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Credit Cardholder Protections
Certain laws are on the books to protect consumers from unscrupulous credit card issuers. It pays to know what guidelines the various financial institutions should follow in regards to cardholder protections.
You are entitles to have your credits posted promptly for your payments. By law your payment must be reflected on their books the day they receive it or the next business day after if it was received if arriving in the afternoon generally. Each issuer can make up certain rules of their own within the confines of what is legal and allowed but your payment must be treated with due process when it arrives..
Be certain to follow the postal instructions so your funds reach the issuer’s billing department without any hassle. If you accidentally send your payment to the wrong place it could take weeks or more to correct, and you would still be liable for your payment not reaching the credit card issuer or financial institution in time. I f you can’t find the proper mailing envelope that came with your statement, be care to correctly copy the address off of the statement itself or call the credit card issuer to request the proper mailing address.
You might be entitled to refunds of credit balances. When you make a deposit that is over the total amount of credit allowed on your card, you are entitled to have the extra funds added or be issued a refund for the excessive amount of your deposit. Your money must be returned to you within seven business days of your request. If a credit remains on your card for more than 6 months, the issuer must make a good faith effort to send you your monies due.
Keep a close eye out for errors on your billing statement. Many people have a tendency to not notice this. Credit card issuers have the burden to be certain that your statement is correct, as they hold the responsibility to act when corrections are needed and justified. Albeit, many people have noticed that this is not the case in reality. Still consumers must be aware that they have the upper hand and that the law is on their side. Generally you will receive a brochure from your card issuer concerning what the individual rules are for the credit card you have at issue, and again about after every year passes. You might even receive a summary of these rights with your bill. Make sure you are aware of the rules in the long version instead of the smaller “key point” list that may come with your bill.
If you find a problem with your credit card bill, you can have a temporary hold put on the transaction while it is being disputed. If the resolution of the dispute ends in your favor, you will receive a credit for the amount. The dispute can be due for any a number of reasons including having recieved broken goods, services you purchased but did not receive. Remember that you still are responsible for payment of any amounts that are not in dispute on the bill, and that your due dates and the like are not adjusted because of a pending dispute.
Know Your Loan Options before Applying (Page 1 of 2)
All loan options are not the same; there are huge differences in them with respect to the options they provide. Sometimes with all these features it becomes very difficult to choose the loan option that could be ideal for you. In order to make the process of deciding which loan to take, let us first know what the different types of loans are.
1. Fixed Rate Mortgage Loans
These are the most popular types of loans available. With these loans, the mortgage rates are fixed throughout the life of the loan. Even within fixed mortgage loans, there are different kinds according to their tenures:-
a) 30-year Fixed Rate Loans: These loans are preferred by people who wish to stay in their houses for longer periods of time. Since the repayment is spread over to a period of thirty years, the amount paid back each month is low, which allows the family to have some liquidity in hand. However, the borrower will end up paying more in the long run because of the more interest paid.
b) 15-year Fixed Rate Loans: The shorter period makes it possible for the house to become the borrowers sooner, but he/she would have to make much higher monthly payments. The interest rate would also be half of that on the 30-year loan.
c) Biweekly Loans: With these loans, the payments are to be made every fortnight instead of every month. They are generally given on 30-year loans. Due to the excess payments made, the loans get over in something like 23 years. Also the loan builds up the equity faster. But some people might find the frequency of the payments too much to keep up with.
2. Adjustable Rate Mortgage Loans
With adjustable rate mortgage loans, the rates of interest are subjected to ups and downs as per mortgage trends. Generally these loans begin with lower rates of interest, and they could build up over time. The advantage with these loans is that the rates of interest in the beginning could be lower since the borrower would lock in a low rate of interest. But the rates could go higher at any time and then the borrower would have to make highly monthly payments.
There are some other aspects to home loans that must be known well in advance. Let us see these options.
1. Hybrid and Convertible ARM These loans provide the borrower with the ability to switch from a fixed rate of interest to an adjustable rate, or from an adjustable rate of interest to a fixed rate. Hence the loans become flexible. Naturally it makes sense to convert with these loans only if the rates are lower than with the option you are currently using.
2. Interest Only Loans In these loans, the borrower is supposed to make only the payments on the interest month after month, but will have to pay lump sums on the principal periodically. Interest only loans are those for people who work with lower salaries but get huge bonuses at the end of the year. This makes it possible for the borrower to get higher loans and keep more money in his/her pocket for all year round. But the disadvantage is that these loans do not make any payments on the home all through the year.