometimes worded to be deliberately confusing. An attorney will be able to look over the agreement and tell you what the contract states the interest rates will be for various types of transactions.

A missing or late payment can void the low introductory interest rate and incur additional fees. Knowing when payments are due is critical, and, if you choose to pay by mail, make sure that you have allowed for ample time for the payment to be delivered, sorted, and applied to your account before the due date. Electronic and automatic payments can alleviate this problem.

How you pay can also add fees. This is information that is likely buried in the fine print of your agreement, but some payment methods actually incur processing fees, most commonly when making payments via telephone. Make sure that you know which payment methods have an additional fee attached to avoid them.

Exceeding your credit limit can also have major consequences. Many people think that if you try to spend more on your credit card than the credit limit you have allows that the transaction won't go through, but this is often not the case. Some credit card companies allow you exceed your credit limit so that they can charge you substantial fees when it happens. These fees and penalties add up quickly and make your debt much larger than your credit limit.

In fact, using credit cards can have all kinds of fees. In addition to late fees, payment method fees, overcharge fees, and administration fees, you can also be charged for using ATMs, balance transfers, and more, including an annual fee just for having the card.

Credit card companies know that virtually no one actually reads the fine print in the cardholder agreements, but all of this information is there. When people do read it, it is often written in such a way as to be difficult to understand (in legalese, so to speak)and printed in nearly unreadable font sizes. Credit card agreements are generally available to print from the credit card company's web site, and you can alter the font size to make it more readable. it is very important to your finances that you take the time to read and understand what you are agreeing to when you accept a credit card offer. Your rights and responsibilities are laid out in these documents, but credit card companies don't make it terribly easy for you.

If you are interested in getting a new credit card but have difficulty reading the fine print and need help understanding what it means for you and your money, your attorney through our Legal Protection Subscription Plans for Individuals & Families will be able to help by going over agreements and contracts from credit card companies, contractors, utilities, and other services before you sign so you know exactly what you're agreeing to. It's just one of the hundreds of benefits available to you for just one low, monthly fee through our Legal Protection Plans. Learn more about all the benefits of membership or sign up today!

Leasing To Multiple Tenants

A house for rent sign in the middle of a grassy lawn with stepping stones and a fence in the background

It's recently become popular for landlords to rent out single family homes to multiple tenants, particularly in college towns or places where there is a high cost of living. It's a win-win situation: landlords get a significantly higher income than they would with just a single renter and tenants save money, too. But with the addition of each tenant, the likelihood of issues increases, too. From noise complaints to property damage, the problems each renter adds can create stress, as well. If you need help setting up a rental agreement, lease contracts, or any other landlord/tenant issue, the experienced, dedicated attorneys in our network of member law firms across the country can help you with no additional fee to members of our Legal Subscription Plans. The add-on benefits from our Home-Based Business Owner's coverage and our Real Estate, Renters, & Landlord Coverage add-on can give you access to legal advice any time. In the meantime, here are a few tips for renting to multiple tenants.

Roommate Agreement

Strongly encouraging tenants to sign on to a roommate agreement can eliminate disagreements before they even start. A roommate agreement should detail rules, responsibilities, and guidelines for the shared home, including guests, utilities and bill sharing, noise, deposits, pets, parking, room allocation, common household items, food, cleaning, landscaping, and more. Roommate agreements aren't legally binding, but as the landlord, you can help enforce it.

The Actions Of One Affects Everyone

Each tenant should be made aware before moving in that the actions of one tenant could affect all the renters, as landlords can cancel lease agreements for all tenants if one tenant violates clause in the lease. This is not intended to create a hostile atmosphere with your tenants, but should be used to drive home the idea that the tenants should work together to uphold the terms of the lease.

Lease Language

A joint and several liability clause in your lease is very important. This means that each person who signs the lease is responsible for rent, and if one tenant can't pay, the other tenants will not be allowed to pay on their behalf. How the rental amount is divided is up to the tenants.

Subletting

Prohibiting subletting and AirBnBs is very important in today's fast paced world where people's lives change very quickly and often without warning. People move in with significant others or must leave town for work and they often want to solve the problem of owing rent in two places by subletting. Unfortunately, the sublettors will not be on your lease agreement, are not legally liable for the rent or property damage, and are not subject to any other terms of your lease. Plus, it can take months to evict sublettors in certain states where they may have squatters' rights.

Security Deposits

Dividing the return of a security deposit is bad idea as it can get messy quickly. If you have some renters that want to move out at the end of a lease but some that want to renew the lease, returning the security deposit can be a nightmare if it is not explicitly stated that the security deposit is refunded when all parties to the original lease move out. The same advice goes for property damage, as it can be a disaster to decide how the money should be divided. Waiting until all parties to the original lease move out to return deposits will save you headaches in the long run and, when all the parties have vacated the premises, you can leave it to the tenants to decide how the security deposit refund is divided.

Tenant Screening

If a tenant moves away, the other tenants typically try to find someone to replace that tenant right away, but no matter who it is coming in to rent your property, make sure to do a thorough background and financial check.

Renters' Insurance

While you can't require tenants to procure renters' insurance, you can certainly recommend that they get some, for their own peace of mind. Personal property can go missing or be damaged just as easily as the property itself.

Representatives

Getting your tenants to appoint a representative from among the group can alleviate miscommunication and create a consistent point-of-contact.

Make Sure Your Lawyer Reviews the Lease Agreement

The lease agreement is a complex legal document that only gets more complex as more tenants are added. Having your attorney look over your lease agreement - or, better yet, helping you draft it - can protect you, your property, and your rights before the first tenant signs on the dotted line.

Get on-demand help with your rental business from day one when you become a member of our Legal Subscription Plans with our Real Estate, Renters, & Landlord Coverage add-on and rest easy knowing that your legal bases are covered, no matter what happens. Learn more about our Legal Protection Subscription Plans for Individuals & Families, our Home-Based Business Coverage, and our Real Estate, Renters, & Landlord Coverage add-on or sign up today!