25 Credit Card Mistakes You’re Probably Making

Mistake No. 11: Not checking to see if your card features a “penalty APR”

Many people are unknowingly walking around with a kind of time bomb in their wallet, in the form of a “penalty APR” term on their credit card. A penalty APR is what you get when the card company jacks your interest rate up to 25% or even 30% if you pay a bill late or commit some other transgression.

Many cards don’t feature them, and that’s vastly preferable. If you sign up for a 0% introductory APR credit card with a penalty APR, you might even lose that valuable low rate due to a late payment and endup worse off than when you started. If you’re shopping for a new credit card, it’s best to check the fine print and make sure there’s no penalty APR. Check the terms of the card(s) you already have and use, too.