Competitions is, indeed, healthy for everybody, especially where it can serve its purpose well. This can be well documented in the credit card industry. Why? It is because without competition, most credit card companies would not care if their charges on interest rates were reasonable or not. For this reason, credit card companies have provided various offers and incentives just to get the consumers on their hook. They need freebies and some special low rate fees in order to entice the consumers to sign up for a credit car. Among the different rates included in a credit card, the annual percentage rate or APR seem to draw so much attention to itself. This is because the APR is the ultimate indicator of how much a particular loan can increase from the principal loan amount. Basically, APR refers to the calculated interest rates based on the principal amount loaned by a certain individual. These are the ones that will indicate the necessary interest rates to be paid by the consumer after they have incurred balances from last months bill, transferred a balance to another credit card, or made some cash advances. With the competition among the credit companies growing at unprecedented rate, most of them have come up with the strategy of offering low APR credit cards. The main reason behind this tempting offer is to lure the consumers to their bait. Of course, with the possibility of lowering ones credit card debts through the implementation of low APR, who can resist such remarkable offer? With low APR offers, credit card companies are able to catch their customers by the hook, and the victims are those who were not able to understand the meaning of all those rates stipulated on the fine print. The point here is that if people think that low APR credit cards are too good to be true, they probably are. Hence, it is important to analyze the meaning behind those low interest rates before committing oneself to credit. Actually, what matters most in APR is on how these rates are expressed. Basically, there are two ways: fixed and variable rates. The latter is unpredictable, usually tied on a different interest rate such as the Treasury bill rate or the prime rate, while the former is preset. Experts say that it is better to have low APR rate that are fixed rather than those that fall under the variable rates. This is because variable rates changes from time to time, therefore, there is always a possibility that the rate may go up or down. The Reverse Concept Low APR credit cards can only be beneficial to those who can make good use for it. That is, if a person is unlikely to incur overdue payments or accumulate balances from previous bill, then, the low APR will not be applicable. Nevertheless, getting a low APR credit card is still a better option than having credit cards with higher interest rates. One could never foretell when the low APR could be very handy in the future. Therefore, whether low APR credit cards are really beneficial or not, it is all dependent on the card user. Only one thing is certain, low APR credit cards are never good enough. They may change once the allowed period has already expired. That is why it is best to analyze the matter first before deciding. People should always be wary on making decisions where their money is the one at risk. |
