By Melissa Lambarena | NerdWallet

Using a credit card to make purchases is straightforward, but understanding the ins and outs of how exactly they work can be more complicated.

On the back end, credit card issuers can take certain liberties that impact your cards’ features. If you dig into the fine print, you’ll find that card issuers generally mention they can make certain account decisions at their discretion. There are also unwritten liberties issuers can take, potentially in your favor. For instance, an issuer may be cooperative when you request lower interest rates, a higher credit limit or a switch to a different card entirely.

The more you understand your credit cards, the better you can navigate them.

Here are a few facts about credit cards that are good to know.

1. Some credit card terms can change with little if any warning

You may become accustomed to certain perks, rewards, fees or even interest rates over time, but those features can change — some more quickly than others. You’ll often find language supporting this in a card’s terms and conditions.

For significant changes — like increases to interest rates, fees and the minimum amount due — the card issuer generally must give notice 45 days in advance, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website. But benefits or rewards aren’t considered “significant,” so changes to those can come at any time. (Many issuers will still send an email or written notification as a courtesy to cardholders.)

Variable interest rates change at a quicker pace than other features, as has been the case since the Federal Reserve began hiking interest rates to battle inflation.

“Folks didn’t realize that the rise in the federal interest rate applies to their credit card also,” says Martin Lynch, director of education at Cambridge Credit Counseling, a nonprofit credit counseling agency. “Variable rate cards incorporate those hikes usually within a month or two, so you did see some people experiencing some sticker shock when the minimum payments went up.”

2. Issuers can close an account or cut your credit limit at any time

Even if you’re managing a credit card responsibly, an issuer can still legally close your account if it wants to, according to the CFPB website.

Credit card issuers can also increase or decrease your credit limit at any time.

The issuer must provide an “adverse action notice” when it makes these kinds of unfavorable decisions, the website notes. But they can still catch you off guard.

3. Your creditor may be willing to bend on interest rates

For longtime customers with solid track records, an issuer might be willing to negotiate a lower interest rate. Alternately, a hardship plan (if available) can temporarily lower interest rates if the hardship is because of qualifying circumstances beyond your control.

If you’re having trouble juggling debt, credit card issuers may also be willing to work with you through a nonprofit credit counseling agency’s debt management plan, which can consolidate those debts into one fixed monthly payment if you qualify.

“Our average interest rate right now is about 8%, among all creditors,” Lynch says. “Some are higher, some are lower.”

For comparison, the average rate for credit cards that assessed interest in the last quarter of 2023 was 22.75%, according to Fed data.

4. You might not qualify for a sign-up bonus

Many credit cards offer an upfront pile of cash back, points or miles as an incentive for new cardholders who can meet a specific spending requirement. But if you’ve recently applied for a credit card with the same issuer — even if it’s been more than a year — you might not qualify for the advertised bonus.

As you’re applying for a credit card, it’s important to read the terms carefully to understand whether you’re eligible for such a welcome offer.

5. You can lose a 0% APR

If you have good or excellent credit (credit scores of 690 or higher), you might qualify for a credit card with a 0% introductory APR on purchases, balance transfers or both. But that promotional window may not be guaranteed.

If you pay late, for instance, the issuer could cancel the 0% APR offer and start charging the card’s ongoing variable interest rate instead. Depending on the card, a much higher penalty APR can also apply after missing a payment.

To avoid missing payments, set a reminder or establish an automatic payment schedule.

6. You might be able to upgrade or downgrade your credit card

If a credit card is no longer as valuable to you as it once was, contact the issuer to see whether it’s possible to upgrade or downgrade your credit card to a different option. This is also known as a “product change,” and it may allow you to retain your account number and account history while switching to a card that better suits your needs now.

You might consider downgrading to a different option to avoid an annual fee, for example. An upgrade might get you higher rewards or better perks.

7. The value of your rewards may vary

It’s not really an issue for cash-back credit cards, but if you have a co-branded store card or travel card, be aware that the points or miles that you’re earning may be less valuable for some redemptions than for others.

For example, your miles may be worth a penny or more each when redeemed for travel, but a good bit less than that when you redeem for options like cash back, statement credit or gift cards.

Knowing the true value of your rewards can help you maximize them. You can often get an idea of that value either by logging into your card account and exploring redemption options or by revisiting the card’s terms and conditions.

The article 7 Surprising Facts About Credit Cards originally appeared on NerdWallet.

“New York is a national model of supportive housing, which has been proven time and again to be among the most successful methods of ending chronic homelessness. But the system has grown unwieldy, thanks to the vast disparities in available services, funding, and unit maintenance.”

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Members of the New York City-based nonprofit St. Francis Friends of the Poor, who pioneered permanent, affordable housing with on-site voluntary services for formerly unhoused individuals, wouldn’t recognize the expansive, complicated, and multifaceted system that grew from the seeds they sowed 44 years ago.

Today, New York has than 62,000 supportive housing units. They span 18 unique programs, are overseen by nine government entities, and encompass 46 specific population categories, providing homes and support to at-risk populations in every county across our state.

A first-of-its-kind report from the Supportive Housing Network of New York (the Network) revealed the significant funding discrepancies between these programs, which makes it difficult to ensure tenants get the quality housing and services they need and also to pay essential social services workers the competitive and sustainable wages they deserve. 

Of particular concern is the stark contrast between the first state-funded initiative, the New York State Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP), and the 2016 Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI). The failure of the governor and state lawmakers to address this discrepancy in the recently enacted 2024-25 budget was a significant oversight that could have a devastating impact on vulnerable formerly homeless individuals and families.

NYSSHP began in 1987 and has helped generations of vulnerable individuals–including survivors of domestic violence, seniors, families experiencing homelessness and those facing mental health or substance use challenges, among others. As a resident of the NYSSHP-funded Kathlyn Gardens, quoted in the Network report, said: “This place has given our mom the ability to raise us safely.”

Despite NYSSHP’s undeniable successes, stagnated funding threatens to erode its impact. This is particularly glaring when NYSSHP, which provides $2,964 for an individual and $3,900 for a family per year for services only, is compared to ESSHI, whose residents receive $25,000 per household per year for services.

This year, the Network asked the state to include revenue in the budget to convert 9,000 homes funded solely by NYSSHP to the ESSHI program. These units are most at risk of coming offline at a time when the homelessness and affordability crises are mounting by the day, and the loss of even a single unit is something we simply can’t afford.

The State Senate included $32 million in its budget resolution to pay for the first year of what the Network envisioned as a five-year conversion. But somehow, these critical funds weren’t included in the final budget deal. This is, quite frankly, inexplicable.

Many NYSSHP buildings and other supportive housing programs are in buildings that are decades if not centuries old. The Network’s report found that only 6 percent of congregate buildings over 15 years old have been rehabbed.

This is particularly concerning for NYSSHP’s relationship to the Supportive Housing Preservation Program capital funding under NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which aims to preserve 3,000 supportive housing units in five years. Without the conversion from NYSSHP to ESSHI rates, the long-term underwriting for these deals very rarely works. Both tenants and staff pay the price of leaky roofs, faulty elevators, and outdated facilities that are not handicapped accessible.

New York is a national model of supportive housing, which has been proven time and again to be among the most successful methods of ending chronic homelessness. But the system has grown unwieldy, thanks to the vast disparities in available services, funding, and unit maintenance. Some buildings boast new, modern amenities while others are in desperate need of repair.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of supportive housing, it is time we reflect on how far the movement has come and chart a course for its continued improvement well into the future.

Albany must do the right thing by NYSSHP tenants and pass a stand-alone bill in the post-budget session to convert those 9,000 units to ESSHI. Now is the time to take the fundamental promise of supportive housing–that all residents deserve equal resources and care–and modernize and improve the model.

By doing so, we can finally help New York end homelessness–and we cannot afford to delay.

Pascale Leone is the executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York (the Network).

The Timberwolves played without their top defensive player in Monday’s Game 2 in Denver, yet turned in perhaps their best defensive performance of the season, suffocating the Nuggets to go up 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals.

How do you explain that? Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said the performance without Rudy Gobert was actually a testament to Gobert’s impact.

“His presence and what he’s infused into the team, how important defense is and how great we can be when we play it,” Finch said. “Rudy’s driven the defensive culture here.”

The culture where everyone takes pride in the defensive end — paying attention to the details of the game plan and winning their individual matchups on a possession-by-possession basis. That’s how you sustain yourself as the top defensive team in the NBA.

“Our identity is defense,” Wolves big man Naz Reid said.

But really, it’s more than that. The Wolves’ identity is bringing a winning-level of effort to the court every game, no matter who is available or not. If you’re going to beat the Timberwolves, you’re going to have to make the plays to win it.

And making those plays is increasingly difficult to do when a defender — or two — is consistently occupying your airspace.

To beat Minnesota in the playoffs, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. You have to be willing to drop the gloves and exchange blows. You have to be willing and able to exert yourself to your maximum potential for 48 straight minutes — 48 minutes of hell.

It’s a miserable existence for a basketball team but — as these playoffs and the Timberwolves’ rising popularity have shown — an enticing watch for basketball fans. The Timberwolves are gaining supporters with each passing performance.

This team’s culture is one the sport’s fanatics can rally around.

“It’s always been … gotta learn how to compete, then you gotta learn how to always compete and then you gotta learn how to compete at the high levels,” Finch said. “When you do that, you give yourselves a chance to win no matter who is available on your roster. The goal has always been to put out a team that people like to cheer for. That doesn’t happen unless you play hard and it usually doesn’t happen unless you play defense and share the ball. We’re doing all those things right now.”

Giving yourself a chance to win regardless of the lineup. Putting out a team people like to cheer for. Playing hard every night. Those traits define the 2023-24 Minnesota Timberwolves. But this isn’t the first Timberwolves team that has exhibited those traits.

Those are exactly the characteristics you wouldd use to describe the 2021-22 Minnesota Timberwolves. That was a plucky bunch that first put the Wolves back on the map of the local sports scene.

That season featured a win over Boston with a COVID-depleted roster led by Jaylen Nowell and Greg Monroe. By season’s end, Target Center was the host of numerous basketball parties, including a raucous regular-season finale in which Minnesota played no one of note but still battled to the end with the likes of Nathan Knight in a tight loss to Chicago.

“This is a team a lot of people like to watch play. We play hard, share the ball. It’s pretty exciting,” Finch said that season. “Even our mistakes are interesting. It feels like we’ve got something growing here and we’ve just got to keep building on it. It’s our responsibility to keep giving them performances they can cheer on.”

The mistakes — which, as Finch noted, were interesting — were sometimes frequent, but they were generally made with the best intentions in mind. The 2021-22 Wolves were scrappy, hard-working and resilient. This year’s team hasn’t lost three games in a row all season; the squad from two years ago didn’t lose three in a row over its final 46 games.

That team just wasn’t as veteran and smart as this year’s edition, nor nearly as good. But it wasn’t for a lack of effort.

There was no Mike Conley, nor Rudy Gobert.

The roster was not built to play defense, but managed to survive — and at times thrive — on that end due to shear hustle. Anthony Edwards was 20 years old at the time, and Jaden McDaniels was 21/ Both were still NBA infants. Naz Reid was 22 years old and still in the process of refining his skill and sculpting his body. Karl-Anthony Towns was still learning how to play winning basketball.

But that team similarly bought into playing hard and conforming to an identity. It was also a group of guys who mostly like one another and had fun on the floor. Those players were also held to a certain standard, and strived to reach it.

It all resulted in a wildly overachieving team that won 46 regular-season games.

That season made it clear that Finch was both a motivator and a unifier. If he could get a team with a backcourt of D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Nowell to buy in, doing so with this year’s collection of talent has likely been a breeze.

At the end of that season, Patrick Beverley was asked what Minnesota needed to do to take the next step defensively. He responded with one word: “personnel.”

That has been upgraded in a big way over the past two seasons, via both transactions and development.

Minnesota’s current roster is elite — both from talent and depth perspectives. But that doesn’t always guarantee success. Better talent doesn’t necessarily equal better results.

The players, no matter how good and experienced they are, still must work together toward a common goal and supply the necessary sweat equity to reach the desired results.

When you can do that with championship-caliber players, you compete for titles, as the Timberwolves are primed to do this postseason.

When you can do that with two very different rosters in terms of quality and personality, you’ve achieved a sustained culture — one Finch and his coaching staff have cultivated for years now — that currently is producing a bountiful harvest.

“When I first got here, it wasn’t the best, it wasn’t perfect. But obviously we’re all humans, (and) over that time we gradually got better. We got more cultured,” Reid said. “Time (came) to where we kind of became a unit, a team where we trust each other. We’re selling out for each other. Even Rudy not being here (for Monday’s game), we love that he had his child, so just the trust and the love we have for each other is on another level.”

A championship level.

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