Don't Let Your Credit Card Rate Get Spiked

Credit card companies are raising interest rates and canceling cards left and right. Bankrate has seven ways to avoid getting caught up in the “risk repricing” spree. It all comes down to keeping everything looking normal.

You can trigger adverse action if you:

  • Start paying only minimums instead of paying your balance off in full
  • Put one month’s mortgage on your credit card
  • Start to get close to or go over your credit limit
  • Have a high balance
  • Do an “app-o-rama” or “credit card arbitrage”
  • Engage in multiple balance transfers
  • Charge more than 30% of your available credit
  • Miss payments on your other bills

Basically you want your actions to tell the credit card company, “Nothing to see here folks, everything is hunky dory, move along, move along…”

For extra credit, here’s how you can increase your credit score by scoping out the “reason codes” for the factors that are dragging it down. Credit scores are an essential element in how creditors assess your riskiness.

7 tips for surviving the credit crunch [Bankrate]

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