Interest Free Credit Cards

Almost two years ago I wanted to perform some renovations to my home. To finance the work I used one of my first interest free credit cards. Over the last two years I've been paying the debt off interest free. How have I been interest free for over two years when most interest free credit cards only give you an interest free introductory period that only last a few months? It's called Transferring Balances and you're about to learn how to do it yourself.

How To Extend Interest Free Credit Cards By Transferring Balances

The concept of transferring balances is quite simple really. It just means that when you're interest free credit cards 0 introductory rate that is that long, no problem, you'll just need to transfer a bit more quickly than with the extended offers.

Ok, this is important. Don't sign up for anything until you've read this. Be sure that the interest free credit cards you sign up for have introductory rates that apply to both new purchases and balance transfers to optimize your buying and transferring. If you cannot find an introductory offer that offers both then use the card wisely. If there's not 0 interest plan immediately and can be hit with late fees... and that's not what we want, we're looking to SAVE money here, right?

Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to find your new interest free credit cards that you will be transferring balance to, sometimes it can take up to a month to get everything worked out. Most online applications for interest free credit cards will give you results immediately but not always. Taking extra precaution and giving yourself plenty of time ensures that you don't get stuck with unplanned interest fees.

Finally, and this sounds silly but it's important. Don't forget to shut down your old interest free credit cards when you get the new one. If you no longer plan to use the card, cancel it completely. Apart from any other benefits canceling your previous card should allow you to qualify for new 0% introductory periods with the card companies you've used in the past because you'll be looked at as a new customer when you apply for your new card a few years later.

Credit Card Types And How To Know The Best For You

Choosing the right credit card is a decision that’s more important and difficult to make than most people think. With the right credit card, you’ll be able to maximize your card benefits without getting into debt.

Credit Card Types – Which One Suits You Best?

Low Interest Credit Card – If you’re interested in having a credit card only so you can pay for emergency expenses when you run out of cash, this is the best type of card for you.

Reward Credit Card – Every time you swipe your credit card, you get to enjoy an equivalent number of points depending on how much you’ve spent. The points you’ve accumulated can later be on exchanged for various prizes.

Airline Miles Credit Card – This is a type of reward credit card that offers only airline miles as rewards. When you use this credit card to purchase your plane fare, you’ll be able to enjoy reward miles. Later on, you’ll be able to use them and get discounted plane fare or fly for free even! The same rule applies for gas credit cards.

Student Credit Card – Credit card companies have lately been designing credit card offers exclusively for students. Although accompanied with higher interest rates, these cards often have funky designs and offer special reward programs developed primarily to provide maximum enjoyment for students. Proof of schooling is often required. It helps if you’re enrolled in an accredited school and you’ve got great grades.

Secured Credit Card – If you’ve got bad credit, there’s still a chance for you to own a credit card…but only if you’re okay with having a secured one. This type of credit card requires you to make a deposit on your bank account and serves as collateral in the event that you fail to pay off your credit card debt. Your credit card limit may equal or be more than the amount you’ve deposited.

Prepaid Credit Card – This isn’t a credit card per se, but it generally works like one. The limit of this card will depend on how much you’ve deposited in its account. You can’t spend more than what you’ve deposited. Its main difference with a secured credit card is that secured credit cards can have greater card limits beyond the value of its deposit.

Business Credit Card – This works just like any other conventional credit card only with a few additional perks that make it extremely suitable for business use. A business credit card can automatically separate personal expenses from business expenditures, facilitating monthly tallies for your taxes. It can also provide expense reports for your business, special rewards for your business, and allow you to provide supplementary cards for your employees. You can also choose to modify the credit limit of your employees if necessary.

Home-Secured Credit Card – This works like a secured credit card, but only this time you’re using your home as collateral. If you don’t get to pay off your credit card debt, you know what will happen to your home, don’t you?

Charity Credit Card – Think of it as shopping for a cause. Every time you purchase something using your credit card, a small amount of your money will be donated to the charity being sponsored by the credit card company. This is a great way to salve your conscience if you feel guilty about your materialistic tendencies.

Article by Mario Churchill. He is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information on credit cards or to apply for a credit card checkout his recommended websites.

3 Steps To Get Your Apr Rate Lowered

Credit card companies do lower the APR rates if approached with the right attitude proper planning. What is the correct procedure to do it? In this article we take a look at 3 important things that could help you get that skyrocketing APR under control.

Keep a good re-payment record
If you pay your credit card bills on time, chances are good that your credit history will be excellent. Paying bills on time gives you a good leverage for asking the credit card company to turn things in your favor. Having a good credit history will always help as there would be numerous other options available to you in case your present credit card company doesn't heed to your request of lowering your APR.

Do a good research
Before presenting your case to the credit card company it will help greatly if you find other credit cards floating in the market, which provide similar services but at a significantly lower APRs and balance transfer options. Once you have your data ready, it is time to call the company.

Call the credit company
Ask the credit card company to lower your APR, substantiating your request with your good repayment history, and other cards which offer better options. Having a good bargaining position doesn't mean in anyway that you loose your manners while calling the credit card company. Being polite and courteous always pays.Contacting the right person, who makes the APR related decision will speed up the process. If the customer service representative denies your request, you always have other options to switch.

Article by Duran Mueller. He's an expert author and credit card consultant, provides great Credit card companies tips. Read more credit card articles at his credit card website.

Apply Online for a Credit Card to Establish Credit for the First Time

Apply online for a credit card to establish brand-new credit? This might sound like poor or unworkable advice. But if you apply online for a credit card and it's the right type of credit card, you are pretty certain of being accepted for the credit card. And you'll be on your way to establishing a good credit record for yourself.

So what kind of credit card am I referring to when I suggest you apply online for a credit card?

I'm referring to a secured credit card! For those folks unfamiliar with the term secured credit card here's the basics of how the program works.

The person with no credit (you) apply online for a credit card with a bank offering a secured credit card. You make a deposit (that you'll will not be able to touch) with the bank to act as security for your credit card. The deposit secures the credit card; hence the term secured credit card .

When you apply online for a secured credit card, you are likely to be approved unless you have extremely poor existing credit. That's because the bank has very little risk your deposit will cover your use of the credit being extended to you.

There are things to consider when you apply online for a secure credit card. The terms for your credit card are going to include a relatively high interest rate. The bank is taking a risk on a person with no credit history (or a poor one) and so they exact as much profit as they legally can. There might also be fees that folks with great credit won't be charged; they may me called annual membership fees or participation fees .

However, even though these extra fees are not great, the ability to start recording good credit in your own name might justify that you apply online for a secured credit card.

Washington Mutual Credit Card Review

Washington Mutual is one of the largest banks of America and it offers an amazing variety of cards. The first and the foremost is the Washington Mutual Platinum Card which comes with instant approval so now you don't have to wait for days to know the status of your application, you get to know instantly whether your application for a Washington Mutual Platinum Card is approved or not. As a measure of protection against the unauthorized services which are on a rise, the Washington Mutual Platinum Card comes with $0 fraud liability on unauthorized purchases so you don't have to spend sleepless nights in case that happens.

Without any annual fee and discounts from popular retailers available online this card is hard to resist. The promotional balance transfer APR is as low as 0% for the first 12 billing cycles as it is the introductory period and after that the APR for purchases varies from 9.99% to 19.99%. The Washington Mutual Platinum Card also gives you a grace period of 25 days if the new balance is paid fully by the due date of the payment and the balance is calculated according to the method of the two-cycle average daily balance which includes new purchases too. With the Washington Mutual Platinum Card you are charged a minimum of $1 as a finance charge and 1% of each purchase as the transaction fee for the purchases that you make outside the U.S. and its territories. The Washington Mutual Platinum Card charges 3% for each balance transfer ranging from a minimum of $5 to a maximum of $75 and 3% of the advance i.e. a minimum of $10 is charged from you as your cash advance fee. If you are late in paying the bill, a late fee varying from $19 to $39 is charged depending on your balance and if you exceed your set credit line during any billing cycle an overlimit fee of $35 is charged from you.

The Washington Mutual Platinum Card also provides you with the unique and interactive Washington Mutual Credit online account management providing you an offer card whenever you visit the visit the site thereby increasing customer base and saving you from the trouble of searching and applying for a credit card.

Not very long ago the Washington Mutual took over the Provident Credit Card which was the erstwhile credit card giant and has grabbed up the ninth position in the credit card ranking in America since then and now it offers you three more cards to choose from one of them being the Providian Real Rewards Card. The Providian Real Rewards Card is different from others because it rewards you with points every time you use it and the rewards come in different forms thereby giving you freedom of choice. So with Providian Real Rewards Card you can use your rewards for purchasing flight tickets or as restaurant coupons.

Another card offered by the Washington Mutual is the Providian Cash Back Card which gives you cash back on any purchase you make thereby giving you ample opportunity to get your money back with each purchase made by you.

The third card offered under this head is the Providian Rewards Card enabling you to earn a point for every dollar you spend through it and that too in different forms ranging from merchandise and gift cards to travel benefits.

In spite of seemingly great offers Providian is constantly in the midst of lawsuits with customers constantly accusing Providian of charging them more than their due payment. To add insult to injury, customer service is poor and lacking in quality.

With the Business Card offered by the Washington Mutual Credit Card you can keep the expenses your business separate and it also gives you employee cards whose spending limits are set by them. What's more, you can also track down the individual expenditure of the employees from the itemized statements which are provided along with other benefits including the online service which is available 24/7.