Category Archives: Home Mortgage
Understanding Payment Calculations For Your Credit Card
To have a proper understanding of your credit card statement you usually need to understand the terms and jargons used on it.
The following are some useful terms that can be referenced when attempting to understand you credit card bill.
Due Amount – This is the minimum payment due per month and not the total amount due on the card.
Annual Percentage Rate – This refers to the rate of interest charged annually as a percentage.
Cash Advance – This is a loan in the form of cash that is made with the card. You can get this loan with the help of your card at any bank or ATM. Most cards charge a fee for this cash advance as a percentage of the amount borrowed. Usually the cards do not have a grace period and so interest is charged from the day you take the loan and till the day you repay the cash advance. It does not matter whether you have an outstanding balance on your card or not. These rates are pretty high. So you need to check on it before you take any cash advance.
Date Due – This is the date by which you must send in your payment to be in the good books of the company.
Grace Period – It is the period in which you can make purchases on the card without having to pay an interest. It is not that all card companies allow grace period. To take advantage of a grace period, you must pay your bills totally every month by the due date. But keep in mind that if you have any previous balance outstanding, you will lose the advantage of having a grace period on purchases made in the current month. If you use a card having no grace period, the bank charges you interest from the day the purchase is made. You cannot, in any way, avoid paying interest on the purchases made through the credit card.
Not all credit cards have a grace period. When you use a card with no grace period, the bank begins charging you interest on the day the purchase is made or the day it is recorded (posted) on your account, depending on the bank’s policy. When a credit card does not have a grace period, there is no way to avoid paying interest on your purchases. A credit card allowing you grace period will not charge any interest on the card usage until the next cycle of billing. In fact, you would not have to pay any interest at all if you pay your total balance during the grace period of the cycle.
Late Fee – The charge that is attached to the card after the due date expires.
Minimum Monthly Payment – The least amount that you would need to pay to avoid being considered a defaulter. This is usually the most expensive way to make a payment for a credit card. Most card companies encourage you to make a minimum payment every month and let the rest accrue. This way it can take years for you to pay off your debts. Also you land up paying three times the amount. But if you do not pay anything or pay less than the minimum amount, you will accrue a late fee. Additionally, you will have a negative credit report.
New Balance – The sum payable after new costs and credits have been added up.
There are three techniques used to determine the interest rate of credit card interest. The average daily balance method, calculates the interest to be charged on your card based on the every day balance during the billing period, minus the payments received, and then divides it by the number of days in the billing period.
As per the previous balance method, the interest is calculated on the amount payable at the end of the last billing cycle. In adjusted balance method, the interest is calculated by deducting all the payments made throughout the present billing period from the final balance that was due from the last billing period.
Payday Loans on the Internet Have Their Risks
If you have insufficient credit, or a previous bankruptcy, it can be difficult to take out a loan from banks or credit unions. The payday loan industry was created to offer short term financing to customers with little credit, and the industry is doing brisk business. There are now more payday loan stores in the United States than Burger King, Subway and McDonald’s restaurants combined.
The interest rates, or “fees” charged for payday loans can add up to 400% per year on an annual basis. While they may be expensive, payday loans are, indeed, easy to obtain, and borrowers need only have a checking account and a steady job to qualify.
An extension of the brick and mortar cash advance loan business is the Internet lending business, and there are now thousands of Web sites that offer short-term financing. The businesses say that they can put the money straight into your bank account in as little as twenty four hours. The simplicity of doing business right from your PC, rather than driving down to your local lender, has encouraged untold numbers of people to borrow money online. Internet loans are just as easy to acquire as financing from payday loan stores and they are open for business 24 hours a day. Consumers should be aware, though, that borrowing from online lenders can be rather dangerous.
The risks tied to taking out a loan from online lenders include the following:
Unclear terms – If you live in Kansas, your neighborhood lender is subject to banking laws established by that state and you are protected by those laws. If you borrow online, the transaction is subject to the statutes of the jurisdiction in which the lender resides, but you may not be protected. If the lender is located outside the United States, there may be no caps of any kind regarding how much interest they may charge you. There may also be no recourse if the online lender doesn’t honor the terms of your agreement.
Potential identity theft or credit theft – By providing personal financial information to total strangers over the Internet, customers face the risk of having their identity stolen. Identity theft is a rapidly expanding crime and individuals who engage in it are becoming more proficient by the day.
Financial risk – Due to the fact that online lenders put money into your checking account, they could potentially take money out of your checking account, as well. Stealing from your account is a potential risk of engaging in business with an Internet company. You simply do not know who the online lenders are or what their motives might be.
If you have to apply for a cash advance loan, you would be safer in doing so locally and in person, rather than on the Web. There are frequently alternatives to high priced lending, and you would be smart to find them rather than to borrow money at high interest.