Every country has their very own slangs. Like in Malaysia, the way Malaysians speak English will have jargons like ‘lah’, ‘ah’, ‘mah’ and ‘aiya’ between every sentence or at the end of the sentence. This does not mean Malaysians do not speak English well. They do. Just that they speak it very differently.
Even in the Western countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, each of this country has their very own slang in their own language.
However, the purpose of this article is not about different slangs each country uses. Instead, it will show you the slangs being used in the credit card world.
Why do you need to know them? So that you know what they are and you will not fall into the trap of the vendors. Please bear in mind that credit card vendors do not charge credit card holders purposely in the illegal way. People fall into trap because they do not understand the jargons being used in the credit card world.
Let’s take a close look at each of them.
Credit Card
A credit card is a payment system that refers to a plastic card that allows users to spend first and pay later. Users can make purchases in almost everything they want and they pay the card issuer at the end of each month. They are encouraged to pay in full and required to pay the balance with imposed interests. Usually the card is issued by banks and credit unions.
Interest Rates
A credit card actually works like a third party to make the convenient payment system available between buyers and sellers. So what do the card issuers earn? It is the interest rates. They usually charge users about 2% – 3% from the overall transaction in order to provide this excellent facility to the marketplace.
Annual Fee
Apart from using a credit card, paying in full balance and interest rates, credit card holders are also required to pay an annual fee of RM100 to RM150 each year. However, credit card issuers or vendors no longer charge annual fees from the users due to its competitive nature in the market.
Bill Payment Fee
Depending on how an account holder pays his credit card balance, a bill payment fee will usually needs to be imposed by the third party merchant. For example, if you are using Maybank2u.com to pay your bill, then a fee will be charged. This is called a bill payment fee.
Grace Period
The grace period being used in the credit card terms refers to the number of days a user has to pay in full before the interest rate is being charged. Different card issuers impose different charges in terms of their interest rates but normally it is about 20 – 30 days.
Introductory Rate
The introductory rate refers to the low rate charged by the card issuer for an initial period. Many issuers do this in order to recruit new card holders to sign up for new credit cards.
Penalty Rate
This is the altered rate being imposed by the card issuer when a user has made one or two late payments.
So there you are, some of the interesting jargons used in the credit card world. Make sure you know what they are so that you know what you are paying for in the future.
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