When shopping for new credit cards, often, consumers make the mistake of focusing mainly on the two factors that we hear about the most: the interest rate and the card fees. While these two characteristics are very important and should be considered carefully, there is much more to look at than just APR and fees. Often, these are the items that are evaluated the most because a majority of credit card customers don’t pay their cards in full each month. This makes APR become a major factor.

Some consumers do practice good credit habits and pay their cards off in full each month and for them, the APR or annual percentage rate isn’t as important. If you are one of those people, you might want to look at a cash back credit card.

Does a cash back reward credit card mean that at certain times you would receive an envelope with crisp new cash to spend on whatever you want? No, but some cashback cards are not far off of that. If you are looking for a card that is purely a cash back card, you will find many credit cards that will send you a rebate check normally once a year that equals some percentage of your card purchases.

Just like APR, credit card companies usually do not make it easy for you to calculate your rebate amount. While the practice of complicated calculations to throw off the consumer is gradually getting more transparent and easier to understand, it still normally isn’t as easy as 3% of your annual card purchases.

Do you remember Discover credit cards? This card was introduced in the mid 1980s as the first card to offer a cash back rebate and no annual fee. In the 80’s, these two card benefits were virtually unheard of to consumers. So, coupled with lower merchant fees for the retailers, this made the discover card a hit.

While it didn’t overtake top rivals like Visa or American Express, it did force these companies to offer cash back reward cards of their own. From then until now, cash back credit cards have been a staple with nearly every credit company or issuing bank offering at least one such card.

Since the 1980’s, cash back rewards cards have evolved. Now, not only can the consumers have a card that pays a cash rebate, other cards also pay the rebate in the form of airline miles, gas rewards, charitable donations, or investment products like 529 college funds. The consumer can find reward cards in just about any category where they are spending the most.

Most cards like this require you to have good or excellent credit to qualify. There are a small amount of cards that offer those with damaged credit a chance to recover financially while still earning rewards points but those cards are quite rare.

Remember one very important rule: Just because it offers you points, rebates, and gadgets and trinkets, that doesn’t mean that you should let yourself get into interest trouble just to get your rebates. You cannot carry a balance on your card because the interest rate you are paying will be more than your rewards. So in the end you will still lose money.

Start earning cash rebates with all of your credit card purchases today! Check out the best cash back credit card. If you drive a lot, consider applying for one of these gas rewards credit cards and earn extra cash back on your gas.