Friday, December 11, 2009

Using Credit Cards to Save Money - A Guest Post

There are essentially three ways you can use credit cards to save money. All three are good and valid depending on your unique situations. I'm going to run down each method and perhaps challenge you to see if you could find a method that will help you to save money aside from couponing.

Using Credit Cards with Cash Rebates - The easiest way to save money from using your credit cards is to actually get one that gives you cash rebates when you use your card. These cards typically allow you to earn 1% for every dollar that you spend on the card. The better ones allow you to earn more than 1% on things like gasoline and even supermarkets. Therefore, when you combine cards like these with your usual store and manufacturer's coupons, you can really save a bundle. Over the last few years, I've been getting anywhere from $400 to $1000 in cash rebate from my credit card company every year. Because there are so many cash rebate formulas that card issuers offer, the thing that you really have to do is to do proper research and choose the card that will get you the most cash rebates.

There are other more advanced ways to go about to save more money. For example, because different cash back cards have different rebate formulas, you can combine cards and put different expenditure on different cards to.

Shopping Portals - This is a technique very few people know about. But increasingly, credit card companies are setting up their own shopping portal. This is how it works. Instead of going to say macys.com, credit card companies allow you to access macys.com from their site and if you use their card after going to macys.com from their site, you can earn either cash rebates or extra reward points. The rebates are actually quite generous and can range anywhere from 3% to even 20%.

This is a fantastic way to save money especially during festive seasons where we tend to do most of our shopping. So if your credit card has one of these features, please use them and and save even more money.

Reward Points and Miles - If you decide not to save money from cash rebates, you can also use credit cards to save money on your vacation. You do this by getting cards that actually let you earn reward points or frequent flier miles. There are several types of reward cards that you have to be aware of.

Firstly, there is the traditional frequent flier credit cards that allow you to earn miles for a particular airline program. These are best suited for those who actually fly a lot with that airline. You can also choose reward programs that allow you to transfer points to frequent flier programs. Or you can get a regular credit card reward program that let's you earn points and use them for airline tickets, hotel stays and cruises.

Many programs these days allow you to get your tickets anywhere you can get the best deals and they will credit your statements with the points you have accumulated.

One way to rack up miles real fast is to actually get a new credit card with generous sign up bonuses. Many cards offer 20,000 to 30,000 bonus miles or points. Get your partner to do that as well and that's a lot of points.

Ending Notes - Using coupons, shopping through rebate sites are great ways to save money. But remember, that little plastic in your wallet could also be a tool for you to really add to your frugal savings. They key is to be diligent, do your research and lastly, make sure you pay off your credit card bills fully each month. If you take the time to choose and use your credit cards wisely as you do couponing, you will save even more money.

This is a guest post from Mr Credit Card from, which is a credit card review site. Today, he is going to talk about saving money with credit cards and explains how he uses them for cash rebates and free airline tickets. If you are looking to apply for a credit card, please check out his best credit cards deals section.

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