7 Best Practices for Credit Cards

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Having a credit card is convenient, but some pitfalls can come back to haunt you. There are, of course, ways to avoid problems. For example, most people know that they should pay their balances off each month to avoid paying interest. That’s a standard good practice.

But there are other ways to use credit cards to protect your precious credit score. Here are seven best practices for using credit cards to help you stay debt-free and improve your credit score.

Review Options Carefully

If you’re opening your first credit card or have had some credit bumps, you won’t be eligible for the best offers. You should look for credit cards designed for bad or fair credit. You'll be eligible for better cards once you’ve established a good payment record.