New Credit Card Offers 10 Percent Cash Back at Hotels

Ebates has introduced its own credit card, and it’s a serious contender among cash-back cards, as well as travel rewards credit cards.

Perhaps the most noteworthy benefit of this Visa card is an additional 3 percent cash back on everything you buy through Ebates. On other purchases — those for which you don’t go through Ebates — you earn 1 percent cash back.

Ebates is what is known as a cash-back portal — basically, a website or app through which you can earn cash rebates on purchases. Anyone can use Ebates to earn cash back. Just sign up for an account if you don’t already have one. Signing up for and using Ebates is free.

While you don’t need the Ebates credit card to use Ebates, you will earn more cash back on everything you buy through the cash-back portal.

Take hotels, for example. Ebates offers 7 percent cash back on hotel stays. So, anyone who books a hotel through Ebates earns 7 percent cash back.

But folks who book a hotel through Ebates and pay for it with the Ebates credit card will earn the extra 3 percent — for a total of 10 percent cash back.

That amounts to $50 cash back on a $500 hotel booking. How many travel rewards credit cards can top that?

If you do other shopping through Ebates, you stand to earn even more.

For example, Ebates is running an extra-cash-back promotion this week, as it frequently does. It’s offering as much as 15 percent cash back at certain retailers.

Let’s take the 10 percent cash back at Pier 1 Imports online for example. If you buy something through Ebates this week and pay for it with the Ebates credit card, you’d earn a total of 13 percent cash back. You would be hard-pressed to find a cash-back credit card that could offer double-digit percentages.

Is the Ebates credit card right for you?

Besides folks who often book hotels online, Ebates’ credit card is arguably best for anyone who does a lot of shopping online. They stand to benefit most from stacking Ebates’ cash-back offers on top of the 3 percent offered by the Ebates credit card.

Ebates currently offers cash back on in-store purchases from some 50 retailers and restaurants. By comparison, it offers cash back on online purchases from some 2,000 merchants.

To learn more about Ebates’ credit card or to apply for it, visit Ebates’ home page and click on the image of the card in the rotating carousel at the top of the page.

Is a cash-back credit card right for you?

Rewards credit cards, including cash-back cards, tend to have higher interest rates than other types of credit cards.

The Ebates credit card is no exception. Its annual percentage rate (APR) for purchases is 20.99 percent or 25.99 percent, depending on whether you get the Platinum or Signature version of the card, respectively.

So, you might owe a lot of money in interest if you don’t pay your bill in full every month. That’s why rewards credit cards are generally best reserved for folks who can pay their bill in full every month.

If you’re carrying a credit card balance over from month to month, you are better off with a card that has the lowest APR for which you can qualify. That way, you will pay less money in interest.

For help finding that card, check out Money Talks News’ credit card comparison tool. You can search by card features — select “0% APR” or “Low Ongoing Rate,” for example — from the menus on the left.

For more standout credit cards worth considering, check out “Best Credit Cards of 2017.”

What are your thoughts on or experience with cash-back credit cards? Let us know by commenting below or on our Facebook page.