Credit cards have gone through a variety of phases in how they’re viewed. Originally they were seen as a genius idea, a way for people to make purchases based on their ability to pay the cash back at a later date. This is great for emergencies or for a large purchase which you’d otherwise have to save up for.
Of course, this doesn’t come free of charge. Generally, you will pay interest on the amount borrowed, which can cause people to fall into debt. This could be made worse by late fees too, with many customers failing to understand how you can end up in debt.
After the initial buzz over credit cards was followed by many people falling into debt, they became seen as a bad idea. People began to avoid them, not even applying for one in the first place. Thankfully we all soon wised up and learned how to best use this tool. By using cards to increase our credit rating and the credit available to us, without using it unnecessarily, we can reap some great rewards.
You can also use cards with an interest-free period as long as you pay it off before the interest charges start. Combining this with the variety of credit card rewards that are available can see you actually saving money by using a credit card, even in comparison to cash. Here are 3 apps that will help you make the most of these rewards.
Reward Summit is a great app which uses your location and regularly updated credit card info to figure out which card will give the best results at each place. This app works on all smartphones and is reliable. It will tell you which of your current cards will give the best rewards or most cashback.
This is great for people with multiple cards, but what’s even better is that the app will show you higher reward cards that you don’t own, so you can choose which might be the best new card to apply for.
I really like Sift personally, it does the standard job of figuring out which card gets the best reward and combines it with other advantages. My favorite features on this app are how it automatically submits claims for your rewards, and also has a travel section integrated to the app, so you can view your travel related rewards in one place and find the best savings for your holiday.
Again this is an app where you don’t need to fill in any unnecessary details about yourself or your cards. Just choose from a list which cards you have and the app will do the rest. Again it uses location data to decide where you are and therefore the best deal. There’s the option to customize your profile on this app as well, so you can fill in whatever introductory/special offers you have, and it will calculate the best card to use from you with this knowledge included.
