Credit Card Management: All You Need To Know

Having a credit card is a very common thing these days, but not every credit card user is able to manage their card well. Most credit cards come with a plethora of benefits and sometimes the users are not even aware of all these features associated with their cards. Not only this, but many new users don’t even know the importance of timely bill payments and how they can help them build their credit history. All these things are important aspects of credit card management. Credit Cards can be of great advantage if managed and used wisely, but can also be your enemy if you make mistakes while using them. This is why Credit Card Management is crucial, especially when you are a new user or you have multiple credit cards. In this article, we will help you understand what credit card management is all about and how you can do this best. Keep reading for further information:/

What is Credit Card Management?

Credit Card Management refers to keeping track of all your credit cards without missing out on any important points. In order to manage multiple credit cards, the most important thing is to keep a track of the payment due dates as people often tend to miss payments as they are not able to remember so many dates. What you can do here is set a reminder for all your due dates so that you don’t miss even a single payment. If you have multiple credit cards, you can use payment platforms like Cred, MobiKwik, etc, where you can add all your cards and pay the bills.

However, this is not the only thing you need to keep in mind, there are lots of other points that you have to keep a track of in order to maximize your card’s benefits. These include features such as reward points, redemption processes, short terms offers & deals, and all other benefits so that you can avail of them at the right time. If you don’t keep a track of the reward points, you may end up losing many points as these points also have an expiry date. So, you should check the Rewards section at least once every statement cycle. Moreover, you can check your card issuer’s official website or rewards portal regularly to be updated on all the short-term offers and deals that the bank launches.

Important Tips to Manage Your Credit Cards

The following are some of the most essential tips that will help you manage your credit card and make the most out of it:

Never Miss Credit Card Bill Payments

If you have ever done research on how your credit score is built, you would be aware of the fact that your payment behavior plays the most important role here. If you miss even a single credit card payment, it may have a bad impact on your credit history and your score may drop by large numbers. This is why making on-time payments is the most important thing to do while using a credit card. Moreover, additional advice here is to pay your bills in full every month. Many people believe in paying the minimum due amount only, but this will only invite unnecessary charges like interest on your outstanding amount. Minimum due should be considered only in emergency situations where you really find it impossible to make the full payment. But under normal circumstances, you should always pay your credit card bills in full.

Try to Maximise Your Credit Card Rewards

The process of maximizing credit card rewards should start with choosing the card itself as you can get the maximum benefit only if you have chosen a card as per your requirements. However, if you have already got a Credit Card without analyzing your spending habits, you can still maximize its benefits. Firstly, go through the reward rates of your credit card and understand what are the categories that attract maximum reward points with your card. Some cards offer the best reward rates on travel, some on shopping, and others on different categories. Once you understand what category your card belongs to, make sure that you use your credit card whenever you purchase something belonging to that category. 

Moreover, you should also understand the redemption process so that you can redeem your points against something that offers the maximum value. There are various redemption options available with every credit card and you should always go with one that seems to be the most relevant to you. The Expiration date of your reward points is another important thing to keep in mind here. 

Check Your Credit Card Statements Regularly

One of the common mistakes that every credit card holder makes is to ignore their monthly statements. These statements carry every single transaction that you have made and all the fees and charges that are applicable to your account. This seems to be an unnecessary document to many people, but it can help you understand a lot of things. You can analyze where are you spending the most using your credit card and whether you are overspending or not. Sometimes there might be some fraudulent transactions or mistakes, which you can get corrected only if you check your statements.

Don’t Leave Any Card Unused For a Long Time

If you have multiple credit cards, you would most probably be using a few of them only. But, this is not a wise idea. If you have multiple credit accounts, you should try to use all of them. Even if you don’t prefer a particular credit card, you can use it once every statement cycle so that your card issuer doesn’t close your account. Unused cards are often closed by card issuers, but this is something that should be avoided until you yourself want to close that card. It may affect your credit score as your total credit limit as well as the average age of your credit accounts reduces. 

Bottom Line

If you are a responsible credit card user and you keep all the above-mentioned points in mind, you can not only save a lot using your credit cards but also build an excellent credit history. Managing multiple credit cards sometimes become a bit challenging, but setting bill payment reminders and logging in to net banking accounts regularly can help you a lot in this. Just make sure that you don’t miss out on any criteria to build a good credit history and also be updated with all the features of your credit cards so that you can use them at the