Debt Free

It's a minefield out there. A financial minefield, that is. There are so many things to watch out for that can devastate your personal finances. In addition, there are many more that, while not what one would call devastating, can set you back or keep you from maximizing your financial results. One such category that affects many people these days is the little tricks creditors, and especially credit card providers, use to maximize their revenue and suck even more cash out of your pocket every month. Given that you'd probably like to minimize that giant sucking sound, unless you're the proud owner of a new Dyson, here are some things you should be aware of:

1- Credit card companies are sometimes giving you less time between when you receive the bill and when it's due. This is very easy for them to accomplish. They just send you the bill a few days later. Giving you less time to get them the payment is a great way for them to increase revenue. It's the financial industry's equivalent of the tactic used by red light camera companies. Those little bastards, in the guise of public safety, have been known to actually shorten the duration of the yellow light to as little as 3 seconds. Why? To increase the likelihood you'll fail to clear the intersection before the light changes to red. Then, of course, they can mail you a profitable citation, which they make money on in a revenue sharing arrangement they have with the county or municipality. Nice, huh? Public safety? More like public (and private) profit!

As some of you may know and others may not, your credit card payment is usually considered late if it's not posted by the company before the due date. It can arrive in their P.O. Box on the agreed upon date and still earn you a late payment charge. Worse still, they can use this as a way to increase your interest rate. Permanently. Depending upon the balance you typically carry, this could end up making the $29.95 late charge seem like peanuts. Remember, if they do stick you with a rate hike, call every so often and request they lower it. Often you'll be able to make this happen, but you'll get no such reduction automatically, you've got to ask for it.

2- Tricking you into getting a different credit card than you requested. They ply you with a fantastic offer with all sorts of attractive sounding rewards attached (you'll find out these aren't as nice, or easy to achieve or redeem as they sound, but that's a story for another day). They then send you a different card, claiming you didn't meet the requirements for the card you applied for. The moral of this sad story is read th agreement carefully. Sadly, however, those tend to be akin to software EULAs, full of very fine print and seldom read completely, if at all.

3- Sometimes the CC companies will pop you with a late fee if you are beyond the TIME stated in your card's agreement. Some credit card agreements actually state that they must have the check in their dripping paws by a certain time on the due date. If this is the case for you, you should treat the due date as actually D-Day +1. Subtract a day from the due date printed on your account statement, and send your payment a day early. This is another great reason to set up your minimum payment for auto-pay. That will render this little bit of trickery ineffective.

4- Raising your card's interest rate just because they can. In many cases, they can raise your rate because they just want to increase revenue. While pretty damn nice for them, it sucks for you. This is another reason to check your statement carefully. It just happened to me. A rate on one of my cards went from went from 8.9% to 9.9% with no late payment, change in spending habits, or any other discernible reason. Thankfully, card has a very low balance on it. Make the call and demand the company change your rate back. If they fail to do so, avail yourself of one of those shiny balance transfer offers that shows up with sickening regularity in your mailbox.

Hopefully none of this will never happen to you. In today's market, I wouldn't count on it though. Be vigilant and don't be afraid to call them on their shenanigans. If you are trying diligently to get, and stay debt free, you don't need any little curves in your road to impede the process.