Credit Cards: Points You Should Care About

What’s a good credit score? How do you build credit? What’s the best way to pay off your credit card? Is interest a big problem? The goal of Wealth Rocket is to help you with your personal finances so you can make a living and have money left over for a rainy day.

Our generation (millennials, Gen X) are often told that we need to get it together because our parents were married with kids by the time they were our age. Guess what, boomers? It’s not going to happen that way for us. Between student debt, the gig economy, and the global pandemic, we’re facing many obstacles that you didn’t.

Instead of wallowing in our avocado toasts – and really, what’s wrong with that, it’s full of protein – we’re going to use our credit cards wisely and make our revolving debt work for us. We’ll teach you how to build your credit score, save money, and pay off your credit cards all in one breath. We’ll also give you tips on how to effectively use your card and we’ll compare credit cards so you know which ones to sign up for and which ones to stay away from.

Whether you’re looking to apply for your first credit card or want to make sure you’re using your rewards properly (to buy your parents virtual Billy Joel tickets or to get cash back on groceries), you’ll find everything you need right here.

Unlike certain items of clothing that look horrible on everybody yet are marketed to everyone, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to online credit cards. There are so many different credit card offers that it can be daunting to figure out which one is right for you.

Cash back: These cards give you a small percentage of each purchase back, generally, 0.2-0.5%. Essentially, you are getting free money every time you spend money.

Rewards: These are cards that give you points or free stuff every time you use them. Rewards credit cards are great if you use your card for gas, groceries, bill payments and entertainment products like streaming services. The more you use the card on those items, the more points you collect.

Travel: These are cards designed for people who travel a lot, whether it’s for business or to visit their folks in Long Island after months and months of, *clears throat, adopts Naussau County accent* “You never call anymore. We should be so lucky to see you. Your father and I have an extra Billy Joel ticket, you should come!”. Also, remember pre-pandemic when could travel? Us neither.

Student: These are cards designed for students that may have specific rewards that are tailored to college/university life.

Business: If you run your own business, it might be worth it to get a card that is dedicated to operational expenses.

Retail: Canadian Tire, Target, Costco, The Bay, CVS – if it’s a big box store, it has a credit card. In some cases, these cards are affiliated with Mastercard and Visa and you can use them everywhere. In other cases, they are only affiliated with the store and you can only use them when you shop there.

Credit card comparisons are like dating. You meet someone at a bar (or online, thanks Tinder), you suss them out and see what you have in common. If you have nothing to talk about or they’re so boring you have to struggle to stay awake when they’re speaking, you move on. Attraction also plays a big role and if you don’t find someone nice to look at, you’ll be hard-pressed to start a serious relationship with them. Then, there are those who fool you into thinking they’re a good person. You may think you’ve found “the one”—aka Keanu Reeves in The Matrix—but then you realize they’ve got a collection of used Tim Hortons cups under their bed or are Red Sox fans.

It’s the same with financial products. We’re not saying you need to ditch your current American Express card for a BMO Cashback Mastercard. What we are saying is the more you know about the different products and services offered by credit card issuers, the better off you’ll be.

Take it from us, we have baller-level credit scores because we know the ins and outs of the industry. With our guidance, you too can achieve an Equifax or FICO score that’s so good, your bank will put up a statue of your likeness in their lobby—and it won’t be creepy like that that Mothman one in West Virginia. No thanks.