Find the Best Deal on Credit Cards

Step One: Check your credit record

You're entitled to a free copy of your credit report every year from the three main companies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). The first step to making sure your credit rating is high is checking for errors. Studies show that over half of all credit reports contain mistakes. Now, watch out, because some of those might be working in your favor. Obviously, don't report it... if a credit card didn't report your missed payment.

But if, as is more likely, your credit report registers negative marks that aren't your fault or didn't happen, fix those errors as a first step to finding the best deal on credit cards.

Step Two: Shop around

Now that you made sure your credit report is accurate, and know your credit score. Start looking for the best deal on credit cards available to you. There's no point wasting your time applying for platinum cards if you know you won't be eligible to get one. Instead, check online to find out which cards you can reasonably apply for given your credit score.

Knowing that, it becomes a simple matter of comparison shopping. Obviously, you want a card with a low interest rate, a low (or ideally, nonexistent) annual fee, and a high limit. These are easy things to compare. The work really is in the first two steps: weeding out the non-contenders and sifting through what's left. If you really want the best deal on credit cards, those steps are absolute essentials!