People who have been through bankruptcy or have heavy debt may cringe at the idea of getting a new credit card, and that feeling is completely understandable. You don’t want to fall into the same pit you just climbed out of, or you don’t want to add to your medical or mortgage debt with more credit card debt. In fact, credit card companies are notorious for luring customers into adding more debt to their lives.
Ohio residents should know, however, that rebuilding your credit after bankruptcy is an important step, and making on-time payments for credit cards is one way of improving your credit score. Let’s look, then, at the kind of credit cards companies are offering these days.
Issuers of credit cards make them to fit specific situations and specific sorts of users. Lately, companies have been offering rewards to people who pay their credit card bills on time. If you’re not late with your payment, you might get an interest rate rebate or even cash back.
But there is good reason to beware of these rewards cards. For example, if you are late paying on one of these cards, then the interest is likely to be high enough to essentially erase the rewards you’ve accrued.
Also, there are some cards that don’t involve penalties or late fees, but even in these cases, it is not a good idea to wait more than a month to make your payment. This lateness will probably still negatively affect your credit score.
People in Cuyahoga Falls with money problems need to be aware of every option for achieving debt relief. If you would like to learn more about bankruptcy and nonbankruptcy options, our Ohio bankruptcy site is a good resource.
Source: wbtv.com, “Credit cards using incentives to lure you in,” Astrid Martinez, June 12, 2013
