A Credit Card Glossary of Terms
The Credit card industry comes with a lot of jargon. You can't
be expected to recognise all the technical phrases employed and
some of them could be very important. Listed below you will find
a quick description of the most common credit card industry
related terms and phrases.
Affinity card A credit card that makes a donation to a charity
of your choice based up on how much you spend. In most cases
it's best to avoid a charity that encourages you to sign up for
such a card. Chances are such a credit card has a higher
interest rate than the standard. Don't let guilt cloud your
judgement.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate) calculated yearly this is your
overall interest rate presented as a percentage of your credit
card balance.
ATM (Automated Teller Machine) A cash machine. Utilized to
withdraw money direct from your credit card, although in general
a fee will also be charged.
Balance transfer When you transfer your debt 'balance' from one
credit card to another. The usual reason for this is to try and
keep as much debt as possible on a lower-interest card.
Credit limit Your credit limit is the maximum amount you can
spend or withdraw on your credit card. Spending beyond your
credit limit will result in your card no longer being accepted,
and you being charged an over-limit fee.
Fixed rate A fixed rate credit card is one which indicates that
you are given a fixed rate on sign up which should stay the same
for the period you have the credit card. In practice though
interest rates can be changed for almost any reason.
Grace period The grace period is the amount of time between your
spending with the credit card and the time when you start paying
interest on that spending. The best credit cards can have a
grace period of up to two months, poorer cards may not have one
at all.
Minimum payment The minimum payment is the lowest amount you can
pay back to the credit card company each month. You always try
to pay more although this is not necessary. Paying only the
minimum amount you are not paying back the money borrowed but
only the interest. Minimum payments are usually around 2% of
your balance.
Sub-prime A phrase used in the finance industry to describe
customers who are a bad credit risk, but are considered worth
lending to as the bad credit risk allows the finance company to
charge higher fees.
Teaser rate A 'special offer' low rate. You will see many offers
with "LOW 4.9% APR" in the headline followed by "for first six
months, 21.9% thereafter" in the small print. Teaser offers can
sometimes be worth taking, but not if they tie you in for longer
than the period of the offer.
Variable rate An interest rate that is calculated by adding a
figure to the current base rate. Taking this option will allow
your credit card to be affected by changes in national interest
rates - a good idea if you think they might go down, and a bad
one if they're on the way up.
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