Cashry knows credit cards. It would be easy to simply tell you never to use them, but that’s not realistic for most of us. Instead, we talk about practical ways to manage your credit card balance and help you compare the different types of credit card available to you. It would be fun to talk about features and interest rates and rewards as if they were the latest smart phone or streaming service or infomercial appliance. We choose instead to be as real with you as possible while breaking down industry lingo and expert insights into plain, simple English. We choose to inform and encourage and trust you to make the best decisions for yourself as a result.
And yes, with that credit card information comes our own credit card comparison chart. Yes, we break down the different types of credit card and can even help you find good credit cards for bad credit. If you decide to apply for a particular card, we’ll help you with that part as well. We maintain relationships with a number of reputable card providers because that’s part of modern financial reality for most Americans in the 21st century, and we can’t claim to care about “unified finance” and ignore or exclude one of the biggest elements of that for most of us.
Keep in mind, however, that you’re the customer. Whatever your credit history or current three-digit credit score, you may have to apply – but you don’t have to beg. You don’t have to take the first thing you’re offered, or the second, or the third. Whatever your circumstances, you deserve to be treated with honesty and respect. Besides, it may turn out that the best credit card for you is actually a debt consolidation loan, or a small savings account, or a household budget. Unified finance means focusing on your personal financial goals and circumstances. It’s not about the card – it’s about what makes the most sense for you.
So, how can we help you today?
All credit cards are not created equal, and not all credit card use is the same. It’s important to find a card that works for you - and make sure you don’t end up working for the card.
In a perfect world, we’d get by without any plastic in our purse or wallet. In reality, however, most of us like the flexibility. We want options, especially when something unexpected happens. Carrying the right credit cards isn’t a bad thing. For most of us, it’s part of being prepared
The problems come when we find ourselves in a cycle of making minimum monthly payments without ever reducing our balance (or worse, NOT making our minimum monthly payments). Many cards are designed to draw us into a pattern of debt, constantly paying interest and late fees while our balances continue to rise. When this happens, our credit cards are no longer helping us; they’ve become part of the problem.
Goalry can help you find the right credit card or cards for you. We can help you compare interest rates, rewards, and other features. All cards are not created equal because not all credit card users are the same. Just as importantly, however, we can help you use that card more strategically and effectively. Credit cards are important, but they’re just one feature of your unified financial life.
Let’s stop surviving and start living. Let’s do less reacting and more preparing. It’s time to be in control of your financial future. It’s time for Goalry.
Do you ever wonder why some people manage to secure such low-interest credit cards with such great rewards programs attached? Why card issuers compete for their business with amazing offers while they simply deluge others with inflated promises, hidden fees, and ridiculous interest rates?
Most of the time it comes down to credit scores. Even an average score can give you a shot at competitive rates and some appealing introductory offers. A good or excellent score opens the door to even sweeter deals and financing options which seem practically free. Whatever your current score, it matters - whether you want it to or not.
The good news is that your credit score isn’t set in stone. It changes every time you make or miss a payment, borrow or repay a loan, raise or lower your equity and investments, or even apply for a new credit card. If you have a low score, we can help you raise it - not with tricks, or magic, or inflated promises of overnight change, but with practical, down-to-earth changes in how you think about your spending, saving, and credit card use. Paying down debt and strengthening our credit history won’t always be easy, but it doesn’t have to be as hard as it often seems. And you don’t have to do it alone.
Whatever your credit score, you don’t have to take the first card offered to you on whatever terms the issuer chooses. You are still the customer, and in the 21st century, you have options. Your journey towards taking more effective control of your personal or small business finances starts with recognizing whose in charge of your financial choices - and it’s not the credit card companies. We can help you cut through the noise and promises and start making those better decisions you’ve had in you all along.
Choosing the right credit card for your lifestyle can be part of effective budgeting. Low-interest cards with rewards you can actually use help save you money now and over the long haul. A detailed budget with a specific repayment plan ensures that your credit card use serves your long-term goals rather than simply scratching a short-term itch.
Prompt repayment of any credit card debt you incur should be a priority in your monthly budgeting. Never settle for making minimum monthly payments month after month. Credit card interest accumulates too quickly and issuers love to keep nudging up your credit limit to keep up the impression that you’re doing well as your balance continues to rise. If you can’t pay off your cards in full each month, make sure you’re spending and card use is strategic - not impulsive.
It’s OK to give yourself options in your budgeting and your credit card use. We can help you stay in control of both so that your cards are working for you instead of the other way around.
Effective cash management means making daily decisions that support your long-term goals instead of hindering them. We can’t always control what life throws at us, but we always have at least some choice how we respond.
Do we buy new in hopes of greater reliability and a longer product life, or buy used to save money? Should I pay down debt with that small surplus, put it in savings, or add it to my retirement investments? Even choosing to change cell phone plans or cut one of our many streaming services is a form of cash management. It’s no different when choosing credit cards or when deciding when and how to use them.
Should you prioritize a low introductory rate or focus on guaranteed long-term conditions? Do you really use the “rewards program” associated with your current credit card, or would you be better off transferring your balance to something more basic with a lower overall interest rate? Should you take whatever you local bank or credit union is offering for convenience, or educate yourself on some of the many options available from reputable online institutions?
Knowing when to use your credit card and when to consider other methods of payment is another critical element of effective cash management. Is it better to hold down total debt or maintain your savings? Are you using the card for flexibility or because you can’t actually afford what you’re about to buy? Will you be glad tomorrow that you pushed forward with your decision or wish you’d waited and thought about things a bit longer?
It feels like “Savings” and “Credit Cards” are opposites in many ways. That’s because we’ve been trained to think of the many different elements of our financial world as distinct and unrelated to one another.
But that’s not how things really work, is it? The money you spend on auto insurance is money you can’t spend on taking the family out to dinner. The extra cash you earn watching the neighbor’s kids some weekends goes into the same checking account as your direct deposit paycheck from your “real job.” And choosing to use a credit card instead of dipping into savings, or to spend money from savings instead of adding to our credit card debt, is all part of taking more effective control of our own personal or small business finances. It’s all the same money, however we earn it, spend it, save it, or invest it. Pretending otherwise is often how we get in trouble to begin with.
That’s why at Goalry we like to talk about “unified finance.” Your credit score, your retirement plans, your decisions about remodeling or refinancing or consolidating your debt are all connected. So are your decisions about choosing the right credit card and managing your short and long-term savings. We’ve constructed our online financial mall and all Goalry applications with this in mind. The decisions are all still yours. What we can help you with is making more informed decisions, with better organized information, all at your fingertips whenever you choose to access it.
That’s unified finance. That’s Goalry.
