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Getting a Credit Card This Spring Or Summer?
Watch Out for These Tricks!
By Will from Holland
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Been thinking about a new credit card? Think all credit cards are alike? If you think that, good luck. You're going to need it!
A lot of credit card companies will tell you that the new regulations just put into place make it easy for you to get the right card—and make it harder for companies to push you to get a credit card when you shouldn't get one.
For instance:
- Now you can't get a credit card when you're under 21 without either a co-signer or proof you can make payments.
- Card companies can't deliberately let you charge more than your limit so they can collect a big fee, unless you tell them to let you go over your limit. It's called "opting in."
- Credit card companies can not set up "free" credit card tables within a thousand feet of a college campus.
Okay, do you feel safer, with all these new rules? You shouldn't. A lot of credit card companies are already getting around the rules:
- Some companies will let just about anyone co-sign for your card if you're under 21 and going to college. And what about requiring "proof of income" before you get a card? The company decides what "proof" means, and many times it means nothing.
Many credit card companies word their "opt in" feature so that it sounds like you're getting a benefit when they charge you a $35 "over your limit" fee for allowing you to charge two bucks over your limit. Thanks!- And many companies gladly moved their tables away from college campuses—to locations outside popular student hangouts.
So, what's the moral of all this? Do these things before you get any credit card:
- Head to our FoolProof Lite program and poke around the Module 5, Sucker Punch. This is our module on credit cards and it will give you the real scoop on cards for people our age.
- If you're ready for a new credit card, compare anybody's credit card to the credit union's cards and pick the right one for you.
A lot of credit card companies think we're idiots. Don't prove them right!
Hope this helps.
Cheers, Will.
