Getting The Most Out Of Your Credit Cards - Rewards

By: Nick Makaryk

Every time you check your mail or email, watch television, or read a magazine, you are confronted with credit card reward offers everywhere you turn. These offers can generally look so good that it may seem too good to pass up. However, not all rewards are worth the effort, not all credit cards are great. In fact, in many cases, if the offer sounds too good to be true, it generally is.

Many credit card holders obtain several reward credit cards, they believe that the more reward cards they have, the better the rewards they get. This is not always true, some card are simply not worth the effort. It is important to carefully consider any reward card, know the terms and conditions, know the interest rates, and know the fees. By doing this, you are more apt to make a wiser decision when it comes to reward cards and avoid the excessive fees, charges, and interest rates.

You see, many reward cards offer these great rewards, but for a price. This price is generally made up in the area of higher rates of interest. You want to avoid high interest rate credit cards at all cost, rewards or not. It is important to understand that if you choose credit cards with high rates of interest, you will likely be offsetting any rewards you might get thanks to these charges. Therefore, before you choose any reward credit card, be sure to carefully examine rates of interest and make the determination of rather this card is a real value or not.

Another thing to look closely at is the fees charged annually by this reward card. In many cases, if you get a lower rate of interest and rewards on a credit card, they will make up for it somewhere, which might include the annual fees.

There are many types of rewards being offered by credit cards now. All of which are designed to lure you to their company. One extremely popular reward type is cash back. There are several different methods for this type of reward, but for the most part it is around one percent of all purchases made using that specific card. It is important to understand the terms and conditions before you choose this type of card.

Points are also extremely popular as well. These points are accumulated with each purchase made, the points vary depending upon the company and what they offer. These points may be used to purchase clothing, goods, flight tickets, or event tickets, again this varies according to company. However, look closely at how many points you earn for which purchases, as well as point cap amounts and expirations.

Lastly, frequent flyer miles are very popular as well. These are point based rewards in which you earn so many flyer miles for purchases made with the reward card. After accumulating enough points, you will be able use the miles earned towards a flight destination. However, these points are generally capped at 25,000 to get that flight ticket, which can be almost impossible.

It is important to understand all terms and conditions when it comes to reward cards. You need to make sure that your needs are met, it is affordable and within your budget, as well as making sense within your life.

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