It’s a great time to be a consumer, at least if you’re in the market for reward credit cards. The fact of the matter is that credit card companies are constantly competing for their share of the market, and one of the ways they do that is with reward programs. These programs let you take advantage of that competition, and see a little something come back your way just by using a credit card.

Still, it can be a bit challenging to weed through all of the possible reward credit card options. Here are some things to look at when you’re trying to decide which one you want to sign up for:

• The type of reward. One of the things about reward credit cards is that they don’t all use the same currency. The whole idea of reward credit cards started out as airline “miles.” The programs were geared at business travelers who could save on future airline ticket purchases by using their credit cards. Today, reward credit cards might still use miles, although most of the programs out there have switched to a point system. Some of the best programs actually give you cash, rather than some obscure measurement.
• How fast rewards accumulate. Keeping the type of reward in mind, you need to figure out how fast your rewards grow. If you get half of a percent back in cash on purchases, you might find that getting 1,000 points for every dollar spent is actually a better deal. You need to figure out how quickly you’ll earn those rewards if you want to pick between programs.
• Reward inflation or expiration. Some programs (again, not usually the cash programs) actually expire after a certain amount of time. Your points might disappear if you don’t use them for some programs. In addition, the “point” cost for a particular reward might increase over time. You need to keep those factors in mind when comparing a point-based program to a cash one.
• Special incentives. Some reward credit cards have sign-up incentives, or specific types of activity that can lead to double rewards. If, for example, a particular retailer offers extra rewards when you use the card at that retailer, and it’s a retailer you regularly patronize, it might be a good reward program for you.

According to a recent report out of Dallas, the major retailers around the country as well as financing companies are boosting their reward credit cards programs in order to entice consumers to choose them for their credit needs. This is good news for consumers, of course, and is a tip to the fact that creditors believe the economy is starting to come out of the recession, which will bring more and more buyers into a place of taking advantage of these types of programs.

Take, for example, the reward credit cards offered by the big-box retailers Toys R Us and Target. Currently, Target gives a five percent discount on each and every purchase made in the store using the REDcard accounts. Toys R Us is set to announce that it’s going to add a full 10 percent back on purchases for its reward credit card program, up to purchases of $500.

Traditional credit cards that aren’t associated with retailers are offering benefits, as well. The Chase Freedom cards are right now giving five percent back in cash on purchases made at supermarkets, movie theaters and even department stores, up to a maximum of $1,500. That particular reward program is set to expire on December 31 of this year.

In other instances, retailers are partnering with credit card companies to create new rewards programs. Grocery giant Kroger has partnered with U.S. Bank on a reward program for their credit cards under the Kroger branding label. The program relies on points that are able to be turned in and exchanged for groceries. Kroger is giving double points for the purchases that consumers make using the Kroger branded credit card at an actual Kroger store, with three times the number of points when buying items with the Kroger brand.

The advent of new reward credit cards doesn’t seem to be hurting existing programs, however. Those programs that offer consumers airline miles are still doing well, and are particularly popular among consumers on the higher range of the income scale, as well as for folks that travel for business.

If you’re looking into a  new credit card, make sure to pick one that offers you the kinds of rewards you’re most likely to earn and use.

Most people shouldn’t keep more than two or three credit cards. If you carry around more than that, pay them off and get rid of them. Keep your credit cards with the lowest annual percentage rates as well as your best reward credit cards and cut the other ones up.

The first credit cards to go should be your store credit cards, which typically charge higher interest rates, have few if any rewards, and can only be used in the stores which issue them. Next in line to go are your secured credit cards or other cards with low limits or high percentage rates.

Consider transferring your balance to a credit card which offers a low interest on balance transfers. Be careful, though. These introductory rates (which are sometimes as low as 0%) have led many people to believe that it’s OK to go ahead and rack up more debt. While there’s nothing wrong with carrying a manageable load of debt, it’s better to pay off your balances first, while you have the low introductory rate.

Credit cards aren’t the great evil that some debt counselors make them out to be, but if you borrow more than you can afford to repay, they can really make you regret it later. Here are a few good rules of thumb to stay out of trouble with credit cards:

• Don’t use a credit card for anything you can’t pay off in cash by the end of the billing cycle.
• Keep track of what you spend on your credit cards and review your expenses periodically instead of waiting for the monthly bill.
• If you find yourself unable to pay off your credit cards at the end of the month, stop using them until things stabilize for you.

Your credit cards can be one of your most useful financial tools, or they can be the shovel that buries you. The difference is how you use them.

Hopefully, you’ve already started paying down your credit cards. For many, 2009’s Credit Card Act was the impetus to start getting out from under their credit card debt. The Credit Card Act required credit card companies to reveal two key pieces of information on every credit card statement:

1. How much interest you will end up paying over the long run if you pay the minimums.
2. How long you’re going to be paying on that credit card if you only pay the minimums.

Remarkably, a lot of people have said that this information being on their statements played a key role in helping them decide to start paying down their balances. Who knew? Maybe that little bit of extra information really does help. Now, if we could only get Americans to pay attention to cigarette warning labels and the nutritional information printed on the package of Oreos.

Paying down credit card debt isn’t rocket science. Anyone can do it. Simply look at the minimum payments and pay more than that. The more you pay above the minimum, the faster you will be done with credit card debt.

Fortunately, more and more people are catching on to the idea that carrying a large load of credit card debt is a bad financial strategy. Today, the average credit card debt is more than $1,000 less than it was a year ago. Several key indicators reveal that problem credit card debt is on the decline.

For example, the percentage of credit card users who owe more than ten grand is down 7% from this time last year. That takes us all the way down to 23%. Let’s hope that the number continues to drop.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t use credit cards, of course. When you apply for a credit card and use it to make your purchases, you make life a lot more convenient for yourself and the merchants you do business with. Still, we all need to keep our debts in check, and the best way to do that is to pay off more every month than we charge.

So, how do you pick between reward credit cards? There are a few things you need to look at before you develop your reward-based credit card spending plan:

• Know what the rewards are really worth. Miles and points are both nebulous. Dollars and cents, on the other hand, have an absolute value. That’s not to say that a rewards credit card that offers you points or miles isn’t the best one for you. In many cases, it is. But you need to be able to boil it all down to real dollars to make that decision.
• Shop around. Look at your existing credit cards and see if there is a rewards program you can jump into. Look at new ones to apply for, but don’t rush out and apply for them all.
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. What you don’t want to do is go out and apply for a ton of reward credit cards, especially if you already have several. It’s going to hurt your credit score in the short term. Stick with ones you have or, if there’s a truly amazing deal, apply for just one or two.
• Figure out your spending patterns. For a rewards credit card to be worth anything at all to you, you need to use it. The problem is that the amount you’re going to pay in interest is always more than what it would be if you paid cash. Don’t use a credit card and then not pay it off. You’ll make a couple of bucks in rewards, but you’ll also pay more than that in interest.