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How to Maximize Credit Card Rewards

There are many different types of rewards cards available, all with intriguing benefits. To discover which credit cards might be right for you, you'll need to understand a little about how they work.

Many consumers find that it's well worth the effort to learn about these rewards programs and how to maximize credit card rewards. This is one case where it could literally pay to know the rules.

What are credit card rewards?

To serve their customers in unique ways, credit card issuers usually offer a variety of  incentives in the form of credit card rewards. As long as your credit card usage is responsible, these loyalty programs could provide useful credit card benefits.

Here are a few types of credit card rewards you may see offered:

  1. Cash back. Many credit cards will reward a percentage of your eligible purchases to you as cash back rewards. The percentages typically range from 1% to 5%

  2. Loyalty points. Credit card issuers may partner with airlines, hotels, and restaurants to offer credit card points that can be redeemed for travel, entertainment, and hotel stays

  1. Miles. Some cards, especially those offered by airlines and hotel chains, earn miles. These can be redeemed to obtain plane tickets, subject to availability and blackout dates, for hotel stays and car rentals, and to make other purchases

Choose rewards that match your spending habits and lifestyle

Cash back, points and miles — which ones suit you well? A good strategy is to carefully consider your personal needs and what you are going to use the card for.

For example, if you do a lot of traveling, you may want to look at cards that provide travel benefits, including miles or points for plane tickets, car rentals, and hotel stays, plus perks like access to airport lounges. Be sure to review annual fees, as the more generous the benefits, the higher the fee may be.

Some cards give you a higher percentage cash back on certain spend categories, including everyday purchases like groceries and gas. A card like this could be valuable to a family that fills up multiple gas tanks and grocery carts every week.

If your spend categories are a mixed bag, you might find that a flat-rate cash back rewards card suits your needs.

Using more than one credit card

People use a wide range of credit card strategies to maximize their rewards. One idea is to mix and match credit cards that offer more reward points, miles, or cash back for certain categories of spending.

For example, you might have one card dedicated to travel, one for groceries, and one for dining out or other reward categories.

It's important to stay organized when using this strategy. It means using the right card for each purchase and keeping track of multiple monthly payments, and possibly due dates. You'll also need to have a budget for each card and an overall budget, to avoid falling into too much credit card debt.

Maximize sign-up bonuses to earn rewards

One of the prime times for earning rewards is when you sign up for a credit card. That's when the credit card issuers offer some of the best rewards program deals, often called introductory bonuses.

For example, you may see an offer of 5% cash back for the first year, or 100,000 bonus points when you spend a certain amount on purchases. Just be careful to check on any cap for cash back rewards and be aware of the rules for collecting the bonus.

You might have to spend a certain amount on purchases within a certain period of time. If there's a large purchase you're already planning to make, you could time it to coincide with a sign-up bonus and be certain of meeting that type of spending requirement.

Know how to redeem points with your credit card

If you don't understand how reward redemption works, it might be difficult to maximize your benefits. Carefully review your cardholder agreement to learn what qualifies as eligible spending, how the miles or points system works, and how you can use your cashback rewards.

For example, can you redeem cash back as a statement credit or can you have it deposited in your bank account? If you're not going to use travel rewards for actual travel, can you apply them toward a product or service using a dedicated customer portal? Does that offer enough value, or would you be better off using travel rewards plus cash to purchase a plane ticket? Building up points and rewards is nice, but the real value comes in redeeming them.

Pay off your bill each month

Monthly interest charges and late fees might quickly erode credit card benefits, so avoid credit card debt by spending within your means and keeping to a budget.

Planning your expenditures, carefully using credit card strategies, and paying your balance each month can help you take full advantage of rewards programs.

Credit Cards offered at TD Bank

The right credit card account from TD Bank can help you achieve your financial goals and earn rewards.

This article is for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide specific financial, investment, tax, legal, accounting, or other advice and should not be acted or relied upon without the advice of a professional advisor. A professional advisor will recommend action based on your personal circumstances and the most recent information available.

TD Double Up Credit Card
*Read important Credit Card Terms and Conditions for details about rates, fees, eligible purchases, balance transfers and rewards program rules. If you take advantage of a 0% introductory or promotional Annual Percentage Rate (APR) balance transfer offer and then use your Account to make new purchases, you can avoid paying interest on those new Purchases if you pay each month by the payment due date the “Payment to Avoid Purchase Interest” amount shown within the ‘Payment Information’ box on your account statement.

TD Cash Credit Card
*Read important terms and conditions for details about rates, fees, eligible purchases, balance transfers and rewards program rules. If you take advantage of a 0% introductory or promotional Annual Percentage Rate (APR) balance transfer offer and then use your Account to make new purchases, you can avoid paying interest on those new Purchases if you pay each month by the payment due date the “Payment to Avoid Purchase Interest” amount shown within the ‘Payment Information’ box on your account statement.

TD FlexPay Credit Card 
*Read important terms and conditions for details about rates, fees, balance transfer rules. If you take advantage of a 0% introductory or promotional Annual Percentage Rate (APR) balance transfer offer and then use your Account to make new purchases, you can avoid paying interest on those new Purchases if you pay each month by the payment due date the “Payment to Avoid Purchase Interest” amount shown within the ‘Payment Information’ box on your account statement.

TD Clear Visa Platinum Credit Card with a $1,000 Credit Limit 
*Read important terms and conditions for account details. The Clear Platinum Visa Credit Card with $1,000 Credit Limit has a $10 monthly membership fee. The monthly membership fee will be added to your monthly billing statement each month as a charge, whether or not you use your account, and applied against your available credit like other charges.

TD Clear Visa Platinum Credit Card with a $2,000 Credit Limit 
†Read important terms and conditions for account details. The Clear Platinum Visa Credit Card with $2,000 credit limit has a $20 monthly membership fee. The monthly membership fee will be added to your monthly billing statement each month as a charge, whether or not you use your account, and applied against your available credit like other charges.

TD First Class Visa Signature Credit Card
*Read important Credit Card Terms and Conditions for details about rates, fees, eligible purchases, balance transfers and rewards program rules. If you take advantage of a 0% introductory or promotional Annual Percentage Rate (APR) balance transfer offer and then use your Account to make new purchases, you can avoid paying interest on those new Purchases if you pay each month by the payment due date the “Payment to Avoid Purchase Interest” amount shown within the ‘Payment Information’ box on your account statement. 

1Bonus miles will be reflected on your credit card statement 6 to 8 weeks after a qualified first purchase and/or 6 to 8 weeks after $3,000 in total net eligible purchases made within the first 6 billing cycles of your credit card account opening date. This offer is non-transferable. This One-Time Bonus Offer is not available if you open an account in response to a different offer that you may receive from us or if you previously received a One-Time Bonus Offer on this account or any other account with us. Eligible purchases do not include purchases of any cash equivalents, money orders, and/or gift cards or reloading of gift cards. Groceries purchased from superstores and/or warehouse clubs may only earn 1 mile for each dollar spent.

TD Cash Secured Credit Card
*Read important Credit Card Terms and Conditions for details about rates, fees, eligible purchases, balance transfer and rewards program rules. Eligible purchases do not include purchases of any cash equivalents, money orders, and/or gift cards or reloading of gift cards.

TD Business Solutions Credit Card 
*Read important terms and conditions for details about rates, fees, eligible purchases, balance transfer and rewards program rules. The person applying for the account is individually liable for the payment of all balances on the account and all cards issued pursuant to this application.

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