In this series, we’ll walk you through some of the steps of choosing the best credit card offer for you. Before you even look at a single offer you must determine your needs. What are you looking for in a credit card? What types of features do you want? What don’t you want in your next credit card?

Until you can answer these questions and more, it’s impossible to effectively compare offers. Why? A good deal for one person might not be a great deal for someone else. Let’s explore why that is by asking a few questions to help you gauge your individual wants and needs.

Answer the following questions before comparing credit card offers:

Do I plan on financing purchases over an extended period of time?

If you answered “yes” to this question, then a low interest rate should rank high in your list of credit card needs because financing purchases means you’ll be subjected to interest payments. If you plan to pay off your balance in full each month, a high interest rate won’t likely affect you when you factor in interest free days.

Do I want to earn rewards for my purchases (or do I spend enough to make a rewards card worthwhile)?

It’s nice to think about getting paid through a rewards programme just for making purchases you would make anyway. However, if you’ll never spend enough to earn enough points for redemption, the reward card’s annual fee might not be worth it. If you still want to get something back, you might be better off looking for a card like the Citibank BP credit card, where you save when you make purchases rather than having to accrue and redeem points at all.

Will I use this credit card to make a balance transfer?

If you plan to initiate a balance transfer, there are two things you’ll want to consider — the balance transfer rate and what that rate will revert to after the introductory period (sometimes the purchase rate and sometimes the cash advance rate depending on the card). If you answered “yes” to this question, a logical starting place is looking for balance transfer credit cards like the Aussie MasterCard.

How important is the annual fee?

Other than interest rates, the annual fee is probably the most important consideration in choosing a credit card for the average consumer. While you can find no fee credit cards like the BankWest Zero Platinum credit card, a no fee card might not give you everything else you want (like the ability to quickly earn rewards points). On the other hand, if you prefer a no-frills credit card, then a no or low fee card might be the perfect fit.

Only when you know what you’re looking for can you begin to seriously compare credit card offers to find the right card for you. In the next post of our series we’ll look at where you can actually find different credit card offers to compare.