How To Identify Bad Credit Cards

Wouldn’t it be nice if every card that was offered had an equal amount of benefit to consumers as it would to the card issuer company? Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. In fact, the opposite is often true. Many companies target consumers who have had financial blunders in the past and they prey on these individuals just to get them into another quagmire. Below I will outline ways you can use to identify bad credit cards that you should stay away from.

One of the ways to identify bad credit cards is that they have high initial fees. Some credit cards will demand that you have a balance even if you never make a purchase. Watch out for credit cards that will demand account set-up fees, participation fees, program fees, credit limit increases fees, fees for additional fees and the like. Do not be surprised to find that some of these credit cards fees take up about 50 percent of your credit limit just on fees alone. These are bad credit cards that you will want to avoid.

If you are looking to re-build your credit history, then your report should be reported to the major credit bureaus otherwise it will not do any good trying to fix it if will not be reflected on your credit report. Try to avoid credit cards that do not report your payment history to these bureaus. Another thing to consider is the annual percentage rate of the card. The annual percentage rate is the interest rate that is carried from one month to the other that is applied to balances. Bad credit cards have an annual percentage rate in the double digits. A minimum interest rate of say 10.9% (generally it’s higher than this) means that no matter how good your credit score is, you will always have a double digit interest rate. You do not want such a card especially in these times.

If you’ve run into financial difficulty, you may likely be considering getting a secured credit card. Again, not all secured credit cards are that ‘secure’. There are also bad credit cards in this zone. Since secured credit cards have fees that regular credit cards do not have such as application fees, processing and annual fees, how do you determine a good secured credit card? Again the same principles that apply to regular bad credit cards can be used here. Avoid credit cards that do not report to the major credit bureaus and beware of those that have high fees. And by the way, do not apply repeatedly for a card that you have been denied. Have some decency and try not to look desperate for credit.

Summary
In fact, the opposite is often true. Many companies target consumers who have had financial blunders in the past and they prey on these individuals just to get them into another quagmire. Below I will outline ways you can use to identify bad credit cards that you should stay away from. One of the ways to identify bad credit cards is that they have high initial fees.

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