A method and an apparatus for using a device to determine an item, such as, for example, a card based on an interaction environment, such as, for example, a settlement environment, are provided. The method by which a device determines a card to be used in a settlement includes: acquiring a card use history of a card, which is stored in the device; acquiring information which relates to a settlement environment of the device; determining a card to be used in the settlement, based on the acquired information relating to the settlement environment and the acquired card use history; and providing settlement information which relates to the determined card to a point of sale (POS) terminal.