There are about 190 million credit card holders in America, or about 81% of U.S. households have at least one credit card.  Most Americans carry five or six payment cards including credit cards, debit cards, and retail cards. About 78% of U.S. households are considered creditworthy. About 50 million new credit cards are issued per year. The competition is fierce among banks, and they want your business. You should know what to consider when applying for a credit card.

We display credit cards from almost all of the major banks and issuers, and we point you to the secure application page that resides on the banks’ servers. Your information is encrypted and protected.  You can choose between a variety of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Cards, base don our recommendations and reviews, and your needs and desires. We currently display credit card offers from nine out of ten of the country’s Top 10 Card Issuers:

CitiBank
Chase
American Express
Bank One / First USA Bank
Discover
Household
MBNA America
Providian

The most important thing you should consider when applying is your credit level.  You may fall under the following 4 general categories:

• Excellent credit—you have no debt, or your debt is relatively small compared to your income (higher income gets weighted higher) and you have no reports of late payments or missed payments on your credit reports. You should have no problem getting approved for any of the cards we recommend on this site.

• Good to average credit—your debt may be somewhat high compared to your income or you have 1 to several late payments but no failures to make payments.
  
  The credit cards we recommend for above two categories (the better your credit rating the more likely you will get approved).

• Bad credit—credit reports include high dept, default on payments, and present or past bankruptcy. You should visit the cards we recommend in our Rebuilding Credit section.
  
  There are banks which specialize in providing credit cards to people in this category, such as Household/Orchard Bank.

• No Credit— People who fall into the credit history are usually students and young people. There are credit cards which are geared for people in this category. See the Student Cards .

For more information on how scoring works, please visit the Credit Scores section of our Resource Center.

Your credit score will also determine the type of card you get approved for (Platinum, Gold, Standard, Secured etc.), as well as the credit limit you get approved for and your APR.  Some cards have a range of APR's and you'll qualify for an APR in that range based on how you rate with them. You should always read the credit card terms and conditions thoroughly before applying for a credit card.

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