Reward Credit Cards

Reward Credit Cards

Best Reward Credit Cards

Types
  Airline Miles Credit Cards
  Auto Credit Cards
  Cash Rewards Credit Cards
  Hotel Reward Credit Cards
  Gas Reward Credit Cards
  General Purpose Cards
  Retail Credit Cards

Issuing Bank
  American Express
  Bank of America
  Capital One
  Chase
  CitiBank
  Discover
  First National Bank
  HSBC
  Juniper Bank
  US Bank

Selecting Reward Credit Cards

We suggest that you use the following rules in selecting reward credit cards:

1. Make sure you don't carry a balance. If you carry a balance on your credit card, you should not be looking for a rebate credit card. Rather, you should be looking for a low-APR credit card. Rebates are usually in the vicinity of 1%, and the interest you are paying for the balance you are carrying is always going to be much higher than that.

2. Identify your passion. If you are a frequent flyer miles junkie and enjoy counting your favorite miles as much as counting cash, you should simply pick the credit card that will help you accumulate mileage for that airline. The same applies to other types of affiliate cards.

3. No annual fee. With the abundance of no-fee credit cards available, it usually doesn't make sense to get a rebate credit card that carries an annual fee, especially given that the amount of annual fee usually ends up equaling to a substantial chunk of the rebate you'll receive.

4. Reward method (cash/merchandise). In general, cash/check rebates and rebates that are applied directly towards your balance offer a better value than merchandise rebates. In addition, you also want to pay attention to the frequency of the rebates. A rebate that can be used every month is obviously more desirable than a rebate that can only be redeemed once every year.

5. Mix & match. There is nothing that says a person must only get one rebate credit card, or that a person should focus all his/her spending on one particular card. Rather, sometimes it makes sense to mix and match. Say, for example, you have two rebate cards, each offers 1% base rebate; Card A offers 3% for gas, and Card B offers 3% for travel. In this case, you want to make sure that you always use Card A when you pump gas, and Card B when you buy airline tickets / pay for hotels. This way you'll be able to maximize your total rebate amount.

6. Pay attention to reward caps. A number of cards have a cap in how much rewards you can earn during a certain time period (usually monthly or yearly). Make sure you switch to a different card if you are approaching the cap on your favorite one.

Disclaimer: Even though benefits for each credit card are checked on a regular basis, credit card issuers often changes the terms of the program without our knowlege. Please check with the official site for benefits details before applying.