Choosing a Credit Card

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I’m sure its the same everywhere. In my home country Singapore, there are countless of credit cards to choose from, all having its own different ranges of benefits, and even the cards shapes and sizes might be of difference.

Just recently in an article on Business Times Singapore, there are already 71 credit cards from 8 major banks, both local and overseas ready for consumers to pick from. With this kind of range for a small country like mine, I’m pretty much sure there are hundreds when we’re talking about even bigger countries like America, China, India, Canada etc.

So what kind of considerations are we looking at when we pick up an application to choose a card from?

Some Things That Comes With The Card to Consider

Shopping discounts. Some merchants uses a particular card to give further discounts on their merchanise ( from 5 - 15%, sometimes even more depending on seasons) For me, petrol discount is pretty much important since gas is so expensive nowadays. The card that I have has discounts on the station that I usually use.

Facilities and Cost. The fees that involves with using the card has to be taken account to. Numerous fees such as annual fee, cash advance fees, balance transfer, installment facilities and monthly late charges/ interests has to be taken an account to. Just look at Jude’s post on BOA’s card, you definitely have to be pretty weary about your choice of card in terms of cost.

Lifestyle discounts. Cinemas offering discounts for particular credit cards, golf courses offering free cabby and priority to some cards, dining discounts. These are some factors to consider.

Accessibility of the card including support (loss of card, number of ATMs supporting it) would be utmost important in my opinion.

So Why Not Have ALL THE CARDS!?

First off, it makes your wallet or purse look like one fat loaf of bread, second it’s not always the case that you’ll be using most of them. The most important thing is to choose a card that you can get the most out of. Personally, I have 3 cards that worked pretty well for me and I have been sticking with them ever since I got one of my first credit card.

I get air miles for using one, dividend cash rebate for another and wine and dining privileges on the last one on most restaurants I go. My lifestyle preferences might differ from yours. So recommendation of a particular card doesn’t sound really fancy to me unless there’s a service that tailors a special card to your requirements.

Also, check out this website that Max introduced on Martin Lewis - all about money, cards, mortgages and more. Very impressive resource.

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Benson is a b5 blogger and a Singapore Realtor. Currently he writes for Digital Money World, a blog on digital money on the Internet.

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