5 Tips on How to Fill out a Credit Card Offer
Contributed by Deborah Zeitler
Ask yourself if you really need one more credit card offer
It might seem obvious, but just because you receive a credit card offer that has a good interest rate, it still might not be the right card for you. There are many other things to consider besides a credit card's interest rate before deciding if it's as good as it looks on the surface.
Learn what information you need to look for on credit card offers
In addition to the interest rate, there are several other important things you should be looking for in a credit card offer. If you usually pay off your balance each month, you'll want to know whether or not the card has what's called a grace period. A grace period means that if you pay the entire balance on your card before the next statement is due, the credit card company won't require you to pay any finance charges on that month's purchases.
This can be very important for a small business, for example, that offers to pay with a credit card simply because of its convenience, but doesn't need to carry a balance.
Read the fine print on all offers for credit cards
Besides whether or not a card provides a grace period, you'll want to examine the offer to see what the credit card's Annual Percentage Rate is. This can be fixed or variable, and if you usually carry a balance on your card, you probably want to make sure you get a card with a fixed rate. Otherwise, the interest rate that's advertised could very likely go up if the prime rate set by the Federal Reserve goes up.
