12 Valuable Tips on Using Your Credit Card

By: Ermz Teodocio

Credit Card is a handy tool for everyone. Go travel, booking accommodation, booking plane ticket, purchasing online, shopping anywhere or any activities you do that needs payment. People were simply using a piece of square plastic from any issuing bank with available credit and term on it. And most people were treating credit cards as their cash machine. Not a wonder that most were buried in debt due to uncontrollable spending.

How do you control your spending if you have numerous credit cards on hand? Now a days,  each person more or less has two or more credit card from different issuing banks, thus if you are one of it, you are making yourself vulnerable to spending habits.

So, what do you need to do to discipline yourself and avoid the pitfalls of not knowing that one of these days you are already slowly buried in debt? Be smart in handling it.

Here are the 12 valuable tips that you may consider in managing your credit card responsibly.

1. Sign right away the back of your card upon receipt.

This is for your protection and security. In cases that you lost your card, no one will be able to use it right away.

2. Keep a record of your credit card number and service provider hotline number.

 In cases of dispute from your statement of account, questions, lost or stolen credit card, immediately call your issuing bank to clear the dispute right away and report your lost or stolen credit card in order for them to cut off the upcoming transaction and in cases prevent other people to use it.

3. Pay your bills on time.

To avoid penalties, paying your bills on time is a must. Hidden charges can exponentially bring higher your bills. Remember that you will not be charge for any interest for paying it in full on or before the due dates. Always check your statement of account for payment details and its due date.

 Did you know that paying your dues in a minimum will cost you at least 42% yearly interest? Interests lead to more debt. So outsmart your credit card provider by paying it in full on time.

4. Paying a check or through ATM, do it 3 days before your due date.

If you are paying a check or through ATM, ensure that you are doing the transaction 3days before your due date. This is to allow 3-days clearing for transfer of your payment to your credit card account.

5. Inform your issuing bank before travelling abroad.

 Inform your bank so that your credit transaction can be safely monitored. List also your credit card number, its expiration date and hotline numbers of your issuing bank in cases that you lost your card while travelling. Keep a list and store it aside from your wallet or mobile phone.

If you are a frequent traveler abroad, do find a card that does not charge foreign transaction fee. They do exist. Usually foreign transaction fee is about 3%. You will save a lot if this will be waived for you by your existing issuing bank or you can find one who does not charge a single cent.

6. Make sure that your actual purchase reconciled with your transaction slip.

Always check your transaction slip before you sign that it reconciled with the amount you purchase. Sometimes we failed to do this especially if we are in a hurry. And never sign a blank transaction slip.

7. Do not give your personal financial data.

 In cases that you receive a call asking for your personal financial data telling that it is your issuing bank. Don’t divulge it. Your issuing bank will not call you to ask for your credit card or account information. Immediately call your issuing bank at the number indicated at the back of your card for verification of the call.

8. If you are banking online always check the URL address, it should start at “https”.

Doing online transaction is at the tip of our finger, easy and less hassles for us. Do make sure that the URL address always starts at “https”. It means that you are transacting in a secured website and not a faked one. Further ensure that there is padlock icon located at the bottom right of your webpage indicating that you are on a secured website.

9. Use PayPal in paying your purchases online through your credit card.

 Almost all transactions being purchased and paid online is using PayPal to ensure security of their credit cards. In using PayPal you will not go through time and again encoding your personal financial data every time you purchase online. Both buyer and seller trust PayPal and I never encounter a problem with them for the past years.

10. Remove from your wallet your credit card and leave it at home if you wanted to go window shopping or buying regular grocery needs and put cash instead.

Having a credit card on your wallet on ordinary walk to a shopping mall or simply buying your regular grocery items will be a big temptation; if you found an item that you wanted being put on sale. It would be handy to take it out from your wallet, with the sale item, bring it to the counter register; have your unplanned purchase, and most of the time not considering your options if you have still a budget to fully paid it when due date comes.

11. Never withdraw a cash advance from your credit card.

This would be a deadly habit every time you ran out of cash. And cash advance has an upfront fee and interest is relatively higher than the regular items you purchased on credit. So don’t dig you own grave. If you don’t have any cash and what you intend to purchase or going to use it in a non life threatening situation. Avoid doing it.

12. Discipline yourself to manage the usage of your credit card.

 Credit Card is here to answer people wants, convenience and easy lifestyle on the go. But do you really need to splurge on things that will end up in your closet gathering dust, deteriorate, diminishes its value, and ready to be thrown away? Before it goes to a garbage can, do you able to pay it a long time ago? Or you were still paying it on amortization basis? Before using your credit card, think hard. Do not use on ordinary purchases. If you don’t have cash, don’t buy it.  Save yourself from trouble on being in buried in debt because you can’t afford to pay it in full. Use credit card on emergency purposes only.

Credit card can be useful only if you are using it responsibly. And for those who are considering of owning a credit card, getting one, ask yourself, is having a credit card really that important? Where do you want to use it? For emergency purposes, maybe, as long you know yourself that you can manage it responsibly, why not? But if your reason is simply purchasing on credit your groceries, gadgets and other nice to have. Please let go of having a credit card. It will save you for so many temptation, headaches and tensions for the coming months.

I can say that credit card has served its purpose for me. When I ran out of options of where to go, I use it to purchase the medication of my mother, pay hospital bills and sustain her needs. And I am not aware of the compounded interest it generates by paying it at minimum.  I had learned my lessons, the hard way and it was not an easy path to thread on.

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Credit Card Tip on using it responsibly: Remove from your wallet your credit card and leave it at home if you wanted to go window shopping or buying regular grocery needs and put cash instead.

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Credit Card Tip on using it responsibly: Never withdraw a cash advance from your credit card.

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