CINCINNATI — If you traveled this Labor Day weekend, you might be able to use your credit card benefits to help cut the cost of your trip. A wide range of credit cards claim to offer customers the best benefits or rewards, but there are so many options — how do you choose the one that will save you the most money?
“It’s such a personal decision, thinking about which credit card is right for you, and it could just be one card, it could even be multiple cards at the same time that are right for your situation,” said Sara Rathner, credit card expert with Nerd Wallet.
Rathner shared some tools to help you narrow down your options.
When choosing a card, you should consider:
- Annual fees
- Interest
- Sign up bonuses
- Monetary value of the rewards
“Then you also want to think about, well, how do I want to use the rewards? Do I want to travel? Do I just want to save money on everyday purchases?” Rathner said.
If you’re loyal to an airline or hotel company, it may be best to choose their branded card to get specialized perks.
Travel agent Jerry Katz said if you’re looking at overall value, "shy away from the airline-branded cards."
“Whether it be the Delta American Express, the American Airlines Mastercard, just frequent flier miles continue to get devalued every year,” Katz said.
Instead, Katz prefers third-party credit card companies.
“Chase Sapphire Reserve is one that I personally use,” he said. “You're getting 3% cash back on all your travel expenses, you know, and it's got a decent fee, but there's also quite a bit of perks as well.”
Rathner said cash-back cards can help you save on everyday expenses, so you want to pinpoint where you spend the most money.
“If you have a really long commute in your car, you might want a card that earns a lot of gas stations,” she said.
Credit card rewards can be helpfu,l but be careful.
Experts said you should avoid spending more than you can afford to pay off to earn rewards, as the interest you pay will likely be worth more than the value of the rewards you earn.
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