by S. Graveson

Created on: January 05, 2010

Credit cards on the whole will contain fees though there are several kinds of “fees” very very few cards which have no form of a fee on the card. The 3 main fees are “annual”, “over limit” and “late payment” with some other ones applicable such as ones for a bounced cheque or reversed direct debit. Of those it's only really the “annual” fee that you may find cards not having at all and as a result is the first one you should try to avoid by making sure the card you get doesn't have one on it. In most cards available from banks this sort of fee won't be applied, though sometimes it is on certain cards it's a relative rarity for a standard card to have one. If a bank is offering you a card with one ask why you're having the fee applied, it maybe that they are offering something for the fee, for example they may lower the interest or offer a better limit. In fact after working for a bank I've seen cards that had an annual fee but no interest was charged unless the person went over their limit, it is rare but for that person (who used the card a lot) it was an advantage for them. Though if you have the card in the case of an emergency then you'll be better off avoiding cards with such a fee.

For the “over limit fee” it's one you can avoid by using the card correctly, control your spending so you don't go over the limit and it'll seem like the fee was never there. It sounds simple, and genuinely is simple, though many don't seem to realise just how easy it actually is and instead spend well outside of the means available on the card. Even if you pay off the balance of the card at the end of the billing month you will still be hit by a fee, often £12 in the UK, so the best advice would be to stay under the limit and ask the bank to raise your limit so you can avoid the fee. If they see you making the payments they are likely to increase your limit to keep you on their side for fear you will go elsewhere and they'll lose out.

The fee for “late payments” is another that is often avoidable with out doing anything all that intelligent or difficult. Most (again not ALL cards but a very high majority) will have this sort of a charge if you fail to make a payment on, or before, the due date of the minimum payment, again in the UK this is typically £12 a month. The first way to avoid this is to pay off the balance every month meaning you won't make any late payments, check your

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