Many people think signing up for a credit card is easy and all cards offer pretty much the same thing. They sometimes think there is no reason to read that mini-book of small print at the bottom of the agreement. But this is not true, and if you do not take the time to carefully examine what you are signing, then you could end up seriously regretting it.
Credit card agreements include a lot of stipulations and information in them. If you do not take time to read through, then you may find yourself paying extra yearly fees or having a super high interest rate after the first few months.
Many credit cards offer bonuses of free airline miles, cash back or other incentives in an attempt to get you to sign up for that credit card. However, beware of these offers because many of these cards in addition to offering great incentives include a yearly fee with them for the privilege of being able to earn these benefits. Some of the fees are not that steep, but others are. It is up to you to figure out if the bonuses that come along with the card are going to offset the fees that may come along with it.
In addition, be careful to read the terms and conditions for how you are eligible for the benefits of the card. Some credit card companies can suck you in with the promise of earning lets say 10,000 airline miles or enough for one round trip ticket. Sounds great, but the stipulation along with that is that you must spend $3,000 in the first two months on the card in order to receive those extra points. Now for some people that may not be a problem, but if you don’t normally rack up that much money on your credit card why would you want to put yourself in debt just to earn some extra miles. The cost of the plane ticket alone would probably be way less than the $3,000 you spent trying to earn the ticket. Make sure you carefully examine what is required in order to earn the bonuses they are giving away for signing up for the card. This is especially the case if it sounds too good to be true; quite possibly because there is some hidden fee or some other way they are intending to make money off you.
Credit card companies are in the business of making money; keep that in mind as you are signing up for one and make sure to carefully examine all the fine print to ensure you don’t end up paying extra to the company in fees or hidden charges.