Jeff Lakie

Choose credit cards with care

If you find that your credit card purchases have exceeded your budget, you may be in need for some emergency credit counseling! Instead of throwing out all of your cards, consider assembling a strong hand of between 3 and 5 cards that will allow you to have a powerhouse wallet or purse!

First, consider the interest rate on your credit cards. Shop around to see if there are cards that offer lower interest rates. You may save a lot of money by switching over. And if they are balance transfer cards, they may offer even lower rates of interest! Once you have a low interest rate card, get rid of your higher interest rate cards. They're just not worth it!

Second, you should think about getting a reward card. Unlike regular credit cards reward cards offer the same purchasing ability as regular credit cards but also allow you to enjoy rewards from points earned or immediate discounts on purchases at select retailers. The secret to finding the best reward card for you is to get a card that offers rewards from a vendor you normally shop at anyway. For example, if you buy a lot of petrol, get a card from a vendor that gives you points for filling up your car with petrol. There's a lot of cards out there that have partnered with various vendors so find one or two from vendors you normally shop at.

Once you have found some credit cards that offer low interest rates as well as rewards on purchases you are ready to face the world again with a high-powered wallet. Even though you have increased the money you'll keep (because of lower interest and the discounts available on purchases) you may have carried over some debt that you would like to get rid of.

One option to do this is with debt consolidation loans. A debt consolidation loan is one where you gather together all of the debts you have and put them under one umbrella. By gathering many small loans at varying interest rates and due at varying times of the month, and putting them under one roof, you are effectively lowering your average interest rate and consolidating your payments into one fixed payment once a month. And, because you are gathering your debts from many vendors and giving it to one vendor, you may be able to get a lower interest rate.

Congratulations! You will have just taken your powerhouse wallet from good to great!

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