Centennial® Secured Mastercard®

Capital One® Business Platinum with No Hassle CashSM

Capital One® No Hassle CashSM for Students

Capital One® Classic Platinum - Visa

Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Rewards for Travel and Gas

Centennial® MasterCard® or Visa®

If you haven't had your own credit card account, here's a brief overview to help you understand how it may fit into your money management plan. Using credit wisely is an important tool in establishing your financial independence. Credit cards are useful for emergencies, to build credit history, or for making travel arrangements, for example.

How to choose a card? The suggestions given here are from Gerri Detweiler's book, "The Ultimate Credit Handbook ," that offers straight-forward advice on choosing a card best suited for your lifestyle. Most importantly, read the fine print carefully! You must understand the terms outlined in the disclosure form provided with all credit card applications. The font may be small and the text uninteresting, but it can save you big bucks down the road.

DOES YOUR credit card balance keep inching upward? Then before you charge one more thing, you should assess the cost of that debt. A balance of just $5,000 at 15% will cost you $421 in interest if you manage to pay it off within a year. But that requires monthly payments of $451. Reduce your monthly payment to $106, and it will take you six years to pay off that loan. And you'll be forking over $2,633 in interest payments. You've just increased your purchase price by 52%. Did you really need the new couch that badly?

Credit cardholders often are surprised when they get socked with some unexpected fees or discover when that first statement comes that their interest rate isn't what they anticipated. Late fees. Overdraft charges. Rate increases that come unannounced and seemingly without cause. Old debts mysteriously appearing on new credit cards.