By Ronni Peel
Thinking of venturing into a credit card for yourself? Great!
A credit card can be a beneficial commodity with leveraging your credit history into a healthy one to endorse any active lender about your level of practical discernment towards borrowing.
What is a Credit Card?
Essentially, when a purchase is made through a credit card, the cardholder’s account is accrued an amount of balance which is due to be paid off within 26-30 days. Whether you’re out there buying vegetables at the market or booking tickets for a holiday vacation somewhere far from home, you’re allowed to make a large purchase at any moment and pay it off in smaller amounts over time. However, if you don’t pay them according to the allotted time gap, an interest payment is surcharged owing that money to the bank.
Your bank gets money from fees such as annual fees per normal payment, transaction fees imposed upon relevant business merchants, and an interest charge comprising the money which isn’t paid off your debt in full.
Choosing a Credit Card for a Starter
If you’re new to credit, you’ll first need to understand how it all works and what suits and doesn’t suit for you.
- Get a Credit Card with High Security
Unlike an unsecured credit card that doesn’t require any deposits, exposes a lot of risks for the issuer. That’s why a safe and secure online payment gateway solution is important. Secured credit cards are accessible only after an initial deposit is paid to help you build and improve the quality of your credit value whenever you use the card, including online. Even though banks offer unsecured and secured credit cards, the former cards usually charge extremely high fees even if your credit is low enough to qualify.
- Activate Through Authorisation
An effective strategy to potentially maintain credit scores, assuming necessary payments done to your account without utilising too much of your available credit, is getting hold of authorised users – be it your child from the age of 13 upwards, spouse or parent.
- Get a Co-Signer You Trust
Having a strong credit score and good income will get you a co-signer qualifying them into being responsible for your debts if you’re unable to pay them. A cosigner can either be a friend or family member and this can vary from bank to bank. As a result, prior to agreeing with a cosigner to sign off the deal, keep in mind to learn your rights and responsibilities that come with involving another person taking control of your financial activities.
