, read how your credit cards work. Most credit cards are set up to make you pay a lot more than your original purchase. Between fees for service, late fees and interest charges it can take most of your paycheck.

What can you do instead of using the cash advance? The most famous and practical thing is to have an emergency fund. This is about three months of salary in an easily accessible form, like a line of credit on y

Are you short of cash and just need a little to get by? Thinking about using the cash advance option of your credit card? Are you sure, have you read how that works? Let me tell you my story of the time I did that and some ideas to avoid this credit card trap.

Normally we buy something on a credit card and if our balance started the month at zero we have a grace period. Meaning we do not pay interest until our statement due date. Which can be anywhere from 31 days to 7 days depending on where in the month we’re at. I needed a couple of hundred dollars and I did not have it. I had my paycheck coming in another 10 days but did not want to wait for it.

I got the cash advance of $900, bought whatever it was. Note: it is always a bad sign if someone takes out a loan to buy something but cannot even remember what it was. It means it was not an important purchase. In a month my statement arrived and I took a quick look at it. Something seemed very wrong, as I owed a bunch of extra money.

I was all upset that the credit card company could make such a mistake. They charged me interest from the day I borrowed the money. At the time it was 22%, my inability to wait the two weeks cost me about $30 in interest alone. Some of you might be thinking that $30 isn’t that big of a deal. If that thought entered your head, take it as a warning sign that you still haven’t grasped the concept of what money is worth. That extra $30 were after tax dollars. This means when you take into consideration all the deductions that are taken from my paycheck I was out more likely around $60.

Learning lessons the hard way makes them much easier to remember later. Hopefully you will learn from mine, read how your credit cards work. Most credit cards are set up to make you pay a lot more than your original purchase. Between fees for service, late fees and interest charges it can take most of your paycheck.

What can you do instead of using the cash advance? The most famous and practical thing is to have an emergency fund. This is about three months of salary in an easily accessible form, like a line of credit on yo

t due date. Which can be anywhere from 31 days to 7 days depending on where in the month we’re at. I needed a couple of hundred dollars and I did not have it. I had my paycheck coming in another 10 days but did not want to wait for it.

I got the cash advance of $900, bought whatever it was. Note: it is always a bad sign if someone takes out a loan to buy something but cannot even remember what it was. It means it was not an important purchase. In a month my statement arrived and I took a quick look at it. Something seemed very wrong, as I owed a bunch of extra money.

I was all upset that the credit card company could make such a mistake. They charged me interest from the day I borrowed the money. At the time it was 22%, my inability to wait the two weeks cost me about $30 in interest alone. Some of you might be thinking that $30 isn’t that big of a deal. If that thought entered your head, take it as a warning sign that you still haven’t grasped the concept of what money is worth. That extra $30 were after tax dollars. This means when you take into consideration all the deductions that are taken from my paycheck I was out more likely around $60.

Learning lessons the hard way makes them much easier to remember later. Hopefully you will learn from mine, read how your credit cards work. Most credit cards are set up to make you pay a lot more than your original purchase. Between fees for service, late fees and interest charges it can take most of your paycheck.

What can you do instead of using the cash advance? The most famous and practical thing is to have an emergency fund. This is about three months of salary in an easily accessible form, like a line of credit on y

t an important purchase. In a month my statement arrived and I took a quick look at it. Something seemed very wrong, as I owed a bunch of extra money.

I was all upset that the credit card company could make such a mistake. They charged me interest from the day I borrowed the money. At the time it was 22%, my inability to wait the two weeks cost me about $30 in interest alone. Some of you might be thinking that $30 isn’t that big of a deal. If that thought entered your head, take it as a warning sign that you still haven’t grasped the concept of what money is worth. That extra $30 were after tax dollars. This means when you take into consideration all the deductions that are taken from my paycheck I was out more likely around $60.

Learning lessons the hard way makes them much easier to remember later. Hopefully you will learn from mine, read how your credit cards work. Most credit cards are set up to make you pay a lot more than your original purchase. Between fees for service, late fees and interest charges it can take most of your paycheck.

What can you do instead of using the cash advance? The most famous and practical thing is to have an emergency fund. This is about three months of salary in an easily accessible form, like a line of credit on y

that big of a deal. If that thought entered your head, take it as a warning sign that you still haven’t grasped the concept of what money is worth. That extra $30 were after tax dollars. This means when you take into consideration all the deductions that are taken from my paycheck I was out more likely around $60.

Learning lessons the hard way makes them much easier to remember later. Hopefully you will learn from mine, read how your credit cards work. Most credit cards are set up to make you pay a lot more than your original purchase. Between fees for service, late fees and interest charges it can take most of your paycheck.

What can you do instead of using the cash advance? The most famous and practical thing is to have an emergency fund. This is about three months of salary in an easily accessible form, like a line of credit on y

, read how your credit cards work. Most credit cards are set up to make you pay a lot more than your original purchase. Between fees for service, late fees and interest charges it can take most of your paycheck.

What can you do instead of using the cash advance? The most famous and practical thing is to have an emergency fund. This is about three months of salary in an easily accessible form, like a line of credit on your house, and it is only used for emergency items .The easiest is do not spend the money. Learn how to go without it until you’ve saved up enough money to go and get it. Go read and understand how your credit card works today it will save you money. Be smart to be wealthy.