Beware if you're in a credit crunch and you get a credit card offer in the mail from First Premier Bank. This locust lender will offer you a card with a $250 credit limit, but it also comes with a $95 program fee, a $29 set-up fee, an $84 dollar/year participation fee and an annual fee of $48. By the time you pay all the initial fees, you barely have any of your original credit line still available. Lenders like First Premier and CompuCredit have been in the news lately for this practice, yet there are also many online opportunities enticing those with damaged credit. If you're contemplating getting one of these cards, stop it immediately. There are alternatives called stored-value cards that have just a fraction of the fees. Stored-value cards are popular in Europe, but not widely known in the United States. Here's how they work: You pay a fee, usually around $5, to open an account. Then you get a Visa or MasterCard that holds your stored value. So you don't have a credit card per se, but you've got a card that you can electronically load cash onto and use as a payment system. Stored-value cards can help you make online purchases, for example. Be sure to read all the terms and conditions because additional fees usually apply. You can find stored-value cards at discount stores, but don't purchase them at convenience stores. The fees you'll face there will defeat the purpose.