Ten Credit Cards That Offer Consumer-Friendly Rewards

Amid the ongoing concerns of credit crunches and pinched spending comes a scorecard from IndexCreditCards.com of its top 10 consumer-friendly cards available on the Internet.

Based on the perceived value of what each card offers to the most people, plus the numbers of online visits to card offers, Capital One's Card Lab was ranked No. 1, according to IndexCreditCards.com, which researches and lists more than 1,200 online credit cards.

Capital One's Card Lab allows consumers to pick and choose their own features such as interest rates and rewards or introductory rates on new purchases or balance transfers.

Three "green" cards for environmentally focused consumers were all awarded second place. The Bank of America Brighter Planet Visa, the GE Money Earth Rewards Card and the GreenPay MasterCard were all launched this year, offering reward points that help fund environmental projects such as tree planting.

The Chase Freedom Card got a fresh rewards program this year that helped put it in the top three. The program automatically gives cardholders higher rebates for their three top monthly purchases, which tend to be gas, groceries and dining out.

Also making the list were:

• Discover Motiva Card. Cardholders get a month of interest back every time they make payments on time for six consecutive months.
• PayPal Debit Card. This is a MasterCard debit card that allows PayPal customers to use it anywhere MasterCard is accepted.
• Gap Visa. The Gap card that can be used anywhere Visa is accepted offers 5% rebates on purchases at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores, and 1% rebates on all other purchases.
• BankAmericard. Bank of America recycled the name of what is often considered the very first credit card with a new twist. Cardholders with other Bank of America accounts can earn up to an extra half-point in rewards per dollar charged on this card.
• Zappos Rewards Visa. Another retailer-sponsored card that can be used like a regular Visa, this one offers rewards toward future purchases from online shoe store Zappos.com.
• World of Warcraft Visa. This comes from the online role-playing game World of Warcraft and gives cardholders points toward free game time. For every 1,500 points earned, the cardholders gets one free month of play time.
• Citi CashReturns Card. This is geared toward the heavy credit-card users, offering a straight 1% cash rebate on card purchases, with no tiered rebates and no caps on earnings. The card offers 5% rebates on all card purchases for the first three months.