Understand Your Credit Card Statement and Save Money

When was the last time you really sat down and looked at your credit card statement? Did you look at the amount of interest you’re charged or pay attention to the card fees? Take control of your personal finances and you could be saving money.

How to Read Your Credit Card Statement to Reduce Card Fees

When your credit card statement arrives, do you keep it just to make the payment? Do you look at it closely at all?

The number of people who don’t fully understand what’s listed on each credit card statement is reported to be as high as 70%, according to recent surveys. Unfortunately, the key to taking control of your personal finance situation is understanding what’s happening to your money and how your account can be affected by charges shown on those statements.

Credit Card Interest Rate

Most credit card statements don’t have a clear interest rate noted on the statement anywhere. The main reason for this is that most credit card providers charge different rates for different types of transactions.

For example, you might be charged one interest rate for purchases made on your card, but you could be charged a much higher interest rate for cash advances. When you look closely at exactly how much you’re paying in interest charges, it’s easier to see how you could save money by finding cheaper interest rate options for your credit card balances.

Minimum Payment Due

The way statements are laid out can sometimes make it difficult to understand exactly how much your minimum payment will be each month and when it’s due. If you’re not aware of how to find out this information, then you could be costing yourself plenty in card fees, overdue fees and penalty fees if you’ve missed a due date or not paid enough to cover the minimum amount.

Card Fees

Your transaction list should show you any credit card fees that have been charged to your account throughout the month. These could include over-limit fees, late payment fees, penalty fees and annual fees.

If you’re not aware of what card fees are being charged to your account, you risk paying far more than you need to in costs that could be unnecessary.

The responsibility for your personal finance situation remains with you, so don’t let a confusing credit card statement cause you to pay out more in card fees and interest costs than you should be paying.