by : Court Tuttle

Most credit cards today have a rewards program in which you can get free or discounted stuff based on how much you spend on your credit card. These are naturally called rewards credit cards. Credit card companies "reward" you for having a good credit history, for using your credit card for your purchases, and for making the payments on those credit card bills on time.

Kind of enticing, isn't it? If you are going to have a credit card, why not get one that will give you a little bit back for the money you spent with your credit card?

Here are a few examples of the kinds of rewards you get when using rewards cards. There are some examples where credit card companies give you specified rewards, but these are the three major ways to get rewards:

1. Frequent Flier Miles

If you travel a lot, it's good to get a credit card that will reward you for buying airline tickets with that particular card. You are often rewarded for how many miles you travel or for how much money you spend on a ticket. These rewards usually result in discounts on your future airline tickets, allowing you to save money on your flight expenses.

2. Balance Transfers

These type of rewards are best for you if you have several credit cards with high interest rates that you are currently paying on. Making a balance transfer to these type of cards allows you to put all of those balances into one, in which you pay a low percentage of interest, or often times even no interest whatsoever. Many lenders will only give you a certain period of time to pay off that balance before they raise the interest rates, but it gives you a chance to pay your bills without having to worry about interest.

3. Rewards Points

A lot of credit cards these days will give you rewards based on the amount of points you earn. You earn points by using your card. However much money you spend on your card allows you so many points.

After you have accumulated enough points, you can get discounts on trips or vacations, food, entertainment, gasoline, clothing, travel insurance, and sometimes you can even turn in your points to just get cash. No matter how you use your points, the more you rack up, the more rewards you will get when you cash them in.

So what? The bottom line is that when you use rewards cards, you basically get back a portion of what you spent on your credit card, though perhaps in a different form.

It's sort of like buy-one-get-one-free. You have to spend a little more money to get the discount, but you still end up paying less than if you had actually purchased the item at the original price.

Having a rewards card rewards you for paying your bills on time and spending money using credit cards. The more you spend, the bigger the rewards.