Learn How To Find The Best Credit Card Deals in the UK|Best Credit Card deals in the Uk some 0% interest

In the world of credit cards, there are plenty of people who are desperate to borrow money, and just as many people who are desperate to get back out of debt again. Given that, it’s not surprising that the industry is full of scams. Here are some to keep an eye out for.

The Debt Advisors.

Be very careful if you’re offered ‘free debt advice’. There are many government bodies, legitimate financial companies and charities that give good advice, but the ones who do a lot of advertising tend to be owned or partnered with people you don’t want to know. If the advice you get is to sign up for another loan from one company in particular, don’t believe it – the chances are that the person you’re talking to is just a salesman in disguise.

The Identity Thieves.

If you don’t keep track of your credit card statements and your credit report, then you could be in for a surprise. It’s not that hard for someone else to apply for a credit card, pretending to be you, or to get the number of a card you already have and start buying things with it. Then, of course, they get free money, and you’re left with the debt, not to mention the black marks against your name when it doesn’t get paid back.

The Catalogue Card.

This is a scam that’s especially common around Christmas time. A company offers you a ‘credit card’, with a much higher limit than you’d usually qualify for. The catch, of course, is that you can only use it to buy things from their catalogue, at inflated prices. This is nothing but a clever way of offering you expensive finance on purchases from them.

The Only Game in Town.

More exploitative lenders might realise that they’re really the only company that’s going to be offering some people any credit at all. They’ll send offers to desperate people for absolutely terrible deals, with the highest interest rates they can get away with, and no benefits whatsoever. These people will accept the offer without even reading it, relieved that finally someone out there offered them credit – and their debts get even harder to ever pay off.

The Insurance Charge.

Here’s one that even the most reputable lenders go in for – trying to sell you useless insurance. This is usually an insurance premium that is automatically added to your interest each month, and covers you against very unlikely things, like dying and not being able to pay back your debt. It is almost never worth ticking the box to buy insurance.

The Secured Card.

A secured card is one that requires you to make a deposit before you can use it – a deposit that can sometimes be as much as the limit on the card itself. Secured cards can be a good way of rebuilding your credit when it’s all gone wrong, but don’t take one from a lender you’ve never heard of. With more unscrupulous companies, you will often be charged an annual fee, an application fee, and any other fee they can think of, all of which are added to your debt. Don’t let it happen to you.

Why are we in debt?  Why is a majority of all people living with debt beyond their means?  We all have debt, this seems to be the nature of life, but why is it that our debt at least equals or exceeds what we can afford?

It is really quite simple.  This is what the credit card companies allow, this is what they want and this is how they make it rich.  The worst part is that they love for us to fall behind.

Everybody likes to get paid on time, but your creditors actually prefer the opposite.  They want you to be late!

Now granted they don’t want you to be too late or to default, but a week or two is just great.  Let’s just think what a late payment means to them.  You are still paying, but you are a week or two late.  Their late fee is $30.  They just made $30 for doing nothing.  You are already maxed out, so this fee puts you over your credit limit.  This earns them another $30 for, again, doing nothing.

You can now make your minimum payment of $20.  The math does not work in your favor.  Let’s just say that you have $15 in interest for the month.  Your total costs are; $15 in interest + $30 late fee + $30 over limit fee = $75 charged to your account.  You pay $20, which leaves you $55 worse than when you started and you have nothing to show for it.

This is why credit cards are evil and we must learn to do without them!

The first step in this process is to gather up all of your credit cards and destroy them.  You can save one or two, but get rid of the rest.  Just pick the ones with the lowest interest rates and preferably no annual fee.  Store your select few in a safe place that is not easily accessible.

This may seem extreme, but most people do not have the will power to simply not use the card.  They look at their statement, see $50 or $100 dollars in available credit and look at it as free money.  There is no such thing.

If you can’t bring yourself to cutting up your cards, at least gather them all up and store them somewhere that would take some effort to get to.  A safe deposit box is always a good idea.  You can also have someone that you trust hold on to them or hide them.

The key is to not have them accessible for those impulse purchases that we come across every day.  Once we pass the moment, chances are that we will realize that we don’t need to make that purchase or probably forgot about it all together.  We are now even closer to getting out of debt.

Don’t forget to cancel the cards that you are no longer going to use.  Most credit cards have an annual fee, anywhere from $30 to $100.  This is wasted money that you can use to apply towards the balance.

Some cards may charge you a closed account fee to persuade you to stay with them.  At this time you need to analyze the impact.  I recently cancelled a card that is charging me $3.50 a month in closed account fees.  My annual fee is $59.  12 months at $3.50 is $42.  I am still ahead of the game by $17, or more, if I pay it off within a year.  The most important part is that there is no way that I can use that card again and worsen my situation.

Now that the temptation is out of the way you can start paying them off.  Just remember to pay at least the minimum, pay all accounts on time, and stop using credit.  Now step back and enjoy the road to financial freedom.

Rebate credit cards, or cash-back credit cards, are a popular feature that many credit card companies are offering to their clients. When you apply for a rebate credit card, you are essentially enrolling in a program that is designed to give you back a percentage of the cash you spend on the card. For each pound that you spend, your credit card company will offer a rebate. However, the rebates are generally set to become active at pre-determined price points. For example, you may only qualify to receive credit card rebates once you have spent £1000 or more pounds with your credit card.

How it Works
Rebate credit cards work for the consumer because shoppers get excited about spending money on one credit card if they know that the credit card offers rebates for each pound spent. Therefore, many shoppers elect to use only one credit card so that all of their expenses are consolidated. Before you request your credit card rebate, you may have spent more money through interest rates imposed by the credit card company than you actually get from the credit card rebate. Therefore, it is important that if you enroll in a credit card rebate program, you are aware of the interest rates that you may assume if you do not pay your credit card balance down each month.

How the Credit Card Companies Benefit
It can seem like poor business practice on the rebate credit card company’s behalf if they continue to give money to credit card users after they already have lent money out in the first place. However, credit card companies know that the more incentives they offer to long-term users, the greater the chances will be that those users will be loyal to the rebate credit card company. For example, if you know that you can get £100 back  if you spend £5000 on one credit card, you may be more inclined to actually spend money on that particular card rather than on other credit cards you may own. You will also be less likely to quit the credit card company before meeting that price point. While you stay with the rebate credit card company, you are most likely paying significant interest rate fees when you do not pay your monthly balance down. The majority of credit card holders do not routinely pay their balances completely, so the credit card companies benefit from the long-term relationship.

Where to Find Rebate Credit Cards
Believe it or not, rebate credit cards are easier to find than you might imagine. You may need to do some research so that you find a rebate credit card company that also offers a low interest rate. The low interest rate will help to keep you from spiraling into more debt, while the credit card rebates that you receive will make you actually feel good about spending. After all, who couldn’t use a little extra cash as a rewarding for spending it?

While many credit card companies offer rebate credit cards, the incentives associated with those companies very a great deal. Some companies may also offer 0% APR, while others may offer airline miles in addition or in place of the credit card rebates. Therefore, you must first define exactly what incentives you would actually use before you enroll in any one program. You’ll quickly find that there are many advantages to using a rebate credit card - the least of which is the fact that you will actually get money back for each pound you spend. Shop around for the rebate credit card company that offers everything you desire — and don’t forget to read the fine print!

Credit card debt is one of the leading cause for needing to file for bankruptcy or take out mortgage loans on your home or other drastic measures.  Studies indicate that credit card debt is slowly making a consumers financial situation bad or worse than ever before, and can also cause psychological depression and contribute to lower GPA’s and increased substance abuse among college students.  Credit card debt can build up quickly, especially if you have more than one card and a habit of charging everything.

Interest

The interest is the money paid on a balance to a lender by the borrower, which is to be paid every month, if you roll over your balance from month to month. Interest doesn’t usually go down on its own, and when only minimum payments are made your balance can grow to un-manageable amounts.  If you are late on a payment your interest rates can increase to 35 percent, making it very hard to pay off balances.  With interest rates still on the rise, there’s no better time to take a good close look at your finances.

Payment

Debt, especially credit card debt can accumulate very fast and many people soon find themselves barely able to even make the minimum payments.  Remember if you are late on only one payment, your rate could increase drastically.  If you are not good at remembering payments, it’s wise to set up direct debits to pay your credit card bills.  It’s always best to control your spending and try to pay more than the required minimum payment whenever possible.

The main problem with credit cards is that they make it very easy for you to spend money.  The most important step take to reduce credit card debt is to not use your credit card for every little thing, use cash whenever possible.  Studies show credit card debt is higher for males than female debtors, and even higher for joint accounts.  The problem with carrying credit card debt is that the interest on the card will typically accrue much quicker when you only make minimum payments.

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate. APR attempts to create a single figure of interest allowing the consumer to compare like with like when selecting the best product for their lifestyle.

Without APR it would be literally impossible to make this kind of quick comparison because the credit card companies use different calculations to compute their interest and other charges. Without APR it would be possible for a card bearing an ‘advertised’ interest rate of 12% (not APR) to be more expensive than one charging 16%.

Financial Regulators (such as the the UK’s FSA) have recognized this and as such have attempted to put in some safeguards to protect the consumer, making sure that there is at least some standard information allowing comparison between interest rates and other associated charges.

The main thing to remember is that APR takes into account not only the interest charges levied, but also any other costs that are also included. Credit card companies use different calculations to compute their interest and other charges, so APR makes it easier to make a good
credit card comparison between products. Generally speaking, the lower the APR, the less money you will end up paying back in interest to the credit card provider. It is very important to make sure you compare the APR of different credit cards when deciding which credit card to take out, as card issuers may offer a low rate of interest for an initial period but this will increase at the end of this period.

Any credit card deal will take the following items into consideration :
- the interest rate you must pay
- how you repay the loan
- length of the loan agreement (or term)
- frequency and timing of instalment payments
- amount of each payment
- fees associated with the product
- premiums for payment protection insurance (the lender may choose to make this compulsory)

Remember; if you are looking around for a credit card, you should try and get as low an APR rate as possible. However, be on the lookout for other costs; administration fees, legal fees or penalties you may encur for late charges. It is always wise to shop around for any deal involving finance, making sure that you consider all the options before signing on the dotted line. There are many ways to do this online, with many compenies offering comparison tables on each deal offered. These days you have no excuse not to, the information is freely available.

The law that covers credit agreements in the UK is the Consumer Credit Act (1974).