Learn: What should I know about credit cards?

What about the basics of a credit card?

A credit card is sponsored by a major credit card company, which most often is Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. Only one credit card company will be the sponsor on an individual card. You can tell what company is sponsoring your card by what company’s logo is printed on the front of your card.

You can pay for anything with your card as long as whomever you are buying from will accept a card from your credit card company. VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express are accepted almost everywhere that credit cards can be used to pay for things. Some businesses - certain small shops, street vendors and some companies on the Internet - do not accept credit cards of any kind.

There are three major types of credit cards you can get:

  • A card issued directly from a credit card company

  • A card issued by a bank, such as Chase or Bank of America

  • A card issued by a company, such as American Airlines or Disney

Each month you will get a bill from your credit card company. This bill will be for the entire amount of your purchase plus a pre-determined amount of interest. You can choose what credit card company you want based on the interest rate and other features that company will give you. Remember and that depends on if you have bad, fair, good, or perfect credit.

For more about credit card basics:

*See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions of offer. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the "Apply Here" button you can review the credit card terms and conditions on 's web site.