Related Consumer Finance Programs - The following lists of companies and financial service providers offer services to assist you with handling your debts. Combine debt with a consolidation loan or use a credit counseling or debt relief program for help with lowering your payments and getting your credit card bills and other obligations under control.

• Debt Management Services - Too many debts and payments to be able to keep up? Compare different debt management services that may be able to help you get control of your bills.
• Debt Settlement Negotiation - Too much debt? List of companies providing this alternative to bankruptcy that provides for debt negotiation and arbitration services for those that need to eliminate debt.
• Credit Card Debt Consolidation - Learn about the debt consolidation process and review detailed listings for lenders and services offering to help consolidate your debts.

Taking Charge of Your Credit Cards

21. When choosing a credit card, ask yourself if you plan to pay the balance in full each month. Many people don't pay their bill each month — they always carry a balance and pay interest on it. Yet many of these same people sign up for a card because it has no annual fee, without considering the benefits of a card with a lower interest rate or a more generous grace period (before interest begins accumulating). In the long run, a card that doesn't charge an annual fee could end up costing you far more in interest than a card that charges an annual fee.

In general, if you expect to pay your balance in full most months, look for a card with a full grace period and no annual fee. However, if you plan on carrying a balance, then a card with an annual fee and low APR (Annual Percentage Rate) may be a better choice.

FDIC Consumer News is published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FDIC Consumer News is produced quarterly by the FDIC Office of Public Affairs in cooperation with other Divisions and Offices. It is intended to present information in a nontechnical way and is not intended to be a legal interpretation of FDIC or other government regulations and policies. Mention of a product, service or company does not constitute an endorsement.

Find current and past issues of FDIC Consumer News at http://www.fdic.gov/consumernews. Refer to this same index to locate the issues that are specially formatted for being reprinted in any quantity.

To receive an e-mail notice about each new issue of FDIC Consumer News posted on the FDIC Web site, with links to stories, follow instructions posted at www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Last updated on 8/10/2007

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