Tag Archives: banks
How to Compare Credit Cards
All across the United States, there are hundreds and hundreds of banks and credit card companies looking for your business. This day and age, banks and credit card companies are in competition with each other, trying all they can to get your business. To try and get your business, they offer different credit cards with various incentives, rebates, and other perks.
Before you make your decision and choose a credit card, you should always compare what each company or bank has to offer you. If you get an offer in the mail for a credit card, you should go on the Internet and look into it more. You should also make sure that you read the fine print as well, to see if there are any type of hidden fees or other costs associated with that card. Many times, with offers in the mail, credit card companies or banks will try to sneak hidden fees and costs in there.
When you start to compare offers, you should make sure that you look at the APR and the fees. The APR is very important, as this will tell you your interest rate. You want to get the lowest APR possible with your credit card. If you look at a credit card that has an unusually high APR, you should immediately rule it out. Credit cards that come with high APR rates can easily lead you on a roller coaster towards credit card debt. No matter how good your credit may be, high APR rates can leave you with charges that are really difficult to pay.
Among the many options available to you, you’ll have three primary choices for your credit card – Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. These three giants are the leaders in credit cards. Visa and MasterCard don’t issue the cards themselves, they have banks and other companies issue on their behalf. American Express, or AMEX, is the only one that does everything themselves. AMEX issues their credit cards, maintains their own networks, and doesn’t use any type of third party.
If you like to travel, you will probably want to choose either Visa or MasterCard, as they are accepted all over the world. American Express is the least accepted of the three, although the company is upgrading their networks every chance they get. Before too long, AMEX will be accepted virtually everywhere. Right now though, AMEX isn’t accepted in all areas of the world.
Discover is another type of credit card, although it isn’t near as popular as the three above. Discover does have some great benefits to offer you, although it isn’t accepted in other parts of the world. Most people who have Discover credit cards stay local and use their cards in the event of an emergency. If you don’t have a credit card and have been thinking about getting a Discover card, you should really think about that decision and choose either Visa or MasterCard instead.
All in all, there are a lot of credit cards to choose from. That final decision though, is entirely up to you. There are a lot of great companies and banks out there, although it’s up to you to find the best credit card for your needs. You can choose to go with a company or bank that’s local to you, or get online and look for your credit card. The Internet can be a great resource for credit cards, as long as you know what you want. If you know what you want before you go online – you’ll save yourself a lot of time and money.
Fixed Home Loans
Home is one of the basic necessities of life for every individual. People do all sorts of things to buy a home like working extra hard, doing overtime in offices, taking up part time jobs in their free time, and so on. However, not all are lucky enough to own a home with their limited incomes. But, in order to fulfill their dream of buying a home, people take loans from banks or other agencies. These days fixed home loans are becoming popular throughout the world.
The first and foremost thing that comes into the mind of a home loan seeking person is the interest rate. Some loan seekers often get confused between fixed interest rate and floating interest rate. Let us try to understand the difference between the two. In case of a fixed home loan, the rate of interest remains fixed for the entire loan period. For example, if you take a home loan at 7% per annum for a period of 25 years, this interest rate will not change during entire 25 years. Whereas floating rates are directly proportional to the interest rate prevailing in the market. In other words, they keep on changing as per the market interest rate. People normally prefer fixed home loans due to the security provided by it. A fixed interest rate loan is suitable for persons with limited and fixed monthly income. However, the only drawback associated with it is that if interest rate comes down, the borrower still has to pay the same interest that was applicable at the time of taking the loan.
Further, in countries like Australia, where the mortgage interest rates are continuously showing an upward trend, people are finding fixed home loans more attractive and appropriate. This is because Australians consider things such as budgeting, lifestyle, economic instability, and changing interest rates, before going for a loan. With fixed loan, people know how much they have to pay each month and can plan their budget accordingly. While in floating loan, they become totally dependent on the ever changing interest rates and cannot do their financial planning in an efficient manner.
Some other benefits of fixed loan include peace of mind for future financial planning, lower interest rate than other type of loans, and surety about repayable amount. With each passing day, more and more people are turning to fixed term loans as it is a safe and secure option.
So, if you have finally decided to take a home loan, compare the interest rates of all types of loans. You can do this research by browsing different websites that specialize in home loans. You can also search the Websites of various government and private banks and compare the terms and conditions offered by them. Do not take hasty decision in this matter as it can affect your life and future planning in a big way. Whether this will be a negative affect or a positive affect, depends on how wisely you choose your loan.