How to Comparison Shop for a Credit Card

You don’t have to be long in the credit card market to realize that a wide variety of credit cards are available to apply for. But once you decide you want a card, carefully consider what you want to use it for. Determine how this card will fit into your overall financial goals.

Then you can begin to do your comparison shopping. You may even want to set up a spreadsheet to record all of the data you are going to be collecting.

Here are some of the factors you might want to record as you comparison shop for a credit card:

Introductory Interest Rate: Many cards carry an introductory interest rate that will be low. Sometimes 1.99% or even 0%. It will be for a certain period of time and is good to use for balance transfers.

Regular Interest Rate: Determine what the prevailing rate is after the introductory teaser rates.

Annual Fee: Many cards assess an annual fee. Compare what that is for each card you are reviewing.

Other Fees: Check out the late fees, cash advance fees and over the limit fees. These could eat you up if end up making a payment mistake.

Rewards: You can find cards that will offer you cash back, airline miles, travel perks, online shopping and other rewards when you sign up. In fact, many will have some or all of these!

Benefits: Many cards will have other benefits like emergency cash, travel assistance, rental car insurance, etc. Compare and contrast these automatic benefits if they are important to you.

Type of Credit Card

Tied in with your financial goals will be the type of credit card you select. Below are some credit card types you might want to consider:

Membership Cards: One of the card offerings of American Express is a membership card. If you pay the card off each month there is no interest. There are other perks and an annual fee for this card.

Secured Credit Cards: If you need to improve your credit, you can put up some collateral and pay on time each month to repair your credit.

Bank Cards: These are the credit cards with all of the perks and rewards. Mastercard, Visa and Discover are included in this category.

Don’t forget to check your credit score prior to applying for a credit card. The best deals will only be available to those who have a good to excellent credit report that reflects a good credit history.