Are you thinking of changing the television, the refrigerator or buying a durable good but you do not have enough capital to pay it in cash? Credit cards can be an option to acquire these types of products without decapitalizing you.
eye! A credit card is not an additional resource and you will have to pay it later, so you need to be careful when using it to avoid falling into payment problems and affecting your credit history.
“The credit card must be understood and conceptualized as a means of payment. It is a means that should help us to make payment transactions easier, but it should never become the way to finance a lifestyle that does not correspond to my ability to pay ”, recommends Luis Rubén Chávez, co-founder and CEO of yotepresto.com.
A credit card gives you the power to buy what you need at any time, as long as you do not exceed the credit limit, but it is also a great responsibility and can come back against you if you do not use it responsibly.
“Many times it falls into the error of thinking that the line of credit of a Credit or Service Card is an extension of your income, but it is not; A Card is an instrument that you can use to finance different expenses and have greater liquidity without completely reducing your capital ”, added Andreia Morelli and Armando Herrera, vice presidents of service cards and insurance and credit products at American Express, respectively.
In December 2020, the year of the pandemic, the banks had more than 386,000 million pesos (mp) in credit cards with a delinquency rate (overdue portfolio) of 6.9%. If compared to 2019, the amount in TDC was around 427,000 million pesos with 4.9% past due portfolio, according to data from the Ministry of Finance and the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).
On several occasions it has been said that to have control of your credit card you have to make a budget and have control of your income and expenses, there are other aspects that you must take into account before hiring a TDC and, once the you have, so as not to have payment problems.
“You must identify at what stage of your life you are, for example, if you are going to become independent, you are going to furnish your apartment, if you have an emergency, you are going to go on a trip or if your children are about to enter the University; the correct card becomes your ally to be able to solve expenses in which you require liquidity, in addition to allowing you to have a much more organized personal finances ”, commented Morelli and Herrera from American Express.
There are cards that offer you exclusive pre-sales, hotel discounts and better places on flights, points or rewards; In addition, it is necessary to know the interest rate that you are going to pay, the total annual cost (CAT), as well as the penalties and commissions that you will have to pay in case of not paying on time or of not covering the amount required each month.
“The TDC should only be the means that allows me to make purchases without the need to move with cash everywhere and a month be ‘totalero’, that is, with a single payment I close the debts that I generated in that month,” he recommended Chávez.
Have you heard # CuéntameDeEconomía?
It is not healthy for your pocket to have credit cards as collectible cards. The experts at yotepresto.com and American Express agree that you can have two cards: one for daily expenses such as: gasoline, food or entertainment and the second, with a higher credit limit, for long-term expenses.
In addition, Luis Rubén Chávez recommends having a third plastic in case of an emergency.
Account status
The account statements are generally friendly and easy to read, however, that facility can work against you and, without realizing it, you can find yourself in trouble because you did not cover the required amount and you will have to pay interest and penalties.
The specialists consulted recommend paying special attention to the following points of your account statement:
Advantage
As long as there is responsible handling of plastic and payments, credit cards offer advantages to users such as: the possibility of deferring large payments to months without interest and, thus, avoiding decapitalization in the short term, they help to carry a better control of personal finances, reward programs, discounts and protection of purchases, agreed the experts consulted.
In the case of making purchases for months without interest, keep a detailed control to avoid that these payments accumulate from becoming a snowball impossible to pay. Applications for mobile devices can help you control these types of purchases.
To avoid over-indebtedness and maintain healthy personal finances, it is important that your debt is not greater than 30% of your income, agreed Luis Chávez from yotepresto.com and Andreia Morelli and Armando Herrera from American Express.
Another benefit, depending on what the contract establishes, is that you can enjoy bonuses for a set amount, as well as various types of assistance – medical, legal, among others – at no additional cost.
In the event that you find a non-annealed charge, it is possible that this amount will be returned to you, what you have to do is contact the institution that issued the credit card, either by phone or at a branch; Some have this option in the app and comply with what they ask you to make the cancellation and refund of the amount you claim.
How to cancel a card?
This is also a simple process, however, to cancel a credit card you must not have any debts. In some institutions the cancellation is done instantly and in others the process can take about a week.
“Not by canceling a card does our history disappear in the payment centers; it takes about 5 years to disappear ”, highlighted Chávez from yotepresto.com.
In case you have problems paying off your credit card debt, you can start by paying off the lower amount and then with the others (in case you have more than one). Another option is to obtain a personal loan to cover these debts and then pay in a fixed term and with a lower interest rate.
“We have granted nearly 900 million pesos in loans and about 70% have been for this,” highlighted Chávez from yoteresto.com. In addition, there are applications that help you have better control of your personal finances, such as Zenfi, where you can also check the status you have in the Credit Bureau and recommend financial products according to your needs, he concluded.
