Don’t let them fool you. All those solicitations you receive in the mail for credit card applications are meant to reel you in and hook you. Big time. In addition, new bankruptcy laws in the US and higher monthly minimum payment requirements are in place to help stem defaults on loans and to force consumers to pay down debt quicker. All of this sounds great, but credit card companies want to keep you in debt as long as possible. Please read on for all the stimulating details.

If you have had problems in the past paying down debt, do not think for a moment that you will have it any easier in the future. Thanks to legislation introduced by Congress and signed by the president earlier in 2005, filing for bankruptcy to escape debt has become more difficult. Much more so. In addition, credit card companies have raised your monthly minimum payment levels, in some cases doubling the minimum amount you must pay. Consider this last step a side issue related to the new bankruptcy legislation; the credit card companies are not legally obligated to raise minimums but they were pressured into doing so in exchange for passage of the new bankruptcy law.

Do not even think for a moment that credit card companies want you to get out of debt.

For starters, credit card rates have been rising steadily for over two years. As the prime rate goes up, your credit card interest rate goes up. Unless, of course, you have a fixed rate and you have been paying your bills on time. However, one late payment and, uh oh, you are in big trouble.

If you are late making a payment, even just once, you will likely be hit with a one time late fee charge of $29 or $39. In addition, that “sweet rate” you negotiated last year may automatically disappear. Zero percent financing can quickly turn into an 18.9% interest rate in no time and enforced retroactively too. Even “lower rate” cards with annual percentage rates of 10%, 12%, or more, can suddenly reflect rates of 24.9%, 29%, 35%, or even higher!

This is all perfectly legal too!

Read your credit card disclosure agreement – as if anyone even bothers to do so – for all the boring details. Exceptions and rules are the name of the game; there is a trap laying wide open for you to step on.

The next area of socking it to you is an old one: annual fees. Yes, they are back; for years, credit card companies — in order to remain competitive — waived annual fees. Originally, it was one small way for them to extract some cash from you: you paid them something every year even if you paid off your card monthly.

If you are like me, the whole concept of charging someone to access credit is absurd. Companies make a mint off of high interest rates as it is; throwing another fee on top of things is both apparent and transparent! Now, annual fees are back. Oh, sure, credit card companies must notify you in writing of these changes before they are put in place, but they certainly hope you won’t cancel your account in response to the “new” fee or that you will forget the notice completely and simply pay the fee. Do they think that we are stupid? I believe so!

There are two other areas where credit card companies attempt to pull a fast one on consumers: your payment due date and payment mailing address.

Your payment due date, which may have been “static” for years, could suddenly have been moved up. This means that if you are used to paying off your Visa card on the 24th of the month, it may suddenly have been moved to the 16th the following month. Without notifying you of the change either!

The address where you send your money may have changed too. Is this a big deal? It certainly is if you mail your payments in. Let’s say that you live in New Jersey and your XYZ Bank card payment goes to a South Hackensack post office. If you mail your payment in five days before the due date, you probably allowed enough time for your payment to get to the bank. Warning: Watch out that their payment address hasn’t suddenly been moved to Ohio. Your next payment will likely end up being late.

Oh, so you pay online? Don’t think that the bank credits your money immediately either. I have seen it take five days for money to electronically leave my checking account and be wired to another bank’s account. The post office moves a live check faster than that!

A moved payment due date and a changed payment address are designed to make your payments late so that the credit card company can charge you a late fee and raise your rates.

This is perfectly legal as well. Is it ethical? Hey, we’re talking about the financial services industry. What else do you expect?

Financial institutions make money off of consumers through interest rates and fee services. Please do not think for a moment that any credit card company has your best interests at heart. They don’t; they are in business to please their shareholders. Get informed and take action when one of these “perfectly legal” practices is pulled on you. You can get fees canceled and have your credit card rate lowered if you complain; back it all up in writing in order to preserve your rights.

A savvy consumer is an informed consumer; learn what tricks credit card companies use and fight back. Annually order free credit reports from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax to make sure that unfavorable reports from creditors have not been unfairly tagged to your record. Visit the Federal Trade Commission’s site at [http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm] for the best way to obtain credit reports.

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In the United States, people under the age of 18 cannot legally enter into any contracts without a co-signer, but what about the increasing number of parents who are getting credit cards in their children’s names? Do minors really need access to credit cards?

It’s really a decision that is unique to each family. The most common reasons parents may decide to get a credit card in the name of their child include:

For emergencies Letting the child (probably a teenager) do their own school shopping Purchasing lunch and other necessities while out with friends For traveling (perhaps the child visits family members regularly)

When you are deciding whether or not to get your child a credit card, you’ll want to think about their age and maturity level. An elementary school student has very limited knowledge of what money is and how people get money. On the other hand, a teenager often has a better concept of how money is earned and what it’s used for, and could be taught appropriate use of a credit card.

Many parents like the idea of getting their teenager a credit card in order to start teaching them about financial responsibility. If this is your goal, then obviously you don’t want to hand the credit card to your child and let them have at it! You’ll need to spend some time discussing the reasons for the child to have a credit card, set limits, and discuss how payments will be made with the card. Will your teenager be responsible for paying back the charges made to the card? If so, be sure you and your child discuss this as well.

Alternatives to Credit Cards

What parents may want to consider instead of an actual interest-bearing credit card is a debit card. Setting your teenager up with a bank account with a debit card teaches them to spend money they actually have, rather than spending money and paying for it later. It is up to you how the bank account itself is funded, but some parents have set up “direct deposits” for their children’s allowance- which the child accesses using their debit card.

A “Charge Card” is another good option for the younger crowd. While they can be used to charge purchases, you cannot carry a balance from month to month on the card and must make the payment in full each month. This will teach your child responsibility for “charging”- provided you don’t just pay it off each month for them without some discussion or maybe requiring the teenager to use their part time job or babysitting money to make the payments.

If you decide you want to get a credit card, charge card, or debit card for your own child, be sure you look into the rules of such an account with the provider you want to go with. Some credit card companies restrict the “additional cards” to people of a minimum age; while others allow anyone of any age to be the secondary card holder. Same goes for charge cards. For debit card accounts, there are banks that offer youth checking or savings accounts with debit cards that are specifically geared to the needs of teenagers. That might be your best option for instilling financial responsibility in your children.

How to Use Credit Cards, Charge Cards or Debit Cards to Teach Financial Responsibility to Children

When getting a card issued in your child’s name, it’s important that you spend some time with the child teaching them the basics. Don’t take for granted that they will already have this knowledge. If the goal is to use the cards for teaching financial responsibility, here are some things to consider:

Teach your children not to lend their cards to friends for any reason Review bank statements together monthly and compare receipts with purchases made on the statement Teach children to pay more than the minimum payment – and teach them why that’s important! Discuss what a credit score is and how it affects people in life

One of the more annoying features of the insurance world is its habit of distilling options down to simple sets of letters and then failing to clearly explain what the letters mean. In other words, insurers hide behind jargon and prefer not to explain clearly what you are buying. You are expected to assume the insurer has your interests at heart and pay over your money without a second thought. In many cases it works. Over the years, we have given up the unequal struggle and just say prayers we never fall sick. But, as premium costs have risen and the recession has cut back our spending power, trying to understand the options is back on the menu. So let’s start with an explanation of HMOs and PPOs. In fact, they both rely on a network of physicians, clinics and hospitals, but they differ significantly in the detail of how they deliver healthcare to you and your family.

A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) is a network of healthcare professionals that enters into a contract with an insurance company. The insurer offers a captive group of people to refer to the network and, based on the expected volume of business, the network agrees a fixed fee for all the main services on offer. In theory, this works well for everyone. The fees are discounted because of the volume of business, so the insurer saves money and charges lower premiums. This is usually the cheapest form of health plan with very low copayments and, often, no deductibles. But there are problems. HMOs are very reluctant to accept people with existing conditions requiring expensive treatments. They prefer most of their patients to be reasonably healthy. The reason is basic economics. Every physician has to meet a quota of patients in a day. This means spending the shortest possible time on each consultation. Long diagnostic sessions disturb the quota and can result in penalties to both the doctors who miss their numbers and the patients who have slowed down the queue. There are also significant restrictions on patient choice. A nominated primary care doctor decides what referrals shall be made and to whom. HMOs are the cheapest form of care, but you have little control over the treatment you or your family receive.

A Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) uses the same basic approach but, because you pay more, you buy greater control over the treatment. The copayments are around 20% and there are usually deductibles. But, you have freedom to choose your own doctors. So long as you go see a physician in the network, you are covered. If you want to see someone outside the network, you usually only pay the difference between the network rate and the actual fees your choice collects.

So, when it comes to cheap health insurance, an HMO is the better option. But if you have the money and a health problem likely to need more extensive treatment, you should opt for a PPO. It always comes back down to your own personal needs and what you can afford. Cheap health insurance always comes with limitations. Read the small print before you buy into any plan and see exactly what you can and cannot do before you agree to buy the policy.