How to Manage your Credit card account with ease

Credit cards have proven to be useful for all kinds of purchases. However, people are still apprehensive about getting their hands on one, primarily because they are not sure how to manage a credit card account. Your debt could spiral out of control if you do not know how to manage your credit and take care of your finances. You need to know how to pay your credit card bill and manage your credit card account. If you are considering getting a credit card, here are a few tips you can employ to manage your high-risk credit card merchant account with ease: 

Do Not Make Late Payments

Avoiding debt altogether trumps finding a way to get out of debt, which means you ought to make your payments on time. Failing to do this could result in the following consequences:

• You may be subject to a late payment fee that could go up to £12 along with interest on the whole amount you are supposed to pay.
• If you repeatedly make late payments, you may be liable to increased interest rates, a reduction in your credit limit, or having your card cancelled.
• Furthermore, you may find it challenging to avail another credit card. Making late payments significantly affects your credit rating.
• If you want to avoid this, here are a couple of ways to go about it:
• Making payments via Direct Debit: Want to avoid making late payments? Set it up such that your money gets debited from your bank automatically. Be sure to pay the full amount every month.
• Pay ahead of time: While you could make your payment at any time through your phone or online, your payment may take a few days to get processed, which is why you should avoid leaving it to the last minute.

Check Your Bill Frequently

Ideally, you should make it a habit to check your credit card statement regularly and keep track of your purchases. Also, make sure you keep your credit card receipts to make accounting easier.

You could also check your statement online and go through it well before the due date, giving you time to ensure nothing is out of place. 

Avoid Taking Out Cash Advances

You might be tempted to take out a cash advance on your credit card. However, it is a significantly expensive credit card transaction with a high transaction fee, interest rate and no grace period to protect you from charges. You are better off not taking out a cash advance. 

Understand Your Credit Card's Terms And Conditions

This tip should go without saying, but going through the terms and conditions can do well to prevent you from making silly mistakes. Read your credit card agreement several times to find out everything you need to know about your credit card, including how the interest is levied, the fees you may have to pay, and so on. Get acquainted with your credit card's features, terms, and conditions, and you will up your chances of avoiding credit card debt. 

Live Within Your Means

Here's another idea that should go without saying, but many people fail to follow this and end up having to deal with debt. While your access to credit can tempt you to spend a little extra, you will suffer for it in the long-run. You can save yourself a truckload of stress and money by sticking to things that you need. Live within your means and stay away from unnecessary expenses. 

Do Not Make Balance Transfers Unless Necessary

While transferring a balance from a high-interest rate credit card to a credit card with a relatively lower interest rate may seem like a great way to pay your balance at a lower cost, doing this repeatedly can make you liable to pay an overall higher balance once the fee is levied. 

Do Not Lend Your Credit Card To Others

Lending your credit card to someone else is a huge risk because you are responsible for all the payments and charges at the end of the day. If your credit card sees too many transactions that you cannot cover and account for, you are bound to get into some serious financial trouble. Do not overspend, and certainly do not lend your credit card to anyone. 

Keep your Personal Identification Number (PIN) safe

This is another seemingly obvious tip, which many people seem to get wrong. Make sure you keep your PIN to yourself. Do not give it to anybody else or store it with the card. If you want to change your PIN, be sure to change it to something you will remember. At the same time, you will want to avoid something like your date of birth or anything else that one might easily guess. 

How Do You Pay Your Credit Card Bill?

Now that you have to tips to help you avoid credit card debt, here's how to pay your credit card bill: 

Mobile App Payments

In this day and age, you can expect to use mobile apps to make your payments. Just about every bank and credit card company has an app that allows you to pay your credit card bill. The mobile app transfers the funds from your account to your credit card. As part of security, you need to enter the One-Time-Password (OTP) you receive on your registered mobile. Keep in mind that you cannot use mobile wallets and UPI apps like PayTm, Freecharge, GooglePay, and so forth to pay your credit card bill. 

Visa or MasterCard Money Transfer Send

MasterCard and Visa give you the option to make your credit card payments from their respective sites. You need to enter your card details, the amount you owe, and your bank account details to carry out the transaction. You can look up your branch IFSC or call up customer service to find out. These payments generally take a couple of days to get processed. 

Cheque Payments

As you may have guessed, this method is one of the relatively easier ways to make your credit card payments. Be sure to enter your card number under payee name, details like the date, transaction amount, and your signature. Cheque payments generally take two or three business days to get processed. Make sure you pay your bill ahead of time to avoid leaving it to the last minute and having to pay interest or late fees. 

ECS Payments

The Electronic Clearance System (ECS) works very well if you happen to use your credit card to pay specific bills regularly. In this case, you probably know in advance how much you have to pay, and you can set up an ECS mandate and request the credit card company to present an ECS payment request to your bank. The bank can then make the payment from your account to your credit card company.

 

Conclusion

There you have it - the basics of credit card management. To summarize, you can get a credit card if you need one. However, you will have to ensure you take care of your expenses to avoid getting into serious financial trouble. If you are new to the world of credit cards, the tips mentioned in this article should help you get started and stay on top of things.