If you, like so many people today, spend more time eating out than you do eating at home then you may want to consider using one of the many dining credit cards that are available. There are credit cards offering rewards for everything from hobbies to shopping, and dining credit cards have become one of the major offerings from credit card companies and banks. While this may seem odd, if you consider the large amounts of people who eat out, either out of necessity or because they want to, it becomes very easy to imagine how dining credit cards can be popular.
Reward programs have become an important way for credit card companies and banks to attract customers. There was once a time that everyone wanted a credit card and they went to their banks to get what they needed. However, with better technology, it has become easier for people to seek other resourses to find their credit cards. This, of course, has led to there being hundreds of credit cards to choose from. So, in an effort to distinguish themselves, many companies started rewards programs.
Initially, the only rewards program available were points towards flying, and this was very popular for a while, until it started getting more and more difficult to redeem the points for peak times of the year. Credit card companies got more creative after that and started offering a plethora of rewards programs, from shopping rewards to cash back rewards. Of course, this eventually led to credit card companies offering reward cards for entertainment and dining, sometimes individually and sometimes as a combined card.
What Is A Dining Credit Card?
Like any credit card, dining credit cards have the Visa, Master Card or American Express logo on them because they are regular credit cards. However, the different between a dining credit card and another credit card is the rewards that it offers. Dining credit cards can offer cash back on certain food purchases or rewards points that can be used towards a meal at a specific restaurant. Cash back rewards points tend to be slower to accumulate than meal reward points. In most cases, the rewards range from 1% to 5% and are often based on qualifying purchases (many credit card companies make deals with specific places of business).
Restaurants For Dining Cards
Many dining credit card rewards are for very specific restaurants, so it is important that you read through the fine print on the terms and conditions of the card to determine if the locations where you can redeem your rewards work for you. It would not do you any good to get a dining credit card that rewarded you at restaurants that you will not eat at. The same thing applies to qualifying purchases as well. You want to ensure that you shop at the places that are going to get you the highest reward points.
Choosing The Best Dining Credit Card
A good general rule for any type of reward credit card is to find one that fits the lifestyle that you already have. If you join a reward program with the thought that you will change your habits and patterns to reap the rewards, that is less likely to happen. People tend to forget, and change is truly hard to implement. Besides, why go to the effort when there is probably already a program that rewards you for the things you already do?
Dining Credit Card Interest Rates
Again, like any credit card, a dining credit card is going to carry an interest rate and terms and conditions that you must follow. Your credit is going to have a large impact on the interest rate that you receive from your dining credit card as will whether or not you have an annual fee. Many companies charge an annual fee in addition to an interest rate to help them negate some of the costs of high-risk credit card carriers. If you have excellent credit, you may want to consider dining credit cards that only cater to those individuals with excellent credit in order to avoid additional fees.
If you do not have great credit, then you need to be prepared to pay a higher interest rate for your card. Good credit will typically help you avoid paying an annual fee, but if you have fair to poor credit, it will probably not be possible to have a credit card without an annual fee. However, shopping around will ensure that you get the best credit card possible and it may be possible to negate some of the cost of the annual fee by getting a good rewards deal. The key consideration in this situation is whether or not you are eating out on a regular basis to begin with, and if you plan to continue this pattern.
Find The Best Dining Credit Card Today!
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