0 4 Hidden Credit Card Perks and Benefits that Consumers Should Know

Credit cards make us paranoid at times. We typically associate negative connotations to these plastic cards: never ending monthly payments, compounding interest, and a lifetime of debt among others. There are also perks and benefits credit cards offer, however, that can make us think the other way around.

Flexible Payments

Not everyday is shopping day, but if you have a credit card, you can practically buy what you can and pay just one-third of the amount owed next month. 

So, if you are buying the iPad Air, which costs around PHP 32,000, you have to pay the exact amount if you want to buy in cash. But if you have a credit card and you want to buy the iPad, you just have to swipe your card. If you buy an iPad air, your purchase will reflect in your next bill and you’re only required to pay at least the minimum amount of 3%: around PHP 1,000. 

Speaking of flexibility, you can take advantage of 0% monthly interest promos that most credit card companies in the Philippines offer. If you take advantage of a three-month 0% interest promo for your iPad Air, you just pay around PHP 11,000 for three months with no interest starting not today, but next month.

If the promo is for 12 months at 0% interest, you will only have to pay around PHP 2,600 per month starting next month. That’s a PHP 30,000 difference, and a lot better than paying in cash, because you can make use of your cash for other stuff or save it for an emergency fund.

Worry-Free Utility Bills Payment

This is one convenient feature of credit cards offered here in the Philippines, since most credit card holders pay utility bills. Paying these bills through your credit card will help you:

·   Avoid the long lines in payment centers

·   Pay ALL your bills through one statement

·   Organize and track your bills

Let’s say you live in the Metro: you have to pay Meralco, plus your Maynilad or Manila Water bill, plus your phone bills, among others. To make things worse, they have different due dates. If you use your credit card, you can set up an auto-pay facility to take care of your bills once they arrive, and then all you have to pay is your credit card statement. Better yet, you can also pay your credit card at home or wherever you are through online banking.

Supplementary Cards

If you have a big family, or you have a loved one who is far away, or if you’re teaching your teenager to manage finances, supplementary cards can be a good tool. Supplementary cards work like sharing your credit limit. If your credit card has a PHP50,000 credit limit, you share it with your supplementary card holders.

You can rely on supplementary cards during emergencies too. Let’s day your daughter – a first time driver – just had her first flat tire; she’s far away and doesn’t know what to do and where to go. If she has her supplementary card, emergency money is not a problem. Whatever she buys through her card will reflect on your bill as you are the primary card holder.

Balance Transfer

Sometimes, unfortunate events happen that make our already tight finances suffer even more. Sometimes it’s unavoidable to have debts and compounding interests on several credit cards that you own. Fortunately, you can consolidate your debt into one card through balance transfer.

Let’s say you have four credit cards from different banks, and you are paying 20% interest monthly. If you take advantage of a balance transfer, you can pick the bank that has the lowest interest and consolidate your debt into that bank’s credit card, and pay only for one interest per month. Contact your banks regarding this option and choose where to transfer all your debts.

These perks and benefits would not be to your advantage if you’re not financially responsible. It always depends on how you use or misuse your credit cards. If you’re an impulsive and reckless buyer, don’t expect to be debt-free!

About the Author:

This article was contributed by Mark Yasay of MoneyMax, Philippines leading comparison website. This portal helps individuals in saving money by comparing credit cards, personal loans, insurance and broadband plans.

0 Understanding the Role of a Good Billing Solution in a Business

The business with a comprehensive billing system will definitely achieve success in the industry. The revenue for a business and efficient management of the same will definitely help the business as a whole to excel in this industry. Efficient and dynamic billing solutions help the business to monetize and manage their business relationships better, from which they are able to reap benefits in the longer run as well. Efficient billing solutions help the business houses to manage, administer and handle the daily operations like invoice generations, periodical administration of the financial standards etc in a scientific and effective manner. 

 

These solutions provide management to administer their financial affairs as per the nature of the products and services. These also help the management from the auditing perspective and overall finance management. These solutions are designed to cater the requirement of the companies as per their business culture and pre-programmed financial practices. This multipurpose financial tool helps a company to make a lot of money but surprisingly it is an extremely cost effective tool, which does not require huge investment. This tool definitely enables a company to gain a competitive edge over its competitors in this highly competitive market. 

 

Industries which are benefited

These financial management tools help the companies to manage their billing and revenue affairs effectively. Most vitally the business houses are now able to manage their relationships with their parties, such as vendors, clients etc efficiently. These tools have gained tremendous popularity and these have been designed to cater the needs of all types of business functions in the industry. These tools are suitable to be used in the industries like Communication and allied service providing industries, Different financial institutions e.g. Banks, NBFCs, Insurance companies, different consulting companies engaged in collaboration and conferencing, business houses with innovative styles of business etc.

The characteristics of these tools

There are different features of these tools. They help the business houses in different ways and in different functions. The main features are listed below:

• Charge calculation of recurring nature, especially contemporaneous unit based and seat based charge calculations along with the option of prorated calculations
• Different types of fixed and interim charge calculations on the basis of the activation of the services, usage summary and expiration of the validity or contract of the services etc
• Unit per minute or second calculation, manned seat calculation, unit per cost calculation etc can be done
• Pre programmed algorithms for successful pricing function
• Different calculations on various discounts
• Periodical and unique billing cycle generation along with the feature of end of the period reports
• These are flexible enough to be customized as per the accounting practices and billing nature. Companies can customize these solutions to cater their specific needs
• Bill generation for events with multiple stages and services, capability of measuring and generating the bills of different transactions as per the nature of the services and products
• The solution providers offer flexibilities to the customers by providing round the clock support and resolution to all types of issues and concerns
• Comprehensive product catalogue helps the customer to choose their required solutions along with the feature of customization

The benefits which can be derived from this solution

The business houses can experience multiple benefits by using this solution. The approach of the companies changes altogether after the integration of this billing solution into their core financial management. Some of the key advantages which can be derived from this solution are:

• Suppleness and Adaptability – This solution enables the business houses to adapt to varied situations in quick time. The most complex scenarios can be handled and business relationships can also be maintained properly by using this financial tool
• Flexibility in terms of Marketing – In case of new products and services the companies can fit them into this tool without any hassle and delay
• Cost of Operations gets reduced – Integration of this tool enables the companies to engage lesser numbers of staffs as it helps them to automate the process to great extent
• Support the associated functions related to the audits – The application environment provided by this tool help the companies to resolve the customer issues and other operational flaws very fast
• Quick integration – This is primarily a web based tool and does not require much time for the integration with the core system

Author Bio:

Criss Derek is one of the veterans of financial industry and has loads of experience regarding the various financial management tools. His blogs on Billing Solutions are useful to understand the criticality of successful financial tools.