When the subject of credit pops up in a conversation, some of the most prominent terms discussed in such conversations include items like credit score, identity theft, debt, and mortgage. Yet many forget about the important aspect of keeping a close eye on their credit statements.
There are many factors that should keep consumers concerned about their credit. One, is the rate at which the federal reserve has been hiking interest rate lately and another, is the rise of cybercrime, which has grown some muscle due to the increasing usage of online payments. Also, the fact that mobile wallets and electronic payments expose consumers to cybercrime does not make credit cards any safer.
As such, credit monitoring has become an important part of every consumer’s money management strategies. It is highly recommended that consumers keep a close eye on every change on their credit statement to ensure that no one is spending on their behalf.
In addition, given the frequency of rate hikes over the last few months, it’s clear that the slow and cautious approach once applied by the Federal Reserve is now a thing of the past. This means that credit card balances, mortgage rates and auto loans could be affected, which in turn could have an impact on consumer credit scores.
With the increasing cases of credit card and identity theft coupled with the rapidly rising lending rates, keeping a close eye on your credit statement can help you to monitor the credit score. As such, you can easily readjust your credit spending to ensure that you do not overburden yourself when it comes to servicing your debt.
Based on recent data, credit card users can expect to pay an additional $1.5 billion this year if the projected three rate hikes are implemented. At the moment, two are down with just the one to go to confirm this level of additional burden to outstanding credit card balances.
Illustratively, according to CNBC, Nerd Wallet published a report recently that estimates the additional credit burden to consumers to be about $6 billion in 2017 following the rate hikes we’ve already experienced compared to a scenario where there were zero rate hikes.
