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!