The first credit card I ever had was cosigned by my parents. My father picked it out for me and did the bulk of the paper work, and I can only assume the card was issued through his regular bank. The Chase credit card I use now is the first one I signed up for myself. I got it after a long research process where I discovered that shopping for credit cards isn’t as easy as I used to assume.
When I set out to get a card under my own name and before I settled on a Chase credit card, I didn’t realize that there was anything more to think about then MasterCard or Visa. The first thing I looked at, therefore, was what kind of acceptance those, and a few other, cards had at the kind of places I shopped. It turned out to be a pretty much equal spread for the most part. Then when I got into looking at rates and found out all the different perks and payment options that were available I realized that I was getting in a bit over my head.
At the time I didn’t have a specific bank that I used because I didn’t have a lot of money to require a lot of banking services. So there was an account in one bank that I opened with my first job and one in another that I opened after moving to the city. When I learned that so many of the options and savings one card could give you depended on what bank you got it from, I had a lot more questions to ask. When I opted for a Chase credit card it was because they were not only the most helpful to be but offered a lot of the best benefits.
The Chase credit card options start out with the basic question of issuers. This would be MasterCard or Visa. From there things get tricky. There are cards that are good for gas and cards that help with traveling. There are Chase credit cards that are designed to support certain organizations and others that offer perks to specific retailers. It was tempting at first to dive into a credit card based solely on silly temptations. Loving musicals I wanted to get a Broadway Card that would have given me points to get free theater tickets. There were similar temptations when looking at cards that offered points towards electronics, theme park vacations and books.
If this is all new to you as well then explore the chase credit card website and take a look. There are dozens of brand names, clubs and charities that associate themselves with credit cards to earn more business. The list is staggering.
In the end what I discovered was that it was best to look beyond all those things for the time being. The most important features I needed given my current position were things like low interest rates and no annual fees. If I ever get another Chase credit card though I’m going with the Disney Card.
Christopher M. Luck has an extensive background in working exclusively with the Chase credit card company and is now offering his free professional credit card advice to the public. If you are at all interested in Christopher's personal finance advice, tips, or secrets, you can visit his finance blog