Credit Card: You Are Pre-Approved! Don't Leave Home Without It

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For the convenience you need, and the protection you deserve, you want a credit card. Besides, paying by credit card is just better and safer than paying by cash. You get the interest-free loan and you pay it with class! Some merchants, like car rental company or hotel even demand paying by credit card.

Not everyone knows how to take full advantage of the credit card. For some people, it is just a convenient payment tool. For others, it is a no hassles short term loan. And for a lot of people, $10k credit card loan is all it takes to build a profitable business with some hard work and luck.

But "spend now and worry about payment later" mentality could also lead to mismanagement of personal finance and it could mean disaster. You only make minimum payment, and the credit card interest and fees pile up and then you simply can not keep up with the interest payment, and eventually you have to seek credit conseling or declare personal bankruptcy. It becomes more difficult to simply declare chapter 7 and have a fresh start with the newly passed laws.

There are still credit cards for everyone. You just need to shop around. Inernet is a great place to start looking for your next or your first credit card. Read the fine print, and ask a lot of questions. Get adequate credit lines, and make sure you get those no annual fee credit cards with low APR, ideally 6 month of introductary %0 APR for purchase or balance transfer. But those 0% APR offerings becomes less common especially in the credit contracting business cycle when the Federal Reserve raises the rate.

You might be tempted to take advantage of the 6 month introductory %0 APR credit card offerings. Some people make it a full time endeavor of "credit card jumping". They transfer from one credit card to another credit card without paying a dime on interest. Just be careful not to miss those due dates because the banks could hit you hard if you do: raise the interest rate immediately, charge penalty fees, and restrict your cash advance or even lower your credit limit. "Credit card jumping" also reflects poorly on your credit history.

For those with less perfect credit, you can get a secured credit card, in which you have a small deposit with the bank, and you can start building your credit history. It seems everyone is checking out your credit history nowadays: car dealer, insurance, apartment, or phone companies, your prospective employer, etc, etc. You need good credit for all those things.

Be sure to check out those credit cards with built-in reward system. It could be straight cash reward, it could be airline miles, or it could be points redeemable at network of merchants. What a great way to spend! It is just better than paying cash with the instant rebate by a credit card! Discover Card does this, and some Master Card(MasterCard)/American Express(AmEx)/Visa Card offer this feature too.

Major banks that issue credit cards are like, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, Bank of America, Capital(Capitol) One, Bank One, Citi, Comerica, Compass, Guaranty, Washington Mutual(WaMu), Wells Fargo, Wachovia. Stores like JC Penney(Penny), Wal Mart, Kohl, Target, Foley, Macy's, Lowes, Home Depot, Circuit City, Best Buy also issue store credit card especially for large purchases. Some stores even give you 10% instant discount if you pay with newly approved credit card. I took advantage of that once.