Credit cards share strength in numbers. It was never as obvious as today. Just think about it – how did the last email you have received from your bank look like? It was as large as Tolstoy’s War and Peace only with pictures of awkwardly smiling actors living their happily fake lives, was not it?

And the lion’s share of the letter was not made of updates, but of offers – new fees, new rates, a new commission and, of course, new credit card offers! It is hard not to get lost in the variety.


 
Visa, Master Card, American Express have hundreds of variations nowadays. It is hard not to get lost in the crowd without the help of effectify’s amazing credit card picking service that displays all the perks, benefits and downsides of them all clearly.

But, even with a third party tool at your disposal, it is hard to choose what you are looking for exactly. That is why I am here to help and guide. Here are several types of credit cards that are widely available and can narrow your search down.

Cards for travels

This type of cards is an exquisite treat for the occasional trip across the globe, and it is doing just as fine for booking a flight from NY to Austin.

Here is what it is good for: discounts for booking flights, ships and buses as well as hotel rooms. That is not all. A card fit for traveling usually has a smaller commission rate when it comes to withdrawing cash in an ATM of a foreign bank. You will pay less. In some rare cases, this even means saving up to 40% from the total cost of your trip.

Cash back cards

How do they work? You make a purchase and then, after a while, a small percentage of its cost (usually around 5-20%) is returned to your account. Banks need new clients and attend this marketing trick by assigning deals with trustworthy networks of brands and refund them this return later on. The bank gets a client who wishes for a discount, the network gets new buyers and people pay less. Everybody wins.

However not all cash back cards are born equal. Some of them have better deals than the others while sacrificing in terms of rate transparency of the commission percentage. You must proceed with caution to these cards in order to save more in the store than you pay to the bank.

Financial management apps

This one is rather simple and an absolute necessity to any holder of cards from several banks yet. These cards reduce the fees required for transactions between accounts and are a fine mean at keeping your overall balance filled without sacrificing too much in commission costs.