Home Finance Consider These Facts Before Using Credit Cards

Consider These Facts Before Using Credit Cards

Consider These Facts Before Using Credit Cards

In trying to repair their credit, and with overuse of credit cards being a symptom of foolish consumerism, the natural option for people who have issues with credit card debt is to cut them up and cut them out of their lives completely. Realistically, much as a recovering alcoholic must not be allowed to have another drink ad infinitum, some individuals will need to learn how to live without credit cards in their lives and forgo ownership of them absolutely.
Consequently, then, they will not be able to use any cards in their credit rebuilding agenda. Others, meanwhile, who still may be plagued by overuse but possess a greater degree of strength to hold onto at least (or rather, at most) one card, can use the credit card they keep to boost their credit by simply paying their bills by the requested deadline.
Eventually, though, the time may come when people need or desire a new credit card. Or they may be first-time applicants who are simply using these credit cards to build credit. When severely damaged credit has made securing a major credit card seem out of reach, there may be yet other avenues to which to one can turn.
Two of the easier routes to credit rebuilding through establishing new credit card accounts are soliciting department stores and gas stations. It should be stressed, however, that these options are not without risk. Again, leaving balances month after month will do little to appease creditors and increase one’s credit rating. Furthermore, these balances can incur fairly high interest rates.
If a credit card with a major bank or other comparable lender is still out of reach in using credit cards to rebuild credit or prior to securing one in the first place, a secured credit card may be a viable measure going forward. Compared to normal credit cards, secured credit cards, as the name implies, secure the debtor’s promise to repay charges against an asset such as a bank account from which monies will only be extracted if a payment agreement is not met. This too is a risk, and a particularly grave danger if something such as a house is promised as collateral.