How features of credit cards provide benefits

1 September 2008

Credit cards can have many specialised features in order to attract customers who would like specific advantages from their financial products. It is not always obvious how to take full advantage of these features, however. The following are some of the most common specialised features for credit cards and how they can be utilised to get the best value out of them.

Gold and platinum credit cards

The designation of gold credit cards and platinum credit cards generally doesn't mean much more than an improved reward program credit card. If you are looking for gold and platinum credit cards make sure that they come with enough benefits to make the increased annual fee worthwhile. Many gold and platinum credit cards offer extra reward points, a wider range of rewards, a concierge service, as well as free travel insurance for a few months in the year. If you are unlikely to make use of these enough to justify the higher card cost, then you may be better off with other kinds of credit cards.

Airline rewards credit cards

If you fly often, the airline rewards credit cards can provide good value. Otherwise, you may find reward program credit cards offer better value. If you can, try to find airline rewards credit cards with free travel insurance included.

Cash back credit cards

Cash back credit cards require you to spend often with your credit card if they are to be of benefit. You will also need to avoid paying interest. By using your credit card to cover as much of your spending as possible and repaying it in its entirety before interest free days expire you may be able to get a decent return using cash back credit cards.

Reward program credit cards

Using your credit cards in order to gain as many reward points as possible is the way to get the best value from reward program credit cards, but you will need to make sure that the reward program contains rewards that you are interested in. Also, you will need to avoid spending more than you intend to, as it can be easy to get caught up in spending more and justifying it with the accrual of reward points.

Please visit our comparison page if you would like to compare credit cards and bowse our site to read more about the features available for credit cards.

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