When credit card offers start arriving in your inbox, you need to exercise caution. While credit card offers can provide a great method for establishing a line of credit, many credit card offers are full of hidden pitfalls and tricks.  Here are some easy tips you should follow before you decide to acquire a new credit card.

What Kind of Card is Right for You?
Identify the type of credit card you’d like to have. There are many different kinds of credit cards.  With standard credit cards, you are given a revolving balance which maxes out once you reach your credit limit.  Once you have paid your credit card bill, your balance starts again. But, if you’re late on paying your bill, you’ll face finance charges.

Premium credit cards offer a variety of rewards to the cardholder. Examples of rewards include cash back, airline miles, rebates, and points towards purchases. These cards will often incur higher fees than standard credit cards. Also, you need to meet specific credit score and income requirements to qualify for these cards.

Secured credit cards are available to people who have not yet established credit, or who have bad credit. At the beginning, the cardholder will place a security deposit on the card. This deposit will essentially set the credit limit. In other words, the deposit amount and the credit limit will be the same. You can, however, use a revolving balance on a secured credit card. Plus, it’s a great way to improve or establish credit.

Pay Attention to Your Credit Limit and Balance
Remember, regardless of which type of credit card you have, be sure that you do not exceed your credit limit. Otherwise, your creditor will charge over the limit fees and your credit card bill will be higher than it should be.

Always keep an eye on your credit card balance. Your balance is the sum of all purchases and fees. Obviously it’s important to keep this number lower than your credit limit.

There are different kinds of mortgages for the homeowner who might find himself unable to meet his obligations. This is especially true in today’s economy, when so many people find themselves unemployed or under employed, make less money than they used to and what their lives are set for.

Bad credit mortgages are for those who found themselves with less than a perfect credit score. Whether due to economical hardships or health issues, some people slide down on their credit scores. The mainstream financial institutions will more than likely deny a loan to a person with this kind of credit history, but there are institutions that are willing to give a person a second chance.

The interest rates on those loans are higher than on other mortgages, because the lender feels he assumes most of the risk. The monthly payment procedure is also stricter, and late payments are not tolerated. The amount of the loan that will eventually have to be repaid is higher than on regular mortgages because of the higher interest.

Underwater mortgages mean that the property for which the loan was given is now worth less than the loan itself. The last few years showed us that this can happen without the home owner having anything to do with it. Trends change, bubbles burst and home prices go down drastically. With no equity in the house, it is impossible to be able to refinance and change the loan even if the interest rates in the market plummeted to record lows. Sometimes the only solution in a situation like that is either to have a ‘short sale’ – selling the house for less  what is owed to the financial institution or walk away from the house and leave it to the bank. Short sales have to be agreed upon with the financial institution holding the note, and in both cases the credit score of the home owner will be affected.

Reverse mortgage is a way to access money without giving up the ownership of the house. Reverse mortgages are offered to senior citizens from the age of 62, and with equity in their homes of more than $500,000. In a reverse mortgage situation the owner of the house gets to keep the house and gets a monthly payment or a lump sum from the financial institution. This money is eventually deducted from the equity in the house. The home owner can live in the house as long as he or she is alive and still have some form of additional income that comes from the years he or she has paid their mortgage and accumulated equity in the house. He or she can still sell the house, with an agreement from the financial institution, and get the equity remaining in the house.

These are but three examples of unusual mortgages. There are many more, especially in the last few years when so many homes today are owned by banks and sit empty for long months. If and when this economic trend changes, and house prices start going up again, some of those mortgages, like the underwater ones will become obsolete.