Wednesday, June 30, 2010

How To Reduce Unsecured Credit Card Debt

Credit cards are generally unsecured. In other words, an unsecured credit card provides the user to purchase goods / services up to a specific limit. The user also can pay back this amount within a mutually agreed time frame.

Research shows that a huge number of Americans own credit cards and some even carry more than one card. In fact, the entire financial horizon is filled with hundreds of credit card offers and hence choosing one is rather a difficult choice. Hence, it is recommended that the individual, prior to selecting any credit card, assesses the offers available and selects the one that really benefits them. It is also wise to remember that a credit card should be utilized with care as it gives you a huge amount of financial freedom and this makes it important that the individual has a certain level of self-discipline.

In the US, there is a heavy competition among credit card companies. As a result, this leads to many credit card companies coming up with several attractive offers to its consumers. Most of them offer a low rate of interest with some of them even offering a zero percent interest. However, such an interest rate would be viable only for a small period, say 3 to 6 months. As these credit cards are unsecured, their rate of interest is normally higher than a bank loan. On the other hand, its interest is far less compared to the normal credit card. Nevertheless, these low rates can bring substantial savings for the user.

There is also the option of those free unsecured credit cards. But searching for an unsecured credit card that is free is like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. However, there are a lot many fee free card offers out there and all you have to do is just search around. A lot many credit card companies charge an annual fee on their cards and try to justify this annual fee. Obviously, a card with annual fees comes with certain benefits. All you have to do is to evaluate whether you profit from these benefits prior to paying a fee. The benefits generally include frequent flyer miles and some cash back offers. Now unless you are a frequent flyer or an avid online shopper, these benefits are basically useless. Your best choice for a credit card with no fees is to select one with not many benefits or none at all. If you can do without the frequent flyer miles, discounts at merchant stores and online cash back rebates, then you can definitely find a large amount of free unsecured credit cards.

Summarizing, people incur unnecessary expenses on their credit card and end up in a crisis. It is therefore suggested that you either go in for a short term unsecured credit card or a low cost or a free unsecured credit card with no benefits.

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