As the Chinese New Year approaches, banks are promoting credit cards, valuable gifts, no annual fees, no guarantee, no proof of property, or even proof of stable income. In this case, the popularity of credit cards will increase significantly. So, is there anything fishy behind the bank’s aggressive promotion?

1. Automatic repayment

It will become increasingly difficult for most people to endure going to the bank to repay every month. In the end, I will choose to apply for a savings card and set up automatic repayment business. Therefore, you must deposit enough money in the savings card to successfully repay. In connection with the above question, you should set the full repayment instead of the minimum repayment.

The second purpose of the bank has been achieved. You will find that instead of paying directly with a debit card, you now use a credit card to overdraft first, and then pay with a debit card. There is basically no change. The only thing that increases is credit card points. Yes, this is probably one of the benefits of a credit card. But wait a minute, debit cards now also have an annual fee, ranging from about 10 yuan, and this is usually non-reduced. As a result, credit card points turn into annual fees.

2. Credit card points

What can points be used for? It can usually be exchanged for goods. However, normal products often require sky-high points. Under normal consumption standards, if you save points for 3 years, you can probably only buy a "famous" tea cup (the annual fee for 3 years can probably buy one).

What should you do if you want to use up your points? So there are some "activities" that allow you to purchase certain products at a discount with points. Of course, these specific commodities are usually a means for manufacturers and banks to jointly handle inventory. So you buy discounted products from the manufacturer's inventory, and the products consume points.

3. POS machine set code

We are clearly eating in a restaurant, why does the merchant listed on the POS list be XX Real Estate Company? That is because the merchant uses a POS machine that is inconsistent with its own business to swipe your card, which is the so-called "coding". In this way, the merchant can bear less or even no handling fees, and you will lose credit card points. Frequently swiping your card at this kind of POS code may also make the bank suspect that you cash out. If you encounter code fraud, you must promptly report to UnionPay and the card-issuing bank, ask for your points back, and complain to bad merchants.

4. Handling fees for online shopping

You can also use a credit card to buy things on Taobao, and the transaction fees are generally borne by the seller. However, some sellers have not opened the "credit card transaction" service. If you use a credit card to purchase from such sellers, you have to bear the handling fee yourself, which is generally 1% of the total consumption. It is recommended that you choose to shop at an online store that has opened credit card transaction services.

5. Annual fee collection

1. If you are applying for a high-end credit card such as a Platinum card, the bank card officer will not mention the annual fee to you, but will blindly promote Platinum. No matter how good the card benefits are, you must take the initiative to find out how much the annual fee of this card is and whether it can be waived. Currently, except for a small number of platinum cards that are exempt from annual fees, most platinum cards are not exempt from annual fees. To open a card, you have to pay money, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand yuan, and some high-end cards have annual fees of tens of thousands of yuan.

2. You also need to consult the bank about whether the credit card you apply for will charge an annual fee before opening the card, when will the annual fee be charged, and how many times a year can it be waived? If you don’t understand these, it will be easy. Just the annual fee. Although the annual fees for gold cards and regular cards are not high, usually tens or hundreds of dollars, it still makes you unhappy if you are ripped off by the bank for no reason.