New Delhi: Have you been considering opting for credit card? If yes, then you may have already gone through a wide array of cards available in the market. Mostly we end up taking the credit card offered by the bank because of the convenience. However, it is important to bear a few things in mind to before opting for credit card.
Consider discounts, benefits and rewards
There are certain credit cards that help us to avail discounts at restaurants while others get you reverse fuel surcharges. The reward points in credit card can be converted into airline miles and sometime you can avail the highest multiple on reward point conversion.
Make sure that you opt for a card as per your requirements. Incase you don’t travel much , then a card that converts reward points into airline miles may not be of much use. Instead, opting for a card offering discounts on shopping and additional vouchers is beneficial.
Check cashbacks/rewards
There are special reward points just like bonus that you get for using credit card, which is dependent on your spending pattern. Therefore, accumulating reward points on big-ticket purchases can prove to be rewarding. On the other hand some credit cards offer you limited cashback on every spend. Hence it may be useful for to add back to your savings every time you make small-ticket purchases using credit card.
International benefits
Some credit card helps you avail international airport lounge access at no additional cost, which frequent international travellers find it useful. At the time of transaction with credit card overseas, the value of spending gets converted into Indian rupees. As a result, you pay for the forex currency mark-up as fee for the transaction which is typically 3 per cent of the transaction value or higher. Some credit cards advertise charging 2 per cent for a transaction.
Additional features
Some extra benefits come in the form of insurance covers and concierge services. Some credit cards will offer insurance such as travel or health or overseas hospitalization or lost card and so on. However, it may not offer all of these under one card. It’s important to choose the one as per your requirement.
Even as these additional benefits of credit cards may seem to be attractive, remember that credit card due is equivalent to a loan. In failure to make the payment on time, you will incur heavy charges and interest costs.