I love credit card rewards. Problem is, I have a hard time turning down a great deal and maximizing my rewards potential is becoming complex. Not only that, but the fine print is wicked and you have to pay attention to rebate maximums and other rules that might make some feel the time and attention it takes to play this rewards game is not worth it. Those folks should find a solid rewards program and stick with it.

My Drivers Edge MasterCard earns 6 percent back (in the form of points or cash reimbursement for auto service/purchases) on gas, groceries and drugstores for a year. My Discover Card gives me 5 percent cash back on restaurants, movies and groceries– but only through December. My American Express card gets me 3 percent cash back on restaurants and 2 percent on travel.

To keep track, I’ve resorted to the completely dorky and low tech method of sticking a little piece of masking tape on my card with the deals listed.

You’d think I’d be set for rewards cards. But an e-mail today grabbed my attention because Capital One now lets you design your own card with card lab.

It’s a nice gimmick, where you check what features are most important (interest rate, 0 percent periods, rewards) and it comes up with the ideal card for you.

But when I’m in search of rewards, I find that reading other personal finance blogs such as PFblogs.com as well as checking card comparison web sites like Indexcreditcards.com to be more effective.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 3:05 pm and is filed under credit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.