Pay More than Minimum Credit Card Payment

Almost everyone has a credit card these days; some people even have a few! When you bear this in mind, it is understandable how so many people manage to get into debt with their credit cards. Although credit cards have benefits such as air miles or other reward schemes, this doesn’t always outweigh the costs that can accompany them.

When you spend money on a credit card, you accumulate interest until the total balance is paid off. This brings us to our credit saving tip – always pay more than the minimum balance where possible. For the most part, the minimum payments that you are making are only really covering the interest that has accrued on the account. If it says that you only have to make a minimum payment of $50, don't rejoice and think to yourself that you have a few extra pennies to spend somewhere else, make a payment of $100 if you can afford it. Better yet, start a debt snowball. You will have less interest to pay off and in the long run, you will be much better off.

Not only will paying more than the minimum balance be a great help financially, but it will also help your relationship with the lender and in turn, your credit score overall. Once you have built up a good relationship with a lender, when you do reach dire financial times, they will be more likely to help you out with a better repayment plan and you will avoid the nasty black marks against your name on your credit report. It just makes sense when you think about it. One last reason why you should be paying off more than the minimum – you pay off the balance much quicker so you will be back to not having credit card debt. Then the credit card's full balance will be there, should you ever need it in a case of a large and expensive emergency.