Maximize Your Credit score Card Rewards

Kudos is a useful net browser extension that helps you maximize your bank card rewards earnings whenever you store on-line. 

When you’ve got a number of rewards playing cards, realizing which card will get you the absolute best money again or journey rewards charge for various purchases is usually a problem. 

Between my spouse’s and my pockets, we have now greater than a dozen rewards playing cards. Whereas doing this overview, I signed up myself, because it appears useful for my private wants.

It is browser plugin robotically fills out your bank card particulars primarily based on which card affords the very best rewards from that exact service provider. Right here’s a better take a look at how the Kudos pockets app works and who could profit most.

Promo: New customers with the promo code COLLEGE will get $20 after their first eligible Increase buy.

Kudos is a California-based enterprise capital-funded firm based in 2021. Founders Tikue Anazodo and Ahmad Ismail beforehand labored collectively at massive tech firms and determined to unravel one in every of their largest challenges with rewards playing cards: realizing which to make use of to maximise the rewards from every card of their pockets.

The Kudos system helps greater than 3,000 completely different credit score and debit playing cards and works with greater than 2 million retailers, so there’s an excellent likelihood it’ll work with all your bank cards and the locations you store most.

They declare to have helped their 200,000 members earn over $150,000,000 in rewards to-date.

Kudos has raised $7 million, giving it room to develop and enhance. These funds have additionally allowed the corporate to take a position closely in security measures to maintain your bank card particulars protected, which ought to put most customers relaxed in order that they don’t have to fret about including their playing cards to the app.

The principle characteristic of the Kudos pockets helps you choose the very best bank card for every buy, specializing in which card you may have that provides the very best rewards in that buy class. It additionally works with over 15,000 taking part retailers to supply elevated rewards, just like different increase applications provided by bank card and funding firms.

Kudos is greatest used as a browser extension on desktop or laptop computer computer systems, although you may also use it with Safari on iOS gadgets. There’s at the moment no app for Android customers, however it’s on their roadmap.

Choose The Greatest Rewards Credit score Card At Checkout

The first characteristic of Kudos is a brilliant bank card picker. The Kudos pockets seems at the place you’re buying and compares playing cards in your on-line pockets to decide on the very best rewards card for that particular retailer. Whether or not you’re trying to earn money again or journey rewards, the Kudos app considers the place you’ll earn probably the most worth.

In line with the Kudos web site, it helps greater than 3,000 cost playing cards. Once I signed up, I used to be capable of simply discover and add each card my spouse and I’ve to my account. That features some older Chase and Amex playing cards which can be now not obtainable and each enterprise and private accounts.

Kudos Increase

Kudos Increase is a accomplice program (that’s additionally a part of the Kudos income mannequin) that lets you earn enhanced rewards with taking part retailers. Whereas searching the highest offers, I noticed large manufacturers, together with Walmart, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Tractor Provide, Staples, Dick’s Sporting Items, Workplace Depot, Groupon, and CVS. The listing consists of retail, journey, and different locations you seemingly already store.

With a view to earn Kudos Increase, you have to add your playing cards to your Kudos pockets and activate the extension at checkout. Increase rewards are amassed in your Kudos account. When you attain a stability of $10 or extra, you possibly can redeem them for an Amazon present card. Extra redemption choices comparable to money or airline miles are coming quickly.

After finishing just a few signup duties within the app, I earned greater than $4 in rewards earlier than making my first Increase-eligible buy.

Promo: New customers with the promo code COLLEGE will get $20 after their first eligible Increase buy.

Computerized Credit score Card Kind Filling

Whereas it’s not a standalone characteristic, the added comfort of robotically filling in your bank cards when buying on-line is useful. Whereas I already get this from my browser and password supervisor, if I didn’t, I’d actually contemplate this a pleasant value-add. 

Kudos is totally free, so there’s not price so as to add it to your browser or iPhone and provides it a attempt. 

Kudos earns cash by referring folks to new bank cards and earns an affiliate fee in the event that they enroll. It additionally earns income from the Kudos Increase program, getting a reduce of the bonus or sale from taking part retailers.

Kudos isn’t the one fintech firm attempting that will help you maximize rewards. A few different alternate options embrace:

MaxRewards is a free app that helps you select the precise card for every buy however doesn’t have the identical degree of automated integrations as Kudos. It’s extra highly effective for managing your bank card portfolio, and the premium model, MaxRewards Gold helps you robotically activate offers via your bank card portal. A Gold membership begins at $84 yearly. For extra particulars, try our MaxRewards overview.

CardPointers is just like Kudos, however it additionally lets you robotically activate merchant-specific bonuses in your current bank cards. Nevertheless, it’s a must to pay $60 per yr to unlock a lot of the options.

Whereas widespread buying instruments like Rakuten, Honey, and Capital One Buying might help you get monetary savings via coupons and cashback affords, Kudos offers a extra holistic and automatic strategy to maximizing your bank card rewards. By seamlessly integrating along with your current bank cards, Kudos units itself aside as the final word rewards optimization software for savvy customers and bank card fans.

Opening an account took me about two minutes. I entered my identify, e-mail deal with, and telephone quantity and needed to enter a code to confirm each. As soon as verified, Kudos took me via an onboarding course of the place I added my bank cards and the browser extension.

It was a easy and straightforward course of that anybody with primary web abilities ought to have the ability to deal with with out breaking a sweat.

Kudos makes an enormous deal of consumer safety, and is clear about its app and the steps it takes to maintain your info protected:

• 256-bit encryption: This is identical degree of encryption utilized by banks and different monetary platforms to make sure customers can’t learn your info, even when they one way or the other break into Kudos.
• Exterior auditing: Kudos hires outdoors auditors for SOC 2 safety with constant outdoors monitoring by a specialised digital safety vendor.
• AWS internet hosting: Kudos makes use of Amazon Net Providers secured internet hosting with encryption, one of many largest and most trusted cloud internet hosting suppliers.
• Information by no means offered: Private knowledge isn’t offered or shared with third events outdoors of distributors used to make the service work.

The very best place to get assist with a Kudos account or get solutions to questions is by emailing assist@joinkudos.com. There aren’t any extra customer support strategies, comparable to telephone assist.

The assist part has a hyperlink for a contact kind, which is basically the identical as e-mail.

Why Ought to You Belief Me?

I’m a former financial institution supervisor and have been writing about fintech apps like Kudos since 2008. With greater than two dozen bank cards of my very own, I’m all the time looking out for brand spanking new and distinctive apps that may assist me benefit from my bank card rewards. On this case, I signed up for the app myself.

The School Investor staff works to supply unbiased opinions to assist customers discover probably the most useful accounts and instruments on the most cheap value. If I wouldn’t advocate it to my sister, I wouldn’t advocate it to The School Investor readers.

Kudos is for anybody with a number of bank cards searching for assist realizing the place to make use of every card to maximise their rewards. Because it’s free, there’s no hurt in attempting to resolve if it’s an excellent match in your wants.

Contemplating that every bank card has its personal “greatest” rewards perks, it may be laborious to be sure to’re profiting from your card in one of the simplest ways. Particularly in case your playing cards have annual charges. When you’ve got a bank card with an annual charge, you wish to be certain you’re getting sufficient worth from the cardboard to ensure the charge is worth it. Kudos might help with that.

Kudos is probably not value utilizing when you solely have one or two bank cards or are skittish about sharing your bank card particulars on-line. In any other case, it’s an important worth contemplating the fee and options.

Take a look at Kudos right here >>