Credit Card Madness
Forgetting your debit card at the ATM somehow, bad.Doing this two days before leaving the continent, very bad.
I now have two choices. I can fly with a fair amount of currency in pocket, and exchange it there at a notoriously exorbitant place at the airport, or find an equally questionable place run by money launderers in town. Risks are high.
The other option is to play the whole switcheroo. I can pull money from a credit card, and then make sure to pay it just before I make the withdrawal. The really tricky part, though, is figuring out how interest is calculated. Let's say the regular charge rate on the card is 15% and a cash advance is 20%. I withdraw 200 dollars, and make a payment right away of an equal value. I also have another hypothetical 500 dollar balance at the rate of 15%. How is that payment applied to the balance? Is it distributed equally in 5 parts to 2, giving me some odd number of a interest rate? Or is the bank smart enough to realize they already stripped me bare?
Which leads to my next question. Did the ancient greeks, when they came up with their rational point of view on the world envision such a system where such ambiguous questions could evolve? Or are we just merely becoming the fabled 'post-human' playing at building incomprehensible worlds like the one we're evolving in?
5 flames:
Most credit cards have an "adverse order of payments" where card providers choose to allocate payments first to outstanding balances at the lowest rate of interest (for example 0% balance transfers), leaving balances at higher interest rates, such as purchases and cash advances, to continue to accrue interest.
No interest is charged on new purchases until the payment due date - up to 56 days interest free credit.
And cash is charged interest from the day you withdraw it rather than the from the 56 day day interest free period usually.
Try travellers cheques. A little antiquated these days but still usable.
I was debating travellers checks, but it seemed like one more errand to do before I leave.
cash advance loans can be can be usefull in this day and age.
My blog, How To Get Good Credit Gab, provides the opportunity to share thoughts, ideas and experiences about obtaining good credit and emphasizes the importance of building and maintaining good credit and the perils of personal financial mismanagement.
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