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Almost all credit card companies offer rewards in some form or the other in order to entice customers. And it can get pretty confusing while making a decision as to whether or not one must choose a particular credit card over another. There are a lot more factors to think about when one is looking for credit cards and it is not just about rewards.
The first thing that you need to keep in mind while shopping around for a credit account is whether or not you are going to use the rewards that are being offered by the company. There might be a lot of rewards of various kinds on anvil, but if you are not going to use them there is no point in going for the card in the first place. Usability of a particular reward is a huge factor that one has to keep in mind. For example, getting points that can be redeemed at a place where the prices of the commodities are already very expensive is not a very good deal. And another example could be getting a free trip for two with no coverage for living expenses when you don`t even have the time to go on a vacation in the first place.
The other thing you need to look out for is the scale of the rewards. If the reward amount is too small, there is no point in going for a high interest rate credit card because the benefits of going for a low interest rate credit card with no rewards would far outweigh the benefits of going for the high interest rate one. There might be some rewards which kick in only if you make a large purchase such as a minimum 500 dollar limit or something. If you are getting a few measly points for spending 500 dollars, then it is really not worth spending so much in the first place on something that you might not have bought in the absence of the reward.
There are many other important things to look out for in credit cards such as the interest rate on the amount you will be paying back to clear out your balance. There are also special offers on certain credit cards where you need not pay any interest on the amount you have borrowed for a certain period during the initial few months that you own the card. This is a very good feature to have since you can tide over difficult months without having to worry about paying off the huge amount in one lump some. This is useful for students who are looking for jobs and need to pay off small amounts for college fees or other ancillary expenses.
A year would give one enough time to raise the required amount. Also look in to the penalties that the credit account puts on defaulting on a payment. Because this can happen very easily if one overlooks a bill for a certain month.
