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All of us like to enjoy cash benefits, especially if it comes our way free of cost. credit card rewards make use of this same idea. Credit card companies offer some lucrative reward from time to time to keep their customers satisfied and to encourage the usage of their credit card. Most tempting of these are the cash-back offers and the discounts offered when we shop. We can make the most of these reward plans, if we know how to play the game and choose our cards intelligently.
Cash-back plan is offered for a variety of things. Grocery, departmental, gas and even payment of bills of certain utilities can put on some reward points for us. Get your monthly expenditure listed down and see on what you spend the most. Then, see the card that offers money-back in that particular criterion. If you spend and big chunk of money in grocery shopping, consider taking a credit card that offers benefits for shopping at a grocery store. This can definitely earn you extra reward points and help you get better value for your reward program.
Credit cards often have a lot of conditions that are not blatantly listed. Make sure you go through all of them before you sign for a card. Restrictions often include reward points validity, minimum amount for redeeming reward points and maximum amount of rewards you can earn. If you spend more and you don't get reward points worth the money, then there is no point in that reward plan. Also, if you are going to use credit card until the month end, but you will have to redeem your points half way through the month, there are no rewards for the cash you spend for the rest of the month. Take care of such preset conditions and you can make some attractive rewards for shopping.
Credit cards also have a restriction on the vendors that accept their reward points and cards for discounts. When you consider a credit card, make sure the card covers all the stores you generally shop in. If you have store preferences and the credit card does not offer that, then you will have the inconvenience of shopping at a place you do not like.
While you are thinking of all the rewards you are going to earn, it is also important to note that the interest rates you pay for any outstanding balance can easily outnumber your reward amount. So it is very necessary to pay off the entire balance amount within the due date of your bill. Also check whether the credit card charges you the annual fee for membership. Any reward program is not worth paying huge sums of money for membership.
To earn that extra money every month, make sure that you pay all your telephone and gas bills by credit card. This is one of the easiest ways to increase your reward points, since you will be paying for gas almost every week. It helps if you and your partner can consolidate the accounts and use the same credit card to shop as it accumulates reward points much sooner.
Take care not to land in debt by over spending, because any credit card reward plan is not worth the trouble of landing in debt.
