I am obsessed with credit cards. I'm a card shaman in the making. So believe me, almost no aspect of card ownership is "off limits" to me -- except for credit cards for bad credit customers.
It just seems stupid, and I would never advocate here that someone with bad or terrible credit rush out to sign up for a new credit card offer. That would be like telling an extremely hungover friend, "Here, have a gin and tonic... and this beer... and these shots of Jager."
If your credit sucks or is terrible/bad/mediocre, the last thing you need is another line of credit or credit card. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on personal finance debt reduction B.S. seminars or books either. Here's what you need to do:
1. Increase your income to the best of your ability. Take on a second job, do handiwork, whatever.
2. Pay down your existing debts as aggressively as humanly possible (this is where a boost in income can be very useful).
I know that is not terribly sexy, which is why I would never be offered a book deal to write a personal finance how-to book. But that's what you need to do.
Avoid credit cards altogether until your credit is good... until you are debt-free and in a position where you can pay off your credit card balance in full each month, if you choose to. You don't need a card right now, and you don't want to get signed up for some subpar card with a bad interest rate and bad terms.
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