What They Don't Tell You About Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, and Convenience Checks

The smart consumer selects a credit card by matching their lifestyle, spending and payment habits. Other consumers play the cash advances and balance transfer game, expecting short-term relief or hoping to gain a quick profit. After all the hidden fees, accumulated interest , and minimum payments due, the consumer will have to pay a higher percentage of the total borrowed amount back within a short-time period, or risk accumulating charges and increasing the balance tremendously. At this point, there is no reasonable rate of return that can fulfill any expectations.

When the consumer takes a cash advance, they almost never get a ?grace period?, even if the card normally has one; interest is charged as soon as they take the advance. Interest on cash advances are often charged at a higher rate than interest on a purchase. On an average, a cash advance fee is between 1% and 2% of the amount of the advance. Be real careful, many credit card companies have surcharges for cash advances, and or they charge a higher interest rate compared to charges that are made to purchase goods and services directly.

A balance transfer, often viewed as a cash advance by the credit card companies, is also subject to fees and interest as soon as the transfer is made.

For example:

Say you have a $1000 credit limit at 9% interest, and you take a cash advance of $100, and your interest rate on the cash advance is 25%. None of the payments will be applied to the higher interest rate until the complete amount from the regular charges is paid off.

CONVENIENCE CHECKS

Those unexpected checks issued by your bank that show up in the mail box at the right time. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those are not ?FREE?. They are referred to as ?Convenience Checks?. Even the most tempting offer is wrapped with hidden fees and traps that make the risk far greater than the reward.

Unfortunately, the consumer has to deal with the same pitfalls as they do with cash advances and balance transfers. Convenience checks start accruing interest on the balance immediately from the time its redeemed, unlike credit card charges, which are interest free if the consumer pay the charges off before the due date.

Some credit card companies may charge hefty fees just to issue the check, usually around 2 to 5% of the check amount. (Read the check and any the offer letter carefully, in some cases the bank may not list the interest, so it?s best to consult with the bank before accepting the convenience check).

The ?BIGGEST DISADVANTAGE? is if your card has an existing balance, and you make a payment, the payment will be applied to the lower balance first, at the current interest rate, before the payment is applied to the convenience check balance. That means the balance will continue to accrue unpaid interest as long as the consumer uses the card to make purchases. Any sort of late payment or default will usually cancel the 0% promotional rate and will often cause most consumers to be charged back.

?MAKING BETTER DECISIONS WILL ENSURE MORE SOLID RETURN INVESTMENTS?.

Letonio Franklin is a debt negotiation for Franklin Debt Relief. FDR specializes in using credit card negotiation to reduce credit card debt. Visit Franklin Debt Relief for more information about their debt relief help services.