Ways your credit card can help you manage your finances – national credit card relief
Contrary to common belief, credit cards do not ruin your personal finances. Although credit card debt is a serious problem that can cause great damage to a person’s finances, credit cards can actually help you manage your finances better. Besides helping you become debt free, national credit card relief programs are available to help you learn how to manage your finances using credit cards.
Credit cards are not your budget’s worst enemy. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change,” say the gurus. It’s no different when it comes to finances. Imagine all the ways credit cards can help you become more structured and follow your budget to the T. These incredibly powerful tools can be your personal finances’ bestie. Here’s how:
- A Record-Keeping Tool
What’s great about credit cards and debit cards is that they keep a record of every transaction you make. It’s like having a personnel clerk. In the age of digital, online postings to your debit and credit card, online accounts are available right away without having to wait for a paper statement in the snail mail. Tracking expenditures have never been easier thanks to technology. If you want to know where your money goes, keep an eye on the online postings to your account. You’ll see the merchant’s name and number, and the amount of the purchase.
- Paying Taxes
When tax season comes, you’ll have access to your credit card statements to complete your taxes for the year, which can be a vital force in identifying many types of deductions. For example, you’ll be able to claim charitable contributions, health and business expenses, among others.
- Tracking Category Spending
Once you’re in the habit of tracking your credit card charges, you can categorize your expenditures to see where your money is leaking out and can make adjustments to your lifestyle. It’s the number 1 advice given by financial experts like Rob Lewis of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s National Credit Relief organization.
Nowadays, many credit card companies have built-in features that allow you to view graphs and charts with statistics about how you spend your money. For instance, you can see how frequently you go to restaurants, order take-out, and buy fast food. If you have credit card debt and you’re looking for relief, eating out is one of the first expenses you can avoid or minimize.
For small business owners, credit cards are the most powerful tools they can use to keep track of business expenses, stay on budget, and make opportunistic investments.
- Shock Absorbers
Everyone experiences occasional unpredictable expenses due to auto/home repairs or health emergencies. However, small business owners and freelancers are more likely to deal with delays in payments. Credit cards can hold you over in cases when cash flow is slow or you have a big bill to pay. A credit card’s grace period is the time between the closing of a billing cycle and the date payment is due. A grace period is usually 21 or 25 days. At the end of the grace period, you must pay your balance in full to avoid finance charges.
You Earn Rewards
Credit card companies have different ways of rewarding their clients for “good behavior,” which most often boils down to using your credit card more frequently. If you use your credit card as a payment tool and pay your balance in full before incurring in finance charges, the reward points you have earned will be totally free.
For example, you can earn up to 2% on every purchase you make. A percentage of all your transactions can be offered as cash back or travel credits. You can use these travel rewards in a number of ways. Frequent flyer miles or hotel points can be paid directly from your credit card when you use it to book a flight or a hotel room.
