So Many Offers, So Little Time: Credit Card Comparison Shopping
Contributed by Alix Mcmurray
So Many Offers, So Little Time: Credit Card Comparison Shopping
In conducting a credit card comparison, it is easier to see differences at the beginning of the relationship than after you've been together a while. We all know that first rush of novelty and excitement when you're getting to know someone new. Everything they do seems so magical, so unique. There's no one else like them in the world, surely. Particularly if you haven't been around much -- and in this case, I mean if you are relatively naive to the world of credit -- it is impossible to think that anything could be better than what you've got.
One Consumer's Informal Survey: Credit Card Comparison by Mail
If you have some time and some curiosity, you may want to conduct a small experiment in the form of a credit card comparison. This works particularly well if you and another member of your household have differing credit histories. You'll get a greater variety of credit card solicitations that way. First, rather than discarding those unsolicited credit card applications, save them up for say, two or three months.
Then, open them all at once and start your credit card comparison experiment by looking at the APR information, typically on the back of the application form. The variety will astound you.
Credit Card Comparison: Credit Worthiness Spelled Many Ways
Let us compare the solicitations received by Ms. Goody-Goody Credit with those received by Mr. On-the-Road-to-Repair. One example was that Goody-Goody got an offer for a $50,000, 6-year-term line of credit as a means for debt consolidation. The variable APR quoted was 6.99%,with the usual disclaimers about changes in Prime Rate and potential changes at the discretion of the credit institution. By contrast, On-the-Road was offered a credit line of $10,000, with a guaranteed fixed rate "no matter what happens to interest rates in general."
