Credit card incentives and rewards programs are attractive commodities when choosing a card.  But keeping track of all the reward programs can be tricky.  A 2009 study by Colloquy, shows the median U.S. household belongs to 14 loyalty programs, while only actively paying attention to six.  In many cases, reward points can expire.  This will eliminate all the advantages of having a rewards card.

Fortunately, there are specific services out there that can help you keep track of your reward programs.  Certain websites and smartphone applications can better allow you to take full advantage of these incentives.  With the growing popularity of reward points, they are beginning to be more similar to currency, which should be monitored and assessed periodically.  Todd Mera, co-founder of AwardWallet.com says, ""It's something that makes sense to keep track of and understand how much value you actually have in these kinds of rewards programs, setting goals for your points spending is difficult unless you know what you have.""

Most credit card issuers have websites where you can login and track your reward points.  With an ID and password, you will be able to monitor point activities with the cards associated to that card company.  Alternatively, there are website services that allow you to consolidate all your credit cards and track associated reward programs with a single ID and password.  These reward trackers basically tell you all the reward points available to you while some provide specific services tailored to your needs and lifestyle.  Reward trackers, such as AwardWallet.com, helps you keep tracking of expiring points.  While others, such as Tripit Pro, is geared toward business travelers.  Services, such as Points.com, focuses on providing information for you to better maximize the benefits from your points.

With todays busy consumer lifestyle, very few can find the time to evaluate how to spend their reward points to make best use of them.  Points.com's president, Christopher Barnard says, ""There’s a large bulge in the middle of the bell curve that doesn't really know exactly how to maximize their participation.""  He also added, ""they intellectually know there's more to be done and they could do more, and they're frustrated that they're missing out on opportunities. We offer services that assuage some of those fears.""

Although reward trackers may generally seem beneficial, not everyone finds a need for these types of services.  The services only make sense if you take part in more than one rewards program.  Sometimes, it makes more sense to be involved with a minimum number of rewards programs and devote your usage to those few cards.  Other concern people may have with reward tracking services is security.  Before signing up to one, make sure you are conformable sharing your IDs and passwords with a third party site.  Although these reward tracking sites usually have a great deal of security measures, it is still something one should take into consideration.