Your wealth
Paying your credit cards on time? Priceless.

By now, you know credit-card costs add up quickly if you carry a large balance or pay late. In fact, many card companies are jacking up their penalty fees for making late payments and exceeding your credit limit. Here are a few other credit-card caveats:

• Grace periods are shrinking. Many card companies have abandoned the 30-day grace period in favor of 25 or 20 days.

• Pay late, pay more. If you pay late or exceed your credit limit on one card, other cards may also penalize you.

• That fine print may not be so "fine." Credit-card companies can change your interest rate with 15 days notice. Companies also frequently change other terms of your agreement, so it pays to read the information they send you.

• Cash advances—they advance cash from your pocket to theirs. Many credit cards offer no grace period for cash advances, so you start paying interest immediately. The interest rate also may be higher than your rate on purchases. On top of all that, many cash advances come with a transaction fee.

• Minimum required payments cost you more. Minimum monthly payments are shrinking, and if you pay only the minimum, you’ll be in debt for the long haul. For example, with a $1,000 balance, if you pay a 2% minimum ($20) on a card with 18% interest, you will celebrate 19 birthdays and rack up $1,931 in interest payments before retiring that debt.

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