well who throw away those credit card offers in your mailbox you could be throwing away money adding a new card or two to your wallet could reward you for your spending jo-ann Burton is here now with how you can cash in on those cash back credit cards so you don't waste your money jo-ann yeah you know cash back cards have changed in recent years but many people aren't reaping the benefits because they're still using the same old credit card they've used for years if that sounds like you Consumer Reports says it might be time for a credit card makeover when it comes to plastic Americans don't seem to bend from their established routine according to a 2016 survey 20 million customers have never changed their preferred credit card and another 25 million have held on to their favorite card for at least a decade oh I would say about 20 years 20 years 20 25 years loyalty has some of its own rewards but cash back may not be one of them about half of all credit cards that offer rewards now offer cash back as an option that's up from only about 25 percent in 2013 you're usually looking at between one or two percent cashback for your purchases but some purchases can earn you as much as six percent cashback you also have the option of how you want to receive your award already using a cash back card why not double your effort since different cards offer higher rewards for purchases in certain categories Consumer Reports found using two cards strategically can really boost the benefit earning you as much as 40% more cashback so here's one strategy you can use a blue cash preferred card to get 6% back on your groceries and 3% back on gas with everything else you use the city double cash card and you get two percent back on all purchases so how do you know which cards will work best for your wallet Consumer Reports has a tool on its website you plug in how much you spend each month in each of five categories then the tool compares your spending against the programs of 66 different cash back cards to tell you which card will get you the most money back in one and in three years you have a pretty cool tool there huh remember though cashback programs only count if you pay your balance in full otherwise you'll likely rack up more in interest charges than you'll earn in rewards you don't want to be spending twenty five percent interest rate on right pay it off and my fear is many many people don't pay off those balances in full so the interest rate is the most important thing for them to worry about yeah absolutely yeah great advice there you're welcome
