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Have You Been Charged To Use Your Credit Card?

By: Alisdair Cosgrove

The actual charge from each purchase is not the only fee associated with the use of a credit card, there are some other fees.These other costs can add to the total balance you will pay on your credit card account each month.Some of the common fees that are found on your credit card statements from time to time are the annual fee, the late payment fee, the finance charge, and the APR. The finance fee is added to it every month while the other fees will be added less frequently.

The credit card finance charge will be the dollar amount you are required to pay the credit provider for the use of their lines of credit when purchases are made.The outstanding balance on your credit card plays a major role in the determination of the amount of finance charges you will have to pay while the APR on the card will play a more minor part in this determination.Your individual credit card company will in most cases have its own policies and approach in calculating the finance charge on your card.

You need to understand how your outstanding balance is calculated; it may be calculated during one billing cycle or within two billing cycles.

When the calculation of the amount of your annual finance charges is done, the three types of balances used are the previous balance, the adjusted balance, and the average daily balance.The common thing about these balances is that you have to make a decision on whether new or recent purchases will be counted as part of the relative balance.After making this decision you can calculate the credit card finance charge. Finance charges will vary depending on the billing cycle and based on the carry-over balance and the timing of different purchases and payments.

Operating under a minimum finance charge policy, many credit card companies are now providing their services.A flat rate of this type for the finance charges each year will not vary or change because of differences in the card’s balance each billing cycle.When the credit card has a carry-over balance which goes into the next billing cycle, the minimum finance charge is activated.

The credit card finance charge is an unavoidable cost that has to be paid in order to be able to keep using the lines of credit on your credit card to make purchases.A working knowledge of what will affect the credit card finance charges added to the balance on your card is a good thing to have.You need to know what to do if you are assessed a wrong amount and have to pay for something that is not acceptable.Time must be spent in studying your credit card terms and uses in order to know what to watch for on your monthly statement.Finance charges which cause an increase in the balance you will have to pay should be something you are aware of on the credit card you originally chose because of it’s reasonable rates and terms.

Article Source: http://articles.webworker.com

Information about the Author: Alisdair Cosgrove has been writing finance articles for many years and can find more of his work at the UK site CreditCardsWeb.co.uk, offering credit card offers for UK residents and also a great selection of 0% balance transfers. Visit today to read more of Alisdair's great credit card articles.

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