- Credit card issuers have various fees for transactions and services. These include application, processing, late, over-the-limit, account termination, balance transfer and cash advance fees, as well as annual or monthly fees.
- Credit card issuers in the U.S. must disclose the card's periodic rate, which is applied to outstanding balances each month to determine the finance charge, and the annual percentage rate (APR), which is the cost of the credit as an annual rate. If the rates are variable, the credit card issuer must also state how the rate change is determined as well as how much and how often it can change. Many cards offer an introductory or balance transfer rate, but be sure to determine how long this rate is charged.
- A grace period is the time the card holder has to pay the balance before the due date without paying finance charges, and is especially important if you plan on paying your card in full each month. Some cards start to accrue finance charges from the time you use the card and others when the transaction was posted. Once the due date passes, the account is in "default" and some issuers can raise interest rates or report you as in default with any other cards you have, even if you've paid on time and they were issued by other companies; this is called "universal default". Card issuers calculate balances by one of four methods: average daily balance, adjusted balance, previous balance and two-cycle or double-cycle balances.
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