Credit Card Payment Information
- The C-CARD Act (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility & Disclosure Act of 2009), covers individual consumers who may be faced with unfair card fees and deceptive practices by credit card issuers. New rules make it easier to determine what you are paying and how to eliminate arbitrary interest-rate increases that affect monthly payments.
- Banks and issuers of credit cards try to compensate for bad investments by up-charging interest rates, surcharges and fees on those who pay on time. Rates can escalate to as much as 50 percent, particularly during bad economic times. The key with business credit cards are the same as with personal credit cards---pay off on time and pay in full every month. The C-CARD Act does not apply to businesses, large or small, so it may be a good idea to use a personal card to "loan" your own business money in order to control those costs.
- Credit cards are available for balance transfers when switching cards (generally done when a person is trying to lower their monthly payments by getting a card with a better interest rate); bad credit cards; instant approval cards; special low-interest (fixed rate) credit cards; airline credit cards; cards for those with little or no credit history; and the better deals: Cards for those with excellent credit, who are often able to pick and choose their own designer cards with flexible rates, lower rates, and even capped monthly payments. Many cards "pay back" with different rewards programs that are like having money in the bank.
- APR, or Annual Percentage Rates, affect monthly payments and overall balances due on credit cards. Though the APR is charge annually, it still has a direct impact on the minimum amount of credit card payments due every month. Nominal APR is simple interest and effective APR is compound interest applied to balances. The compound interest is the more truth-telling of the two. It is important to note that APR in the USA and APR in Britain do not mean the same thing. European APR is expressed in terms of draw downs by the lender and repayments by the debtor, or in totality, the "present market value" of the borrower's repayments.
- Minimum monthly credit card payments have doubled from two percent to four percent, meaning you can pay your bill off twice as fast, and save more than half of what you would have paid in interest. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on whether or not a debtor is able to make the minimum payments. When it comes to interest rates and minimum payments, a small $1,000 debt could end up taking more than 20 years to pay off in full. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Credit Act of 2005 requires credit card companies to tell consumers how much they will pay over the long term if they continue to make monthly minimums.
