What are the pros and cons of cashback credit cards?
What are the pros and cons of cashback credit cards?
Cashback credit cards work by rewarding the purchases you makes and cutting you a check of a given amount every year. In general, a cashback check will represents the amount of purchases you have made throughout the year with your credit card. This means that if you use your card to make most of your purchases you will get a check of a very substantial amount. This can both be a negative and positive thing depending on how you take it
Here are some few benefits of getting a cashback credit card
It offers a flexible reward system
Normally, most credit cards have set rewards. For instance, if you use an airline credit and get enough points you can redeem the rewards for something airline related like miles. This can be very useful if you travel a lot. Sometimes, you can receive extra money from the credit card company. This can be very restrictive sometimes. For a cashback credit, you have the freedom to use the reward as you wish. You can use your cashback rewards to buy basic items, travelling, holidays and luxury expenses or simply paying your home bills. You can be extremely flexible with your cashback rewards.
It will reduce the effects of high interest rates on your purchase
When you purchase any goods and services, you automatically pay interest rates. Credit cards do not exempt you from this kind of purchase. Credit card reward programmes are meant to reduce the cost on interest rates on your purchases. When you clear all your balances on time, you will never have to deal with compounding interests. One advantage of this is that your finances will be kept low even when the interest rates are high. The rewards on a cashback are based on your expenditure and not on what you have left, so every time you spend money with your credit card you get some cashback on your cards. Paying back the credit with cashback rewards will cost you less than when you pay cash for your purchases.
The disadvantages of using cashback credit
You will find yourself spending more money than you need to
With a credit card, it is hard to use your money responsibly. Only few of us have a discipline on how to spend our credit cards responsibly. The cash back system is put in place so that you can earn some points every time you make a purchase with your credit card. The more you spend using the credit cards the more rewards you get on your cashback. This system makes people spend money on things they don’t need or cannot afford and in the end you may find yourself with more debt than you can pay off. If you are spending more than expected, a payday loan could help tide you over for the month.
For most credits, the rewards are minimal
The rewards on a cashback credit are usually lower than the interest rates you are charged when you purchase an item. On the other hand, the interest rates cover a processing cost and credit company profits. This means they can’t offer bigger returns because they are still looking to make profits off the purchases.