Credit card issuers raise rewards for holiday shopping

Credit card issuers are bumping up their rewards for the holiday shopping season as they seek to lure consumers away from debit cards and competitors. For shoppers with decent credit scores, this can provide the opportunity to pick up extra cash or miles while they do their gift shopping."The rewards have become very, very attractive in terms of cash back and travel," an expert with LowCards.com, Bill Hardekopf, said. "Issuers have stepped up the rewards because its now more lucrative for the banks for you and me to use our credit cards instead of our debit cards."Reuters reported that debit card interchange fees - the amount that retailers pay to card issuers when the cards are usedwere capped on October 1, 2011, when the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation took effect."Rewards have been generous, in general, because issuers are trying to get back consumers they lost in the recession," a credit card expert with Credit.com, Beverly Blair Harzog, said. "Im particularly seeing a lot of cash-back bonuses."For example, both Chase and Citibank have cards that are offering new applicants $200 in cash back after they spend $500 on their cards.Shoppers with good credit scores who pay their bills in full every month are in the best position to take advantage of the new offers.
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