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Today's best credit cards come with valuable rewards program. Some cards like Chase Freedom give you cash back on every purchase that you charge. Others provide.

 

Today’s best credit cards come with valuable rewards program. Some cards like Chase Freedom give you cash back on every purchase that you charge. Others provide you with free airline miles. While others allow you to redeem rewards points, which you earn with every charge you make, for gift certificates, hotel stays, car rentals and merchandise.

But even the most lucrative rewards systems aren’t nearly as valuable if you don’t know how to use them properly. For instance, consider the Discover More and Chase Freedom credit cards. Both of these cards are recognized to have some of the best cash-back deals in the industry. In fact, you could earn cash-back values of 5 percent when you charge the right products or services.

That’s why it’s so important to study the fine print that comes with your credit card acceptance letter. You need to know the ins and outs of your cards’ rewards programs if you want to take the most advantage of them as possible in the new year.

Let’s take a closer look at how you can better take advantage of the rewards provided by the Discover More and Chase Freedom cards in 2011.

Know Your Rotating Bonus Rewards Categories: Both the Chase Freedom and Discover More card offer consumers the chance to earn cash-back bonuses of 5 percent if they purchase goods and services in certain categories during specific months of the year. These bonus rewards categories change throughout the year. It’s important, then, to keep track of which purchases are most valuable as the months tick by.

January through March: Airlines, car rentals, hotels, restaurants and cruises are the bonus categories for the first period of the year. Also in March only, grocery and drug-store charges bring the 5 percent cash-back bonus.

July through September: You’ll earn the higher cash-back bonus when making charges in the categories of gas, hotels, movies and theme parks.

Be Sure to Opt In: Once you know your bonus categories, make sure that your purchases in these categories actually count. Both the Discover More and Chase Freedom cards require that you opt in through their Web sites to receive your higher cash-back bonuses. If you forget to do this, you won’t receive any extra cash-back dollars, even if you do make charges in the bonus categories.

To make sure you don’t forget to opt in, set up reminders with your smart phone and e-mail clients. This way, you’ll automatically send yourself opt-in reminders before the opt-in dates for each category pass by.

Use the Right Card for Bonus Purchases: Make sure when you’re out and about to use your More or Freedom card if you need to purchase a good or service in that month’s bonus category. It doesn’t help to opt in for these bonuses if you accidentally use another credit card to purchase higher cash-back items.

Don’t Spend Just to Spend: Getting 5 percent cash back is a good thing. However, don’t be tempted to purchase goods and services just because you’ll get a higher percentage of cash in return. Only purchase items that you really need or want. Otherwise, you’ll be needlessly running up your credit card bill.