There's a new gotcha involving those kinds of credit cards where you try to rack up points for free travel or free merchandise. These types of "affinity cards" are tied in with a particular retailer or airline or other business.

However, the risk is that with so many companies on the ropes, these points may become fool's gold should that company go bust.

The only reward you should be getting is cold hard cash. By all means, if you already have a lot of points, you should use them up as quickly as possible. But be sure to then make the switch a cash-back reward card.