Like any reward credit card, the means by which you receive your cash back varies. You can receive your rebate in the form of a check, a gift card to a specific retail partner, a credit to your statement, and some issuers even make a deposit into an FDIC insured account opened in your name. By comparing the current offers available and reading the fine print, you can choose the way you save that extra cash.

Some offers require you to request your rebate, while others automatically issue your credit when a set amount of bonus points have been accumulated. If you receive your rebate in the form of a credit to your account, this is normally done automatically on a monthly basis. There are some cards which issue one rebate check at the end of each year.

There are cash back credit cards that offer non expiring bonus points and the accumulation is unlimited. Some cards have a yearly savings limit of $300. If there is an expiration date on the bonus points be sure to keep track of them. It could be heartbreaking to loose your savings because you needed to request your bonus points but they expired.

The cards that offer a 5% rebate, are generally referring to purchases or gift cards at partner retailers. The 1% cash back offers are normally for all other purchases with the card. So if it's cash in hand you desire, a straight 1% cash back credit card may be what you want.

A recent gem of a cash back credit card is the Discover Platinum Card. As an added bonus to their cash back program, they offer double your bonus points when you redeem them for gift points with one of their many brand name partners. You can turn $20 in bonus points into $40. The Discover Student Tropical Beach Card has this same feature and unlimited cash rewards that never expire.

Just like when using coupons, with a little planning and choosing the right card, a cash back credit card can help you to save as you spend.