If qualified, the Upgrade card can transform your bill-paying sloth into activeness. The Upgrade card is similar to a personal line of credit rather than a traditional credit card in that interest is not accrued on balances carried over from day to day.
Aside from making purchases, the card allows you to deposit funds into your designated bank account. Upgrade treats your cumulative transaction volume as an installment loan and applies interest after each billing period. With Upgrade's installment plan, you may choose between a 24-, 36-, or 60-month payment schedule and make the same payment each month until the balance is paid in full.
The terms allow you to make substantial progress toward repaying the principal, which can reduce the total interest you pay over the life of the loan and speed up the repayment process. The Upgrade card offers a cash-back incentive of 1.5% for monthly bill payments.
The Catch-22 comes into play once more, too, because interest costs mount if you don't pay off your credit card in full every month. This holds whether you want to pay off your Upgrade card every month or with a standard credit card's minimum payment. Get your priorities and budget before applying for this or any other credit card.
In Brief#
Rates of interest are anything from 14.99% to 29.99%. Credit lines and interest rates are adjustable between $500 and $50,000. Repayment terms can be as short as 24 months or as long as 60 months.
With the same balance and interest rate on a standard credit card, it would take that person 28 years and five months to pay off the balance by making minimum payments of $250 each month. In that time, they will have accumulated $14,423.16 in interest.
Assume now that we have a customer who can consistently pay $499.24 monthly. Paying off a $10,000 load on that same typical credit card with an 18% annual percentage rate would take 25 months and cost $1,958.79 in interest fees and principal. That's the same as the minimum payment on the Upgrade card, and if you're ever short on cash, you can always pay the minimum.
What the Process Entails
Promotional Monetary Payments for Those Who Choose to Upgrade When compared to standard credit cards, Visa® has some distinctive features. A revolving debt credit card's monthly payment is one example of how the Upgrade card's potential payment structure may differ. If you have a $10,000 amount on your Upgrade Card and are approved for the promotional 18% APR, you can pay it off in 24 months by making $499.24. The total interest paid by this borrower would amount to $1,981.78.
Credit card interest rates are extremely high. Therefore it's smart to spend to pay off the balance each month. However, there are occasions when it just isn't feasible, and that's when a credit card comes in handy. The Upgrade card requires a larger minimum payment each month to keep interest costs manageable over time, but it only lets you pay less on a particularly tight month as a regular credit card might.
Advantages Available Only to Cardholders
Support for travelers in times of crisis, including language interpretation, referrals to local healthcare providers, and rapid response vehicle dispatch. When used on qualifying purchases, the Upgrade Card can extend the original warranty by up to an additional year.
If you find an identical item advertised in a print ad at a lower price and pay for it with your Upgrade card, you may be entitled to a price adjustment refund.
Subtle Interest Charges
There is no yearly charge for the Citi Simplicity, and the card comes with the following introductory deal: Balance transfers receive a 0 introductory APR for 21 months from the date of the first transfer, and purchases receive a 0 introductory APR for 12 months from the date of opening the account. From then on, your creditworthiness will determine your variable APR, anywhere from 18.24% to 28.99%. You will be charged more than $5 or 3% of the transferred amount in the first four months after opening an account. After that, a balance transfer fee of $5 or 5% of the transfer amount, whichever is greater, will be assessed.
With an annual percentage rate (APR) of 28.49%, there are better cards if you frequently carry a load (Variable). A card like an Upgrade would be preferable due to its lower interest rate and more reward potential.
Compare the benefits of the Cash Rewards Visa® to the Chase Freedom FlexSM. To get the most out of the Chase Freedom® Flex credit card's rewards program, you should exercise the same financial discipline that keeps you from running up a balance on your card.
