Popular Credit Card Rewards

You will find that there are several credit cards available that offer all sorts of "rewards" which are based on how often the cards are used to make any type of purchase.The credit card rewards offered come in an almost endless variety with some of the most popular ones being air miles and discounts off the costs of flights.Many stores and retailers also offer "loyalty" rewards if you are using a credit card issued in their name and some credit cards will give the opportunity to earn discounts on the purchase of a new car.

However desirable some of the rewards offered by some credit cards might be, the question that must be asked is whether or not these rewards are worth it.For the answer to this question, it is instructive to look at the rate of interest applied to purchases made on credit cards with rewards and compare them to those without rewards.Even if there are many cards which offer rewards or loyalty bonuses, the lowest rate of interest on these cards is most often around 15% APR.This is about 7-8% more in interest than you would pay for a very basic, low-interest credit card and infinitely greater, of course, than you would be paying on the zero-percent rate of interest on the introductory offer with many other credit cards.The interest rate on some of the reward cards can be as much as 30% APR, you will find this out if a comparison of the interest rates on the broad range of these cards is done.

If you are a regular credit card user who wants to earn sufficient points for worthwhile rewards and have to pay interest at these sort of rates, then it would certainly be worth giving serious consideration toward choosing a much lower-interest credit card which does not offer rewards.If you are the kind of credit card user who always tries to pay off the whole balance on the card before the payment is actually due, and who therefore never pays any interest, the rewards for using your card are genuinely free.It takes a great deal of discipline to pay off the balance on your credit card each month and if you do not know if you can do this it may better for you to choose to use a cash back credit card.Similar in principle concept to the reward credit card, a cash-back card pays back, in cash, a preset percentage of whatever has been spent on the card each month.

The best cash-back rate is currently running at around 5% on spending that attracts almost 19% APR in interest, it is easy to see that you will still be paying quite dearly for the use of the card.You will be able to retrieve for your own pocket the 5% cash back on this card when you pay your total balance each month and avoid the interest charges.

It can certainly be worthwhile to you if you use the cash back credit cards and those that offer rewards if you keep paying your monthly outstanding balances consistently and avoid the interest that will be charged.When used in this way, these credit cards can be very beneficial to your personal finances.