subject: 6 Secured Credit Card Tips For First-time Cardholders [print this page] In this post, well consider six secured credit card tips you should always remember to effectively and responsibly manage your very first line of credit.
Pay your credit card bills completely and promptly. Keep in mind that there are plenty of benefits associated with this tip. First and foremost, you can avoid making extra payments on late payment penalties, interest charges and other related fees. Second, you can successfully build and maintain a good credit history whish can serve as your key towards excellent financial prospects, later on. Third, your good payment habits can be instrumental for you to eventually qualify either for unsecured credit cards or for better credit card features.
Always spend within your credit limit. To do this, you should resolve to use just a reasonable percentage, say 25 to 35 per cent of your current credit limit. This way, you can avoid incurring huge overdraft penalties and declined transaction fees that are usually charged to cardholders who maxed out their lines of credit.
Use your credit card only in secure facilities and shopping sites. After all, this can serve as your first line of defense against credit fraud and identity theft.
For instance, before using your credit card to withdraw funds from an ATM nearby, make it a point to check if the machine is free from suspicious devices that are commonly used to spy on the transactions of consumers.
When shopping online, see to it that you will only disclose your personal and credit card information in web pages and forms which have excellent security features. By doing so, you can have the assurance that your sensitive details will be handled with utmost confidentiality. Moreover, you can prevent unauthorized parties from gaining illegal access to your credit card information and you wont have to worry about being held accountable for transactions you never made.
Keep your PIN to yourself. Never share it even with your very close friends and relatives. And make sure that the personal identification number or PIN you will use is not related to any of your personal or financial information. Otherwise, it can be easily hacked by scam artists and thus cause your financial details to get compromised.
Comply with the usage restrictions and provisions of your credit card program. To succeed in this matter, we suggest that you find time to review the fine print of your credit card program, from time to time. This way, you can easily remember all the stipulations of your credit agreement. At the same time, you can strengthen your decision to stick to the statements and clauses found in your contract so that you wont incur fines and penalties that are often charged to delinquent cardholders.
As much as possible, manage at most two lines of credit. After all, using multiple credit cards will only increase your risk of incurring a huge yet unnecessary debt. Hence, you should be contented with your existing lines of credit.
Keep these secured credit card tips in mind and we guarantee that you can succeed in handling your card account in the best way possible. Furthermore, your good credit habits can help you establish an excellent credit reputation.
