Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Annual Percentage Rates Differ Depending On The Credit Card Company That Offers It

Category: Finance, Credit.

You have been researching some credit cards, but you may not quite understand some of the terminology that credit card companies use. What is credit card APR anyway, and how will that be charged to me once I get the credit card?



You may also have some questions concerning the APR offer you are given in the credit card advertisements you receive in the mail. First of all, APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate. This, will be an, of course estimate, it will be assuming that you pay all your monthly credit card bills on time, and it may or may not have an expiration date, depending on the credit card company, and your credit, the offer rating. This is what estimates the amount you will be paying in interest each year. The difference between the Annual Percentage Rate and the regular interest rate is that the APR is the interest you pay in a year that compounds monthly. The regular interest rate is just the amount you owe times the original interest rate.


In other words, it is the interest of the initial amount. Since the APR compounds each month, it ends up being more per year than simply the percentage of the whole principle. To be even more confusing, APR is also calculated differently between each company. Annual Percentage Rates differ depending on the credit card company that offers it. The calculations are based on several different factors, and some factors are excluded with one company and included with another. Some of the fees that you are charged are included in the APR. It all depends on what your credit card company's policy is for calculating the APR.


There are some fees that are not allowed to be calculated into the APR, some that are allowed but often are not, and some that usually are charged on the APR. The credit card company will charge you for certain work they have to do when they are handling your account. Here are a few of the charges that ARE included. These fees are based on things that are done on your behalf, like checking your credit, or preparing the documents you need to get a credit card. These fees are usually set at a certain price for everyone, but differ from company to company. These are called discrimination fees. There is another fee generally charged that pays for opening a credit card account.


They charge you this fee in order to take care of the things they must do to get you the credit you applied for. This is called a loan processing fee. An underwriting fee is what you will be charged when they are determining whether you can be approved for the loan you applied for. This pays for any money they spend while deciding whether or not you will be approved and the money it may cost them to lend to you on credit. They will check the information you give them about yourself and the collateral you put up on your credit card, if any.

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