Credit Card Types: Unsecured
Keywords: credit cards, balance transfers, cash back, advice, purchases, news, credit cards uk, visa, mastercard
There are two basic credit card types: secured and unsecured. This article explores unsecured credit cards.
First, what is an unsecured credit card? An unsecured credit card is a card (and credit line) that does not require any security deposit from you. These unsecured credit cards are generally intended for those people with a fairly good credit history.
Nearly all unsecured credit cards will come with a credit limit. This is the total amount of credit that you can charge to the card. If you go over that limit, you may be penalized. The actual amount of the credit limit is determined by the card issuer and it does not have to be same for every person. In other words, one person may have a limit of $500 while another may have a limit of $5000.
There are some important issues associated with an unsecured credit card that consumers should understand. A few of those issues include:
The Grace Period: You should read and understand the grace period that applies to each of your credit cards. The grace period is the amount of time that you have to pay your balance before the card issuer begins charging you interest on the balance. If you pay your balance in full before the grace period ends you will not be charged interest. Each company has its own amount of time for grace payments so be sure you read each company’s policy.
Annual Fee: Before you apply for an unsecured credit card see if the company charges an annual fee. This is a yearly fee that is charged to your account or may have to be paid in advance. Annual fees are more often associated with secured credit cards but you may see them with unsecured as well.
Balance Transfer: Your unsecured credit card may offer what is known as a balance transfer. A balance transfer is when you have an existing balance with another company and you transfer that balance over to the new card.
Why would you do this? If the new card has a substantially lower interest rate you can save money.
Annual Percentage Rate: Of particular interest to anyone who plans to apply for or use an unsecured credit card is the APR that is associated with the card. This is the amount of interest that the company will charge you if you do not pay off the full balance within the grace period allowed. As you might imagine, the lower the ARP, the less you will have to pay in interest charges.
Finance Charge: Your unsecured credit card may include finance charges that are above and beyond the APR. Finance charges are most often triggered when you take out a advance. Again, make sure you understand these charges before you use the card for purposes that trigger added finance charges.
Gold or Platinum Cards: These cards usually carry a higher credit limit and may come with some extra benefits or reward programs. These are nice to have but make sure you are not paying extra for something that you will not use.
Peter Kenny is a writer for The Thrifty Scot, please visit us at www.thriftyscot.co.uk and www.thriftyscot.co.uk
Previous Articles Highlighter:
MyOwn10-Key - How To Balance Your Checking Account Without First Entering All Of Your Transactions (1)
If you keep track of any of the funds in your checking account separate from your checkbook register, change the "Total recorded in other than register" value on line 6 to the total of these separate funds.
New Exchange Traded Fund Makes Sophisticated Investment Strategies Available To ETF Investors (2)
For US investors, this tool could be used for a long term diversification tool. With the political situation so volatile in the middle east and the economic consequences of interruption of energy supplies, investors must realize these markets can be very volatile which increases the risk.
Despite Slowdown California Home Prices Set New Record (3)
As strange as it sounds, homes need to be priced right and be in pristine condition in order to sell. During the buying frenzy this was not the case.
Two New Exchange Traded Funds Allow Unique Oil Investment Strategies (4)
As ETFs move more and more into the commodity based areas, investors will have investment options never open to the middle of the road investor before. Andrew Goldman is president of Metal Rabbit media services, the operator of www.exchangetradedfundinvesting.com.
New Fund For Indian Investors Can Benefit U.S. Investors (5)
Market have been extremely successful. The amount of gold held by U.S. Investors in these funds is over 600 tonnes. Now the popularity of these ETF funds is spreading.
Exchange Traded Funds Venture Further Into Foreign Currency Markets (6)
Rydex will now give investors in foreign currencies even more options. They will be introducing Exchange Traded funds covering the British Pound, Austrailian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Mexican Peso, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc.
California Foreclosure Activity Up By The Biggest Margin In 14 Years- Is The Bust Starting? (7)
This latest news is related to home sales. Home sales have fallen to their lowest rate in nine years. Along with the slowdown in home sales is the deceleration of price appreciation.
Using ETFs To Invest In A Good Performing Commodity Sector You May Have Missed (8)
With many exchange traded funds down or just treading water for the year so far, PHO is performing above average. As of July 6th it is up over 9% which is not bad for the recent market conditions.
Best Performing Exchange Traded Funds For 2006 Thru August (9)
Belgium has a very low interest rate and the stock market is undervalued. This is another low volume ETF with the daily average volume around 67,000 shares. One of the hottest Exchange Traded Funds continues to be a China Fund (FXI).
California Real Estate Market Gives Mixed Messages (10)
Andrew Goldman is president of Metal Rabbit media services, the operator of www.carealestateinvest.com and www.Exchangetradedfundinvesting.com. He has written a number of articles on finance and investment over the last ten years.
A New Exchange Traded Fund May Have A Major Impact On Long Term Silver Prices (11)
Another factor, especially driving the price of silver is the approval of Barclay's new silver fund. The fund is backed by physical silver and trading in this fund has created a demand for physical silver.
Another Way Of Looking At The Gold Price Meltdown (12)
After having seen prices plunge, investors are likely to take profits much quicker this time around. Prices will begin to go up again, however there will be significant pullbacks as investors take profits.
New Powershare ETFs Give Exchange Traded Fund Investors New Ways To Profit In Down Markets (13)
Andrew Goldman is president of Metal Rabbit media services, the operator of www.exchangetradedfundinvesting.com. Andrew has contributed articles on finance and environment to severla publications over the last ten years.
A Unique Precious Metals Exchange Traded Fund Is Launched Under A Cloud Of Worry (14)
This fund had the unfortunate luck to be released for trading during a period in which the precious metals have seen their greatest setback in years. The most popular of the Gold ETF's streetTRACKS GLD has been trading at a volume of 10 to 20 million shares for most of May.
Home Sales Continue To Drop In Southern California (15)
When we see the number of home sales slow, especially for a multi month period, we can expect prices to lag the slowdown in sales by around three months. We should see home appreciation start to really slow down soon in southern California.
A Risky Investment Becomes Commonplace (16)
The streetTracks Gold fund (GLD) has become very popular since its inception. Millions of dollars are flowing into this fund. Soon a similar fund that buys physical silver will become available for trading.
Will Long Term Home Ownership Lead To Profits Or Declining Values? (17)
The median return was 33%. Families staying in their homes for 15 years did not incur any losses. Their gains were from 14% to 25%. Home buyers in Los Angeles saw the greatest losses during this time period.
A Foreign Exchange Traded Fund Investors Should Consider (18)
As the profit taking occurs, for those already invested in this fund, this should not be of major concern unless you see the price drop below 13.80. For those who are not invested in this fund, you may want to consider buying during the price corrections.
One Of The Most Popular Exchange Traded Funds Will Soon Have Solid Competition (19)
Archipeligos' new index will be price weighted. Companies with the highest price will be given more weight in the index. By this method Microsoft may only have a 1% weight in this new ETF while Genentech would make up 3.3% of the index.
What Do You Need To Know About Car Loans? (20)
Buying a car is a very exciting time. Even if you can't afford the car of your dreams, you're probably getting something better than you own right now. You'll want to be prepared for the upsell, and know what you really can afford.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
The Benefits Of Gathering Relocation Information (1)
No matter if you are planning a large international move, a move across the country, or are just planning on moving across town, collecting and researching relocation information before moving will save you time, money and a lot of stress.
Cashback Credit Card For Reward-Loving Individuals (2)
Rewards may come into the form of rebates and financial incentives. There are also credit card companies that provide instant points that can be exchanged for premium items such as free airline tickets, free dining pass, or gift certificates.
Holiday Insurance - A Necessity Or A Luxury? You Decide (3)
What If You Have To Cancel? Trip Cancellation Insurance covers the traveler in the event that a holiday has to be cancelled because of sickness, a death in the family or other dire circumstance.
How To Get Real Estate Listings Via Real Estate Marketing Articles (4)
Some of the more common ways to use them are via the following: Newsletters - some agents will use an article as a newsletter, a low cost highly leveraged way to share information.
Introduction To Stocks (5)
Preferred stock has a dividend that must be paid out before dividends to common stockholders, but preferred stock often has no voting rights attached to it. Stocks trade on an exchange.
Understanding A Balance Sheet (6)
For our purposes here, we are going to discuss how to analyze a balance sheet, which is generally considered to be the most important tool for analyzing the financial health of a company.
Penny Stocks: A Good Investment (7)
Do your homework on the companies you are going to invest in and you will do fine. Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make email forms.
Understanding Auto Insurance (8)
It covers you if you are involved in an accident and the other driver was at-fault, but that other driver either does not have insurance or their coverage is not adequate to compensate you for your damages.
Common Investment Scams (9)
Offshore companies, thanks to the internet, are no longer faced with obstacles such as direct mail or long distance telemarketing. Promises of huge returns from offshore investments are usually totally bogus.
P/E Or PEG, Which Is Better? (10)
I hope this information has helped you form an understanding of how to evaluate stock prices. Try to set aside some money for investing, and begin to analyze stocks and buy the ones that have a low PEG.
Tax Consequences Of Municipal Bonds (11)
The strangest thing about a bond, as opposed to a stock, is that if you purchase the bond at a premium (more than the face value), upon redemption you can not claim a capital loss.
Introduction To Mutual Funds (12)
And, just like with individual stocks and bonds, your shares increase in value when the share price of stocks within the portfolio appreciate, or when interest payments are made on the bonds.
Introduction To Day Trading (13)
It is not uncommon for a day trader to execute hundreds of trades in a single day, whereas others might only make a few trades. Some look for swings in prices that may last a few seconds or a few minutes.
What Mergers Mean For Your Investments (14)
(If both companies are in good shape, then joining them together will likely make each entity stronger; if one company is in trouble, then the other will be saddled with the problems of the other) 2) How many shares will you have after the merger takes place?
Understanding Your Insurance Policy (15)
However, in some cases, the applicant lies when answering these questions. The legal capacity clause protects the company from having to indemnify the person in the event that he or she lied to them during the application process.
Is Your Stockbroker A Crook? (16)
In addition, your stockbroker should not be leaving work every day at the exact moment the market closes. A smart financial professional has to evaluate research reports and economic data after the market closes each day to decide what needs to be bought or sold within your portfolio.
Introduction To The Forex Market (17)
The amount of dollars traded on the Forex market on a daily basis is in the trillions. Most of this currency trading takes place between between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions.
Stock Market Basics (18)
So, they have an incentive to persuade you to place a lot of trades, because they make more money that way. Some full-service brokers do provide excellent investment advice, but are so active with your portfolio that their commissions start to eat away at your earnings.
The FOREX Market Is A Goldmine (19)
On the futures market, futures contracts are bought and sold based upon a standard contract size and maturity date. Futures trades take place on public commodities markets. A currency quote is listed differently from a stock quote.
What Is Breakup Value? (20)
It may have a computer division, a food division, and an entertainment division. To determine the breakup value, you would need to figure out what the total assets are for each subsidiary, minus the total liabilities.