People who fly a lot can definitely benefit from having an air miles credit card. The credit card makes it easier to book travel arrangements, but it also has other features that make it more fun to use. Here are some tips on how to choose the best credit card for earning air miles for your needs.
Look at Last Free Miles
Some of you may have thought that the number of miles being offered was the most important thing, but it's not. Before letting the number of air miles convince you to get the card, you should look at what else it has to offer. This is great advertising. You were drawn in by the large number of air miles and almost forgot about the fine print, which might have been the part they didn't want you to see.
Think about the kind of card
There are two kinds of people who give out credit cards with air miles. They are offered by airlines and some banks. The airline cards will focus on what that airline has to offer. It is eligible for its discounts, and its air miles can only be used on its own airline. This could be good for you if you can easily use that airline from where you live and most of the places you travel to. On the other hand, an air miles credit card from a bank can be used on almost any airline that accepts credit cards, and the air miles can be used on almost any airline as well.
Rate for Earned Air Miles
This part of your air miles card will be very different from one to the next. Some cards only give you one air mile for every twenty dollars you charge to the card. With some cards, you get one air mile for every dollar you spend. If you use this credit card a lot, it's clear which one makes more sense. You'll also want to find out what you can do with your air miles. Check to see if you can only use them for airline tickets or if you can also use them as points to buy things from credit card stores. Find out how many miles you need to get your first free trip and how long your air miles have left before they expire.
Balance Transfers and Other Nice Things
This feature is really important, especially if you have other credit cards with balances. You can move your balances to the new card and pay no interest on them for as long as the introductory offer lasts. Some cards may even give you a 0% APR on balance transfers for as long as you have the transfer. Make sure, though, that the air miles credit card doesn't charge a fee for transferring a balance.
You should also look for the following:
Find out how much interest the card charges. Remember that the introductory offer, if there is one, only lasts for a short time, as little as three months or as long as 15 months. Some credit cards with air miles also offer discounts on hotels, car rentals, cruises, restaurants, and other things.
You can now look at the air miles that are being offered. Then, after you've looked at all of the above, compare it to five or six other cards to see which one fits your needs best and gives you the most.
