Credit Cards Canada

As with all conveniences in life there are added expense attached to them. Credit cards are very convenient yet you pay the price for those conveniences such as higher interest rates and annual fees.

Here are a few features of credit cards that you may not be aware are associated with credit cards.

Annual fees can be up to $50 for the standard Visa or MasterCard with the gold cards having an annual fee of $80. For the credit card holder the companies consider to be good customers, they will drop or waive the fees it you ask for this with your cards. If you think you are paying a fee that is too high, call you credit card company to ask for a reduced fee or to have it waived entirely.

Contrary to what many credit card holders believe, paying off the balance every month might be a good idea with some credit cards. They like to attach a fee for the members that use the card and pay if off monthly since they are not earning interest on the balance carry over. They will call the fee different names in different companies, so watch you statements if you pay your balances every month.

The interest rate of your credit card is set by the bank or saving and loan institution that issued your credit card, not the credit card company. The institutions issuing the credit cards state to the credit card companies the interest rates they want to charge the customer. The limits are generally 13% to 16% for their card even with the introductory offers that only last a very short time of six months to a year.

Interest at higher rate is charged on cash advances as well as other fees for this service. There are fees for late payments and for over limit accounts. These fees continue to add up each month if you fail to get the balance under your spending limit.

Many people have the fraud protection on their credit cards to provide additional safety yet they do not realize there is a fee for this service. The protection is not something you need to pay for since there is law protecting credit card holders to the liability of $50 of unauthorized spending on the credit cards. Many credit card companies do not tell their customers about the law so they can take advantage of the desires for credit card fraud protection. You have sixty days to report any unauthorized charges to have the excess removed from you statement without any penalty. Do not let you credit card company try to tell you differently or make you pay for the unauthorized charges.