Not necessarily. Credit card issuers use varying sets of criteria to determine who receives offers. "Some issuers use strict criteria and will check your record for past delinquencies and other negative indicators," says Judy Dahl, communications manager for Equifax Card Services, Inc. in Madison, Wis. "Others may not be as diligent about checking your credit history. So an offer doesn't uniformly mean you're a good credit risk."

An issuer has a credit bureau run a credit check. The company sends a list of names as well as its credit criteria to the bureau. The bureau then applies the criteria to assess a person's credit history and assign a score that indicates an individual's creditworthiness. The issuer uses the scores to determine who receives an offer.

Yes. "With an invitation to apply, the issuer looks at demographics and sends out the applications," says Dahl. "They don't do a credit check until they get responses. With a preapproved offer, it means they've already done the prescreening or credit check. By regulation, once they do the prescreening and you pass the criteria, they have to extend an offer."

Dahl points out that many credit unions differ slightly in their approach; they will do some checking even before sending out invitations to apply. Most likely, the candidates already have filled out other credit applications with the credit union, so information is more readily available.

A credit bureau makes a notation on your credit report every time it's pulled for screening. But that information is available only to the consumer, according to Dahl. In other words, you can see who's prescreening you for offers, but credit issuers cannot. That's to prevent them from using numbers of offers as a prescreen criteria. After all, "You don't ask to be prescreened," Dahl points out, so you shouldn't be penalized for receiving large numbers of offers.

Yes, you can. "You have to watch the total amount of available credit you have out there because that represents your potential to accumulate debt," Dahl says. "But there's nothing saying you can't have more than one."

Yes, they do. "If you apply for a certain number of cards--usually six (in general) or maybe three in a shorter time period--it is considered negative by some credit grantors," says Feinberg. "They think you all of a sudden need a lot of credit. They reason that, in one day, you could max out all those credit lines. Then you become a less-desirable credit risk to them." Dahl says issuers do what they can to check out simultaneous applications before they extend credit. But so many issuers process applications at the same time that two issuers may extend offers to the same person and not know they've doubled up.

Rather than raise interest rates, banks and other issuers are instituting new fees to bring in more revenue to cover losses. "According to the banks' research, consumers are less sensitive to fees than high rates," Dahl says. "So late fees and cash-advance fees are increasing. They aren't as apparent and they're easier for the consumer to swallow if they don't notice." Credit unions, on the other hand, tend to charge fewer fees and focus instead on service, Dahl says. Issuers also are recouping revenue by shortening or eliminating grace periods. This means customers pay interest sooner on their balances.

Absolutely. In fact, card issuers are encouraging transfers by mailing out letter checks or "convenience" checks, which allow you to move your balances to their cards. Sometimes an issuer will offer a short-term lower interest rate as an incentive to transfer.

If you read the fine print, you'll see the extremely low "teaser" rate probably is in effect for a limited time, say six months. After that, the rate goes up "often dramatically" to 18% or 19%. "Unless you want to spend time transferring your account balance every six months to take advantage of other teaser rates," Dahl says, "you're better off looking for a reasonable rate that will stay low."

If you stick with one rebate card in order to maximize its benefits, you're more likely to recoup the cost of the annual fee. But if you divide your benefits among several rebate cards-- one for frequent flier miles, one for gasoline, one for credit toward an automobile--you probably won't get your money's worth. The key is not to jump at the first rebate offer you get. "Think each offer through," Feinberg says. "I think rebate cards are a tremendous opportunity for consumers as long as they do it right."

According to Steven Rick, an economist with the Credit Union National Association, Card No. 1, with the $1,200 balance, will cost about $1,757 in interest and take 12 years to pay off. Card No. 2, with a $3,000 balance, will take almost 22 years to pay off at an interest cost of about $5,103. Card No. 3, with the $700 balance, will cost about $300 in interest and will take more than four years to pay off. All told, you'll pay about $7,160 in interest to clear yourself of credit card debt. And that's if you never make another charge using these cards!

If you consolidate all your debts onto a card with a 14% interest rate, you will pay about $5,969 in interest, says Rick--a savings of almost $1,200. And, you can save even more money if you establish and stick to a time frame for paying off your credit cards. For example, if you set a goal of paying off your credit card--the new one at 14% interest--in five years, you'll pay only $1,940 in interest, a savings of more than $5,200. So smart budgeting can pay off.