Get Cheap Credit Card By Understanding Fees

Credit card companies charge fees of some sort or another. The key is to find a card with the lowest fees for the services you use. For instance, if you use cash advances, then investigate those fees with credit card companies before you sign up with them.

Upfront Fees

Not every credit card program has upfront fees, so it pays to shop around for the right card. For instance, annual fees are common on cards with fixed or low rates. In the right circumstance, this fee with the right rate can save you money.

You will also find cash advance fees, either a flat rate or percentage. Not all cards charge this, but usually they have higher APRs. It is important to read the terms if you plan on using this feature.

Balance-transfer fees also can be charged, usually when you use a ‘check’ sent by the credit card company. Some programs offer no fees or low rates for transfers, especially with an introductory offer.

Extra Fees

Extra fees can often be avoid but should still be researched. Late payment, over-the-credit-limit, or credit increase can all result in extra dollars. Less common are set-up, return item, or telephone ordering fees. Unless a card is offering an exceptional rate, these types of programs should be avoided.

Low Fees Equal High Rates - Sometimes

While no one wants to pay fees, sometimes they can save you money. With large balances or balance transfers, you can often find lower rates by paying a small fee. You may also find that with incentive programs, a monthly fee will still allow you to come out ahead.

However, for those that pay off their balances every month, choose a card with no or low fees. You can also choose to have a couple of different types of credit card programs to meet your different financing needs.

Research Fees

Under federal law, credit card companies are required to list fees and APRs before you apply. Often the information will be present in a table. It will include annual, minimum finance, cash advance transaction, transfer, late payment, and over-the-credit-limit fees. With this information, you can decide what card is best for you.

Finding the Best Cheap Credit Cards

Want to find cheap credit cards? Your best source for information on cheap credit cards is a Web site that not only lets you view the offerings of a variety of credit card companies but also gives you reviews of the various cards by cheap credit card users.

Let's take a look at one site that gives us a glimpse into more than 70 credit cards, some of them cheap credit cards, from many countries of the globe.

The first, the American Express Blue credit card, was reviewed ten times (score is from one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best.) Interestingly enough, this credit card had ratings that ran the gamut from one to ten. Overall, its valuation as a cheap (as opposed to more costly) credit card was 7.9, which is quite good. Customer service rating on this card was not quite as good, but better than average at 6.2. 90 percent of the reviewers, or nine out of ten, recommended this as a good buy if you're looking for quality but cheap credit cards.

33 cheap credit cards users reviewed the Aspire Visa credit card. This didn't look to be a good choice for cheap credit card, according to these reviews. Only nine percent of the Aspire cheap credit card users recommended its use, and for overall value as a good buy in cheap credit cards its rating was one out of ten.

Accucard credit card, however, even with only two reviews, was a strong recommendation if you're in the market for cheap credit cards. Both reviewers gave this cheap credit card a rating of ten out of ten. What could be better? One reviewer said that this credit card has great rates and low annual fee (making it a top notch choice when comparing cheap credit cards) and, in fact, you have a lot of variety with this card, actually choosing your rate and credit card, and changing that choice as your needs or budget changes.

The second Accucard reviewer said that it was the best of the cheap credit cards, currently offering 1.6 percent cash back the first six months you use the card.

Virgin credit card, according to the twelve cheap credit cards reviewers that rated it on this site, doesn't seem to be the best choice in cheap credit cards. The overall rating is a very low 1.8 out of ten. At first glance it looks like some pretty extensive accounting and customer service errors on the part of this cheap credit card company. One reviewer talked about a nightmare experience, especially if you've chosen this card because you need cheap credit cards. First they overcharged the interest, and then they corrected it but overcharged again. Another reviewer said the interest rate on this allegedly cheap credit card went to over 24 percent without any notice.

For customer service the Virgin cheap credit card earned a 1.4 out of ten from these reviewers. The same rating was given for value (not one of the cheap credit cards, according to these folks.) Its overall value was a two, with recommendations to purchase from only 17 percent of the reviewers.

Tips about Cheap Credit Cards

Each week we are bombarded with credit card offers, telling us that this particular offer is the best. It is pretty annoying, when we know that most of these so called cheap credit cards are nothing but scams and are not even worth the time to look at. The best way to find a decent credit card is to compile a list of the best offers and choose the best of them - the best of the best so to say.

Before you can know which credit card offer is best for you you, must know exactly which credit card you are looking for. So make a list of requirements, then you can start to gather information from various credit card vendors. The best place to collect this information is online. This can be done by doing a search for ["credit card offers" + review] which also will give you other people’s opinion about the actual offers. Another or even simpler way is to check out the offers from recommended and reputable credit card companies.

When you have collected a few offers, it's time to go through them and compare them according to your written requirements. If you haven't already included interest rates and credit card fees on your requirement list, you should add these to the comparison criterias as well. You know many credit cards are attached with so called 'hidden charges' or charges in ‘small prints'. An example of such a charge is a one-time enrollment fee for new cardholders. Therefore you should study the terms very carefully, also the 'small printed' part.

Many credit card companies are also charging a monthly or yearly cardholder fee. Then we have transaction fees, which is a fee you have to pay each time you use the credit card. These fees varies from company to company and when you compare, it is important that all costs are included so that you can find the deal that has the lowest total cost.

There are some credit cards however, without fees. These are the best credit cards. Though they are hard to find you can hit some of them, but you have to read the the application text carefully. You can also ask questions to the card company you investigate about all the different kind of fees they have before you decide which credit card you want to go for. To get a cheap card is all about doing a good preparatory legwork upfront.

Interest rates are also an important factor for the total cost of a credit card and should therefore also be studied and compared very carefully. You should look for cards with the lowest possible rate, all other factors equal. I have seen examples of credit card companies that charge more than 20% interest rate, and that is way too much. The best cards have interest rates lower than 15%. You should look at the long term interest rates and not introduction offers like lower or no interest rates the first month.

Some of the best credit card companies will even charge you a lower interest or no interest on purchases paid off in less than a certain number of days, in most cases 30 days. Some people are more concerned about the spending limit instead of what it cost to have the card. For those with a limited amount of money to spend, the best credit card is the one that has the lowest total cost. If you are among them, look for hidden fees and interest. These determine the cost of your credit card.