If you are like two-thirds of the population, you have no intention whatsoever of making repayment of your credit card in full at the end of each statement period, then the choice of credit card that you make will likely have a large impact on how you manage your credit card debt. As such, making sure you pick the right credit card is going to be an essential step in combating future credit card debt problems. To this end, here are four things you should keep a careful eye out for in any credit card promotion packages you receive.

Low Interest Rates
Obviously the biggest impact on any credit card debt that is not repaid in full at the end of any statement period is the rate of interest that is going to be applied. Not only that, you also need to give careful consideration to whether or not there are any usage fees or default penalties if you fail to make repayment of your credit card minimum payment in a timely manner.

As such, review your monthly credit card statement carefully to see what the rate of interest being applied to your outstanding credit card debt. If for some reason you see that the interest rate has gone up, without you having been notified of such, make sure you query this with your credit card company as soon as possible.

Hidden Fees
Aside from the interest rate, the next biggest impact on any credit card debt is going to be the hidden fees charged. Here, hidden fees can be anything from annual usage fees, fees for cash-back withdrawals, late payment fees, double entry (reverse entry) book-keeping, tax on interest accrued, etc. If you find that your credit card company is charging you any of these on your outstanding credit card debt, the time may well have come to either cut the card up or take up the offer of one of their competitors offering you incentive schemes to move your account.

Insurance
Whilst not all of us, many of us start to experience credit card debt problems because of some sudden change in our financial status. One way that you can plan ahead to combat this problem is to take out insurance for any eventuality where you lose your job and are unable to pay your credit card debt. However, some credit card companies offer this service for free, whilst others charge you a premium. Where possible, if you are serious about maintaining control over your future credit card debt, you should try to go with a credit card provider who offers this service for free.

Loyalty Schemes
If you think you’ll be using the credit card a lot loyalty schemes schemes are an important factor to consider when choosing a credit card company as they give you something in return for your having accrued all that outstanding credit card debt.