Personal Financial Planning Concepts

When you apply for and receive a credit card, you will want to take the time to create a detailed budget for your family’s finances. Without a budget, and without carefully planning the credit card expenses, you could fall into the credit trap that many individuals have found themselves in. Swimming in a sea of debt that they have no way of getting out of. Having a credit card is a wonderful way to ensure that you have access to funds in the event of an emergency, or for use when traveling to eliminate the need for carrying cash on your person. As long as you keep the card for the purposes outlined in your personal budget, you will have no difficulty maintaining your credit card balance, making payments on time and using the credit card to it’s fullest financial capacity. If you start using the credit card as if it was your personal debit card, you will likely find yourself in financial trouble.

Personal Budgeting Tips & Tricks

First, and most importantly, never spend more money than you can actually afford. This is easier said than done of course, especially when you include credit cards in the equation. It’s very easy to buy now, with the intent of paying later, only to find out when later comes you still don’t have the money! Using credit cards wisely however, can save you finance charges and enable you to make purchases and build your credit by making monthly payments in full and on time.

If you already have a credit card (or two) with balances, you should consider shopping around for credit cards that are offering promotional rates. Many companies will periodically offer a 0% balance transfer rate for all new customers who apply for and obtain their credit cards. Transferring what you owe from one card to another can help you save on interest and help you pay down your debt faster. This is a smart way to use credit cards!

Understand your credit card limit. Just because your credit card has a limit of $5,000 does not mean that you should spend that all at once! Ideally, a credit card should be used with the intent of the individual paying the balance in full at the end of each month. This will avoid finance fees, interest charges and allow you to make purchases on your credit card that are the same as paying with cash. As soon as you allow a balance to carry over from one month to the next, you are going to start seeing your account balance increase, instead of decreasing with your payments, thanks to high interest rates and finance charges on purchases.

When determining how much money you have available for purchases, you should first make a list of all of your outgoing expenses each month. Be sure to plan for incidentals and things that don’t occur regularly- such as oil changes and car tune-ups. Also, consider your personal savings a monthly expense. (Just because you don’t pay them monthly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan for them monthly!) Then, determine your monthly income. Subtract your expenses from your income to see what you have left over, and this should be your flexible spending amount in your budget. Even if you have access to a credit card, you should never spend more on a purchase than this “flexible” money. This will keep you from getting into serious financial trouble.

When you take the time to create a budget and follow it you are a responsible credit card user who will likely not end up swallowed by the dreaded debt monster!

What’s the thing that seems to always happen every time you are finding it difficult to meet your credit card payments? You get slapped with a penalty fee. These fees or penalties seem to always happen just at the very moment you need them least. Someone once described a banker as a man who will lend you his umbrella, and then ask for it back as soon as it starts raining. This seems typical of many people’s dealing with the financial services industries.

What are the reasons that you can be hit with a penalty from your credit card provider? Well the most common is that you fail to make your minimum payment on time. This is by far the penalty that most people hate the most and the one that seems to hit customers at the least convenient times. There are other credit card penalties that can occur for various administrative breaches you commit such as writing a credit card check that bounces, or going over your credit card limit.

There are a number of reasons why you may commit one of the acts that cause credit card penalties to be applied to your account. If it is a first time occurrence or a once off, you may be able to call your credit card provider and request them to waive the fee in this instance. They are only likely to do this if you have been a customer of theirs for some time and have been good at keeping your payments up to date. However, it is always worth asking as many credit providers do allow their employees to give once off good will gestures to customers.

It is generally good practice to take the maximum of care to avoid costly credit card penalties. One of the best and most effective ways of doing this is to arrange to have your credit card paid by standing order or direct debit. Obviously this is only a real option if you are certain to have enough money in your bank account, as if you do not, you will not only receive a penalty from your credit card provider, but will probably face another one from your bank!

However, if you can afford at least your minimum payment each month, and most customers can afford at least this much, then you should consider this option as it means your bill will be paid on time every month and you will not have to worry about incurring a late payment credit card penalty ever again.