I make an average of $800 per year just by using my credit cards. The trick is to use it for every purchase possible, including paying my electricity and phone bills online, and to never carry a balance.


My favorite credit card is the Chase Perfect Card because it pays back 3% of what I spend on gas and 1% on all other purchases. The amount you can earn is unlimited. This benefit is not like other credit card companies (like Discover) that promise “up to” a certain percentage of cash back based on your credit card balance. With those cards, you do not actually earn money; you are technically only lowering your interest rate since you must carry a balance to earn the higher rebate percentage. With the Chase Perfect Card, you earn cash back even without carrying a balance.


What I like best about Chase’s rebate program is that you do not have to wait until your rewards balance accrues to a certain amount. You do not even have to wait for a check to come in the mail or go to the bank and deposit a rebate check. Chase applies your rebate from the past month to your current credit card statement, lowering the amount of money you owe. (For example, the rebates earned in January will appear on the February statement.)


The other card I use regularly is the Citibank Dividends card. This card gives me 5% cash back on gas and grocery store purchases and 1% back on everything else. The catch is that your earning potential has a limit of $300 per calendar year, and you must wait until you earn at least $50 before you may request a rebate check.


The Citibank Dividends card has an extra perk though that the Perfect Card does not: additional rebates when you shop within their network of merchants. You can choose from department stores like JCPenney, travel services like Holland America, giftcards from restaurants like Panera and much more. All you have to do is go through Citibank’s Web site before shopping on the merchants Web sites. These purchases do not count towards the $300 limit mentioned above. There is no limit on the cash back you can earn through the merchant network.



Neither Chase nor Citibank charge annual fees if you use the card regularly. Both offer 0% interest for a year for new account holders.