Three Credit Card Tricks to Watch in 2011

Credit card companies closed millions of accounts in 2010 and the CARD act made it harder for those companies to benefit from unfair fees and interest charges. Not to be deterred, however, credit card companies have come up with new ways to lure you into letting them take your money. We at Postconsumers would certainly never tell you that you shouldn’t have a credit card. Most of us do. However, controlling your credit card usage is an important step in reducing your dependence on consumer-driven media and habits. After all, we all want to find the satisfaction of enough this year, don’t we? Here are three credit card “tricks” that you’ll want to watch out for this year.

It may seem as though a prepaid card is a great way to utilize the benefits of a credit card while also controlling how much money you can actually spend. However, most prepaid credit cards come loaded with fees. For a brief period of time in 2010, the infamous Kardashian sisters promoted a prepaid Visa card. That card quickly went the way of the garbage when users realized how many fees they’d be paying. Beware before you opt for a prepaid card, because you’ll end up paying for more than you realize.

If, for some reason, you’re thinking of getting a credit card, be sure to look at the interest rate before defaulting to the assumption that many of us operate under that it will be low. Of course, we’ve become accustomed to low credit interest rates, but that is no longer the case. It will not be unheard of to see APRs in the range of twenty-percent. Don’t just grab a card because you can – interest rates are now designed to be the worst of the worst to compensate for the CARD act.

If you do find a credit card with a low APR, then be aware that it most likely has high service fees to compensate. Make sure to read the fine print at every opportunity. You will be absorbing costs either in high APR or high fees.

Of course, if you already have a credit card, then you probably shouldn’t be looking to get a new one. That said, if for some reason you do find yourself looking to extend your credit, proceed with caution and awareness.

Have any other tips for avoiding credit card tricks and errors in 2011? Like us on Facebook and tell us about it!