Credit Card Applications: What's Best for You?

After receiving tons of credit card offers, I finally decided to establish some credit history at the age of 19. Though I had it in my mind that I needed to be responsible, I admittedly went a little bonkers with the spending once I got my card in the mail. To kids my age, credit cards often symbolize invisible money that you can spend left and right. In a little over a month, I had nearly maxed the card out (in all fairness, it didn't have a huge credit line to begin with). Luckily, though, I never missed any payments and I didn't receive any other penalties. The problem was, seeing as how I only worked a few hours a week, I was only making the minimum payments on the card. I knew that at that rate, I would never have the balance paid off before the introductory period ended and the interest kicked in. That's when my roommate advised me to look through some of those credit card applications I had received to see if any of them offered balance transfer.

At first, I didn't understand how getting another credit card was going to help me out of debt, but then I discovered that I could transfer my current balance over to a new card, thereby starting the interest-free introductory period all over again. My roommate is so stealth. In that growing stack of credit card offers in our dorm room, there was bound to be one that could help me salvage my credit before I got in over my head. So I proceeded to read all of the literature accompanying approximately six credit card applications, and I was able to find a balance transfer service offered by one of the instant approval credit cards. "Wow," I thought to myself, "Not only can I continue paying down my balance interest-free, I can get an instant decision on my application as well. Things were looking up.

So I applied for the card and the transfer, and just as soon as I got that credit card in the mail, I stashed it away and began making payments. Though I still wasn't able to make much more than the minimum payment, my balance was rapidly declining due to me putting a cease-fire on spending and securing an interest-free agreement for yet another 6 months. With this strategy in place, I paid the card off before the interest kicked in. From that point on, I had learned a valuable life lesson: use credit cards for emergencies only and make sure you almost never have to pay interest. I assure you, this is possible.

My final piece of advice to anyone who uses credit cards--and most of us do or will at some point--is shop around for the best credit card offers you can get. Take the time to read the terms carefully--I cannot stress this enough. Never assume that you've found the best deal you're going to get, especially when it comes to interest rates. I've found in my own experience that there's no reason why anyone should have to pay loads of money in interest--sometimes as much as 25-30 percent! Next time you're flipping through credit card applications, ask yourself if you're truly getting the best possible deal. More often than not, there is probably something better.

Written by Kacy Suther. Get an instant approval credit card and other credit card offers for low interest credit cards. Credit card applications available online at credit-card-depot.com .