Low Intro APR
No Annual Fee
Cash Back
Reward Cards
VISA
Mastercard
Business Credit C.
Balance transfer
Student Credit Cards
Frequent Flyer
Gold Cards
platinum Cards

Advanta
American Express
Bank of America
Bank One
Chase Manhattan
Discover

Bankruptcy
Slow Credit
Average Credit
Excellent Credit

There has been an explosion of credit cards that specialize in certain benefits over the last five years; reward points, cash back, 0% transfers, credit monitoring, discount gasoline, money-market savings, etc. So how do you get the most return from your card, particularly when their plans change?

(Presuming you never, ever carry a credit card balance – interest charges and potential fees will more than consume any side benefit that a card can offer.)

In the old days, the big benefit was airline miles. Let’s see how well that works out. The average airfare for a ticket that was paid for with credit card airline miles is about $400. And the average program requires 25,000 to 35,000 miles to be credited a free ticket. Since miles are normally accrued dollar-for-dollar, the average benefit is between 1 to 1.5% of what you spend. More reference material for this article is available at http://investing.real-solution-center.com.

Now we are starting to have something to compare. If you get an offer for a 1% cash back credit card, you’d be slightly better off getting the airline miles. But in my opinion, the many cards offering up to 5% cash back are the best deal, as long the fine print lines up. First, there are normally limitations on the shops where the 5% applies. You want a card that applies the 5% to where you spend the most of your monthly income. The credit card industry calls these ‘everyday purchases’, such as groceries, drug stores, and gasoline, but exclude warehouse clubs. You should get a card with the widest number of retailers where you commonly spend money. Or, get a specific-store card for those large one-time purchases. For example, if you are buying new kitchen appliances from Sears, apply and use their card for the purchase and you normally get 10% off. You can cancel it later when it has a zero balance.

The next 5% cash back problem is an annual limit. Citi Dividend credit card limits your annual earning to only $300. If you have some big purchases, you may have spent $5,000 on your credit card in the first month, and you’ve hit your cash back limit already. So guess what, you are going to stop using that card and start using a different 5% cash back card until you’ve used up that limit as well. Use them up and move on. American Express currently has a card called Blue Cash for bigger spenders. It offers only 1% cash back until you spend $6,500, and then it pays 5% cash back until you’ve spent $50,000. But there aren’t nearly as many AmEx merchants as Visa/Mastercard merchants. (Again, AmEx and others may have exclusions like purchases at warehouse clubs). You can compare dozens of credit cards from directory websites like www.allstarcreditcards.com.

Getting the most from your card is like going into battle: you can have a great plan in the beginning, but once cardholders start exploiting loopholes and creating unintended consequences, the card companies change their policies, it goes back and forth continually. So read all the fine print before applying, and squeeze some extra money from your credit card purchases this year.

Francis Kier has an MBA in finance and shares his two decades of experience with investing and personal finance. More of his investing articles are available at http://investing.real-solution-center.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Francis_Kier

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Yes, low APR credit cards are on the rise. Many credit cards are competing for your business to give you the best and lowest rates available today. There are so many credit cards from you to choose from that they are doing all kinds of things to get your attention including lowering their interest rate and giving you no annual fees.

Why is this happening? Because there are so many credit card companies. They all want your business and this is an attractive incentive to get you to apply and own one of their credit cards. If you choose a low APR credit card over one with 19.99 percent you are sure to go with the lower APR.

The only problem is that sometime these 0% and low APR credit cards are only promotional ways to get you to apply and then later your interest rate will rise. Many credit card companies have low APR credit cards for a certain amount of time such as 3 months, 6 months and some up to one year. You will have to compare to find out which one keeps the lower APR after the promotional period to ensure you are getting the best deal around.

No matter what the reason low APR credit cards are here to stay as long as the companies are competing for your business. Just remember to compare everything they offer besides the lower interest rate. You may find that several credit card companies are now offering other wonderful incentives for you to apply with them such as reward programs.

No matter which company you choose, you will enjoy the low APR credit cards even if it is only for a limited time. You will be able to save money on your purchases because you will not have to pay any interest until the promotional period is over. Just be sure your balance is very low when the interest rate kicks in and you will be fine.