There are a variety of credit cards available in market. Every card has its own features and benefits. But before taking a decision to buy a credit card you should know what is your style of managing funds. Credit card companies segregate credit card customers into two categories. One, who use credit card within credit limit and pay bill on time and other who used to carry forward outstanding credit balance whenever possible. You might be in one of these categories which reflect your behavior. After all you should keep in mind some basic points while selecting a credit card.
Spending Habit
You must carry out your monthly and yearly transaction analysis. Check where you are spending more, it can be dining, merchandise, travel, grocery, online shopping etc. After this carry out a survey which credit card suits your spending habits and offers you more benefits.
Credit Limit
Credit limit is the maximum amount upto which credit card companies allow to spend on a credit card. If you cross the credit limit then you are charged with interest and penalties. So, while selecting a credit card you must check whether it offers you enough credit limit as per your requirement.
Annual Fees
Annual fees is one of the most common credit card fees. It is charged automatically once a year for the benefits provided by the credit card. Annual fees are generally charged from nil to 10000 or even more. Generally we can say, higher the annual fee, more benefits credit card will provide. You should compare the cards and their benefits according to annual fees. Some cards offer waiver of annual fee on fulfilling of some conditions. You must know about these conditions.
Charges
Credit card companies charge various types of fees which can be different for each card. Some types of charges are joining fee, add-on card charges, cash withdraw charges, duplicate statement charges, fuel surcharge, overdue payment charges, and card replacement charges. You must know about these charges. You can compare cards based on these charges.
Penalties
If you default in payment of dues, credit card companies charges you interest on the defaulted amount. In this case interest rate are highest among all kind of creditors. You can compare cards on the basis of their penalty charges.
Reward Points
Credit cards gives you reward points on your usage. These reward points can be different for different usage type. For example, a credit card gives 5 rewards point for every 100 Rs spent on dining whereas 10 reward point for travel. So, you can check your spending and choose the card which gives more reward points as per your spending habit.
Other Benefits
Credit Cards also gives other additional benefits such as personal insurance, accidental insurance, theft protection cover, purchase protection cover, quick loans, cash transfer facility, special discount on selected merchants, discount in form of cash back. Kindly compare these additional benefits before choosing a credit card.
Acceptability
These days almost all cards have acceptability everywhere. But you must check whether your selected card is acceptable across the country or not. If you are frequent traveler to foreign destination than do check that your selected card has international acceptability and particularly in the countries you visit often.
Security
Last but very important point to be checked about credit card is its security. You must check that card offered is having security features such as EMV chip, OTP and PIN based authentication. You must also check the means and easy availability of contact point of credit card provider in case of emergency.
So, these are the basic and important points which you should keep in mind before selecting a credit card. These will help you to choose a card which suits your uses habits. You can reap maximum benefit of credit card by knowing these basic points while selecting a credit card.
