Tag Archives: debt

What Is a 0 APR Credit Card?

December 4, 2019   Home Mortgage

It’s like the search for the Holy Grail. Before the days of King Arthur and the roundtable of Camelot, people have hunted for this holy relic and its promise of eternal life. Just the same, consumers the world over have searched for their lives for the holy grail of the credit card world: a card with 0 annual percentage rates, or no interest at all. Such a card could provide eternal shopping, and a life without fear of debt.

The reality of the situation, however, may be slightly different. Don’t get us wrong. A card with 0 annual percentage rate is a beautiful thing. It allows you to carry debt on the card without fear of swamping your finances with interest payments. On the other hand, the 0 annual percentage rate is not a free ride to spend to excess. After all, most of these 0 annual percentage rate, or 0 APR cards, have a time limit. The carriage, so to speak, eventually turns back into the pumpkin, and then you could be left holding the bag with a maxed out credit card and a new APR of, say, 22 percent.

So, what exactly is a 0 APR credit card? Is it such a great deal anymore, or should you not chase after the holy grail? It depends, as with any great decision. If you plan to be making a lot of heavy purchases soon—such as to decorate a new house—you may want to find yourself a 0 APR card, but do so with the understanding that you must be able to pay that baby off when the 0 annual percentage rate special wears off.

Don’t just jump at any 0 annual percentage rate card, though. There are always other considerations to make when you’re on the market for a new credit card. For instance, how widely is the new card going to be accepted. If you travel a lot, this is important to know. MasterCard and Visa are the two most widely accepted brands of cards on the market, with 17 million and 16.2 million locations respectively.

And of course, every credit card now has a rewards program. What sort of rewards programs would suit you best—one that involves cash back and discounts on every purchase, or would you rather earn points toward travel and other prizes? Plus, no matter what the rewards are, compare the ratio of earned points to dollars spent. The higher this ration, the better the rewards program is, no matter what the rewards are.

Lastly, check the fees on these 0 APR cards. Is there an annual fee, a cash transfer fee, late fees, stiff penalties, etc.? These also could help you make up your mind about the card.

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Understanding debt consolidation

November 22, 2019   Fast Loan

Debt consolidation is a solution offered to many people these days with explaining some real weird theories about it and it I leading to creation of more and more myths about it. Here we’ll consider this debt consolidation in a simpler one and try to clear out whatever confusions arise in your mind. But first of all let’s see what credit consolidation is and how you may get benefit from this. It is simply paying many smaller loans by having a larger one with some collaterals and lesser interest rate.

The points to be discussed about this debt consolidation are:

1. It is for those who are unable to manage their money matters and who are not good financial planners. Those who are capable of saving and paying off money successfully should avoid this and it may not prove beneficial to them.
2. It is nowhere equivalent to bankruptcy or settlement because in this way you are not either having the title of a bad payer or negotiating with the original creditors about some relaxation in your debt conditions.
3. It is a compulsion for you to be a home owner to have secured debt consolidation. The profitable consolidation only results after offering something as collateral and you can’t do this unless you own your own real estate property of some great value.
4. It would never deteriorate your credit report or credit score but on other hand may prove helpful in improving this. As you are actually paying many small debts so your credit score may get improved in some cases.
5. It is not a tactic to reduce your debt but it is just a method of incorporating all of your debts into a single and a huge one. It doesn’t mean at any point that debt on you is lessened.
6. debt consolidation companies are actually not required in this whole process if you have the knowledge and you can negotiate well with the creditor you can do it on your own in much successful manner.
7. You may require the help of a finance lawyer or an outsider help for the whole legislator and documentation portion of the deal. Because it contain many minute points to be handled.
8. yes, a drawback of this debt consolidation is the difficulty in getting future loans that somewhere resembles bankruptcy but remember by paying the monthly amounts regularly and improving your credit score you can overcome this handicap.
9. You may get into a digging well of having more and more debts in your life and end up in many unpaid debts that will allow the creditors to sale your valuables. So try to handle it with much more caution and financial wisdom.
10. It is just like receiving from one person and paying the other one but you receive with a lesser interest rate that is the profit point.
11. You won’t be getting many payments calls daily for those small loans but yeah if you actually fail to pay this one you are at least going to receive one call.
12. It doesn’t allow you to write a debt note unlike in bankruptcy.

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