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

When you have a number of rewards playing cards, understanding which card will get you the absolute best money again or journey rewards fee for various purchases generally is a problem. 

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

It is browser plugin mechanically fills out your bank card particulars primarily based on which card presents the very best rewards from that specific service provider. Right here’s a more in-depth have a look at how the Kudos pockets app works and who could profit most.

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 resolve one in every of their largest challenges with rewards playing cards: understanding which to make use of to maximise the rewards from every card of their pockets.

The Kudos system helps greater than 3,000 totally different credit score and debit playing cards and works with greater than 2 million retailers, so there’s a great likelihood it’ll work with your entire 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 secure, which ought to put most customers comfortable in order that they don’t have to fret about including their playing cards to the app.

The principle function of the Kudos pockets helps you choose the very best bank card for every buy, specializing in which card you’ve got that provides the very best rewards in that buy class. It additionally works with over 15,000 taking part retailers to supply elevated rewards, much like different enhance 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 present no app for Android customers, however it’s on their roadmap.

Choose The Finest Rewards Credit score Card At Checkout

The first function of Kudos is a great bank card picker. The Kudos pockets seems at the place you’re procuring 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 seeking to earn money again or journey rewards, the Kudos app considers the place you’ll earn essentially the most worth.

In keeping with the Kudos web site, it helps greater than 3,000 fee playing cards. After I signed up, I used to be in a position to 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 associate program (that’s additionally a part of the Kudos income mannequin) that means that you can 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 record consists of retail, journey, and different locations you seemingly already store.

In an effort to earn Kudos Increase, it’s essential 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 steadiness of $10 or extra, you’ll be able to redeem them for an Amazon reward card. Extra redemption choices corresponding to money or airline miles are coming quickly.

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

Automated Credit score Card Type Filling

Whereas it’s not a standalone function, the added comfort of mechanically filling in your bank cards when procuring on-line is useful. Whereas I already get this from my browser and password supervisor, if I didn’t, I’d definitely think about 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 strive. 

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 lower of the bonus or sale from taking part retailers.

Kudos isn’t the one fintech firm making an attempt that will help you maximize rewards. A few different alternate options embody:

MaxRewards is a free app that helps you select the correct 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 mechanically activate offers via your bank card portal. A Gold membership begins at $84 yearly. For extra particulars, take a look at our MaxRewards evaluation.

CardPointers is much like Kudos, however it additionally means that you can mechanically activate merchant-specific bonuses on your current bank cards. Nevertheless, it’s important to pay $60 per yr to unlock a lot of the options.

Whereas common procuring instruments like Rakuten, Honey, and Capital One Purchasing will help you lower your expenses via coupons and cashback presents, Kudos supplies a extra holistic and automatic method 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 consumers and bank card lovers.

Opening an account took me about two minutes. I entered my title, e-mail handle, and cellphone 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 clean and straightforward course of that anybody with fundamental web abilities ought to have the ability to deal with with out breaking a sweat.

Kudos makes a giant deal of person safety, and is clear about its app and the steps it takes to maintain your info secure:

• 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 someway break into Kudos.
• Exterior auditing: Kudos hires exterior auditors for SOC 2 safety with constant exterior monitoring by a specialised digital safety vendor.
• AWS internet hosting: Kudos makes use of Amazon Internet Companies secured internet hosting with encryption, one of many largest and most trusted cloud internet hosting suppliers.
• Knowledge by no means offered: Private knowledge isn’t offered or shared with third events exterior of distributors used to make the service work.

The perfect place to get assist with a Kudos account or get solutions to questions is by emailing assist@joinkudos.com. There aren’t any further customer support strategies, corresponding to cellphone assist.

The assist part has a hyperlink for a contact kind, which is actually 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 profit from my bank card rewards. On this case, I signed up for the app myself.

The School Investor crew works to supply unbiased evaluations to assist customers discover essentially the most useful accounts and instruments on the most cheap worth. 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 understanding the place to make use of every card to maximise their rewards. Because it’s free, there’s no hurt in making an attempt to resolve if it’s a great match on your wants.

Contemplating that every bank card has its personal “greatest” rewards perks, it may be laborious to be sure to’re making the most of your card in one of the simplest ways. Particularly in case your playing cards have annual charges. When you have a bank card with an annual payment, you need to be certain you’re getting sufficient worth from the cardboard to verify the payment is worth it. Kudos will help with that.

Kudos might not be price utilizing for those who 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 excellent worth contemplating the fee and options.

Try Kudos right here >>