Credit Cards With Rewards : How Much Money Can You Really Make?

• Cash-back: The first example is for a card that comes equipped with a cash back rewards program. If you regularly charge expensive items, you could earn a tidy sum. Let’s say you put $60,000 on the card in one year, and the bank that issued the card gives 1.75 in points for each dollar you spent. (A “point” is one percent.) With a simple math equation, you’ll discover that just over a grand would be yours to play with ($60,000 X 1.75% = $1,050). And that’s for a low point value. Many issuers give five points for each dollar charged when you use the card to pay for such things as dining out and airfare.

If charging such high sums sounds crazy or not doable, think again. It’s amazing the expenses you can charge on your card these days and when using credit cards with rewards you truly can earn money. Not long ago, you couldn’t use a credit card for large, recurring bills like rent and college tuition. But times are changing. Many schools and colleges accept plastic, as are an in-creasing number of property owners. It’s certainly common for tuition to cost over $20,000 per semester, and for monthly rents in high-demand areas to exceed $2,000 per month. Simply by paying your child’s education and your own housing costs using credit cards with rewards could reap enough rewards to cover the cost of a swank weekend vacation in about a year.

For another example, consider what you can get with points transferable for airline travel. The points start accumulating when you begin your relationship with the creditor. Much of your bonus comes from the original number of points you get when you first acquire the card and promise to use it in a specific way.

• Credit Cards with Rewards: Getting Points. Depending on the card, you can earn as many as (and in some cases more than) 100,000 points by charging a mere $3,000 in the initial three months. Those points are worth big money. Typically, that number would translate into about $1,000 or more toward airfare or hotel expenses.

All for what? Paying for the things you can afford. That’s the key, of course. To make sure credit card rewards programs are worth it, and that you’re putting free cash in your pocket and complementary trips in your life, you’ve also got to be dedicated to charging aggressively. To avoid canceling out the benefits of the rewards by paying high interest expenses, you’ll want to do so while also staying out of debt.

Are credit card rewards worth it? I think so and I hope you’re inspired to use credit cards as an enhancement!