Whenever you are thinking about credit cards and have some questions, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) http://www.ftc.com, can provide you with information on how to avoid any suspicious situations.
You really do not need to get involved with those anyway since there are so many good credit card programs available for credit worthy applicants.
Reward Credit Cards
One of the benefits you can receive with today’s credit cards are to get involved in a rewards program. Rewards programs are designed to provide some type of benefit if you spend the card in certain places, at certain amounts or over designated period of period of time.
The programs are so prevalent that it pays to take the time to study what is available and how to get the most for the money you spend using credit cards.
Here are some of the rewards programs that could be available on the major credit cards—Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
Airline Miles- Fly often? If so, cashing in the airline miles given away on some credit cards might get you where you want to go at a greatly reduced cost. These rewards are sometimes available just for signing up.
For example, you might sign up to receive a MasterCard. Once you are approved, you could receive 10,000 airline miles for a particular airline. If you use the card to make payment at certain places like car rental firm or a hotel, you could find yourself earning miles while you spend.
Cash Back- Like to receive cash instead of gifts? If so, you might consider a cash back card. A cash back card provides a percentage to you if you use the card for certain purchases. An example of this might be that for any purchase you make at a grocery store or a hotel, 5% will be given back to you in cash. So, if you spend $1,000 at a selected hotel in this program, you would be eligible for $50 cash back. Some cards provide cash back with every purchase but it is usually a small percentage.
Goods and Services- Many cards offer their rewards in points. You can in turn use those points to purchase a gift in a certain category. For example, if you earn 10,000 points, you might be able to redeem them for a $50 gift certificate at a Morton’s Steak House. Or, if you spend $300, you can redeem 6,000 points for a $50 gift card.
There are usually several categories to select from. They could include dining, travel, airline tickets or upgrades, electronics, gift cards, retail establishments, etc.
Gas Cards- If you drive an automobile often, you may want to look into a rewards gas card. With one of these, you will receive rewards when you use the credit card to purchase gasoline. This can be done on specific gas cards like Shell or Mobil or on bank cards.
The variations you can see on these types of rewards cards are endless.
Balance Transfer Perks- To entice more credit users to switch cards, many bank cards offer balance transfer programs. These come with attractive features. With many of them you will not have to pay any interest for a period of time.
So, let’s say you had a $1,200 balance on a current card that you are paying 16% interest on. If you could take that $1,200, move it to a no- interest-for-a-year-balance-transfer-card, you could still have the cash flow of $100 payments each month. Along with that, you can have the $1,200 paid off within 12 instead of 14 or 15 months.
Of course, if you do not pay the amount off in the allotted time of the no-interest promotion, you will have to pay the prevailing rate on the card.
No Annual Fee- As another way of attempting to obtain new customers, many credit cards will waive their annual fee for a year or two.
Charity Cards- If you are a bit of a philanthropist, you can sign up for a credit card that calculates all of the rewards. However, instead of going to you, the rewards will be transferred to a charity of your choice.
These are just a few of the rewards you can enjoy when shopping for that perfect credit card. In fact, many of the offers combine with some or all of these rewards and have them available all in one credit card!
So, carefully study the fine print, do your research and you will be able to match the perfect credit card to your lifestyle.