numbers written down at home, that
way you can take action quickly if
needed. Protect your personal information! Shred all paper work with
your account information that you’ll
be throwing away. Get a secure mail
box, and create passwords that are
impossible to crack. Guard your PIN
numbers and never write them down
on a piece of paper. It’s important to
protect you identity, it’s getting easier for thieves to get a hold of your
information. Just recently mostly
seniors were targeted at Target and
were able to get away with millions.
So make the effort!
Lastly you shouldn’t use
your card to go to Walmart
or the grocery store.
Using a debit card would be a better
decision. Watch your spending, it’s
easy to go over board. It’s also better
to save your money and go shopping
anyway, there’s no extras to pay.
Make planned purchases only. This
way you know you’ll be able to pay
your card off. If you go on vacation,
set a limit on how much you want to
spend. Make sure the numbers add
up with what you make and how
long it will take you to pay it back.
Leave your card at home so you’re
not tempted to spend money that you
don’t intend to. Finally cut up and
unused cards or cards you don’t wish
to use anymore. Everyone can swipe
smarter if you just learn a little about
using your credit card.
Whens the best time to close
accounts you don’t use?
You can close ne or two cards a year
without significantly damaging your
credit. But never close your oldest
credit card. It is the one with the
longest credit history and helps raise
your score. It’s fine to keep unused
cards open unless you are being
charged annual fees. The more credit
you have available to you and the
less of it you’re actually using, the
better your score is.
Is there a standard number
of credit cards that a person
should have?
There is no magic number, but it’s
smart to have one in your wallet and
one that you keep at hime for emergencies. The more cards to have,
the tougher it is to make one time
payments and check for fraud. Plus,
every application triggers an inquiry
into your credit. If there are multiple
inquires made at once, it can ding
your score. And by the way, you can
be rejected even if a mailing claims
you’re approaved. Check out creditkarma.com to see the average credit
score you need to be approaved for a
particular card, so you will know if
you might be turned away.
PLASTIC WORTH HAVING
It’s nice to be wanted, but the million offers
out there can be over whelming. We crunch
the nubers to find four of the best.
Airline Card
CAPITAL ONE VENTUREONE
No annual fee, 0% APR for a year, and 1.25 miles per dollar spen. Redeem miles on any airline—they never expire.
Cash-Back Card
AMERICAN EXPRESS CASH EVERYDAY
You’ll get 3% cash back for groceries, 2% back on gas and
at some department stores, and 1% on everything else.
Student Card
CAPITAL ONE JOURNEY REWARDS
You get 1% cash back and a 25% bonus for on-time payment. So if you earned $20 cash back on purchases, you
would get an extra $5 for not paying late. SWEET!
Rewards Card
CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED
Score points to put towards getaways restaurats, gift cards,
and more. There’s a $95 annual fee after your first year, so
just make sure the extras are worth that to you.
ARIES / M A Y 2 014 27