In yesterday's KERA economy segment, we looked at what new changes in credit card regulations will mean for consumers when they take effect in February. Today, we go a step further with help for choosing a credit card. Todd Mark of Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Dallas says avoid the mail offers and shop around, but know your credit score determines what you'll get.
Mark: If you've got a great score, guess what? The sky's the limit and you should be looking for what's the best cash back opportunity. Is it frequent flyer miles or is it one percent cash back to your favorite shopping stores?
Sam: But now aren't those kind of incentives just to get you to spend more money?
Mark: It is, but if you've got a good score there's a good chance you're using credit the way I want to see you use credit. And that's using it where you're paying it off on time and in full every month. Remember if you do that it doesn't matter how much you spend, it's not costing you a penny in interest.
Sam: Let's say then that you're someone who carries a balance every month, but you pay more than the minimum.
Mark: At that point, you're looking for what's the cheapest card, what are the cheapest interest rates. And of course if you're carrying a serious balance, or say you've had delinquencies in the past, and your score is problematic. You may not qualify for the best deals and you're saying do I have to worry about annual fees or application fees? What are my late fees or balance transfer fees? And certainly, what kind of interest rate are we looking at? You would generally see folks in the ten to fifteen percent range if they've got decent credit and you'll certainly find teasers in the zero, three, six percent range. But if you've got problem credit, we see people regularly in the high twenties, the thirties. And folks that are really troubled, we see some forty percent interest rates on credit cards.
Sam: I didn't know interest rates went that high.
Mark: They do. If you are truly subprime and you are dealing with a lender that is not necessarily looking out for your best interest, you can go that high.
Sam: Shopping around though almost means doing business perhaps with a bank or credit card company that is not maybe even in your city.
Mark: Certainly
Sam: Is that wise? Are you better off dealing with whomever you regularly do business with?
Mark: Well, there's banking relationships and then there's a credit card relationship. For banking, I always want to have a relationship with a local bank or a credit union so that you're not just a number or you're not some process on the internet. But you can go in, sit across a desk from somebody and say here are my needs or I need a loan or there's a problem you need resolved you want to be able to have that face to face relationship. Now if we're talking about a credit card. I've got two credit cards in my wallet. One of them I opened up twenty years ago when I was back in college. I didn't know the bank at the time and I don't have a relationship with anybody at a local bank now, although it's a very well known national bank. I've never had a problem of dealing with them because I always pay it off in time and in full every month. So for me, I don't really care about the relationship with the credit. It was what they were giving back to me as far as a loyalty program, and that's the most important thing.
Sam: Are those offers that come in the mail all the time so bad?
Mark: You know, it always depends on your credit. You may get a preapproved offer, or it says it's preapproved, and it's a mass mailing that they send out to millions of people. And you reply back and say, "This is the deal I want- it's better than anything I found online." And they say "Oh well we're so sorry you didn't qualify for this one but with your credit score we can give you this." So it's almost like a lost leader to get you on the phone or online with them to talk about what you truly would qualify for. So some of the deals, if you qualify for them, they could be fantastic But I'd rather you proactively go out and seek, with your credit, what's the best you can do. Don't just accept what comes through the mail.
Sam: In the end, with all of these choices out there for how to manage credit, what type of credit cards to use, does any of that matter if you're using credit irresponsibly?
Mark: Absolutely not. Credit is a very powerful tool if used responsibly. But if you're using it to buy today what you can't pay for tomorrow, you're just becoming enslaved to a debt that's going to cost you so much over.
Todd Mark is Vice President of Education for Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Dallas.
Most of the provisions in the Credit CARD Act take effect in February. Provisions concerning more time to pay, retroactive rate increases, and more advance notice of rate hikes began in August of 2009.
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