This is probably going to be filed away in the “obvious” section of your brain, but here us out: if it didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have to say anything about it. We could just keep going on, telling you the things that you need to know about your credit and then some. However, there are indeed people that write to us saying that they didn’t know that their credit card company could do such things, and we are always surprised when we hear that. Didn’t these people read the fine print?
Of course, it’s not like the credit card companies really make it easy for you to do that. You will pretty much have to navigate the fine print on your own, unless you just happen to have lawyers for friends. However, there are groups online that tackle these types of things as a team, which means that you should at least try to go online and see if anyone’s detangled what’s going on.
Generally speaking, you need to know your interest rate, how your interest is calculated and compounded, and how your due dates are calculated. Knowing this information will help you really determine how long you’re going to keep your credit card. If you find that your credit card’s terms aren’t keeping up with your changing needs, then it’s definitely going to be time to give your credit card the boot and get another one.
Yes, it’s obvious, and we’ll acknowledge that all day long. However, consider this our best reminder to take back your life through your finances. The answer to your finances in any regard should never be “I don’t know”, because that’s how these companies get the best of us. Knowing the ins and outs of your credit card is going to help you enjoy it more and use it as a tool better than anyone possibly could.
That’s all we have on the subject today — go out there and check out your credit card’s fine print today. Oh, you don’t have that initial stack of paperwork? That’s okay — your card’s terms and conditions will probably be on your credit card company’s website. If they aren’t, you can call the company and ask them to send them to you or tell you how you can get them — they will respond, we promise!