Video: Avoid credit whammies

What credit card interest rate and credit limit you qualify for depends on your credit history. But many people have no idea how good or bad their credit is. To keep the surprises to a minimum, pull your credit report from the three credit reporting agencies. You can pull a free credit report from each agency every 12 months at AnnualCreditReport.com.

The report will show your account history, including factors that can hurt your credit such as habitually late payments, short credit history or high utilization, when you've used a large amount of your available credit. The more of those negatives you have, the more likely you won't get the best interest rate.