Canadian Credit Cards Can Provide Some Great Perks! What’s your cup of Tea?

Is there any mystery as to why some people were not meant to own a credit card? When I talk to most people about debt they tell me that it’s the fault of the credit card they carry in tucked in their wallet. They fail to recognize that the card isn’t doing the shopping, it’s them.

It’s reality that a credit card is sometimes a necessity to book a hotel, rent a car  or use paypal and other on-line frequencies. If you don’t have one the consumer hears , you are not privy to use our services or we don’t know if we can trust you.  It’s like a gold ticket for these retailers, you mess up, they have your number.

If you credit score isn’t up to snuff you might find yourself  lagging your mates who are able to capitalize on all the perks a credit can offer.

What is a Credit Score?

According to Industry Canada a credit score is a judgement about your financial health at a specific point in time. You can check your credit score for free once per year.  You are rated on a scale of 1-9 where a 1 means you pay your bills within 30 days of the due date.  If you have a rating of  9  well you have some explaining to do.  This means you never pay your bills or you have went into consumer debt repayment proposal.  Know your score, it’s important to your financial well-being and if you don’t understand your report  you can learn all about it just by clicking here.

Credit Cards don’t have to have a bad wrap if they are used properly and paid in full at the end of the month. The best part may be the incentives involved if used properly although credit card companies simply want you to pay the minimum balance.  Then what happens? You know all those perks.. well you are now paying for them in interest charges. Not all cards are created equally so it’s up to  you to decide what’s best for you.

Oh, and make sure you read all the fine print and know what your interest rate and any “other” potential charges are. If it doesn’t make sense to you ask. The only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask.  Many people toss the fine print in the bin and then when something goes wrong they blame the credit card company…. READ!

People who use these credit cards to their advantage like us take the perks and run with them. Whether you get Air Miles, groceries, money-back, scene points or gas  it’s money back in your budget, provided you pay the bill when it comes knocking.

The hard part is figuring out what credit cards are right for you and leaving the one’s you will never use behind. Don’t be fooled or enticed to Spin the Credit Wheel by discounts and deals if you won’t use the card.

The last thing you want is more credit on your credit report that you aren’t using just to get a discount.  It’s better to leave a long-standing credit card on your report than to cancel it.  You may want to read up about how cancelling a credit card could potentially hurt your credit score.

If you think Pre-paid credit cards are the better option, think again. I received one for a Christmas Gift and what  load of hooey.  They charged me a $5.o0 activation fee on a $20.00 card. What kind of crap is that? Who buys these cards? Read the fine print or you might be spending more than you bargained for.

We have a couple credit cards which we prefer to use and I’ll tell you why

Canadian Tire MasterCard

• I simply love this card as I’m a handy man and spend alot of money at Canadian Tire buying tools and household items.  My Canadian Tire Money has come in handy or more than one occasion and has saved money in our home maintenance and vehicle maintenance budget.
•  I use this for everything we purchase for the home and fuel in the vehicles. I also like to take advantage of email coupons sent by Canadian Tire which offers 10x points or other deals.

PC Financial MasterCard

•  Free Groceries, sure bring it on.  We’ve lost count how much we have received back in PC points and used towards FREE groceries. We purchase all our groceries with this card as well as get points through paying our bills online and bringing our own shopping bags.  This has been a lovely incentive credit card for us and we plan to use this as long as they offer PC points.

Here’s what some of my Facebook Fans had to say about Why they LOVE their Credit Cards?

• Allyson Turner- It’s gotten me free movie tickets, free gas, and a great credit rating which will allow me to buy a house without needing my parents to co-sign for.  It allows me to not miss paying my phone bill, and make instant payments through paypal, as well  making purchases online where paypal is not accepted.
• It allows me to buy my gasoline without going in to the store and having to wait in line.  I don’t live off of my credit card, but it definitely has had some pretty good uses. 🙂

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