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Best Credit card – what you should look in a credit card?
http://www.e-topic.com/articles/876/1/Best-Credit-card--what-you-should-look-in-a-credit-card/Page1.html
Hasan Saleem
By Hasan Saleem
Published on 06/21/2007
 

There are plenty of benefits of having a credit card which is becoming a convenient way of buying things around the world. Almost everyone has a credit card today! Not just one but minimum two from different credit card companies. With so many companies offering variety of benefits, choosing a best credit card is becoming a complex problem. People mainly take a credit card to fill-in gas for their vehicle and at times they need the best gas credit card which can offer points to be used in gaining some free gas. So the competition is on and you the customer must be aware of the best offer in the industry!


Best Credit card – what you should look in a credit card?

There are plenty of benefits of having a credit card which is becoming a convenient way of buying things around the world. Almost everyone has a credit card today! Not just one but minimum two from different credit card companies. With so many companies offering variety of benefits, choosing a best credit card is becoming a complex problem. People mainly take a credit card to fill-in gas for their vehicle and at times they need the best gas credit card which can offer points to be used in gaining some free gas. So the competition is on and you the customer must be aware of the best offer in the industry!

Today, there are cards for everyone and by reviewing your needs you should be able to match a card to your requirements and lifestyle. The very first thing you should consider before choosing a credit card is the interest rate which is going very competitive these days. With annual percentage rate, these credit card companies make their bread and butter. For example, if you are paying your credit card bills in installments then this interest value is going to hurt you in comparison to paying all the balance at once.

There are plenty of cards which offer a 0% interest rate or initial low interest rate but after certain period of time (which may vary from months to a year) can simply jump back to regular interest rate that is again not a good practice. But there are those card companies which still offer a high interest rate which remains stable for years to come. Another point that you must consider is to check whether these cards have fixed or variable interest. A fixed interest rate is something that is not going to change unless there is a notification from the issuing company whereas a variable interest rate is going to flicker depending upon any ups and down in prime rate. But then this fluctuation in interest rate is not going to go beyond the limits specified by the issuing company. Every credit card company which is charging variable interest rate will specify their minimum and maximum rate limit as this is how it works.

Learning more about the finance charges is the next step that you should look for as many credit card companies are having number of finance charges included. For example, an annual credit card fees which may be like $25 to $75 or may be more depending upon the company. Other charges like balance transfer charges, late payment charges, cash advances fees or exceeding the credit limit fees etc are some of the very common areas where a credit card company charges a customer. This may or may not affect you depending upon your usability of such credit card.

There is a grace period associated with the payment. This is an added feature which gives you the breathing space in order to avoid any finance charges by clearing the balance amount on or before the due date. Again some companies may have long grace period and some may have short and you should read through the terms and conditions to have a clear cut picture. But then there are some additional benefits you can always get from a credit card company.

You can participate in their reward program where you can accumulate point to avail benefits quickly. Some credit cards even give 1% to 5% cash back whenever you make a purchase. A lot of time you can get more gas points which can get you some free gas and plenty of times you can also get discounts on specific airlines in the form of airline miles to avail free air tickets in future.

Therefore, evaluate your needs and pick the one that satisfies the most.