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Research: Factors often ignored while choosing credit card - Credit-Land.com

Choosing credit card could be a very tricky task. This could also be very confusing given the barrage of options that credit card customers now have. There are many credit card companies which provide credit cards with great reward programs and amazing deals. However, here are some of the factors which are important yet ignored by some of the customers.

APR on the card

Although credit card rewards like airline miles, cash back offers and loyalty points seem to be important, one thing that will be constant on your credit card is the annual percentage rate which will be charged on all outstanding balances on the card. You must be careful not to be lured to take a credit card, which has a very high APR, especially if you are one of those spenders who have an outstanding balance on their credit cards, month over month. The APR becomes an even more important number, and also frequently ignored parameter on balance transfer credit cards, where the introductory rates are all that matter to most credit card customers.

Card security

An increasing number of cases where card data has been stolen make the security features of the credit card very important. Some credit cards are better in terms of security in resisting cyber thieves. There are some good features offered by a few credit cards including 24/7 monitoring of the card spending and fraud detection. There is also zero liability insurance which covers for all fraud expenses reported over your credit card. The speed with which a stolen card can be reported, cancelled and a new card delivered is also very important, but often ignored.

The fees on the cards

The immediate benefits on the credit cards including bonus points for initial expenses, free tickets to various events, airline discounts and cash backs after the customer reaches a fixed amount of spending, take the attention away to more pressing parameters like the fees on the card. The annual fees on the card for example could sometimes be as high as 75 dollars and could eat significantly into the savings made through the card. Similarly, the activation and application fees levied initially, the late fee rules and the overdraft fees are all important and usually form a major part of the credit card issuers?revenue. Credit card customers would do well to pay attention to these factors as well apart from the reward programs offered on the credit cards.

Disclaimer: This editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer(s). Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer(s), and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer(s). Reasonable efforts are made to present accurate information, however all information is presented without warranty. Consult a card's issuing bank for the terms & conditions.
All rates and fees, and other terms and conditions of the products mentioned in this article/post are actual as of the last update date but are subject to change. See the current products' Terms & Conditions on the issuing banks' websites.