The best credit card deal for one person may not be the best for someone else. Someone who travels a lot may want to choose a rewards card that accumulates airline miles or hotel points, while someone who doesn’t fly may want one with cash back bonuses or a low interest rate. Generally speaking, if you ever carry a balance over from month to month, you should choose the card with the lowest interest rate. Otherwise, high interest payments will more than cancel out any cash back or travel mile bonuses you get.

That said, if you are thinking of switching credit cards, you have to look carefully these days to find 0% balance transfer offers. The ones you do find will have shorter terms, say three months rather than 12. It is very important that if you select a 0% balance transfer you are sure you can pay off within that 0% window of opportunity, whether it’s three months, six months, or 12 months. Otherwise, your interest rate may jump to even higher than it was on the card you left behind. If you think you need a year to pay off any balance transfer, you may be better off searching for a low rate for balance transfers for a year versus 0% for a few months.

Credit card deals come and go all the time. To keep up with them, you should keep searching them out several times a week until you find one that matches your needs and spending style. If you live in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, or Canada, you can use the website creditcards.com to monitor credit card deals. You can use their search tool, or simply go to their sitemap and click on the type of credit card you’re looking for (rewards, low interest, no annual fee, etc.) to find the hottest deals. You can apply right online if you find one you like. Sometimes you can get instant approval, but not always.

If you live in the U.K., you can log onto creditcardsweb.co.uk for independent comparisons of credit cards available in the U.K.

If you don’t carry a balance month to month, then you’ll have more choices, because you don’t care much about the interest rate. Cash back, travel rewards, or retail point schemes may be deciding factors for you. But for those who carry a balance, it is almost always best to forego rewards in favor of getting the card with the best interest rate.

Peter Carville is a freelance article writer who writes for Financial Facts about the current financial news and the credit crunch.