{"id":284,"date":"2019-12-03T14:22:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T14:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/03\/credit-cards-news-trends-and-tips\/"},"modified":"2019-12-03T14:22:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T14:22:25","slug":"credit-cards-news-trends-and-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/03\/credit-cards-news-trends-and-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit Cards: News, Trends and Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Sometimes it feels as though we don\u2019t learn from our past<br \/>\nfinancial mistakes. Back in 2008, as a contributor to the recession, consumer<br \/>\ndebt reached a record high of $12.68 trillion. As of the end of the second<br \/>\nquarter in 2019, Americans surpassed that number by $1.2 trillion; we now stand<br \/>\nat $13.86 trillion in total household debt.<sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>A significant part of that debt comes from credit cards,<br \/>\nwhich reached $1.08 trillion this year. Perhaps that\u2019s not surprising, given<br \/>\nthat:<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More than 189<br \/>\nmillion Americans have credit cards.<\/li>\n<li>The average<br \/>\ncredit card holder has at least four cards.<\/li>\n<li>The average<br \/>\ncredit card debt per household is $8,398.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing. While debt, when used correctly, can allow<br \/>\nus to buy homes and pay for other big-ticket items, it\u2019s important to not get<br \/>\nover one\u2019s head. If you\u2019re concerned about whether you can cover your expenses<br \/>\nin retirement, give us a call. We can look at your household budget and help<br \/>\nyou create a retirement income strategy that\u2019s right for you.<\/p>\n<p>One of the disquieting factors about credit cards is their<br \/>\nrelationship with interest rates. Despite a decline of 50 basis points in the<br \/>\nU.S. 10-year note yield since last summer, the average interest rate on credit<br \/>\ncards is still near record levels. This suggests credit card companies are not<br \/>\nadjusting rates in relation to the target federal funds rate dictated by the<br \/>\nFederal Reserve. Issuers appear more focused on using rewards points and other<br \/>\nvalue-added benefits to appeal to customers than on lowering interest rates.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Given that high interest rates are a key reason consumers<br \/>\nget in debt trouble, here are few tips to keep in mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Introductory<br \/>\nrates are designed to attract new credit card customers but they usually don\u2019t<br \/>\nlast. Check the current annual percentage rate for a card before applying or<br \/>\nmaking higher-priced purchases than you can pay off by the end of the<br \/>\nintroductory rate period.<\/li>\n<li>If you open a<br \/>\ncard for its rewards (hotel and travel points, etc.), be sure to pay off your<br \/>\npurchases each month; otherwise, the interest you accrue could outweigh any<br \/>\nrewards you receive.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s important to<br \/>\nnote that there may be annual fees associated with a credit card. Be sure to<br \/>\nreview the terms before signing up.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Content<br \/>\nprepared by Kara Stefan Communications.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><sup>1 \u00a0<\/sup>Federal<br \/>\nReserve Bank of New York. Aug. 13, 2019. \u201cTotal Household Debt Climbs for 20th<br \/>\nStraight Quarter as Mortgage Debt and Originations Rise.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorkfed.org\/newsevents\/news\/research\/2019\/20190813\">https:\/\/www.newyorkfed.org\/newsevents\/news\/research\/2019\/20190813<\/a>. Accessed Oct. 24, 2019.<\/p>\n<p><sup>2 \u00a0<\/sup>Debt.org.<br \/>\nBill Fay. \u201cKey Figures Behind America\u2019s Consumer Debt.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debt.org\/faqs\/americans-in-debt\/\">https:\/\/www.debt.org\/faqs\/americans-in-debt\/<\/a>. Accessed Nov. 7, 2019.<\/p>\n<p><sup>3 <\/sup>Brian Riley. Payments Journal. Oct. 9, 2019. \u201cIn<br \/>\nCredit Cards, Bigger is Often Better.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paymentsjournal.com\/in-credit-cards-bigger-is-often-better\/\">https:\/\/www.paymentsjournal.com\/in-credit-cards-bigger-is-often-better\/<\/a>. Accessed Oct. 24, 2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>We are an independent firm helping individuals create retirement strategies<br \/>\nusing a variety of insurance products to custom suit their needs and<br \/>\nobjectives. This material is intended to provide general information to help<br \/>\nyou understand basic retirement income strategies and should not be construed<br \/>\nas financial advice. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The information contained in this material is believed to be reliable,<br \/>\nbut accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed; it is not intended to be<br \/>\nused as the sole basis for financial decisions. If you are unable to access any<br \/>\nof the news articles and sources through the links provided in this text,<br \/>\nplease contact us to request a copy of the desired reference.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>1008386B<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes it feels as though we don\u2019t learn from our past financial mistakes. Back in 2008, as a contributor to the recession, consumer debt reached a record high of $12.68 trillion. As of the end of the second quarter in 2019, Americans surpassed that number by $1.2 trillion; we now stand at $13.86 trillion in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ladintax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}