Making the Best Use of your Credit Cards

Your credit card can help – or harm – your credit rating. Here are a few tips to ensure that you use your credit card to best advantage.

• It’s a good idea to have a credit card in order to establish a credit history.
• Manage your credit card just as you would your cash. Establish a budget. Just because you have credit, doesn’t mean you should use it all at once!
• Be sure to make your monthly payments by the due date. Did you know that paying even a day or two late will affect your credit rating negatively? If you’re forgetful, you can set up an automated payment online so you don’t risk late payments.
• Use rewards cards to get added value from your card, but don’t run up the credit just to get more rewards!
• It’s a good idea to have a second card, but don’t overdo it. Limiting your credit to two cards
• keeps record-keeping simpler, and it removes the temptation to abuse credit.
• If you aren’t disciplined about credit, use savings and cash for lifestyle needs. So for example, once you’ve scored those airline tickets with your Scotiabank travel rewards cards, cover the rest of your vacation from money you have saved to pay for it rather than going into debt. Better yet, plan ahead by creating a separate "vacation" account and adding a little to it each month.
• When you’re about to travel, alert the Credit Card Centre so they will know to expect to see transactions in unusual locations.