Looking for a brand new Credit Card? Listed here are 10 Points You need to Certainly Understand

Credit cards feature a host of features and benefits – a good reason why bank cards are a popular phenomenon. If you’re looking to use for a credit card anytime soon, listed here are 10 things you actually need certainly to know. These points provides you with a much better knowledge of how bank cards work and what you can expect from them.

Annual fees on bank cards

All bank cards provided by banks (at least an important percentage of them), come with an annual fee. The annual fee mostly varies from one card to a different, even in the case of cards provided by the exact same bank. Usually, Premier cards that offer better benefits than normal cards feature a higher annual fee.

Whilst the Primary card almost certainly comes with an annual fee, supplementary cards also come with an annual fee in most cases. Sometimes, the annual fee on the supplementary card is waived for the initial couple of years – this is to help keep the card more competitive and in-demand. 신용카드 현금화 Certain banks waive the annual fee on the primary card as well – for the initial year, or first 2 yrs, or longer.

Annual rate of interest

All transactions you make making use of your credit card attract a certain rate of interest referred to as the annual percentage rate of interest (APR). The interest rate is influenced by the financial institution that’s offering the card and the kind of card. The interest rate for most bank cards is Singapore is between 23% p.a. and 30% p.a.

Banks allow for an interest free period of approximately 21 days from the release of the statement (again, this depends on the financial institution and the kind of card) and don’t charge an interest if the quantity is repaid completely within this interest free window. If the quantity isn’t paid before the end of the interest free period, interest charges will accordingly hold applicable.

Cash advance charges

Credit cards enable customers to make emergency cash withdrawals from ATMs. These cash advances carry a handling charge of approximately 5%-6% of the withdrawn amount, besides interest charges that fall in the product range between 23% and 28% p.a. Interest on cash advances is computed on a daily basis at a compounding rate before the amount is repaid in full. Cash advances are often a risky phenomenon, mostly taking into consideration the high interest charges. When you withdraw money making use of your credit card, it’s advisable that you repay the quantity completely at the earliest.

Minimum monthly payments

As a credit card customer, you’re required to cover the absolute minimum amount monthly – or the entire amount if that’s possible – amounting to 3% of the sum total monthly outstanding balance. Minimum payments have to be created by the payment deadline if late payment charges need to avoided. The minimum payment in your credit card monthly statement also can include pending minimum payments from previous months, late payment charges, cash advance charges, and overlimit fees, should they hold applicable.

Late payment charges

If the minimum amount isn’t paid by the payment deadline, banks levy a certain fee, commonly referred to as the late payment fee. The late payment fee for bank cards in Singapore may be anywhere in the product range between S$40 and S$80, with respect to the bank offering the card.

Overlimit fees

Overlimit fees hold applicable and are levied by the financial institution if the allocated credit limit is exceeded. Overlimit fees can range between S$40 and S$60 for bank cards in Singapore.

Cashbacks and reward points

An aspect which makes credit-cards a pretty exciting phenomenon is the reward points/cashbacks that may be earned on purchases. Different cards are structured differently and enable you to earn either cashbacks or reward points or both, on your own purchases. Some cards enable you to earn reward points on groceries, although some other allow you to earn cashbacks or reward points on air ticket bookings, retail purchases, etc. Cashbacks and reward points are features which can be specific to certain bank cards and the extent of benefits depends on the kind of card and the financial institution offering the particular card. Reward points earned on purchases may be changed into exciting vouchers, discounts and attractive shopping/retail purchase/online deals from the card’s rewards catalogue.

Balance transfers

Certain bank cards enable you to transfer your complete credit card balance to that specific credit card account, enabling you to consolidate your debt. Balance transfer bank cards come with an interest free period of 6 months – 1 year, with respect to the card you’ve applied for. In case of balance transfer cards, banks charge a processing fee and may also charge an interest (unlikely in most cases). Following the interest free period (6 months – 1 year with respect to the card), normal interest charges on the card are applicable for transactions and cash advances.

Air miles programmes in Singapore

Certain bank cards (mostly premium credit cards) provided by some banks in Singapore enable you to earn air miles by converting your reward points earned on purchases utilizing the card. Usually, air miles cards feature a higher annual fee owing with their premium nature. As a customer of reduced credit card, you are able to accumulate enough air mile points to totally offset your following vacation!

Credit scores

In brief, your credit score is a projection of how well you’ve managed your debt in the past. It requires into consideration your payment patterns and records instances of late payments, credit overlimits, loan defaults, history of regular/timely payments, etc, and gives banks a notion of how good you can be at handling debt in the future. A great credit score is crucial to getting loan applications and credit card applications approved.

The above mentioned mentioned points will come in handy if you are contemplating applying for a credit card. These aspects provides you with an extensive knowledge of how bank cards work in Singapore, providing you a much better notion of what you can expect. These may also work if you are not happy along with your current card and are looking to modify over to a different credit card as well.