The dos and don'ts of credit card transactions

Owning a credit card makes you feel more important and financially secured, but there are important rules you should stick to.

08:27 23 September 2013

There is nothing easier than owning credit cards these days – they make your life so easy and save you a lot of time each day. From internet transactions to face-to-face transactions, credit cards play a part in everything we buy or sell. Owning a credit or debit card makes you feel more important and may have you under the impression that you have no financial problems even when it is not the case.

So here are some golden rules to stick to when it comes to credit card transactions:

Do’s:

• Use credit cards when you simply just don't want to have to deal with large amounts of cash in your hand;

 

• Use credit cards to buy things online – online shopping has proved to be much cheaper over the years and you can virtually find anything over the Internet;

 

• Check your monthly statements to ensure that you are being charged correctly. Get in touch with your card provider if you come across any transactions that you did not make.

Don'ts:

• Don't use credit cards without checking for the exact interest that your costs amount to each month – interest rates tend to change over the time so need to make sure that the same deal you applied for with your current credit card is still on with the same specifications;

 

• Do not use 0% balance credit cards on buying products that will not actually have that 0% balance applied to them. You will end up paying interest on those purchases.

 

• Do not use credit cards to buy more than you can afford to spend;

 

• Stop using old credit cards. If you are doing it already, it is better to stop now if you do not want to rack up credit card debt.

Remember to always check the interest rate for any purchase you intend to make and also check the sites you intend to buy from before doing so, to make sure they are legit.  And, as a general rule, try not to think of your credit card as an endless sack of gold – it is not.