6.9 Keeping track of your credit card account

There are several ways to keep track of your credit card account. The method you choose will really depend on how you manage your other personal finances.

Online Banking

If you are comfortable using the internet, keeping track of your credit card account online is probably the easiest and cheapest method to use. If you sign up for online banking with your credit card provider (or your bank if they also provide your credit card) you will be able to access details relating to your account whenever you like. You will be able to see the transactions you have made and your remaining credit limit, as well as make your monthly repayments.

Using this online service is particularly handy if you find it hard to keep track of your spending and should be a useful tool to help prevent you from going over your credit limit and consequently incurring penalty fees.

Telephone Banking

However, if you don’t feel comfortable with handling your finances via online banking, you could try telephone banking, although it may prove expensive to do it this way.

Most credit card providers use 0870 or 0845 numbers for their telephone banking services which can prove expensive to call, especially when using a mobile telephone.

If your card provider is also a high street bank, you will probably be able to use their telephone banking phones in branch to access your credit card account. You will need your credit card to hand when you do this as well as your online/telephone banking password.

A quick and easy way to manage your account would be to keep a note of the purchases you make and make sure you have a mental note of how much credit you have remaining each time you go to use your card again.

Monthly credit card statement

If you are currently just paying back your credit card bill, and not using it for any new purchases, you will probably be able to manage your account by reading through your monthly statement sent out to you in the post (see Section 8: ‘Understanding your credit card bill').

If you suffer from any disabilities that would make it hard for you to manage your account, it would be handy for you to know that credit card providers offer several different provisions to try to make it as easy as possible for you to view your credit card account. They offer services such as large print, Braille or audio format statements and different accessibility options on their online websites.

You may want to pay particular attention to the date that your introductory interest-free offer expires so that you can see how much interest is going to be added to your account each month. You can then bear this in mind when you consider what your monthly repayments should be from that point onwards. If you only make the minimum repayment and are being charged standard rates of interest, it will take you a lot longer to pay off your debt.

Credit report

There is one other aspect to consider when it comes to keeping track of your credit card account and that is how it is appearing on your credit report.

Your credit report will contain details of all credit accounts you currently have open or have had active over the past 3-6 years. It will also detail any missed or late payments made on the account and how much credit you have available to you as part of it.

Late and missed payments will have a detrimental effect on your credit report and will make it harder for you to get credit in the future, especially at times when lenders are tightening their lending criteria and being fussier about who they lend money to. Lenders will also consider how much credit you have available to you and how much you owe when they consider whether or not to give you credit.

However, mistakes can happen. If there is any incorrect information about your credit card account on your credit report, you can get this removed by writing to your credit card company and the credit reference agency. Once removed, this should improve your credit rating.

Click the link for a free credit report (as part of a free 30 day trial with Experian)

Back to Guide to Credit Cards Contents

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