Don’t Be Late
I can’t stress enough the importance of making on-time payments and reading the fine print of your credit card application.
Almost all credit card issuers report late payments and other delinquencies to at least one of the three major credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion).
A common misconception is that credit card companies only check your credit history when you apply for a new account. In fact, credit card companies frequently check your credit report, sometimes as often as every month, to keep tabs on how you are handling your obligations to other lenders. If they see that you have made a late payment to anyone, they may raise your interest rate to the default rate. Even if you have a perfect payment history with them, but are late with another company, they will raise your rate. The default rate can sometimes run as high as 30%!
You must be wondering how they are allowed to do this. If you read the fine print of terms & conditions of your credit card agreement, you will see that you have agreed to this policy.
So you made a late payment to one of your cards, and now one of your other cards has raised your interest rate. What can you do to return your interest rate from the stratosphere to normal levels? Call your credit card’s customer service and tell them that if they don’t restore your interest rate, you are going to close the account. If it works, great; if not, you’re probably better off without them.
The credit world is all-for-one and one-for-all. Don’t be late.
