High Interest Credit Cards
I’ve had this no-yearly fee Visa card forever. I even forget who I originally got it with. The company on the masthead has changed so many times… Today it’s Chase.
You know how you get those little “Important Notes for Credit Card Customers” pamphlets… the one written all in legaleze. I decided to read mine this time and yow! My APR on this thing is now 30.99% with a late fee charge of $39. So if I buy a $1,000 item and miss my payment date by a day, I instantly owe an extra $65! Oh, plus a $1 finance charge.
The moral of the story? Don’t be late!
(To try and cover my ass, I just set up an automatic billing thing with my bank. If I forget to pay, Chase Visa still gets an automatic “minimum payment” of $10)
I’m normally on time, and on those few, infrequent occasions when I’ve been late, I’ve been able to call up and say, “I’m a good customer, and I paid up, I’d like you to take all charges associated with my late payment off my account.” They don’t even blink, when I’ve done this.
Credit cards are evil and their interest rates are absurd. I’m glad that I don’t have any–keeps me honest and relatively out of debt.