Jintao Zhang, visiting assistant professor of marketing in The University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, tells the WalletHub personal finance website that rewards points are usually more valuable than the 2-3% cash back that most cards offer.

He points out that some rewards, such as double miles for airline travel, can be worth well more than 2% cash back. For example, a $10,000 purchase would give the card user only $200 cash back to buy a plane ticket. However, a customer would need to spend only $3,000 to get 6,000 double mileage rewards points.

However, Zhang says that many card users prefer the cash back because cash feels psychologically closer than loyalty points and is easier to redeem.