Should you go over your credit card limit, it can prove costly in more ways than one. For instance, you could incur an over-limit fee from the credit card provider, or your credit file may have a notification placed on it indicating you’ve gone over, therefore, having a negative impact. Also by going over it may well affect you being able to get a credit limit increase in the immediate term.
Don’t spend right up to your credit limit
Even if you don’t use your credit card regularly each month, and it holds a balance, interest charges and other transactions such as repayment option plan may be added to your account when your statement date arrives. Naturally, such additions will then increase your balance and could possibly put you over the limit of your credit card, more so if you have spent right up to your limit. The best rule of thumb is to always try to keep the spending on your credit card below 90% of what your cards credit limit is.
Keep track of your Credit Card spending
Regularly check your credit card account either via your online account, or the cards app if one’s available. This way you can keep a track on your most recent transactions whilst checking how much it is you have available to spend. If you notice that you are near, or over 90% of the cards credit limit, then bear in mind that you’ll need to sort a one-off payment to allow some room for the interest and any charges which would be applied come statement day.
Check your card’s balance regularly
This is something you should get into the habit of doing, checking things such as the amount you’ve spent, the balance you have left to spend, the transactions on the statement, do you recognise them all? are there any strange ones which you don’t recognise? If there are problems, speak to your card provider immediately.
