Although you are reading an article on credit cards, you may or may not be currently thinking of applying for one. If you have a good reason, and know what you are doing, then a credit card can be extremely useful. However, if you don't have the best of credit histories, you do have to keep an eye out for card sharks who will try to take advantage of you. If you don't pay close attention and get the best deal available, you might end up paying as much as 23% APR, on a card with only a $300 limit! Yes, this is a real card, available from a bank in North Dakota.
With good credit
If you have excellent credit, then you can get pretty well any card. You'll even find you get offers in the mail, and don't even need to try to find them. Although you probably should anyway, as you know those mail cards are rarely worth getting.
Surprisingly, the best of credit cards can be found in the most usual of places. To give you one example, many grocery stores now offer a points based reward card that also features discounts, and acts as a visa card both in that store and outside of it. More then that, most of these stores will send their customers coupons, or other credit, when they spend a specific amount.
Often good credit holders can get discounts on insurance, no annual fee credit cards, point rewards credit cards, and much more because they have meticulously attended to their credit score.
With Bad Credit
Just because you have bad credit doesn't mean you should suffer offers like the one mentioned in the first paragraph. Often the best thing for you to do is apply at your bank for a secured credit card. This card will give you a low limit and require a security deposit from 25% to 100% of your credit limit, but will also give you an opportunity to re-establish your good credit. Once you have done that, often the banks will extend you more credit and remove the restrictions.
You still need to be careful though. Unsecured offers that come in the mail are usually a lot worse then what you could get at a local bank. If you really need access to a credit card, then go to your bank or credit union and apply there. They'll find something that's appropriate, whether you are looking for a secured or unsecured card. You might even be able to apply for it online.
