Money saving tip for those Charge Cards

[SNOWBOARDER]

Hi All! Here's an often overlooked, and simple, money-saving tip, that's especially helpful for those folks who charge their trips and don't pay off the balance right away. (You know who you are!) Just get on the phone with your credit card company and request, due to all of the recent Fed interest rate cuts, that they lower your interest rate. I spent about 10-15minutes on the phone, and had all of my rates reduced!!! Good Luck!

 

[BethR]

Good for you SNOWBOARDER!!! Another thing that might help is to transfer all of you balances to a new card with a LOW INTRODUCTORY interest rate - 1.9 and below - AND where that rate is good for at least 6 months. Make sure that the permanant rate is lower than what you already have. Be sure to cancel the OLD accounts then too! You will save a lot in interest that way - and maybe you will have the balance paid off in the introductory period.

 

[mhopset]

Dont forget to use the best credit card in the business DISCOVER CARD!!!!!

It pays to DISCOVER!!!!!!!

 

[SNOWBOARDER]

Hi mhopset! Ummm.....How is the Discover the best? My USAA Platinum, has all the benefits of my Discover Platinum, and a much lower rate,(7.5% not an introductory rate), to boot. The only difference I see is the Cashback bonus that Discover offers. Have a great day!!!

 

[TinkerbellRules]

If you pay off your monthly bill, Discover is great because you get the cash back. I put everything on my Discover, then deduct it from my checking and hold to pay Discover.

 

[Debi]

I do what TinkerbellRules does; when I purchase something, I automatically deduct it from my checking account, so I don't think I have more in the account than what I actually do. Then, when my Discover bill comes, I pay it off automatically. It works out great, and the Cashback Bonus Award definately comes in handy.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We were told by a financial advisor that Discover is the WORSE. We were told this some time ago, but seems Discover charges interest on your old balance, prior to payment, and then charges you interest on your current. Something like that anyway. It was explained to us that they basically double charge interest, but somehow it is legit. And maybe other companies do this too, and I am not aware of this. (And to me, that measly 1% isn't enough.)
And I also consider that Discover is Sears. Just a few years ago Sears was in a class action suit (that they lost) because they were over charging their credit card users.
Sorry, I don't trust 'em.

 

[cynjam]

I have had MC and currently have Discover and Visa (for those places that don't take Discover)and I ,too, pay them off in full each month. I charge everything, seems easier than carrying cash. The biggest difference I've found is with the customer service dept. I've never had a problem with Discover personnel or policies.

 

[NancyIL]

Whenever you carry a balance on a credit card, you pay interest on the unpaid balance, as well as interest on any new charges from the moment you charge something! I don't know if Discover is any worse than VISA or MasterCard. The point is - always live within your means and don't carry a balance!

 

[jgates]

I think they are referring to "two-month average balance". What happens here is you basically lose any grace period. They average your balance out over 2 cycles and you pay the interest on it. I just received a pre-appr offer with this on it a few weeks ago again. Or if you do have a grace period and owe a large balance one month and nearly nothing the next month, they average and you still have to pay interest on a higher average the 2nd month.

 

[TinkerbellRules]

Like I said, Discover is great IF you pay off your balance every month. There is never any interest charged as long as you pay it off. I always do on any of my cards. I had another CC similar to this, but would get the 1% rebate every month. I rarely ever paid interest since 99.9% of the time I pay off the entire balance. I guess I made too much $$ off of them because they stopped the rebate (which is why I switched to Discover)

 

[Beanie]

Another Discover fan here! We pay off our balance at the end of the month as well and we love the cash back at the end of the year!! I always use Discover!!

 

[ncbyrne]

The only credit card I use is an American Express Sky Miles card. I earn 1 mile towards a Delta flight for every $1 spent. I charge EVERYTHING I can to this card...even the doctor and dentist, insurance payments...everything! I don't even care what the interest rate is, because I pay it off when the bill comes in and have never paid a dime of interest. We'll be flying from EWR to MCO for our next WDW trip in 2002 with FREE airline tickets, thanks to the sky miles card.

 

[TinkerbellRules]

Isn't there a fee associated with the AMEX Skyline card? I thought I read that on their website. I have a fee-free AMEX, and of course, DISC is free.

 

[nluvwithdisney]

Thanks for the great info. We typically pay off our bill every month but I decided to call anyway. They lowered our interest rate over 2%. We had a low rate already but with the economic situation today you never know what could happen.