Is It Worth Having Several Bank Cards?

A modern person owns at least one bank card. However, you can meet quite a lot of users who have payment instruments from different banks in the country (USA, Canada, and many others). Is it worth using several cards, what are the advantages? You will learn about this in this article. If you also want to improve your experience in money exchange – Rates service is the best tool for this.

Bank Cards For Different Purposes

As a rule, users have several Visa or Mastercard bank cards to perform different transactions. Some provide advantages in commissions, while others keep users safe.

Fraud Protection Card

For online purchases, it is better to have a separate card. On the Internet, you can often find information about the theft of data from clients of banks, payment systems, and online stores. This means that the scammers got hold of information not only about orders and delivery addresses but also card numbers that customers used to pay for online purchases.

To avoid becoming one of the victims of scammers, it is better to use an additional card, not the main one, for online purchases and payments for various subscriptions.

You should also not use a card where you store large sums of money. You can also set a spending limit, that is, an amount beyond which you cannot spend. So, even after receiving your card details, scammers will not be able to profit greatly from you. By the way, virtual cards are great for online purchases. You can become the owner of a virtual card in just a few minutes – just submit an online application in the bank’s application. Most often these cards are free.

Cashback Card

Have you ever thought that you could earn money using a debit card? We are talking about discounts, cashbacks, and other benefits that banks provide to attract customers. One card cannot give everything at once – some partners offer discounts on products, and others give large cashback on transport. That’s why different cards for different categories of expenses will bring maximum benefits.

Think about what you spend money on most often. Perhaps these are cafes and restaurants. Then it makes sense for you to pay attention to the card that offers the largest cashback for this particular category of spending. Sometimes banks give you the opportunity to choose bonuses from those offered. If expenses in different categories are approximately the same, then you can choose a card that offers a refund on all purchases. Of course, you shouldn’t get carried away and get a card for every type of purchase, but it will be beneficial to have plastic with great offers in two main categories for you.

Card For Additional Income

In addition to bonuses and cashbacks, cards can bring their owner income in the form of interest on the account balance. Sometimes the profit from such a card is higher than what bank deposits offer. However, there may be pitfalls here too. For example, interest is charged only on a certain amount or an attractive rate is only valid for new customers for a limited time. But if you wish, you can find an option that is beneficial for you. You can check offers from JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America.

Travel Card

You can use your main bank card when traveling to other countries. However, if you plan to visit several different countries and make large purchases, it makes sense to think about the card currency and fees when paying in foreign currency (dollars, euros, and others. When choosing a card for this purpose, it is worth considering:

• Are there restrictions on operations? For example, you can only withdraw a certain amount per day and not a dollar more. Or, for example, six transactions on the card are allowed, after which no actions will take place.
• Maintenance cost. In fact, this parameter is not as important as is commonly thought, and it should only be analyzed in conjunction with other conditions. Sometimes cards with a fairly large service fee due to various bonuses are more profitable than seemingly free cards, but where they charge a commission for almost every transaction.
• Communication with the bank and security. Make sure that you can contact the bank in case of restrictions, blocking, or theft of your bank card.
• Fee for withdrawing cash from someone else’s ATM. Find out what fees may apply when withdrawing cash from ATMs in the country you are traveling to.

How to Choose Bank Cards?

If you do not plan to receive benefits in the form of cashback or discounts when using bank cards, do not have social benefits, and do not make large purchases abroad, then most likely, you should limit yourself to 2 or 3 cards. A small guide when choosing a card:

1. Decide what you need the card for (receiving social payments, cashback, interest on the balance, traveling abroad, etc.).
2. Compare loyalty programs of different banks (cashback amount, bonuses, etc.).
3. Find out the cost of issuing a card and its maintenance (annual maintenance, transfer fees, cash withdrawals from an ATM).
4. Find out additional bonuses for premium clients.
5. Find out if it is possible to issue a card online and order delivery by courier.

Should You Have Many Bank Cards?

Do you remember what commission the bank charges for servicing your card? Most likely not, but now imagine that you have three or more cards. In this case, it will be very difficult to accurately name the size and conditions for calculating commissions. This money that you give to the bank for the card and do not use it can be very important for you.

In addition, banks are changing the conditions for owning a physical card, increasing the fee, or introducing interest on cash withdrawals from ATMs. It is difficult to remember all PIN codes and keep track of card expiration dates.

If you don’t need such problems and at the same time you don’t want any benefits, then it is best to have one or two cards.

Conclusion

If you regularly make transactions on crypto exchanges such as Binance Coin or Coinbase using Bitcoin or Ethereum or want to save up for an Aetna insurance policy with large cashbacks, we recommend using the appropriate cards. You can find out more about the latest financial products on the Rates.fm service, which is available in different parts of the world – be it Luxembourg, Montreal or Los Angeles.