Related Credit Card Article

"Common Credit Card Fees Examined"

By admin | June 9th, 2008 | Featured

As most credit card users already know there are other fees that may be charged to your card’s account based upon different conditions. Some are more expected than others. There are some fees that only appear if you use your card irresponsibly such as when payments are late or you go over your preset limit. Others are often overlooked since they are standard fixtures and have to do with the operation of the card. There are initial setup fees, annual fees, fees for increasing your card’s limit, etc.

With these things in mind, it may be helpful to briefly go over some of these common fees so that you have a better understanding of each one, or at least a working knowledge that will not leave you in the dark when one of these fees appears on your next statement. As a cardholder, you can benefit from some basic knowledge of these fees and the obligations attached to them.

Setup fee – Setup fees are one-time fees that are assessed by numerous credit card issuers in order to establish a new credit line. Most credit card companies have some type of setup fee that is used to defray the costs associated with opening a new credit card account.

Annual fee - Annual fees are what you are charged by the credit card company to retain access to a line credit during the year. Most of the time, this fee will be charged to your card account in one of three ways. It may be assessed once a year, every month, or every three months. It depends upon the policies of the individual company or the terms of the card you have.

Cash advance fee - If you have a cash advance feature on your credit card and you decide to use it for any reason, you will have to pay a cash advance fee. The use of these types of features is becoming more prevalent as people now want more ways access money fast and when they need. It is all a matter of convenience. Typically, a cash advance fee may be charged as a flat rate or it is based upon the percentage of the cash advance amount you received.

Balance-transfer fee - Balance-transfer fees are charged to your account when you are transmitting the balance of one credit card to another. (This might be done take balance from a higher interest card and place it on a lower interest card.) Balance transfers are processed in different ways depending upon the card company.

Late payment fee – Credit card companies are very scrupulous about accounting for any late payments that have been made and provide some form of penalty to compensate for this issue. Late payment fees are the most common penalties. Such fees will differ depending upon not only the type of card but the provider as well. It would be in your best interest to find out what your card company charges for a late payment fee.

Credit-limit-increase fee – This is the fee that is charged to the cardholder when a request for a credit limit increase is process.

Over-the-credit-limit fee – This penalty fee is assessed when you go over your credit card’s established limit by making excessive purchases within a certain timeframe. This may vary depending upon what your credit card terms are or whether there are some safeguards in place to keep you from accumulating too many charges.

Return-item fee – When a check is returned to you by the credit card company for insufficient funds, you will be charged a return-item fee, for each occurrence. This is a penalty fee that is used to compensate the company.

You will encounter most of the fees at one time or another if you use a credit card long enough and happen to make a mistake or fail to make a payment in a timely manner. Certainly, many fees can potentially be avoided if you are a reasonable credit card user. Learn more about these fees by reading your card’s terms of use and other conditions.

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Tags: credit card charges, Credit Cards

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