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Perhaps I can help. I've owned virtually all kinds of credit cards and I have a lot of experience with the banks that issue them. Your concerns can be itemized this way when you are choosing a credit card but in actuality, you are choosing the bank that you will have a credit relationship with:

1. Acceptability

2. Annual fee

3. Interest rates

4. Penalties and other charges

5. Hidden clauses in your contract

6. Customer support

7. Extra features

ACCEPTABILITY

This usually means the big two: Visa and Mastercard. Whichever bank issues your card, if it is part of these two networks, you will generally enjoy greater acceptability in establishments here and abroad. While traveling, I've never had a problem using these credit cards. American Express is a more expensive card to maintain but gives you a certain exclusivity, however, you will find that not as many establishments accept this card compared to the big two.

ANNUAL FEE

Check the annual fee. Most banks waive the annual fee for the first year so you may not pay any attention to it. This may range from 1500 to 5000 a year, depending on the type of card/credit limit.

INTEREST RATES

Now this isn't as simple as comparing numbers. For example, interest rates between bank issuers can range from 2.25 % up to 3.75 % or even higher. Take note that this is note an annual interest rate but a MONTHLY interest rate.

NOW TAKE NOTE THAT DIFFERENT CARD ISSUERS HAVE DIFFERENT WAYS OF COMPUTING INTEREST. Most credit card companies will only charge interest on the UNPAID BALANCE as of the due date of your account. For example, you owed 1000 pesos and only paid 500 as of the due date of the card. So 500 pesos was left as unpaid balance and 3.5 % shall be charged as interest on your next billing cycle.

NOW A COUPLE OF OTHER CARD ISSUERS WILL COMPUTE INTEREST IN A DIFFERENT METHOD. I found this out the hard way when I bought a laptop computer 2 years ago. It is my habit to pay my credit card bill in full every month so despite having owned this particular card for several years, I never realized that they computed interest in a different manner from my other credit cards. I bought the laptop for 70,000 and paid for it a few days later at the bank even without receiving my credit card statement. A few days later I filled up with gas and paid 1000 using the same credit card. I didn't bother to pay the 1000 as I said, well, it's just 1000 pesos as unpaid balance. The interest on that will just be 35 pesos. I'll just pay it on the next billing cycle.

NOW IMAGINE MY SHOCK WHEN MY BILL ARRIVED THE FOLLOWING MONTH AND I WAS ASSESSED 2400 pesos in interest charges! I called up the card's customer service and asked why my interest charges were even bigger than my unpaid balance. It's because this bank computes interest charges this way: IF YOU FAIL TO PAY THE CREDIT CARD BILL IN FULL ON THE DUE DATE, INTEREST WILL BE COMPUTED AGAINST ALL THE CHARGES YOU MADE AGAINST THE CREDIT CARD REGARDLESS OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID. So this company charged my interest for the 70000 laptop despite the fact that I had paid most of it. Pay attention to this when you are choosing a card company. I told the card company that I wanted to close my account. Being a good customer over several years, I guess, has some perks, because the company reversed the charges. PM me if you want the name of the 2 card issuers that I know use this method of computing interest.

PENALTIES AND OTHER CHARGES

All companies have penalties for late payments. Not all card companies charge you for exceeding your limit, though, since it is their responsibility to make sure you don't exceed your limit. That being said, cards issuers have different attitudes toward penalties. Some view it as a last resort as it sours the relationship between client and bank (Citibank). So Citibank agents will call you on the day after your due date if you failed to make any payments to remind you of the bill and will even generously offer to waive any penalties if you make the payment on that day. The same company will not charge you if the interest charged to your account results in your account exceeding your credit limit.

However, other banks seem to view penalties as a major source of income, client satisfaction be damned. Penalties are assessed for late payments even if paid in full. When I was much younger, I could only afford to pay the minimun amount due during some months. So on one occasion, the interest due on the unpaid balance resulted in my account exceeding the credit limit. Imagine my surprise when I was assessed a 1000 peso penalty for exceeding my limit when in fact, I didn't make any charges and it was only the interest assessed which pushed the balance beyond the limit. I returned that card a few months later.

Check the bank's policies on charges made on a lost or stolen card. These vary from bank to bank. You might not like the policies of some banks.

HIDDEN CLAUSES IN YOUR CONTRACT

Be aware that a certain bank used to have a garnishment clause in their bank accounts. What does this mean? Let's say you have savings accounts with this bank. And you also have credit cards issued by this bank or a subsidiary. Should you fail to pay your credit card bill (this may be intentional on your part if you are disputing charges so keep that in mind), the bank has been authrorized by you to withdraw the funds from your savings account to cover your debt. That really sucks if you are disputing certain charges with the card issuer.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Availability of 24 hour support is important. The bigger issuers generally have easy to reach call centers except for the bank I mentioned in the last paragraph which apparently doesn't want to spend on customer support. It takes forever to talk to a CSA with that bank. This is doubly important when you are trying to report a lost or stolen card, you're in a race with whoever has your card and is planning on going on a shopping spree.

EXTRA FEATURES

Rebates on fuel charges and Miles added to your frequent flyer account are icing on the cake, you might say. Check the fundamentals of the card before you sign up. One extra feature that I do like is the availability of photo cards. The credit card you are issued will contain your ID photograph as well as your signature. So even if your card gets stolen at any point, you have this extra level of protection against fraudulent use. For example, if a regular card never actually gets to you and is stolen, any tom, dick or harry can affix his signature to the card and successfully use it (true if this is a renewal card, most new cards require activation). Since a photo card contains your signature as well as your photo, a fraudster not only has to sign the slip convincingly, he also has to look like you.

My wife has lost 2 credit cards which were both photo cards. No fraudulent charges were ever made to those cards as they were photo cards. AFAIK, only Citibank issues photo cards that double as security features. Other photo cards are merely vanity cards (photos of your pet, girlfriend, car, etc.).

Hope this helps.

Is there a VC in the Timog / Tomas Morato area? If there is, where is it located and how is it?

Profession: Physician, Gastroenterologist / Endoscopist

Age: 3X

Location: Mandaluyong

School: UP, UERM

I love MTC because where else can you benefit from the no-bullshit experiences of 2000 manyaks? This way, you know where the good stuff is and which stuff to avoid like the plague.

It's also a great feeling knowing you're not alone in Metro Manila.

Long live MTC!