On vacation and short of cash? Pay attention to which credit card you use to get a cash advance, advises Changing Times, the Kip-linger Magazine. Interest and fees on a $400 advance for 30 days can range from $3.96 (on a Visa or MasterCard from Arkansas Federal Savings) to $24.96 (on a Visa or MasterCard from First Atlanta Bank in Delaware).
Few people note the cash-advance fees when they apply for a card, says Robert McKinley, publisher of RAM Research's Bank-card Update. But it pays to check out the fine print for fees in one of three forms: a flat fee (typically $1 to $10), a percentage fee (1 percent to 5 percent of the amount you borrow) or a higher interest rate for cash advances.There's no such thing as a free cash advance, even among credit cards that don't charge fees. On nearly all cards, the interest meter starts ticking from either the day you take out the advance or the day it's posted to your account. Although the Discover card does not charge interest on a cash advance for the first 30 days, there is a 2.5 percent fee, with a $10 maximum.
Usually, the higher a credit card's interest rate, the more expensive the cash advance, although there are exceptions.