Having good credit makes any type of borrowing less expensive. Credit cards are no exception. You'll get better offers and pay lower rates with a stronger credit history.

Fixed credit card rates may be 10 percent or 20 percent or more, depending on your score. It doesn't take a mathematician to see that your rates may double if you've got bad credit. Assume you've got a credit card balance of $10,000. Of course, you need to pay this off. It will be a lot easier if you've got that 10-percent rate. For this example, assume that you want to pay the debt off within two years. At the 10-percent interest rate, you would have to pay $461 per month to eliminate that debt. In that case, you would pay total interest costs of $1,075.93. What if you have that 20-percent interest rate? It would take $509 per month and you would pay $2,214.83 in total interest.

In the example above, you're paying an extra $40 per month. Can you think of anything you'd rather spend $40 on each month? If that number sounds small, consider that you would pay an extra $1,100 or so to pay off the exact same loan. That's $550 each year that you could have put to better use.

When you have bad credit, you don't even get the best offers out there. If you have a debt that you are looking to pay off, sometimes it makes sense to transfer the balance in order to save a few dollars on interest. With a good credit history, your mailbox is constantly full of credit offers. Typically, they offer teaser rates, like 0-percent interest rate for the next year. If you put your $10,000 debt on a 0-percent credit card, you can save a lot on interest payments. However, if your credit has some blemishes, you won't get these same offers. Don't worry, the creditors will not ignore you. Instead, they'll fill your mailbox with offers that are not as attractive.