Credit Card Health 101

When it comes to credit cards, how you use them can be good or bad for your credit health. What it takes to get the most benefit out of your card is not quite what one would think. All it takes is to know how the system works and learn what it will take to get the best out of your cards.

1 - Make use of price protection.

This kind of program will enable you to prevent suffering at the hand of weekly price cuts. You could have put down $500 on the latest phone, only to find that the next week it has been cut to $200 dollars. Many credit cards offer a price protection plan, giving you a refund if a better price is found within one to three months.

2 - Read through the terms and conditions.

These are simple to read, but their biggest benefit is that they provide all of the hidden fees, rates and other pertinent information.

3 - Balance transfers usually are not worth it.

It is typically the case that the fee for the transfer, along with the interest on the fee, will end up costing more than the higher interest rate on the original card. This is especially true of your immediate goal is to pay off the balance.

4 - Always choose the longer intro period.

Although this may seem a bit counter intuitive, but an interest free period over half a year to one and a half years will be much more of a deal than what can be gotten through other offers.

5 - Choose cards with offers that are awarded when the card is not used.

Many cards will give you rewards just for signing up or making a single purchase. Benefits include airline miles, free car maintenance.

6 - Do not carry your balance over month to month.

If you want to make a long term purchase, bank line of credits are the best bet. Carrying over a balance over each month can cost you a lot in interest fees.

7 - Choose cards with rewards that you will use.

Those who like to travel, should choose a card with airline miles. Those who are not into travel can choose a card with gas rewards, or savings funds, etc.

8 - Above all else, choose cash.

Just about every reward program is a 1% cash back program, in one form of reward or another. The best choice is to just accept the cash reward and use it the way you want, instead of having to deal with all of the rules surrounding using rewards.

9 - Only go with the purchase protection.

Extended warranties are not only replaced by purchase protection, but the latter will also cover the item itself.

10 - Use more than one credit card.

If you need to carry a balance over a month, then it is best to have a card with the lowest rate you can find. Different cards will earn different rewards, so having more than one can earn you a variety of rewards, so long as you minimize the amount you carry over month to month.

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