by Joseph Kenny | 05/28/09

Looking at the title of this article, you might be wondering why anyone would bother to write an article about something that should be total common sense. After all, how hard can it be to fill out an application?

You just write in your name, address, relevant financial information, and then hope for the best, right? Well, it's possible to put it like that, but how do you address the question of which credit card applications you should be filling out in the first place? That's right - there's a big difference between one application and the next, and if you know where to look, you can spot the key differences and determine which applications are even worth your time in the first place.

The first thing you should look for, always, and above anything else, is the annual percentage rate. This is usually abbreviated term as APR and is usually prominently displayed. In fact, the law dictates that this must be so. Therefore, if you have difficulty finding the APR for a given card based on the application, or worse, if the APR isn't listed at all, you should probably stay away. The APR, essentially speaking, is how much interest you're going to accrue on your balance annually. If you're using a credit card wisely, of course, you're going to be paying off all or the majority of your balance each and every month, and as a result, you'll never have to worry about interest at all, as interest is not usually calculated until you carry over a balance from one pay period to the next (i.e. - by not paying the full amount during any given monthly payment).

Just because you should look for the APR foremost, however, doesn't mean that you should just jump on the card with the lowest APR. Many cards try to trick customers by advertising a low APR, say something like 5%, only to reveal in the fine print (which is usually never read), that this is only an introductory rate. After the first year, you may well find yourself paying 20% or higher. In this case, wouldn't it have been better to sign up with the 12% fixed rate card in the first place? It pays to pay attention.

Another thing to pay attention to is whether or not the APR differs between purchases and cash advances; more often than not, it does. What this means is that when you make a purchase on the card, that balance carries one interest rate, whereas if you use the credit card to receive cash in hand, it's usually a different, higher interest rate. Again, credit card companies use this tactic to be deceptive as well, advertising a low APR on regular purchases, but attaching an astronomically high APR to cash advances (and then attempting to push the cash advance option on those same customers).

With any situation involving credit that you enter into, you must be careful. This is doubly true of a credit card industry that routinely tries to prey upon the ignorance of its customers by making claims that just don't stand up to scrutiny. Always remember when filling out a credit card application-if it seems too good to be true, read the fine print!