Kaile’s Credit Card Deals

So now that you’ve read through our previous articles and have researched the best credit card deals you are wondering the best way to sort through and compare the interest rates. If you have spent a good deal of time gathering card offers than this may seem complicated. I must admit that it can take you a few hours to go through and evaluate all of your options. You really should take the time to sit down and do this to avoid frustration down the road. In this article we will be discussing exactly how to do just that.

You should take the time to look through and jot down the information provided to you by the credit card company. This will make it much easier to compare rates. In order to do this effectively you will need to know exactly where to look and what to look out for. If you are doing your research online than be sure to bookmark the pages. If you have the promotional material in hand this will be a little easier as you have everything right in front of you - for easy comparison. In order for you to find the best credit card deals you must understand what an annual percentage (APR) is and what it entails.

The annual percentage rate is the interest that the credit card companies charge you based on your credit card’s balance each and every single year. If you read the fine print of most of cards out there you will see that this is subject to change at anytime based on various factors, including your credit rating. So when you are going through the credit card deals and comparing them to one another you will mainly be comparing the APR of each card to one another. When you are doing this make sure you are not only comparing the promotional rate - but also the normal annual rate after the promotion has ended.

Many people are fooled into believing they will always have the promotional APR they signed up with. This is not true. You must find out exactly how long the promotional rate lasts and the APR that will follow it. The APR is required by law to be disclosed to the consumer but many people seem to skip past this. They word these disclosures very carefully and almost always put them in small print. You must read through the fine print carefully! If you don’t understand something than just ask someone to help you.

If you are looking at online credit card offers than a brief overview of the fine print & APR disclosure will usually be at the bottom of the web site. Normally there will be an entire disclosure page you can click through to - to read everything. They will also list any other fee’s that are associated with the card.

Don’t be one of the many people’s that are fooled into believing the promotional APR is permanent. On the flip side don’t ignore the promotional rate either - it can offer you short term benefits if you are planning on making frequent (or large purchases). The most common promo rates last between 3 months to 6 months, but there are always some that extend longer than this. Other things to look out for are activation fee’s and processing fee’s. If you have good credit you should not have to pay for those kinds of fee’s, so avoid them. If you have bad or less than perfect credit fee’s like this will probably apply to you - just make sure you are not paying too much.