Cash-Back Credit Cards

If your looking to beat the bank and get a credit card that pays you back rather than costs you money then look no further than a cash-back credit card. Cash-back credit cards provide you with a percentage cash-back on every purchase you make and avoid the need for complex reward point schemes.

Applying for Cash-back Credit Cards

When you're applying for cash-back credit cards there are some factors to look for (and watch for). Some of these are:

* Rate of cash-back: Normally, the practice in this type of credit card rewards scheme is that you will be awarded a certain percentage of the monthly spending you charge on your credit card. The cash-back offers vary among the various credit card companies and often among the range of each individual issuer. The really good deals available on the market are willing to refund you up to 5 per cent of what you spend. The most common schemes award between 0.5% and 1% for each dollar spent. This can be significant: if you spend an average of $1000 a month on your credit card, 1% of that is $10 or $120 annually. Where possible, you will want the higher rate but you will have to compare this with the annual fee to see if it truly works to your advantage.

* Timing of cash-back credit: The usual practice is to calculate the amount of cash-back you have earned on the anniversary date of your account; the method of paying it back to you is by crediting your account. There are cash-back credit cards however, that credit your account on a more frequent basis, even monthly.

* Annual fee: Cash-back credit cards usually have higher annual fees than the basic credit card. In a way, this is how the credit card issuer will recover the cost of administering this credit card rewards scheme. Compare credit cards and see which one gives you the best advantage. Going by the above case study, if you are likely to earn $120 per annum in cash-back rewards you will still come out on top if the annual fee was $69.

* Ceiling on cash-back: There are cash-back credit cards that limit how much you can earn to a certain amount, say, $10. This would be fine if your average spending rarely exceeds $1000 a month, but if it is significantly higher then you will prefer a card that does not put a ceiling or, at least sets a higher limit.

There are some credit card rewards programs that allow you to convert rewards points into cash-back credits. In such a situation, the card issue may have a minimum number of reward points you need to redeem for a set amount of cash-back, e.g 10,000 points provides $100 cash-back.

* Flexibility: Certain cash-back credit card have a limit to the refund for a particular purchase, e.g. food purchases or petrol. You don't want them; you want those cards that give credit on whatever you buy.

Maximizing Your Cash-back Credit Card:

The first condition to really maximize the benefits of cash-back credit cards is to pay your account in full every month. If you don't, the interest accrued on unpaid balances will quickly wipe out your cash-back gains. In some cash-back credit cards, the corresponding purchases will no longer be eligible to earn cash-back. If you cannot comply with this requirement, the cash-back credit card is not really suited for you.

For some cash-back credit cards, you may get extra cash-back points if you use your credit card at certain stores and outlets which have made arrangements with the credit card company as participating sponsors. Look for these opportunities to earn extra cash-back credits.

The best way to get the most cash-back credits is to charge The Dark Knight Curse spending on your credit card. This means charging all your regular bills, groceries, petrol, clothes, a holiday everything. By doing this, your cash-back will build up very fast.

Richard Greenwood is author of a wide range of finance articles as well as Director of click4credit.com.au which compares click4credit.com.aucredit card offers including click4credit.com.au/rewards-credit-cards.phprewards credit cards

Continuity In Comic Books - Is It Really That Important?

If you visit any comic book fan forum on the net, I guarantee there will be one particularly debate raging. The exact books and characters referred Risperdol change, but the basic argument remains the same. This person is written out donate car to charity character because back in issue #154987 so and so said blah blah blah.

I'm exaggerating of Freakies I don't think any comic has an issue #154987. But it does serve to illustrate the dilemma that comic book publishes frequently find themselves in.

The Continuity Conundrum

In essence, the problem is that most comic book universes (and I'm thinking primarily of DC and Marvel here) are built around the concept of continuity. All their characters interact to a greater or lesser extent with each other. They all exist in the same universe (though not necessarily the same planet or even plane) and as a result they share a common history.

However as more and more stories are published about Space Sentinels characters, it becomes harder and harder to track exactly who knows what and why never mind considering the effects it might have on the characterization of a specific hero. And that doesn't even address the limiting effect as far as possible new stories are concerned.

So what you have is two different requirements tugging away at the publisher. They want to do something new with their characters and they want also to stay true to what has come before or they risk losing what made those characters special in the first place. The longer a character is published the bigger this problem becomes.

The Role Of The Fans

Long time comics fans often taken an excessive interest in continuity as a by product of their interest in the subject as a whole. This frequently results in fans complaining when a comic book publisher breaks continuity (deliberately or through ignorance).

Increasingly the outcry from fandom has made it seem as though continuity breaks are enough on their own to make or break a story. Of course this is not a realistic view of things. Continuity is merely one aspect of many that make up a good comic book. To make matters more confusing the importance of continuity will vary dramatically depending on the particular reader.

One Problem, Two Solutions

So you're a comic book publisher with 40+ years of history working for and against you. What do you do? So far two approaches have been tried.

DC Comics has experienced some success with periodic reboots of continuity. The first of these was the Crisis on Infinite Earths which wiped out many parallel worlds and redefined a number of its Missjackson superheroes (and villains). More recently they rebooted again with Infinite Crisis which again redefined a number of their most prominent characters as well as introducing brand new versions of old characters.

While this method has allowed DC to keep a fairly clean and consistent continuity, it also has the effect of upsetting and alienating some of their longer term readers as characters they liked get wiped out of existence.

Marvel Comics has so far avoided any universe wide reboots by instead adopting a policy of selective continuity. With this method the individual editors or writers choose to acknowledge or simply not reference various elements of Marvel history as they think best suits their story.

While the concept is highly flexible there have been many occasions where the resulting story chooses to ignore an element so significant that it makes the story look silly. Characters who were thought to be dead turn up alive with not the slightest reference to how they returned.

Important or Not?

So is it? Well yes, and no. Fundamentally continuity is as important as the reader chooses to let it be. While I have the greatest respect for writers who can weave stories entirely within established continuity, I'd rather have a good story that breaks continuity than suffer through an average story that sticks faithfully to everything that has gone before.

sflare.comVisit Solar Flare: Science Fiction News for daily news, reviews and commentary by Eoghann Irving on science fiction, fantasy and comics.