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Who Needs Multiple Credit Cards?

For many people who struggle with credit card repayments the very thought of having an extra one makes them sick to the core. There is the fear that one can easily lose track of the monthly bills and their repayment. There is the challenge of one going on a spending spree thanks to a number of different spending limits available per card and of course the fear that you will be crippled by the huge interest burden. What will creditors say if they discover you have so many cards and especially if they think you are a debt disaster waiting to... Read More »

How to Deal With Multiple Credit Card Debts

Because of the marketing blitz and competition that that has been in Australia there are many people who have found themselves with a number of credit cards to deal with. With some simple strategies you can easily manage your credit cards and avoid being declared bankrupt. The one thing that you need to realize is that without proper planning is interest related to credit card accumulates faster than that of any other type of loan. If credit relating to one card is challenging, you can imagine what is involved in having multiple cards. The first thing you need to is to ask yourself where the rain started beating you... Read More »

Beware Of Credit Card Fees

Who told you that the credit card issuer loves you so much as to give you an easier way of making payments without anything in it for them? You may not know it but the credit card issuer is in business and you the customer must pay for the convenience of using such a facility on top of paying up your bills as well as any accruing interest. Call it handling fees if you will but there are a host of silent charges and fees that you pay each time you use the facility. This must come as a surprise to many a credit card... Read More »

Card Safety

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Who Needs Multiple Credit Cards?

For many people who struggle with credit card repayments the very thought of having an extra one makes them sick to the core. There is the fear that one can easily lose track of the monthly bills and their repayment. There is the challenge of one going on a spending spree thanks to a number of different spending limits available per card  and of course the fear that you will be crippled by the huge interest burden.  What will creditors say if they discover you have so many cards and especially if they think you are a debt disaster waiting to happen?

The obvious question is of course how many cards should anyone actually have? Well there is no straight answer to this question because one should have only as many cards as they feel they can handle responsibly. There may be a few benefits for those financially responsible people who have multiple credit cards. One such reason is of course the financial peace of mind that comes with the owning so many cards. There are numerous challenges that people with a single credit card are prone to which you can easily avoid.

There are financial experts who advice that you need to have an emergency credit card in some secure place with a zero balance and which can only be retrieved when there is an emergency. Ask anyone who has had their wallet stolen or worse still had their house go down in flames with everything inside. With an extra card available you will have something to keep you going while you process and wait for the damaged or stolen cards to be replaced. With an extra card to take care of the risk prone online purchases you are able to stop the card whose identity has been stolen immediately and still have another card to hold on to as you wait.

Who among has not had the embarrassment of having their credit card stopped for any one reason? You have your only card blocked for reasons beyond your control and you are completely blocked from accessing normal consumer products until the problem is sorted out. A good example is when you travel out of the country and attempt to use your card. Your hawk eyed credo card issuing company may suspect foul play and stop it immediately because of its being used from a different location.

The most exciting thing about having multiple cards is of course the issue of rewards that some cards can earn the owners on account of every dollar they spend.  There are small benefits here and there such as coupons, gift cards from different institutions, and etc. apart from the fact that many reward cards may come with slightly higher interest rates you could find yourself getting complimentary meals, movie tickets, book tokens as well as gift vouchers which you would not have otherwise received.  Your only challenge will of course be to make sure that you carefully manage your cards and you will surely enjoy the rare privileges that go with it.

How to Deal With Multiple Credit Card Debts

Because of the marketing blitz and competition that that has been in Australia there are many people who have found themselves with a number of credit cards to deal with. With some simple strategies you can easily manage your credit cards and avoid being declared bankrupt.  The one thing that you need to realize is that without proper planning is interest related to credit card accumulates faster than that of any other type of loan. If credit relating to one card is challenging, you can imagine what is involved in having multiple cards. The first thing you need to is to ask yourself where the rain started beating you in order to retrace your steps from there.

The first step is of course for you to completely cut down the usage of your cards and even get to a point where you will stop using them completely. This will call for a great degree of discipline if you are going to succeed. One of the things that will make this practical is the making of a practical budget that may call for you to walk down the straight and narrow road. Look around your house and decide what you may have to sell such as your vehicle or any other capital asset in order to prevent bankruptcy. If the worst got to the worst then you may have to decide and live with a relative before you reorganize yourself.

There are many of us who have never seen the need of financial advisors but this may be the time to look for one. After weaning yourself off the use of the credit cards in your possession the next step involves planning how you are going to pay the off. The temptation would be to try and pay off the card with the lowest balance but you need to think again. The one thing that you need to know is that the major challenge with credit card debt is actually interest and you therefore need to decide to clear the one with the highest interest since this is what is costing you money.

After paying off the credit card with the highest interest rate and move on until your balance is zero and get on to paying the minimums of all other cards so as to prevent the interest from moving up to be high again.  Discard any card you finish up with in order to eliminate the temptation of using it one more time and just keep one particular card. This should be the card you have had longest in order for you to try and rebuild your credit history again. You will need a clean credit score using one clean card which will boost your chances of getting another card if need be.

Since prevention is always cheaper than cure you will need a simple but effective solution to prevent a recurring of this problem. This simply involves keeping a weekly and monthly level of your card usage and then you begin making baby steps from there. Be proactive and talk to your lenders before they come looking for you and hare with them your plan.  Much of the time they will be willing to support you knowing that you actually have an elaborate arrangement which you must just follow through.