An article from Reuters questions some of the Tricks of the credit card trade - namely, all those offers to give you a rate as low as 8.99%.

It’s the “as low as” that’s the kicker. Your actual rate could be much higher, but you won’t know until you provide them with specifics about your finances and your social security number. It’s only after you apply that you’ll learn your rate and who much you’ll be approved for.

So, what to do? Justin McHenry of IndexCreditCards.com offers two bits of advice: Either don’t apply for cards that don’t disclose all terms upfront or apply for several cards at the same time, compare the deals, and cancel the ones you don’t like.

But won’t this hurt your credit score? McHenry claims it probably won’t do much, but to be safe, don’t try it before you apply for a home mortgage.

What should you be looking out for?

• two cycle billing - where they use your balance for the last two months to calculate the average balance. If you rarely keep a monthly balance, you could still end up paying 2 months interest for 1 month’s debt.
• Changes to your credit history profile - companies see this as a warning sign and may increase your rate
• Over-limit fees - if you charge something over your limit, it probably will still go through. You’ll just find an extra fee tacked on
• Due Dates - Do they have a particular time of day, after which they consider your payment late? Watch this carefully, because even if your payment arrives on the due date, that may not be enough to stave off a late fee and possibly even a rate hike.
• Crunch your own numbers - Take advantage of online debt calculators like those at Motley Fool that calculate how much interest you’ll end up paying and how long your debt will take to pay off

So, while the government probably won’t be going after credit card companies anytime soon, there are numerous things to watch out for when applying for a new credit card.