Part 18 (1/2)

3 Getback based on your purchases Soive frequent flyer airline reater rewards based on where you shop, boosting rewards at gas stations and super about getting soh credit score to qualify for rewards cards, here's how to choose

1 Go Online

A number of Web sites will help you choose a rewards card, or, at least, you can survey the choices Ascom, IndexCreditCardscom, and LowCardsco And, watch your mailbox Some card deals are only offered directly by mail to certain potential customers And check with your credit union If you don't have a credit union, you probably qualify to join one See findacreditunioncoh you can choose ae of credit card rewards, choose one with cash back on all your purchases The problee the value of those ”currencies” anytime it wants It can require more points for the same merchandise or more miles for the sa to cash in points or miles-fat chance you'll be able to use those frequent-flyera holiday, for example Frequent-flyer e you an annual fee, which cuts into whatever benefit you get

Curtis E Arnold, author of How You Can Profit from Credit Cards, points out that it could take three years to earn a free ticket purchased with frequent-flyerof 8,000 If that card carries an 80 per year annual fee, your ”free” ticket just cost you 240 in fees, compared with the many no-fee credit cards available At the sah with a simple 1 percentback cash rewards card to pay for a ticket

QUICK TIP

If you already have airlineairline industry, airline ing larger fees for cashi+ng in frequent-flyerflights, which ht make it harder to use miles Experts also believeflyers to use e the value of cash Moreover, guess what you can buy with cash?

Anything, including merchandise and airline tickets

So, cash is a far superior currency than points and rams are also easier to use The real dollar value of points or airline her than cash to persuade you to voluntarily lose the flexibility of cash and accept an inferior form of rewards payment

Be wary of charity rewards credit cards, too The good part about a card that donates your rebate to a charity is it makes your contributions automatic The bad part isor less to the charity A better plan is to use a cash-back card and write an annual check to the charity for the aet et a cash-back rewards credit card, throw as es on it as you can Even et back several hundred dollars a year, with big spenders getting back more than 1,000

3 Get More Than 1 Percent

You can do better than a cash rebate of 1 percent on all your purchases Many cards offer 2 percent to 5 percent on certain types of purchases, such as gasoline and groceries, and 1 percent on everything else

As of this writing, a great card for big spenders-charging well over 1,000 a month-is the American Express Blue Cash card With a tiered reward syste 6,500 Details are at AmericanExpresscom

There's no clear choice for sives you at least 1 percent right away, gives you thepatterns, and will cut a check or credit your account at 25 or 50 increularly

Besides getting more than 1 percent back, here are other considerations:Avoid cards that charge an annual fee

Give preference to cards that automatically send you the rewards payment as a check or credit the a to remember to request a check when your points accuram with no rewards limit, or at least one you're not likely toup

If you choose an American Express or Discover card as your primary card, you'll need a rewards Visa or MasterCard backup because they are accepted in et so infatuated with rewards that you end up spending more than you would otherwise just to earn more rewards It's likely to be a net loss for you

How to Get Out of Debt

Here's a newsflash: The first step to getting out of debt is to stop adding to it You do that by saying ”no” to a series of pay in full

The TV show Saturday Night Live a few years ago aired a skit with co It was a spoof on an infoet-out-of debt plan The ”unique program” was titled, ”Don't buy stuff you cannot afford”

The skit opened with a discouraged couple sitting at their kitchen table wondering how they'll ever get out of debt Enter the author of a one-page book, Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford

Woman reads aloud from the book: ”If you do not have any ”

Wo expensive things using hly confused

Wo but I don't have any money?”

Author: ”You don't buy it!”

Man: ”Let's say I don't have enoughShould I buy it anyway?”

Author: ”No!”