Bank Card Babel: Choosing A Bank Card From A Bewildering Array Of Options.

Have you tried picking a new bank card lately? It is more than a little bit confusing choosing between all the different offers. Bank of America’s web site says “Choose from more than 400 credit cards.” Banks offer so many choices it seems their goal is to have a different deal for everyone. Capital One even lets you design your own card, basically letting you pick your combination of the options instead of making you go through a long list to find the card with exactly the options you want. But even at Capital One, at the bottom of the web page that displays the choices, there is a link saying “Not finding what you want? Browse cards at capitalone.com”

Why so many choices and what is the difference? Bank cards are not different credit card brands. They are credit and debit cards offered through the banks. Most of these cards are MasterCard or Visa. Cash back deals either give you a percentage of your purchases as cash back. Rewards programs let you earn specific rewards like airline miles or points you can spend on a selection of rewards. Credit cards usually have better deals than debit cards. Debit cards can offer better deals when you sign rather than enter your pin. The cash back deals can be 1% or 1.25% back on all purchases, or more off on selected purchases or purchases in selected stores. Capital One cards let you shop in the Capital One Savings Zone on Yahoo and offers 40% off some items and 10% off all purchases there. The point plans usually let you earn 1 or 2 points per dollar spent, then you can spend the points on a list of rewards offered by the card. Sometimes you can pay an enrollment fee to get a better deal. For example, Chase offers Visa Extras, which gives you 1 point for each dollar spent. You can sign up for Leisure Rewards for $25 per year, and then you get 4 points per dollar spent.

The rules for earning points vary. In some cases, you get points per transaction. Other cards from the same bank give points as a percentage of the purchase price. And some debit cards even give a different number of points if you sign for the purchase or if you use your PIN number. For example, National City Bank has a rewards program where you earn points and spend them on rewards. Suppose you are shopping for $150 in groceries. The number of points you earn depends on how you pay. Paying by cash earns no points, Paying by check or Visa CheckCard using your PIN earns 25 points. Paying by Visa Check card but signing like a credit card earns 300 points (2 per dollar spent). Paying by Select Visa credit card earns 750 points (5 per dollar). Online bill payment also earns 25 points per transaction. The points do not have a specific cash value when you spend them at their points from National City website. You can get $100 in Ritz-Carleton currency or a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate for 40,000 points. You can get a $25 gift certificate from 1-800-FLOWERS.com or Amazon.com for 11,000 points, but a $25 certificate from AMC Entertainment is only 9,250 points. You can choose actual merchandise as well, like a Bob Revolution stroller for 178,000 points or Bose Noise canceling headphones for 150,000 points. Grocery stores and gas stations are other places which are often linked to rewards programs. Citizens Bank partnered with Giant Eagle grocery stores to offer a discount on gasoline. They offer 3 cents off each gallon of gas for every $50 spent at Giant Eagle, added to the 10 cents off that Giant Eagle offered.

So how to choose a card? Some web sites to check out are www.mybanktraker.com/credit-cards and www.cardratings.com. MyBankTracker.com lets you compare offers from different banks, sorted by low APR and annual fee. Choosing a low rate and no annual fee is a good choice if you don’t have a specific reward in mind. The site does also list the points and other rewards you get with each card. CardRatings.com offers credit card expert Curtis Arnold’s list of which cards are best. You can look at cards that give cash back or rewards. You can also look at other categories like cards for students, cards for businesses, and cards with low interest rates. Cards with any sort of rewards usually have higher interest rates than cards that simply focus on giving low rates. Cash back is more flexible than reward points and doesn’t limit you to shopping at the chosen airline or store, or at the bank’s reward redemption site. But the deals linked to a selected company can be worth it if you know you will use the miles or points. Bank of America has a very extensive list of choices. You can choose rewards you can use with airlines, cruise lines, travel in general, shopping, and sports. The sports include golf, baseball, NASCAR, football, and hockey. Be sure to choose a card with rewards you will use if you pick one that focuses on specific rewards. But remember, rewards may expire if you don’t use them.