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.

Today, more so than ever, credit card companies are allowing cash advances to their customers. Not all credit cards will allow this, but many of them do. While it is tempting to use this service at times, consumers should be very careful before taking that cash from the credit card. Here are some issues concerning cash advances that you should know about.

For the most part, credit card companies treat a cash advance differently than they do a purchase. Of particular importance to consumers is the interest rate that the company may charge for the advance. You should carefully check to see how much more interest you will be charged for the cash advance as compared to the purchase interest rate. In many instances, the interest rate for the cash advance will be much higher than the purchase rate. Do not assume that the purchase rate will apply to the cash advance. Check on this before you take the money.

Most (but not all) credit card companies will allow you to get the cash advance from an ATM machine. Other companies, however, may send you checks in the mail. You can learn how the company handles this by reading the billing information that you get from them. You should check to see if there will be any additional charges should you use an ATM.

Your credit card company may also impose a cash advance fee when you take cash. The fee is in addition to the finance charges and may be in addition to any ATM fees that are levied.

Almost all credit companies have a cash advance limit. Some companies limit cash advance amounts to a specific dollar amount, while some limit the amount to a percentage of the credit limit that you have with them. When a specific amount is stated it may say: $300 per advance or it may be worded as $300 per week. While this limits your cash advance amount it also limits the amount of cash a thief could charge to your account should your card be stolen or your information compromised.

Restrictions can be an issue as well. Some companies will not allow electronic transfer of cash advances to certain accounts. An example of this might be an online gambling site.

Understanding how cash advance payments will be applied to your account should be on the top of the list for anyone who is using or planning to use the cash advances companies offer. Here is why.

Some credit card companies (indeed, most of them) will treat your cash advance as a separate entity. This means that payments that you send in may first be applied to your regular purchases account and whatever is left over (if anything is left over) will be applied to the higher rate cash advance portion of your bill. In other words, if you make only the minimum payment per month, your cash advance balance may not go down at all, and will, in fact, go up because of the interest that is being charged.

Your credit card company must tell you how it treats payments when a cash advance is involved. You should read this information carefully, and if the system they use makes you uncomfortable, then avoid using the cash advance services.

Many credit card holders would like to obtain a higher credit card limit. The main purpose for this is that a higher credit card limit enables the purchase of otherwise unaffordable merchandise.

First of all, credit card holders need to remember that to get a higher credit card limit, they must abide by the terms and conditions of the issuing credit card company or bank.

Here are seven tips toward obtaining a higher credit card limit:

1. The most important thing to do toward getting a higher credit card limit is to prove your credit worthiness. This is the first thing that banks and companies look for when approving a higher credit limit.

2. Always spend within your credit card limit. Doing so communicates to your credit card lender that you are capable of controlling your expenses.

3. Use your credit card regularly. Don’t keep your credit cards for emergency use only. If you use your credit cards just occasionally, banks and credit card companies will be unable to understand your spending and payment behavior. By using your credit card minimally, most banks and credit card companies will be reluctant to give you a higher credit card limit.

4. Don’t make minimum payments. Instead, try to pay for the entire outstanding amount. This method of repayment will usually give you a better chance of getting a higher credit card limit.

5. Attract positive attention from the credit card company or bank by paying interest finance charges once in a while. Obviously, this is not advisable on a continual basis and should only be used as a last resort to increase your chances of getting a higher credit limit.

Proving to credit card companies and banks that you are good borrower can be a convincing way to get a higher credit limit. But be careful because this strategy also means that you will be paying finance charges which can accumulate in a hurry.

6. Avoid late payments. Not only will your payment increase, but you will also have to pay an additional fee for late payment. This will also decrease your chances of getting a higher credit card limit.

7. The best and simplest strategy for obtaining a higher credit card limit is to use your credit card wisely. Always keep in mind that credit card companies keep a record of your transactions and payment patterns, so always pay your credit card bill on time.

The bottom line is that your performance on record at your bank and credit card company will determine whether you’ll get a higher credit card limit or not.

And always remember, a higher credit card limit means greater purchasing power, but it also increases the risk of your having to pay greater interest charges and other processing and late fees if you have difficulty repaying the higher balances.

There are other fees associated with the use of a credit card besides the actual charge from each purchase. These other costs can add to the total balance on your account that you have to pay. The common credit card fees you will encounter at some point are the annual fee, the APR, late payment fees and the finance charge. The finance fee is added to it every month while the others are less frequent.

The credit card finance charge will be the dollar amount that you have to pay to the credit card provider for the use of their lines of credit to make purchases. This finance charge will be different depending on the APR or annul Percentage rate of the card. This is how credit card finance charges affect you card balance.

Your individual credit card company will have its own policies and approach to calculate the finance charge for your card. The outstanding balance will determine how much you will end up paying in credit card finance charges each year more than the APR will affect it. You need to understand how your outstanding balance is calculated.

The outstanding balance on your credit card may be calculated during one billing cycle or within two billing cycles. You must note that there are three types of balances which are used to figure the amount of your annual finance charges. These balances are the adjusted balance, the average daily balance, and the previous balance. Each of these balances has something in common, in that you will need to decide if new or recent purchases will be counted as part of the relative balance. When you have done this, you can then calculate the credit card finance charge. The finance charges will vary depending upon the billing cycle based on the carry- over balance and the timing of different purchases and payments.

Many of the credit card companies provide credit cards that operate under what they call a minimum finance charge policy. With this type of finance charge the cardholder is given a flat rate for the finance charges each year. This will mean that the rate will not vary or fluctuate because of differences in the card’s balance each billing cycle. Your minimum finance charge is activated when your card has a carry-over balance that goes into the following credit card billing cycle.

There is no way to avoid the credit card finance charge. It is a necessary cost which must be paid in order to continue using the convenience of the credit line to make purchases. This means that it is important to have a good idea of how they work with your particular credit card company. You should have a working knowledge of what affects the charges that are added to your balance that you will have to pay. What would you do if you are assessed a wrong amount and then pay for something that is not applicable? You must spend some time studying your credit card terms and uses in order to know what to watch for.