The biggest catch of all, though, is that the promised rewards may run out sooner than the uninformed customer thinks. Depending on the individual card, percentage rewards in some cases only apply after a certain amount of money has already been charged to the card in a given year ($2000 and up, in the low range), or more alarmingly: rewards may stop applying after a certain amount of money has been put toward the products that generate the highest percentage of rewards ($1,200, to quote one of the high figures.) If a customer spends a large amount of money on fuel in a year, expecting cash back options to alleviate some of the sting of current high gas prices, that customer may find the rewards less rewarding. In some cases, the number of cash back rewards earned through using a cash back credit card can even be capped at a certain figure, at which point what the customer has left is just a credit card like any other.

So yes, the percentages sound good, initially, and do help to offset typical expenses. But, as always, it's wise to look carefully at the fine print of an agreement before signing, and to remember that there is no hook without a string attached. Cash back credit cards can be a powerful tool for consumers to get something back for what they put into the economy, but without informing themselves and doing the research, they may just find themselves caught up in trouble of their own making.

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