I will admit I am a credit card geek. I consider credit card one of the most influential financial tools ever invented. The notion of being able to charge now and pay later is not new but it is credit cards that made it wide spread. I just love credit cards and the power they give me to pay at my discretion not worrying if I have enough cash on me.
Borrowing money is not however how I use credit cards. I pay my monthly bill in full and carry balance only on some cards that offer 0% interest. The best part about credit cards is what some of them will pay me back in a form cash back or other sorts of rewards, miles or points.
Since every card is different and pays different percentages on different types of expense, I tend to carry a few in my wallet. I wrote about what exactly cards I carry back in February. That set of cards is a result of a careful selection among a number of offers available from several credit card providers.
Once in a while I have to update my cards as providers discontinue their offerings or new better credit cards are launched. Apparently I am not alone in my constant search for that perfect combination which will maximize my rewards. Joel, the founder of CreditCardTuneUp, was solving the same problem back in August 2006 when he faced the dilemma of what to use instead of the discontinued Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard that used to pay 5% back on gas, grocery and drug stores.
I was surprised by how many options I found and the variety of the cards’ reward structures. I was OK with the idea of managing two or even three credit cards if it would mean a substantial increase in rewards. The trick was to figure out the best combination of 2 cards and 3 cards for my spending profile and see the difference in rewards. During my research I realized that there are plenty of other people out there trying to make the same decision about which rewards credit cards to use. So I thought I’d try to solve the general problem and maybe even make the solution available to others.
And so he did and as the result a web tool was born that helps you choose the best combination of up to 3 rewards credit cards based on your spending habits.
Before you rush checking out the website I should warn you that it was obviously made by a geek for geeks. As I first looked at it, the design hurt my eyes and the amount of information overwhelmed me. But I slowly got used to it and started to appreciate the powers it gave me as I was experimenting with different combinations of credit cards.
If you like CreditCardTuneUp you might also want to take a look at this other tool which helps you find the best card to transfer your balance to. However I honestly hope you don’t carry a balance and will not be needing it.
The photo is courtesy of Steve Woods at Stock.Xchng
