ABC’s Good Morning America has reported that 40 to 45 percent of all existing credit cards are now connected to a rewards program. These cards are offering consumers of all ages great rewards that meet their lifestyles. Those consumers include families with kids of all ages.
If your family hasn’t been utilizing rewards credit cards, now is a great time to start. Here is a breakdown of the types of rewards that are available with these cards and how they are benefiting families like your own:
Cash Back Cards
Cash back is a great option for parents who are looking to earn some extra money for Christmas or birthdays. With cash back rewards cards, you accrue cash back based on a percentage of the purchases you make with your credit card.
Typically, families earn 1% cash back. However, some cards offer promotional periods where purchases at certain merchant categories (like gas, hardware stores, restaurants and grocery stores) earn a higher percentage of cash back.
Gift Cards
Many rewards programs allow their cardholders to redeem rewards points toward gift cards. Gift card options range from restaurants to clothing stores to toy stores. There is typically a big variety in the options and they are for popular chains that you can find throughout the U.S. For instance, you can use an American Express rewards card to get a free Lowes Gift card. There is no limit to the number of points you can earn with an American Express Lowe’s credit card.
Gift cards are a great option for families as it provides you the opportunity to share the reward with the entire family. They also can be used for gifts; especially for teens who are looking for independence and like to go shopping on their own.
Entertainment Merchandise
Rewards program merchandise has come a long way. People often associate the merchandise rewards with cheap toasters and coffeemakers. But nowadays, there are options that are sure to please the entire family, from baby to grandpa.
Entertainment merchandise options typically include video games, movies and music. Each category has a large selection with options that are appropriate for different ages and interests. This is a great way for your kids to try out a new type of game or genre of music without having to drain their (or your!) savings.
Travel
Traveling with kids can be expensive; especially when you’re trying to fly the entire family across country or needing to stay in a hotel for a week. Thankfully, rewards programs often include travel rewards as an option.
With travel rewards, cardholders use their points to redeem for airfare, hotel rooms or rental cars. If you don’t have enough points to cover the entire purchase, you’re often able to apply the points you have available to the overall cost of the trip. This reduces your out-of-pocket cost making that trip to Disneyland more affordable.
Experiences
The last category that we’re now seeing with rewards credit card programs is experience rewards. These are classes or activities that you can do as a family. Popular experiences that are available through these programs include cooking classes, rock climbing classes, surfing classes, paintball, off-roading in a Land Rover and whitewater rafting.
Experience rewards are a great way to treat your family to a fun stay-cation experience, or to take your upcoming vacation to the next level.
If you have been researching rewards credit cards, you’ve probably noticed that there is a big variety of cards to choose from. If the choices are making you overwhelmed, you may want to look into a Chase Freedom or Chase Sapphire card.
Both of these cards allow cardholders to choose the type of rewards they redeem their points for; this is great for families who don’t want to get strapped into always utilizing their rewards points toward travel or cash back. Others have recognized the value of these Chase credit cards, as demonstrated by Chase Freedom being named “Best Overall Card” by CBS MoneyWatch for 2011.
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