Use Rewards cards to earn extra Cash
I am not sure if you are like me, but I am tired of the large credit card companies making millions and millions of dollars of interest off of their customers. So, I decided I would only use credit cards for what I could afford and I would pay them off every month. If you are disciplined enough to do this, you should definitely look into some sort of reward card. There are hundreds out there, and a website called Cardweb has a list of some of the most popular.
Two of my personal favorites are the PenFed VISA, and the Costco Trueearnings American Express card. The PenFed VISA gives you 5% cash back on gas purchases and 1.25% cash back on everything else. There are no special restrictions for this card and the cash rewards are awarded to your statement every month which is great. The Penfed Visa also doesn’t have any sort of annual fee. The Costco American Express card is a little different. It gives you 3% cash back on dining out, 2% on travel and 1% on everything else. This card also doubles as your Costco card which is nice so that you can trim that wallet down a bit. You have to be a Costco member to apply for this card, and your membership actually renews on the card each year but there is no other annual fee. The rewards accumulate throughout the year and are awarded once a year in February.
Either way you dice it, if you are using your credit card and paying it off every month – you should be getting something in return from these giant credit card companies. We will see if these companies continue to offer these good deals or if the credit card companies will see this cutting into their ever growing profits.
One last thing, please do not apply for one of these cards if you are still riddled with credit card debt. Pay down your debt and then apply for one of these and reap the benefits. Obviously you are far better served paying down your debt than earning rewards on these cards. You can’t beat a return on your money of between 10-25% depending on what interest rate the credit card companies are charging.
Costco TrueEarnings American Express
Filed under: Saving Money