Travel Credit Cards

When shopping around for a travel reward credit card I implore you not to jump at the first offer that catches your fancy. Some of the advertisements that we see on TV and in the magazines are pretty slick but remember, the devil is in the details. And when it comes to credit cards, it is oh so true.

There are several different types of travel reward cards on the market so of course you’re going to want to identify which ones would best serve your needs. Airline miles, hotels and gas rebate cards comprise the big three and when it comes to travel incentive programs.

The very first thing you want to do is go to a respected credit card comparison website so you can do your homework and properly compare the offers. You will notice that not only do they differ greatly from one issuer to the next, but can also be quite different coming from the same bank or financial institution.

Of course we all are looking to get the best deal that we possibly can and rewards programs that allow us to, for example, fly for free or get a free night’s stay at a nice hotel are fantastic. But, and this is a huge but so please pay attention to this… they can come at a steep price.

The price I’m talking about here comes in the form of both interest rates and fees. Take care to notice when doing your comparisons that the interest rates charged for carrying a balance on a travel reward credit card is going to be higher than just about any other form of card on the market.

The reason for this is that the banks and financial institutions that partner with the airlines and hotels are doing it for a reason – to make money. They do not make their money giving away free flights and hotel stays. But they absolutely do make it by charging high interest rates on cardholders that carry a balance from month to month.

So in effect what happens is that while the cardholder believes they are getting a good deal by saving money on their travel costs are actually paying for them and then some with the high interest rates they’re paying out on the balances that they maintain from month to month.

Fees are quite similar in this respect. Good luck finding a travel reward credit card that does not charge an annual fee. To my knowledge they don’t exist. Make sure that whatever fee is charged will be more than offset by the savings you pick up through the rewards program.

These may seem like simple, commonsense approaches to getting the most from a travel reward credit card program but far too many times people overlook these things and defeat the savings that they thought they were enjoying. Long story short… pay off your balance in full every month and have a great trip.

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