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| Identifying Legitimate Credit Card Offers |
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With so many different credit cards being marketed these days, it can be difficult to determine if an offer is legitimate or not. There are some good tip offs for scams, however, such as:
- Offers of easy credit or credit without a credit check. No one can guarantee to get you credit. Before deciding whether to give you a credit card, legitimate credit providers examine your credit report.
- Instructions to call a "900" number to apply for a credit card. You pay for calls with a "900" prefix --and you may never receive a credit card. (The operators, of course, make their money from the telephone calls.)
- Offers that promise a credit card if you send in an application fee. These are "advance fee loan scams" and are illegal.
- Credit cards offered by "credit repair" companies or "credit clinics." These businesses also may offer to clean-up your credit history for a fee. However, you can correct genuine inaccuracies or outdated information yourself by contacting the credit bureaus directly. Remember that only time and good credit habits will restore your credit worthiness.
- Any offer that sounds too good to be true. It almost certainly is.
When you consider a legitimate credit card offer, it is always helpful to study the card offer closely, checking the annual fee (if any), the interest rate, term penalty charges, and billing methods. Make sure you agree with all the terms before investing any time in further research.
If you are unfamiliar with the lending institution, you may also want to check it out before applying. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a good source of information about companies doing business with consumers. You can access the information this agency provides over the Internet at http://www.bbb.org. Since there are BBB offices located throughout the United States, you may need to look up your local Bureau to receive further information. You may also look up the lender on the Visa and MasterCard associations' web sites at http://www.visa.com and http://www.mastercard.com.
Copyright © 2000, CreditMatters.com
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