After years of only getting offers for bad credit loans and credit cards for bad credit, more positive mail is finally starting to pour in. You’ve been working hard, using free credit reports to guide you. Those efforts have paid off.

While this is certainly reason to celebrate, an improvement in credit report scoring is no reason to let your guard down. As your track record improves, it’s even more important to tread with care and take the time to compare credit cards.

When offers come in, even if they are for secured credit cards, it is a good idea to carefully review the bottom line details. To compare cards and get the best possible one to help you in your quest to keep building up your rating on your free credit report, make sure to look at:

The interest rate – This is a biggie that most people do remember to do. You want to obtain the lowest possible interest rate and make sure it’s not just an “introductory” rate. Ideally, a solid low rate will last as long as your good payment history does.

The penalties – Some credit cards have very steep penalties for paying late or missing a payment. In some cases, that low interest rate can double, triple or even more if you are not on time. In a perfect world, you want a card with reasonable penalties.

Reporting status – Not all secured credit cards, for example, will offer reporting to the credit bureaus. To help rebuild or build credit, you want one that does. It probably isn’t worth your time to accept a card that won’t have a positive impact on your credit report.

If you’ve spent a lot of time rebuilding credit to enjoy a good free credit report rating, don’t wreck it by jumping too fast on offers. Take the time to compare credit cards to better position yourself financially.

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