A credit card is a plastic or metal payment card that allows people to make purchases without having the money upfront, then pay back the card issuer over time. In return for the ability to make purchases on credit, the cardholder may have to pay interest or fees. Those fees and interest charges depend on the card and how soon the cardholder pays the bill in full.

Using a credit card responsibly also is one of the most efficient ways to build credit. Having a solid credit history is crucial for things like buying a house, purchasing a car or getting approved for a personal loan in the future.

Overview of How Credit Cards Work

Credit cards require regular payments to keep the account open and in good standing. To that end, cardholders receive a credit card statement once a month, which details purchases and payments made during that billing cycle and notes when a payment is next required.

If you pay for your purchases within the window of the grace period on the account (typically between 21 and 25 days after the monthly statement is issued), you won’t have to pay more than you borrowed. If you carry your balance past that, however, you’ll generally have to pay the regular interest rate - or regular APR - on the amount you owe. Credit cards have higher regular APRs than most consumer loans, so it’s best to avoid carrying a balance.

Outside of interest charges, credit cards may come with fees. Late fees apply to nearly all credit cards when you don’t pay at least the minimum payment by the due date. Annual, monthly, and one-time fees may be charged just to have certain credit cards, too. The credit cards with the biggest benefits and perks - travel credits, free airport lounge memberships, and the highest rewards rates, to name a few - are usually the ones with annual fees.

Key Things to Know About Credit Cards

• Credit cards are rectangular pieces of plastic or metal measuring 3.4 inches by 2.1 inches. They are the same size as a debit card, prepaid card, gift card or driver’s license.
• Credit cards have a magnetic stripe as well as an EMV chip programmed with the information needed to complete a purchase. Some new credit cards also have an RFID chip for contactless payments.
• Making a purchase with a credit card enables the user to securely borrow money as needed and then repay the card’s issuer after the fact.
• Using a credit card responsibly is the easiest way to build a good credit score.
• Other benefits for credit card users include the opportunity to earn rewards on purchases, the flexibility to pay off large purchases over time, or the chance to reduce the cost of existing debt through a balance transfer.
• Banks and credit unions offer credit cards because they are a good source of income from fees and interest charges.
• To qualify for a credit card account, an applicant must be at least 18 years old with enough income to afford monthly bill payments.
• There is no minimum age to get a credit card as an authorized user.

In short, a credit card is one of the most valuable financial tools available to consumers, allowing them to make purchases and pay them back later, all while building a credit history.

Finding the right credit card can be stressful, with so many offers to consider and so much jargon and fine print to decipher. But as long as you follow these simple pointers, you’ll be fine.

1. Compare credit cards before applying. Otherwise, there’s no way of telling whether you’re getting the best deal. Marketing can be deceiving, after all. 
2. Make sure your credit is match. You should only consider applying for a credit card if it matches your credit standing. For example, don’t apply for an excellent-credit credit card if you have fair credit. Getting turned down will only make it harder to get approved the second time around.
3. Don’t apply in bulk. You should not submit more than a couple credit card applications within a short period of time, as this can lead to a roughly six-month dip in your credit score.

For more tips, check out WalletHub’s guide on finding the right type of credit card for your needs. And for your convenience, here are some benchmarks to consider as you wade your way through the credit card comparison process:

Market Snapshot: 1,000+ Credit Card Offers

You can learn more about the average terms offered by credit cards in popular categories from WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report. 

Credit cards work based on a buy-now-pay-later arrangement with the cardholder, with fees and interest supporting the cost of lending. When you use a credit card to make a purchase, you’re borrowing money from the credit card’s issuer to complete the transaction, and then repaying the amount at the end of the billing cycle, either in part or in full. By paying the bill in full each month, you’re essentially borrowing money for free, because you will be avoiding interest charges. If you can’t pay your balance in full, at least make the minimum payment required by the due date. Interest will be applied to the remaining balance, but you won’t damage your credit score.

Credit cards also work for transactions other than purchases, including balance transfers and cash advances, which have the potential to be even more profitable for issuers. Balance transfers give people the chance to repay existing debt with a lower interest rate, for a fee – usually 3% to 5% of the transferred amount. Cash advances let you withdraw cash from your credit line, but a high fee and interest rate apply right away.

How Credit Cards Work:

• Credit cards allow users to buy now and pay later, even over the course of months.
• Credit cards enable cardholders to build credit, unlike debit cards.
• Some credit cards reward cardholders for making purchases. Some cards charge annual membership fees.
• If cardholders don’t pay their full balance by the due date each month, interest charges are added to the balance each day.
• Credit card approval depends on an applicant’s overall creditworthiness. Credit history, income and debt obligations are important factors.

How Credit Card Rewards Work

Many credit cards reward cardholders with cash back, points or miles for every purchase made. Plus, the best credit cards often come with signup bonuses that cardholders can earn after meeting a minimum spending requirement in the first few months. Some credit cards offer low introductory interest rates, too.

This isn’t charity, though. Credit cards offer short-term borrowing and give rewards because it’s profitable for credit card issuers. If a cardholder decides to pay off a credit card balance over time, they’ll have to pay interest. And if they have the chance to earn rewards, they’re likely to spend more than they would otherwise.

Building Credit with Credit Cards

Generally, the credit cards with the best rewards, rates, and benefits go to people with high credit scores, a lot of income, and little-to-no debt. But if you’re new to credit, credit cards are the best credit-building tools around. As long as you use the card responsibly and pay the bill on time every month, or never make purchases with the card at all, the issuer will report positive information to the credit bureaus each month. Plus, it’s very easy for someone with no credit to get a credit card, especially a secured card where your credit limit is based on how much you put down as a security deposit.

Learn More About How Credit Cards Work

Now you know how credit cards work, in a nutshell. That said, many of the finer details of credit cards – including all the types of credit cards available and how credit card interest works – don’t exactly fit in a nutshell. That doesn’t make them any less important to learn about, however, especially if you’re considering getting a credit card for the first time.

The average adult has around 6 credit cards, but there’s no golden rule for how many credit cards you should have - or how many credit cards is too many. It depends on personal preference as well as your credit standing and organizational skills.

Using more than one credit card can help you save by allowing you to get the best terms for every transaction that you make. No single credit card offers the best rewards in every purchase category, plus the lowest rates and fees. But you can achieve that effect with a collection of cards that each excel in a particular area.

Using multiple credit cards for the wrong reasons, however, can get you into big trouble. Numerous credit card applications in a short period of time can hurt your credit score, and having too many credit cards can lead to overspending, expensive interest charges, missed payments and credit score damage.

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There is no minimum credit score to get a credit card, if any credit card will do. Some credit card companies don’t even check applicants’ credit history, and the main approval requirement is that you earn more money than you spend. So it’s certainly possible to get a credit card even if you have a very low credit score or no credit score at all.

But there is a difference between getting approved for a credit card in general and getting one of the better offers.

The credit score needed for credit card approval ultimately depends on which specific card you want to get. Most of the time, credit card companies have a credit score tier they’re looking for, and applicants will need a score in the required tier (or higher) for a good chance of approval. The tiers are bad, fair, good and excellent.

The thing is, credit cards require scores that are a bit higher than the traditional minimum for each tier in the overall credit score range, according to WalletHub’s research. So for each credit tier, you can see a “traditional” score range and a “WalletHub recommended” score range below.

Here is the credit score needed for a credit card at each level:

 One way to estimate your credit card approval odds is to check for pre-approval. Many major issuers will allow you to check for free. It won’t hurt your credit score. And you’ll get a pretty good idea of your chances. Plus, if you’re not sure what your score is yet, you can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub. You’ll also get personalized credit card recommendations with high approval odds.

Just remember that having a qualifying credit score does not guarantee credit card approval. The credit card application process takes many other factors into account. Payment history, existing debt and income play big roles, too.

There are six types of credit cards:

1. Standard unsecured credit cards
2. Secured credit cards
3. Credit cards for students
4. Small business credit cards
5. Store credit cards
6. Charge cards

These six types of credit cards differ based on the type of user they’re intended for, where they can be used, and what’s required of applicants.

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Bank of America and Capital One are some easy banks to get a credit card from. Both of these major banks are common choices for first credit cards, likely because both have credit cards for every level of credit standing.

If you have bad credit or no credit, any bank that offers a secured credit card will be easier to get a credit card from than a bank that doesn’t offer secured cards. Capital One, Bank of America, Citibank, and U.S. Bank are some of the major banks that offer secured credit cards. These credit cards require a deposit, which becomes your credit limit. And in general, you can get a secured credit card with bad credit.

It's worth noting that any previously-existing relationships you have with banks may come in handy, too. If the bank you have a checking account with offers a credit card, that will likely be an easy bank to get a credit card from. Your established relationship with your bank gives them access to your day-to-day deposit account history, which doesn’t show up on your credit report. So that’s extra potentially good information that’s available to your bank and not to other card issuers you might apply for a credit card with.

Debt settlement is the process of negotiating a lower repayment amount for an unsecured debt (typically credit card debt). Debt settlement ends with the party who owes the money making a lump-sum payment to the creditor for the reduced amount, satisfying the person’s repayment obligation.

A debt settlement agreement can be reached by the individual debt holder or through the services of a debt settlement company. A debt settlement company will provide a recommendation for a new monthly payment, which you will deposit into an account that enables third-party access. While you make payments into this new account, you do not make any payments on your outstanding accounts with creditors. This is because as a rule, creditors do not settle accounts in good standing. Once the account has reached an agreed-upon threshold (which may be after charge-off), the debt settlement company will reach out to your creditors to negotiate a settlement. When an agreement has been reached, funds will be transferred out to settle the debt.

Debt settlement companies generally make money through fees. You could pay a combination of fees upfront, throughout the process, and upon settlement. Typical fees can range between 15% and 25%, calculated on either the amount saved, or the initial amount owed.

A typical debt settlement process takes about two to four years, but how long it takes is very dependent on your creditors and their willingness to negotiate with either you or your debt settlement company. Your creditors do not have any obligation to settle, so there is not guarantee that a settlement will even occur.

At the end of the process, your credit history will reflect the settlement of an account, or accounts, if applicable. This settlement will remain on your credit history for seven years and may cause your credit score to dip by over 100 points. It is also worth noting that while debt settlement may save you money in terms of the principal, interest, and fees owed, you may need to pay taxes on the forgiven portion of the debt, as the IRS considers this taxable income.

To learn more, you can visit our guide on how debt settlement works.

The current balance on a credit card is the amount you owe on your account, minus any pending purchases or payments. All of the purchases you’ve made that have been processed by your credit card company since you last paid your bill are included in the current balance.

On a credit card account summary, you’ll likely see “Current Balance,” “Pending Balance,” and “Available Credit.” Pending balance refers to transactions that are being processed and may not be reflected in your current balance yet. Available credit refers to your total credit limit minus your current and pending balances. Essentially, available credit is how much of your credit you can still spend before making a payment.

To make it simpler, picture it like this:

Credit Limit - Current Balance - Pending Transactions = Available Credit

For example, let’s say you have a credit limit of $5,000, your current balance is $1,500, and there’s a pending balance of $500. Your current and pending balances add up to $2,000. Subtract that from $5,000, and you have your available credit: $3,000.

Every time you make a purchase, the amount will be subtracted from your available credit. Every time you make a payment, your available credit will increase by the amount of the payment once it processes.

Another type of balance you’ll see on your account summary is a “Statement Balance.” The statement balance is what you owe as of the date each billing period ends. This is when your monthly account statement gets generated. Your current balance will be higher than your statement balance if you make additional purchases but no extra payment between the end of the billing period and your due date. You must make at least the required minimum payment by the due date to keep your account in good standing.

A contactless credit card is a credit card equipped with a short-range radio frequency (RF) antenna that allows cardholders to pay by hovering their card near a payment terminal, or “tapping to pay,” without inserting or swiping their card. Contactless credit cards have a small symbol on the front or back of the card, similar to a sideways Wi-Fi symbol, to indicate that they can make contactless payments. Contactless-enabled payment terminals may also have the symbol.

Here’s how to use a contactless credit card:

To pay with a contactless credit card, simply tap the card on the contactless-enabled payment terminal, or hold the card within a few inches of the terminal. The RF antenna then transmits a one-time-use code - called a “token” - which represents and masks the cardholders’ account information while facilitating the transaction.

For this reason, contactless credit card transactions are safer than swiping and just as safe as EMV chip transactions. Contactless cards also make for a much faster transaction than “dipping” an EMV chip.

Here’s how to get a contactless credit card:

If your current credit card isn’t contactless-enabled yet, call the number on the back of your card to see about getting a contactless replacement. Some card issuers have transitioned all of their credit and debit cards to contactless, while others only offer contactless capability on some credit cards.

Contactless credit cards are relatively new in the U.S. Nevertheless, many major credit card companies jumped on the contactless bandwagon by late 2019, including Chase, American Express, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Citibank, U.S. Bank, USAA, Bank of America, Barclays and Discover.