The Online Credit Card Application: Love at First Type? (cont.)
Contributed by Alix Mcmurray
Still, you should remember that the "party" of introductory APR or even promotional APR does end eventually. After the thrill of chasing this APR for all it's worth with those precious purchases, will you be able to look at yourself -- and your bill -- with a subsequent variable rate of 10, 15, even 20 percent?
Consider the Old Fashioned Paper Application, as Well as the Online Credit Card Application
Because paper is more cumbersome, it takes longer to read than online material. A piece of even brightly colored paper with a lot of small-font text is much less glamorous than an animated page on your computer monitor. Remember that web designers, a generally quite creative lot, are paid very handsomely to create appealing visuals for their customers. It is not too excessive to say that these visuals are meant to seduce a prospective web surfer into buying what's advertised.
Seduction has been an implicit part of advertising since its beginnings, and advertising is by its nature an attempt at seduction. A paper application found in your mailbox can contain as much or more information as an online application. And the blinking "neon" of the Web won't be blinding you into seeing something that isn't there. Which is not to say that you shouldn't saunter in the glittering online streets at all.... Love blooms in all sorts of curious places.
