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What are the Credit Card fees
Almost every credit card company has one or more fees which they apply in certain circumstances. These fees are amounts in addition to APR rates for using the cards.
ANNUAL FEE
This is the fee which you are charged just for the privilege of using the credit card. Some credit card companies charge the fee once per year, others break it into monthly payments.
CASH ADVANCE FEE
This fee is charged at the time you use the credit card in order to obtain a cash advance. Sometimes it is reflected as a flat fee per transaction, such as $2.00, or it may be stated as a small percentage of the total amount of cash withdrawn. The amount may be something like 3% of the cash advance, for example.
BALANCE TRANSFER FEE
This fee occurs when you decide to transfer your old balance to the new credit card account, often because there are lower rates on the new card.
The new card company sometimes will send checks to you so that you can use them to pay the balances on the old account. The balance on the old account is paid off and becomes a balance on the new card. The offer to transfer old balances to a new low interest card should be scrutinized carefully, because the fees associated with such a transfer can often more than offset the savings on interest rates.
LATE PAYMENT FEE
This is charged if you are late making your payment to your account. Usually this is assessed in addition to a late payment penalty which can be tied to your APR rate on all of your balance.
OVERLIMIT FEE
Each credit card account has spending limits attached. If you spend more than your credit limit, even inadvertently, you will find a fee assessed because you exceeded the amounts you were allowed.
CREDIT LIMIT INCREASE FEE
Credit card companies periodically grant credit limit increases as customers show that they can handle the increased spending limits. However, the company may also assess a fee on your account if you ASK for the credit limit to be increased.
SET UP FEE
Some credit card companies charge an initiation or set up fee when you first open your account.
RETURN ITEMS FEE
If you make a payment to the credit card company and your check is not honored, the credit card company, as well as most other merchants, will charge you a fee for you 'bounced' check.
OTHER FEES
Some other credit card companies charge fees for paying by telephone, for sending information to credit bureaus, for providing a review of your account, and sometimes even for providing other customer services. In any case, you should scrutinize the solicitation offer from your credit card company in order to be certain which, if any of these fees are being charged. When choosing a credit card, you need to look at the total impact of the fees and rates on your style of card usage in order to determine which offers work best for your situation.