Choosing a Rewards Credit Card in the UK

Rewards credit cards are the fastest growing segment of the credit card industry. Since everyone uses credit cards, it's only natural to want the benefits of a rewards program from your everyday purchases. Rewards programs come in a variety of flavors; cash back rewards, shopping rewards, travel rewards, auto rewards, entertainment rewards are just a few of the rewards categories more prominent in the rewards program industry. Many of the major credit card companies in the UK offer rewards programs. Egg, Virgin, Sony, Barclaycard, American Express, Tesco, Sainsbury are just a few that offer reward programs that reward you for your everyday purchases.

Shopping Rewards - Many retailers offer discounts when you use selected credit cards to make your purchase. Rewards include instant cash back, discounted pricing, and additional merchandise savings. Shopping benefits including discounts are retailers like Sainsbury, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, lastminute.com, Virgin, iTunes, amazon.co.uk, Homebase, Molton Brown to name a few.

Travel Rewards - Credit cards that offer travel rewards programs are reasonably flexible and might provide airline miles, points that are redeemed for hotel accommodation, or both. You earn reward points or airline miles whenever the credit card is used for everyday purchases. Credit cards used for travel related spending such as purchasing airline tickets or hotel reservations, a greater number of reward points are usually awarded. Reward points can be redeemed for airline tickets, hotel accommodations, car rental, or special priority treatment or upgrades while traveling. To find out more about Travel Rewards Credit Cards

Air Miles Rewards - There are many credit cards that offer air miles points. These include bmi, Virgin Atlantic, and British Airways. You earn air miles with your everyday purchases. Most offer 'sign up' bonus air miles, and some offer companion tickets. The standard is 1 air mile reward point for every 1 spent. Yet there are cards that do offer more air miles per 1 spent, but you usually pay a higher annual fee. To find out more about Air Miles Rewards Credit Cards

Hotel Rewards - Use your hotel rewards credit cards to earn discounts on hotel reservations and stays, vacation packages, car rentals, cruises, flights and other travel-related purchases. If you have a favorite hotel chain that you prefer to stay at when you travel, you can earn additional points toward free nights with your everyday purchases. Some cards let you earn points towards stays at specific hotel chains, such as Sheraton and Westin. Other cards let you redeem points for airline travel, hotel reservations, or vacation packages.

Choosing a rewards credit card that fits your desires is what we are all about. We provide the tools and information necessary to make an informed decision on not only the rewards credit card that best fits your goals, but also the credit card that fits your credit history. The first step in choosing a rewards credit card is to determine which rewards you want. Rewards credit cards in the UK are broken into four main categories, Shopping rewards, Travel rewards, Air Miles rewards, and Hotel accommodations rewards cards.


The advantages of rewards credit cards are obvious, cash back, shopping rewards, travel rewards all from using your credit card for everyday purchases. The more you spend, the more reward points you accumulate, and the more 'free' stuff you get. But lurking in the background is some ugly facts that must be evaluated before you make the plunge into the world of reward credit cards. First of all, most rewards credit cards come with an annual fee. This fee can be substantial, and over the course of a few years can eat into the benefits that you might achieve with a rewards credit card. Secondly, not all rewards are equal. Air miles points earned on the British Airways American Express card may be worth more in terms of real savings than the shopping benefits of the Egg card. You need to be aware of the value of points, and how they are earned. And finally, rewards credit cards usually have a higher annual interest rate (APR). If you plan on carrying a balance on the card, you need to be keenly aware of the interest rate(s), and how much this increased rate is going to cost you on a yearly bases. This can easily offset the advantage you can get with the rewards point you earn. Bottom line, you need to be aware of all the costs associated with rewards credit cards. These costs can very early offset the advantages of rewards you earn. If you take the time to understand all the costs associated with a rewards card, y ou can make an informed decisions and benefit from your spending

The UK-Credit-Card-Centre unleaches the world of Rewards Credit Cards.