Facts About Using Credit Cards To Pay Other Bills
Posted in Finance on November 25th, 2011 by JohnHaving to pay off your card balance and having to use that limit to pay for your other bills could be convenient and rewarding with perks, for example air miles, but can possibly be harmful. You risk having to pay more for the monthly expenses whenever you carry the total amount to the following month and also the potential miss dues and damage your credit rating.
Benefits
Almost all credit card companies usually offer one to three percent cash return on all purchases per annum. In case your monthly expenses come to 1,000 pounds, this may mean as much as 360 pounds in your wallet within the year — presuming you have to pay the total amount each month to prevent finance charges. Most cards also include an extra period, sometimes as much as 25 days, and that means you can delay having to pay cash for your bills with a couple of extra days. You are able to setup automatic bill pay to ensure you won’t ever miss a payment and the bank or card company will give you an itemized bill, making documentation much simpler.
Disadvantages
Having to pay off your card and putting new charges after onto it just repeats the constant indebtedness time and time again. Whenever you cannot pay the money for balance off as a whole every month, you incur finance charges, and that means you pay more for the monthly expenses, which far over-shadow the advantages of a cash-back program. Also, havin credit card debt and getting your card account maxed out reduces your credit rating.
Warning
Seek advice from creditors to ascertain if they impose a fee for having to pay a bill using your credit card. The IRS along with other government organizations, for instance, sometimes charge a lot more than 3 % to pay for a goverment tax bill by card. This very much offsets the usual cash-back program. Putting the debts on automatic bill pay could lull you into failing to remember concerning the actual balance around the card. Your statement could contain erroneous charges, but when you do not review the itemized bill, you might never understand it.
Tip
Don’t use cards to replace any shortfall on the budget you have, so attempt to trim unnecessary expenses if this sounds like the situation. Establishing automatic bill can alleviate the strain of having to pay bills promptly, but check the paper statement for charges so that as a indication to make certain the transaction experienced.