Miles Credit Cards - Questions Answered

Summary: This article answers a variety of questions about how to use and understand miles credit cards.

Before you decide to apply for miles credit cards there are a couple of questions you should ask yourself. What benefits are offered by the airlines for their respective miles credit card? What miles card would give me the most in a small amount of time? Whether you choose a miles credit card that is sponsored by an airline or one that is sponsored by more than one, they normally allow the cardholder the benefit of collecting points to use on their airline or any respective airline that is sponsoring that specific card. The problem may be that the airline or airlines with this miles card do not have regular flights to your destinations. Many banks are now offering miles credit cards with many more benefits such as choosing from a list of airlines and destinations. If you only use one airline then you may wish to choose the miles credit card from your airline that will only allow you to gain points while traveling with them and only use them for transferring your points into free flights, hotel accommodations, and car rentals. However, if you normally do not travel with just one airline, choosing one that gives you the freedom to use several airlines will be much more beneficial to you in the long run. Miles credit cards are very advantageous to those that travel regularly for business purposes, as they will be accumulating a significant amount of air miles points over time. Then these points can be redeemed for free airline tickets from the earned air miles. In essence, everything you purchase utilizing your miles credit card will be working toward free air miles and free travel. You can use your points to gain such things as free or discounted airline tickets to your favorite destinations, hotel accommodations and car rentals. Every airline or credit card company that offers miles credit cards have different credit card tiers such as gold, platinum, or bronze. Each one of these also carries different incentives. Most of these miles credit cards will have either what they call a membership fee or an annual fee. What this really means is the more rewards you are offered the more you will be paying in fees. You will be able to get a higher credit limit, however, your annual fees may be higher as well. Many miles credit cards have introductory offers that will give you 0% APR for the first few months or sometimes as long as 12 months, after which the APR usually raises considerably. Therefore, you must pay close attention to what the APR will be after the introductory special. Remember, if you do not use your accumulated points in a designated amount of time the points that you gained while using the miles credit cards will expire. If you do not plan on traveling and making enough purchases to redeem the points then miles credit cards may not be the way for you to go.