HSBC Cash Rewards Mastercard®
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HSBC Cash Rewards Mastercard®

Type
Personal
Credit Rating
Good
Annual Fee
-
Reward Type
Cash Back
SigUp Bonus
Yes

Main Credit Card Features

Rewards
Balance Transfer
No Annual Fee

HSBC Cash Rewards Mastercard® Key Benefits:

Primary cash back categories:

  • All Purchases

How Cash Back Credit Cards Work

Cash back rewards occur when a credit card company gives a small percentage of the purchase back to the customer. Most companies offer cash back between 1-3%, with certain cards offering as much as 6% back. Cash back may be flat-rate, multi-tier, or revolving categories. Rewards come in two primary forms. With an actual cash back rebate, the cash value of the rewards is added to your account. The other type of reward is where your purchases accumulate points. As the customer, you have to initiate the exchange of the points for cash.

Your rebate is redeemed as a check, placed in an account, or more commonly as a statement credit. Using a statement credit, you will not physically receive cash. Instead, the credit card company transfers the “cash” to pay a portion of your credit card bill. How you receive your cash back is described in your credit card agreement.

Cash back takes one or two billing cycles to become applicable and is only redeemable after meeting a minimum threshold. This is done to ensure your account standing is good before the cash back is paid. Cash back cards generally have smaller sign-on bonuses, but lower spending thresholds, than other rewards cards. They are appealing because rewards are simpler to redeem with cash back, and can be received in more ways. When applicable, annual fees are usually $100 or less. Cash back is not subject to devaluation like other rewards programs.

How No Annual Fee Credit Cards Work

A no annual fee credit card is excellent as a backup credit card as you don’t need to pay to maintain it. You might need a backup credit card if your primary one got lost or stolen. Another benefit of a no annual fee credit card is that you can improve your credit to debt ratio if you don’t use it consistently. You may also consider this card if you are looking for a specific perk.

How Balance Transfer Credit Cards Work

This card provides an attractive APR rate if you transfer your balances from other credit cards or even loans. You can potentially save money on interest by moving your balance. This can get tricky, and you need to keep a few things in mind:

  • Take into account the balance transfer fee.
  • Understand that your credit score gets impacted every time you open a new credit card account, so you won’t be able to use a balance transfer card every few months.
  • The new credit card might not have enough credit limit to cover all your existing high-interest debt.
  • You are still required to make monthly minimum payments.
  • Using the card for daily transactions is problematic. This is due to the way your monthly payments apply to different principals.

Use our balance transfer calculator to estimate your possible interest savings.