I recently got an add for a credit card in the mail and the base rate for the card was something like 28% interest.

Those things are ridiculous. I found out the hard way very early on in my life where when i was just filling out a form to get a free frisbee on college campus that turned out to be a credit card application. I'm sure that every single person that filled out those forms was approved as long as they were 18 years old. Then a week later or so we all got our $500 credit cards in the mail and guess what we all did? Well we all went out and spent $500. Then, the next thing you know if you were making your minimum payment, they would call you and ask if you wanted to increase your limit which of course almost all of said yes to because we are stupid teenage college students. Since I was making very little money, the minimum balance soon became something I could no longer afford and I was getting hit with late fees as well. I eventually paid the whole thing off and didn't get another credit card until it was provided to me by my employer after I graduated.

I would imagine the (eventual) $1500 credit that Capital One issued to me ended up costing me close to $5000. Also, giving away gifts on college campuses in exchange for a credit card application is illegal now and if fucking well should be.