CREDIT CARDS
Credit cards are issued by credit card companies working closely with all the main banks. When a credit card company lets you have a credit card it assumes that you are a responsible person who will be able to afford the purchases you make using the card.
Every credit card holder is given a credit limit. You can not owe more than this figure at any time.
Each bank does not actually run its own credit card scheme. Instead, separate credit card operations - such as Access and Visa - have been set up by the banks working together. The two worldwide schemes are Mastercard and Visa.
Your bank is probably linked to one of these credit card companies. So your credit card may have Visa on it - with the name of your bank also appearing. A credit card enables you to purchase goods or services immediately (shop, restaurant, garage, etc) without using cash or a cheque. The main purpose of credit cards is convenience in paying for something.
The supplier of these goods and services must belong to one of the credit card schemes. There are over 250,000 which do - displaying a sign for the particular schemes to which they belong.
Each supplier has a limit for credit card purchases Beyond this amount, it will have to check with the credit card company by phone before accepting your credit card - a protection against fraud. Each time you use a credit card, you sign a sales voucher made up of three copies:
you are given one copy for your records
another copy is kept by the supplier
the third copy is paid into the supplier´s bank account - and from there it goes to the credit card company´s head office.
The credit card company will send you a statement of what you owe every month. You should check each voucher you have kept with the figure on the statement.
The statement will clearly show the date on which you should pay in full the amount you owe if you are avoid paying interest. So in effect you can get free credit for the period running from the date of your purchase to the date when the statement says your payment should be received.
If you do not pay in full by the date indicated you will be charged interest. So, to avoid paying interest, you will have to repay the full amount each month. In any case you will have to pay back a minimum amount each month and this amount is indicated on your statement.
For example: If you use your credit card the day after your statement date, you would have more than 50 days´ free credit before paying.
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