You've seen the ads on television promoting frequent flyer air miles credit cards and all the free travel people using these credit cards seem to be getting and you're probably wondering why you're not getting a lot of rewards or free airline travel from your airline mile credit cards. You may be getting a reward off your frequent flier air miles card, but it's not the rewards you were hoping for. Perhaps the frequent flier air miles card is not for you or you need to get a new airline miles card.

Before you apply for a credit card offering a reward in free airline miles for each dollar you spend with your credit card, you need to evaluate your lifestyle and travel plans to determine if you are a frequent flier and if the airline miles rewards credit cards are the best cards for you. Everyone loves getting a reward or free rewards and with the cost of travel with an airline, flying for free sounds too good to pass up. However, if you're going to be spending more than normal just to get the miles, you're not coming out ahead. Also, if you're paying a higher interest rate to have an airline miles credit card but find you don't travel on an airline often enough to get any real flier miles, you definitely need to start looking at other reward credit cards.

If you travel on an airline only 2 or three times per year, you're not a frequent flyer and will not benefit from free airline miles credit cards because your miles will probably expire before you have a chance to use them. Another factor to consider when choosing different reward or miles credit cards is that you won't always be able to get rewards every time you try to redeem some miles. If airlines worked like this, they'd go out of business faster than they already are.

If you are a frequent flier, like a traveling salesman, you will definitely get your value out of frequent flier airline miles credit cards. If you want to get the most value out of it, be flexible with the times you're willing to fly. You'll find the airlines will be much more willing to accommodate you or use your reward miles towards upgrading to first class. These choices will help you get the most out of your miles credit cards.

If you carry a lot of debt at high interest rates, you have options that you should consider to reduce interest payments.  The path you take depends on your credit status, and the level of debt that you carry.  In most cases, a credit card balance transfer from a high rate to a 0% rate credit card can be an ideal strategy.

Credit Card Consolidation

The best way to reduce credit card debt payments is to consolidate credit card debt from one or more high interest rate credit cards and complete a balance transfer to a new credit card with a 0% interest rate for up to a year, in some cases longer.

When you complete a credit card balance transfer, you are able to transfer your entire balance to a new credit card and not pay any interest on the balance transferred for a significant amount of time, potentially saving you thousands of dollars in interest payments.  These savings can be applied against the balance you owe as you pay down the debt of the card.

At ZeroRate, we offer a balance transfer savings tool which you can use to see how much you can save in interest payments over time.

In addition, ZeroRate offers the web’s most extensive balance transfer offers – hundreds of offers from the largest and most established banks in the country.

Debt payment business

Credit counseling is another option, especially if you are not in a position to open another credit card account to complete a balance transfer due to a poor credit history.

A debt payment business is best used when you have had to stop making payments to your credit cards altogether, because they will work with the credit card companies to get some of your fees and interest reduced. If creditors think that the only way to get their money back is to work with the debt payment business then they will be more willing to come to an agreement

The debt payment business will ask you to send one payment to them and then they will pay your credit cards individually. Be aware that these companies often take your first payment for their fee, and sometimes charge you additional fees at the end of the agreement.

Therefore, it is best to first try to apply for a balance transfer at 0% interest for a long period of time and pay down your debt without interest.  If this isn’t an option, you should consider discussing your situation with a debt payment business and review your options.

Some well known debt payment companies you may want to consider:

Freedom Financial Network

Freedom Debt Relief's "Debt Reduction Program" is an innovative solution for consumers struggling with large debt burdens. FDR uses debt negotiation to dramatically lower both your debt levels and your monthly payments. The goal is to save you the most possible money and to get you debt free in the shortest amount of time.

American Financial Service

American Financial Service's negotiation process has been tested and developed over years of experience by its team of professionals in the field of finance and credit card debt. The company's professionals are highly skilled in each of their fields of expertise.

DebtRite

Debt consolidation is for you if you are looking for a real and sustained solution. It is a responsible, honorable and effective way to solve your current situation and DebtRite can assist you in becoming credit worthy. It is not for those looking for a quick fix.  DebtRite will provide you with a positive and solution-oriented approach to your unique financial situation.

It’s easy to complete a balance transfer and forget to close the original card account.  In some cases, you’ll want to keep the first account open.  In other cases, it will be beneficial to close it.

Having too many credit lines open could make you look riskier in the eyes of lenders.  They might be concerned that you will overextend yourself.

In addition, if you have many accounts open simultaneously, there’s a greater chance that you will forget about an account with a small balance and unintentionally stop making payments on it.

Ideally, you should keep at least 2 or 3 accounts and use all of them moderately, as otherwise, it will be hard for you to build and maintain a positive credit history and it will be hard for lenders to assess your creditworthiness. 

It’s also important to understand that once you close an account, the record of the closed account remains on your credit report.  Closing unused credit accounts may cause your credit score to drop in the short term, as you will have higher balances relative to total available credit.

 Therefore, it’s important to strike the right balance, whereby you have enough credit lines open, with moderate and responsible use to both build your positive credit history and ensure you have adequate credit available relative to the amount of credit in use.

Thousands of consumers have enjoyed the benefits of transferring large credit card balances from high interest rate cards to low rate or even interest free balance transfer credit cards over the last few years.

Balance transfers have become an effective way to avoid costly interest payments, and often offer attractive long term rates once the initial “teaser” period expires.  

Transferring your balance is a simple process.  Typically, all you need to do is to provide the details of your existing credit card balance to the new card issuer, and the issuer will arrange for those balances to be cleared using your new card.  You are left with one credit card balance to manage at no or very low interest.

You need to ensure that the balance transfer card credit limit is high enough to accommodate the combined balances that you intend to transfer.  

If you carry a lot of credit card debt, then you can save a substantial amount of money by using a balance transfer strategy.  Using balance transfers, you can successfully take advantage of low introductory rates offered by credit card companies.  These “teaser rates” are usually between 0%-9% and last between three and twelve months after you activate the card.  If you are transferring a balance from a card with high interest to a lower interest teaser card you can save a substantial amount of money on interest payments – over the course of 24 months, this can add up to several thousand dollars.

Of course, you should always read the fine print on credit card offers.  You should be aware of all the costs associated with your card, including those for balance transfers.  The good news is, balance transfer fees have come down substantially, and if you are transferring a reasonably sized balance, the fee is capped usually around $75.  In some cases, fees are waived entirely.

TIP:  use the benefits offered to you by the credit card grace period, and transfer the balance of your high interest card to the teaser card before the due date on your bill, as card companies usually offer a grace period of three weeks to a month.  Transferring before this date saves you from having to pay interest on it, however, some card companies do not have a grace period – therefore, in this case you’ll pay interest immediately.

After transferring your balance to the teaser card, you’ll get a bill with a new due date – be sure not to miss payments, as you may void the terms of the teaser card.

As a short term credit card management strategy, balance transfers can work extremely well.  However, always be sure to consider your larger financial situation.