Credit card rewards are a real rip off

The CITIMILES card has recently upped its minimum for a round trip flight from 500 miles to 2500 miles. There ought to be a federal regulation against changing the original terms of the card, which were 500 miles. Effectively, Citibank is eliminating the raison d’etre for the card for many customers.

Well, Wells Fargo just turned its Reward Program into a ripoff operation. Just got my June ‘09 credit card statement and it announced that 2,843 points had expired last month and that 510 more would expire this month. But there was nothing on my last month’s bill about points expiring. Now, I knew that I been repeatedly told that I had some points expiring December 2009, and planned to redeem those before then, but Wells Fargo saw an opportunity to steal back some promised benefits. Turns out they snuck some small print into the April bill about changing the expiration from 5 years to 60 months, and rather than wait until points would expire anyway decided to schedule it for mid-year. And the bank didn’t think it necessary to point out that this meant points would be expiring sooner than it had previously said. Full page ads in the bill urging me to earn points, but nothing about the upcoming loss of six months worth of points until after they’d cancelled them. Thank you, Wells Fargo!

My credit card rewards are straight forward and very simple. Chase provides 1% back on all purchases and 3% back on the 3 largest categories in any given month. Save up $200 in rewards and request an actual $250 check. My Citi Shell card provides 5% back on Shell gas purchases which get credited every month with no effort from me.

Credit card rewards make me feel like I’m being herded like cattle! “Come on! Get the reward! That’s right, just keep spending!!!” Just plain insulting! I ignore them!

I have a CitiMiles card. It os fairly generous in the number of miles I get. Also each mile I earn is an actual mile of travel distance. My wife and I average $5,000 a month in charges and about 4 times a year we rack up a 15K month. The problem is the blackout dates and times pretty much prevent us from using the miles. We are going to spend the money regardless of the rewards but it would be nice to be able to use them.

I have two reward cards. The first is with EmigrantDirect which gives me 1.4% cash back on all purchases as long as I keep at least $10K in their bank (which is at 3% APR). It gets deposited every 6mo and I’ve never had a problem with it (and make about $1000 every year).

The second card is a Capital One that I got for a trip to Europe (they have no conversion fees). They gave me 1% cash back and I had to request it. I did after the first (and only) month I used the card. It is my “Foreign travel only” card. No fuss, no muss.

Of course, I pay off my balance in full, the cards have no annual fees, so they work well for me. But if you pay and annual fee or interest, it may not work as well.

American Express – Delta Skymiles are a rip off. Can hardly ever use them and they can only be used for flights – or magazines.

I think the rewards are placed way out of reach. Sure each purchase may earn you a point or two, but when a reward starts at 150,000 points it won’t be in my lifetime that I will actually be cashing in those points for that bike or clock radio. Forget it, not worth it.

I’ve had a WorldPoints Mastercard for half a year. No annual fee, and I pay off the entire balance twice per month. I’ve charged about $6,000 on the card in the half year I’ve had it. That’s 6,000+ points, which I can use for whatever–travel, cash back, lots of options. Sure there might be all sorts of rules that restrict my reward once I choose one in another half year or so, but so what? I paid nothing, no fees, no interest, to get whatever reward I end up with, so it really doesn’t seem like a problem to me.

Ah, but I did pay fees, didn’t I? Those “discount rates”–the transaction costs that merchants passed on to me when I shop from them. Thing is, they pass on those fees, as part of retail costs, whether I use my credit card or not! Seriously, if my grocery store offered me a 2% discount for paying in cash (and thereby saving them over 2% in transaction costs) I’d gladly do it, and forego the rewards of my WorldPoints card. It’s the merchants’ own fault that I’m using my credit card instead of saving THEM money!

Gas stations have recently started offering savings for customers who pay in cash rather than use their cards. Talk about d’uh and what took ‘em so long!

I have not heard anyone mention this, including the articles authors. If any of you truly believe you are not paying for those rewards, you are sadly mistaken. You may not be paying as much as someone that carries a balance on their card, but you do in fact pay.

Every merchant that accepts credit cards pays what the card processors call a discount rate. This can vary depending on the merchants average transaction and the volume of their monthly transactions. In addition to that there is per transaction fees and batch closing fees. Not to mention the costs of possible chargeback fees from unscrupulous customers that dispute a charge rather than pay it and then there is outright fraud from stolen cards or card numbers.

To be honest I’m amazed that more merchants aren’t screaming about the costs of these rewards programs. I can only conclude that they are easily passing on all of these hidden costs right to their customers through higher prices on their products and services.

Our country is currently working through what the media tells us is the result of sub prime mortgages being given to people that couldn’t afford to pay for them. Yet I have watched the credit card industry do pretty much the same thing for years with nothing ever being said about it. Only recently has congress started looking into some of the shady practices of this industry. I realize this may sound extreme to some of you, but I personally think the entire credit card industry should be highly regulated.

I came back this evening to read the comments posted fter mine and I am so glad to see that 103 other people are smart about their credit card usage (and their rewards). I read so much about all those in trouble out there this year that I thought I was a lonely case! Go savvy spender!

I have an Alaska Airlines B of A Signature Visa and I’m happy with the rewards program. It costs $75, and that includes a $50 companion pass on Alaska. I’ve used it several times. Also, I eat out a lot and earn 10 miles per dollar. The downside is that the Alaska Mileage program has been getting worse. It’s hard to find good flights to use miles on. I have turned to using more of the points toward other airlines.

Here’s another tip: If you are a customer in good standing, you can often get the annual fee waived just by calling their custiomer service number and asking. You may have to pay an annual fee to be in a reward program, though, since they’re offering something of value in return.
However, be on the lookout for “double-dipping,” where they start charging an annual fee and then a few months later, a second fee for being in their rewards program.

I have been with Chase Visa forever, and have excellent credit, and they always waived my annual fee if I called to ask about it. Then when they started their travel rewards program, they charged a mandatory annual fee, which I went along with since they were now offering something of value. But then I noticed one year they started charging a second “annual fee” a few months after they charged the travel rewards fee. (It pays to read your statements carefully for hidden fees.) I called them and threatened to go elsewhere, since there are so many deals out there, and they backed off and only charge me the travel fee.

Funny you should ask. I am probably different then most chases because I own a company and we have people using the company credit card for travel etc racking up lots of points. This last week I sent my wife and a friend to Dublin for a concert and didn’t spend a dime. Not bad if you ask me.

I have a credit card for rewards and I have received cash back 2 times in one year.

I fly every year to see my grandchildren in Hawaii from Miami. I get 10K miles per trip and then use a credit card for all purchases and expenditures. I charge approximately 24,000 per year for 24,000 air miles. The card I use has no credit line and must be payed off in full every month. Its easy to do since I elected to not upsize my home (payed off), keep my cars for 7 to 10 years (cheap ones), and finally don”t give a damn about the Jones! Every 3 years is a free flight to Hawaii for my wife and myself. Good deal. I’m not rich – retired cop.

Unite Mileage Plus Visa – charged all business expenses and flights on this card, got 140,000 miles, enough to take a 4 person family to Maui on miles.

REI Visa – personal expenses, always buy a bunch of cool climbing equipment with the ~$400 or so rebate.

NOTE: ALWAYS PAY OFF YOUR BALANCE IN FULL EVERY MONTH!!!!!

Paying the monthly statement in full and don’t carry any balance is the way to go. I find that Costco American Express is the best reward card. 3% cash back on dining out & gas, 2% on travel + no annual fee. Cash back is in the Costco Gift Certificate form but can easily be redeemed for cash at Costco.

Pay off the balance evry month on time and the rewards are worth it. Live within your budget and not spend like the American way thinking you can bank on tomorrow. That is what has gotten our Government in fiscal trouble and we will pay for this a long, long time!

We have a several rewards cards, and enjoy the perks that come with paying for pretty much everything in life using those cards.

We put pretty much everything on our Amex Blue Sky Rewards card, including groceries, gas, monthly cell phone bills, and the majority of expenses stemming from our ‘07 nuptials. After one year using the card, we had accumulated enough reward points to pay for a flight to Puerta Vallarta this summer. With gas prices out of control, we wouldn’t have even considered taking a trip this summer if we had to pay for both airplane tickets out of our already tightly stretched budget.

Additionally, I have had a Discover Cash Back Rewards card since before I met my husband. I use it less now, since we try to keep as many of our purchases as possible on the Amex, but I always use it first when they offer their 5% cash back bonus promotions. They usually have three months of the year dedicated to car expenses, and I can rack up a lot of bonus cash spending money on car maintenence every summer. Knowing that I am getting a hefty cash back reward helps make an un-fun and expensive, but nonetheless necessary, purchase a little easier to take.

My husband did have a CitiBank card that earned miles on American Airlines, but we just cancelled that one. The benefits on that card were more the traditional type, where you have limitations on which airline you can use and blackout dates prohibiting you from using your rewards when YOU want to (i.e. Christmas trips back home). Plus, we just got so fed up with American Airlines after a REALLY bad experience in DFW last year (on our honeymoon, no less). Their decision to charge passengers for checked bags was the last straw prompting us to cancel that card in a jiffy just last month.

We replaced that card with a Southwest Visa. We haven’t done enough spending with it yet to rack up any rewards, but we like that VISA is a universally recognized company, meaning we can count on it being accepted in places where our Amex and Discover cards are not (the one BIG drawback to our two favorites). As Oregonians with lots of friends and family in California, we fly Southwest several times a year, so we expect that this card will come in handy soon enough.

To append to my comment on June 2, 4:27pm: Just for signing up for the two PremierPass cards and the Diamond Preferred Rewards card, you can get 36000 pts for free. I’ve only ‘earned’ one of those 3 $400 tickets, but that’s still pretty good anyways!

I pay off the credit card each month. the interest I save is better then a rewards program. So no I am not tempted by any rewards program
Duaine

Chase Freedom Card hands down. 3% back on top three purhase categories and 1% on the rest. Once you hit $200 cash back they give you $50.00. If you use a rewards card and carry a balance on your credit card you are a moron.

I have a BofA Rewards card and is great, you can go on line and purchase gift cards, products, airfare ect.. it is all based on a points system such as 10,000 points will buy a $100 gift card and 25,000 points will buy a plane tickets valued at $250. There are a lot of different options. As many others above I use my card for all expenses and by doing all my banking on line I can easily transfer money from checking to visa daily so that I do not carry a balance on my credit card.

These programs work great if, and only if, you pay your balance in full every month. Elsewise you have been bit by the marketing bug which leads you to believe you are getting benefits. My guess is there are quite a few rubes paying several hundred dollars in interest to chase down an airline mile ticket. Suze Orman would roll over in her grave. (She’s dead right?)

My GM card is great, as long as you buy GM cars, which is fine with me. My 06 Buick Lucerne is more car for less money than a Lexus. Quality the first 50k miles is exceptional.

Richard

I have an AMEX Gold Rewards Card. This is the only form of currency I use on a daily basis. It is how I work my budget. If a store does not take AMEX – I won’t shop there. With that said the rewards points I get are a plus for living my everyday life. I recently cashed my points in for a new 80gig PS3. I would have waited much longer to purchase this item if I did not have the points to cash in, so it was a great little bonus. True, there is an annual fee but I pay the balance off in full every month. I would have to pay the annual fee whether or not I get points so with the way I manage my life style, I could not be happier with AMEX. I also get exclusive offers to shows, restaurants and concerts. Most are tailored to what I like so I don’t have to weed through events that I am not interested in. The security and customer service are better than I expect so that is a nice added bonus. I don’t travel via airlines enough for miles programs and cash back would just go unnoticed. The rewards are something tangible that I get back for my everyday spending.

We chose cash back, it is nice watching those dollars rack up every month and be worth a bunch of money after only a few months. Our policy is the same as some noted on here, we only spend what we should and stick to a strict budget so we are able to pay off the card(s) every month.

There is only one card I know of that actually pays you 5% back! The GM Card. It has saved me $8000.00 over 12 years on New Cars. 5% cash rewards that accumulate in your account. All you have to do is purchase or lease a new GM vehicle. For us, Pontiac’s and GMC Suburban’s. And I still have $3000.00 accumulated.
In recent years GM has levied the system so they only allow a certain amount, from$1000 to $2000 per specific vehicles. Like right now you can use up to $2000.00 on a new Suburban or Avalanche, you can look em up on line. You can use a specified amount on all of GM’s Vehicles!

Also keep in mind that this is above and beyond whatever deal you make first. Personnally, I haven’t paid higher than invoice on a new vehicle for 12 years, and then if you wait until September or later and the last Tuesday of the month, you can get cash back from GM also before using the GM card money!!!

Yes, it has a high interest rate and you need to pay it off every month. And if you only use your GM card during the month and pay it off at the end of the month, there is no interest and you’ll build up quickly. Last year I used $2000.00 of my accumulated Points/dollars, “One for One”, on my 2006 GTO. It’s hot and I only paid $28000, on a 32,000 stickered car. Cool. It’s the only card that actually pays you back!

To me, the best deal by far is the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards MasterCard. There’s no annual fee, and I get 5 pts per dollar spent at supermarkets/gas stations/drug stores. Rack up 20000 pts and you get a free ticket at Thankyou.com (which travel arrangements are basically powered by the Expedia website) of a value of up to $400. So that’s a $400 free ticket for $4000 of spending, and basically a 10% bonus on all those basic purchases I just described. The 5 pt per dollar special only lasts for the first year of enrollment, but then I’m gonna switch over to the Citi Driver’s Edge Mastercard, which has a 6 pt per dollar special for the first year.

Another great part is using these Citi cards to buy gift cards from supermarkets. For any gift card you pick, imagine getting 10% off your restaurant meals, clothes, electronics, etc.

Just don’t keep a balance and it’s all good! I’ve been using the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card since January, and I already have redeemed three $400 tickets!

(Also, no need to listen to Tom from MO if most of your purchases are the basic ones I’ve mentioned. You have to purchase goods in order to convert and redeem ThankYou’s PremierPass Elite flight points.)

I also like the SPG Amex card. I’ve saved a couple thousand dollars this year by using their Cash+Points program for stays at their nice hotels.

And last but not least, geezus people, nobody has mentioned FlyerTalk or FatWallet. Their forums are awesome.

I use my Chase Disney Visa to pay for almost everything. My husband and I pay our bills off every month, so we have no finance charges, and the card carries no annual fee. We get 1% back to use at Disney, which is great since we go to Disney World at least once a year. We use the rewards to pay for food and souvenirs, which we would have bought anyway.

The card also offers 6 months 0% financing on Disney vacations. This is where we found a “catch.” If you pay off the bill monthly except for the portion for a Disney vacation charge, but then make returns to any merchant, the credit is taken from the Disney vacation balance, but not the balance of other purchases.

Everyone should read the latest Consumer Reports Issue comprehensive review of reward cards..very enlightening

Most of the issues pointed out in this article are not really issues at all if you don’t carry a balance.

I love my BP Chase Visa card. I get a $25 reward card practically every month. Of course, that only gives me half a tank these days, but every little bit helps.

My Costco, American Express card has been wonderful and their rewards have been real! This is my second year and I plan on continuing with this valuable service.
I gave up my air miles card that cost me $50 per year and wasn’t worth the expense.

Frankly, I love CC rewards. In the past 5 years, I have received over $650 in restaurant gift certificates–and paid just $3 in finance charges!

All it takes is a little discipline… If you can treat your credit card like a debit card–pay it off every month, you can come out WAY ahead. First off, find the card with the HIGHEST interest rate with no annual fee–they tend to have the best rewards programs. Carry around 2-3 cards that you use in this way. Second, research which card gives you the best points in specific categories. (Card A may give you 2 points for dining and 1 point for gas, but Card B may give you 3 points for gas and 1 for dining). Next, some programs give extra points for certain purchases in certain months. Know what those are! Finally, some cards give you 2-10x the points if you buy online through that card’s site… (But check the price at the online retailer’s site to see if you’re paying more for the item in order to get the extra points).

The added bonus is that doing this also gives you a free 15-45 day float on your money!

Personally, I’ve found Discover’s Cash Back Bonus program to be the most generous–if you DON’T go for the cash! With a little planning, you can get as high as a 40% reward on certain purchases! (Go to an online retailer’s site from Discover’s website to get up to a 20% reward, then instead of cash, get a gift card that doubles the reward–hence 40%!) And no, I don’t work for Discover…

I use a Discover More card and a Chase Freedom Visa and I have been highly pleased with both. Whichever one is offering the biggest cash back on any given purchase is the one that I use. Since cash is fungible, I always opt for the statement credits as soon as I have enough for a reward. I’ve got absolutely no complaints about either program. Don’t overspend, pay your bill in full each month, and get your cash redeemed as soon as you are eligible. Do all three of these things and you will have a pleasant reward card experience. BTW – the best rewards are offered through their affiliated online shopping sites. I once got 20% cash back on some flea medication for the dog, and I paid less for it than at the vet.

I have had a dividend credit card for 8 years now. I have never carried a balance..(paid now interest) In the eight years I used my visa the have paid me a total of 835.22. It doesn’t have a annual fee and they credit my card every december. I use it for gifts
Thanks VISA for paying me to use your card. (the key is not to carry a balance)

I pay the card off each month so my AMEX blue, which gets 1.5% gross and 5% on gas and food is like free money. It equates to 1 statement each year being half.

I have a Chase Disney Visa card. I don’t really pay attention to what the interest is, as we pay it off each month. We have never paid any interest on this card. We have used our reward points just like cash on a past Disney trip and have almost $500 already towards our next trip. This is totally free money. You can use the rewards for almost anything Disney, including going to Disney movies, if you are not planning a trip to Disney.

I received a Hilton HHonors American Express card at the end of September 2007. Instead of putting everything on my debit card (which is what I’ve done for years), I now put everything on the AMEX, and pay it off every week or so. It ends up costing me the same amount since I’m not accruing any finance charges, and in about 9 months I had saved up enough points for a free 7-day stay at a 65-acre waterfront Hilton resort in Hawaii (no blackout dates, and in-season prices are at least $400 per night). If you have the discipline to not go crazy with them, rewards cards can definitely be beneficial.

I use my Costco American Express card for everything. It’s great, I get cash back of 3% on gas and travel, 2% on dining, and 1% on everything else. I also get 2% cash back on all my Costco purchases from Costco, since I’m an executive member, which ends up paying for my annual membership fee and then some. Of course, this works for me because I pay off my balance at the end of each month. Something more Americans should be doing.

“Of the different reward cards available, the most popular programs are cash back, where customers receive a percentage of expenditures back.” You sure about that?

It is our experience that that is not the case. Bonus Point programs are much more popular where I work.

Where I work services over 3,000 Financial Institutions with Bonus Point reward programs. Less than 5% of them choose the Cash Back program.

Reward cards are only a rip off if you don’t pay off your balance each month! My wife and I love Disneyland, so I signed up for a Disney Chase card with 0% APR for a year. I used that time to pay off my loans, and now I charge all of my monthly expenses to the card without carrying a balance. So far in about 2 years I’ve earned $250 Disney Reward Dollars, which I put straight towards Annual Passes. Not bad!

After flying on Frontier Airlines I signed up for their milage plus card, knowing it was to good to be true, I accumulated over 40,000 miles. When I decited to redeme them for a free trip, I tried numerous times only to be told there was no flights available. I cancelled my card and am left holding all those miles which I will never beable to use. Live and learn.

I have a Citi Upromise card that gives us money back (sometimes as high as 10% back, 25% for magazine subscriptions) 1) to pay my student loans and 2) save for kids’ college and we also have a Citi Dividend card which gives us money back that accumulates until we request a check. We pay both cards off every single month, so quite frankly we are raking in the dough. We only buy what we would otherwise but instead of cash or debit card, we use these. Seems like a no brainer to me.

My US Bank Visa used to let me earn cash back on every purchase. For the first 2 years it was great! I got back almost $300 and never paid any finance charges. This year they changed it to a cash back partner program and it is a hurdle to earn anything. You have to spend a certain amount and usually online just to earn a penny. I got rid of it for a mile card….here is hoping this one works better.

I have a Chase Visa travel rewards card, and my points can be redeemed pretty easily for a round trip ticket on most airlines, so I’m not just limited to one airline. I call the travel rewards number and let them know which flights I want to book. I use my card for the convenience and to get the free airfare, and pay off the balance each month. The way I do it is I use my card as though I were writing a check. I write my purchase in my check register and draw a little circle where the check number would go, and write “VISA” before the name of the purchase, so I know it’s a credit card purchase, and then I subtract the amount out at the time of the transaction. When my statement comes, I go down my checkbook and put check marks in the little circles as I match the amount against my statement.

(Occasionally I’ll forget to write down a quick Starbucks or drive-thru purchase, but for the most part, the money is already put aside, and I can just write a check for whatever I owe. So no big surprises in terms of not realizing how much I’m charging.)

Plus, since I subtract my purchases as I go, it helps me to know if I need to pull back on eating out or splurging until my next paycheck, or if I can treat myself without going into debt. In these days of high gas prices, it’s another way to stay within budget.

I also make it a point to put big expenses on my credit card that I already have the money in savings for just for the points or cash back. I refinanced my house a few years ago to lower my payments, and took out about $15,000 for home improvements and to pay cash for a late model used car (I’d rather get tax deductions for the interest on my mortgage, than to carry a car payment AND interest.) I got a great deal at a car lot on a 2004 Chevy Aveo, and was able to put something like $3000-4000 of the $7000 price on my Discover card, which I paid off that next month and got cash back. And this year, as I’m renovating my bathrooms, I’m using my Discover card to buy the materials and getting 5% cash back, since it happens that they’re doing 5% back currently on home improvement purchases. I only have a Visa card and a Discover card, =and the totals add up fast.

I just paid off last month’s Discover Card balance with my 5% accrued bonus dollars. I also just bought a new Chevy Malibu and got almost $3,000 off after the negotiated dealer price.
Great car for $17,500.00.

Pick your cards carefully and pay them off each month. Make them work for you instead of the other way around.

Got no discipline? That’s your problem!

I for one have greatly thanked, Alaska Airlines for my 6 free flights todate, GM for the five thousnad in rewards taken off cars and the Disney rewards card for over one thousand in rewards dollars. There are true savings out there!

We have used the Northwest Worldperks card for many years. It costs $55 per year, but we charge enough to it per year that we earn at least 1 ticket (25,000 pts). We don’t carry a balance and always pay it off every month. Last summer we used points to buy 4 roundtrip tickets from Minneapolis to Philadelphia (non-stop) for a family vacation. Those 4 tickets were worth at least $1200 total if you were to buy them with many months notice.

I love my Amex Starwood card. I can get free airline tickets with 20,000 points.. they give me 5,000 and free hotel stays. I use my card for gas, monthly bills, grocery and watch the points add up. You don’t get benefits writing a check. I convinced my parents to get Amex Blue since they are not big credit card people. You get $100 for every 7500 points and the points don’t expire. – Free way to travel. hotel/air/cruises.

Love my rewards. I get 1% of everything I charge on my card no matter where I shop. I can redeem it for anything I purchase at my local supermarket (which happens to be the cheapest price wise supermarket around). In the last 6 years I have accumulated more than $700 in free groceries. The key to it all is making sure you pay it off every month and then the rewards pay off. As soon as you accumulate interest then what you have accumulated in points is rather pointless wouldn’t you think?

Shell Mastercard from Citi Bank is my choice. Get 5% on shell gas and 1% on everything else credited to the account every month automatically. Need to do nothing. Of course pay entire balance every month!! Simple and Easy.

I have a BassPro Shops Visa card, and I love it. I get up to 4% back on purchases within the store and 1% on everything else. I pay the balance in full each month, so the savings are real, and I get to spend them on my hobbies. I usually save them up all year and have over $300 in free money to spend in December. I also have a gas card which I get 5% cash back on and pay the balance in full each month. It saves us about $25 to $30 each month in gas. As long as you pay the balance in full and avoid finance charges, reward cards are great. But if you carry a balance, you will never come out ahead.

We have been using the Bank of America M/C rewards card for many years. You can get a variety of items with your points, including cash. It took us about four years to accumulate enough points, but we just got two round trip tickets to Seattle, WA, from Columbia, SC, for approx. $32 for both.

I have to admit, though, that charging things makes it much easier to buy items which you otherwise could really do without.

We pay off the balance at the end of every month. If you don’t, you’ve just blown any benefit of the rewards aspect.

I just do not carry a balance and my Citibank Mastercard gives me points to spend on lots of things. I have cashed in for over $2000 in Target gift cards in the last few years…. We have not paid a cent in interest since we opened the account.

BP Visa is a good choice if you have stations close to use the disposable rebate credit cards.

5% back on gas purchases, 3% on select travel related purchases, and 1% on the rest. Easy to get a $25 gas card every month when you drive 28 miles one way to work and it takes an hour.

I only wish they would apply the money right to the card over having you request the disposable card each time you get to $25. That is a lot in the landfills after you use it.

I LOVE rewards programs. I never leave a balance, and have received so much money back from Chase, i’ll gladly accept them paying me to use their card. I charge everything I buy, even if its $1! They really add up and never had a problem.

I use AmEx Blue Cash and pay my balance off every month, adds up to several hundred dollars back a year! Although, my Home Depot card just upped the number of points I needed on a $25 gift card I was working towards, so now I have to spend an extra $1000 to get it.

Here is an idea … Stop living on credit cards. If you make X amount of money, stop spending X+!

The only credit cards we use we pay off immediately just to maintain a line of credit should anything ever catch us off guard and we need a backup plan. There are way too many people in debt in this country. We all need to learn to live with a little less.

I believe I have the best possible rewards card for me. I never carry over a balance, so don’t care what the interest rate is. My Pentagon Federal Credit Union VISA card gives me 5% back on all fuel purchases, 2% on groceries, and 1.25% back on everything else. It comes back as a credit automatically every month, with no limits (unlike Discover, for instance). Can’t beat that!

I’ve been using Citicards Thank You points for 3 years now. There’s no annual fee…and I usually have a zero balance on my CC with about 6% APY.
I got married twice (we’re from 2 different cultures) this year and spent almost all my $ through the CC. I took my rewards as Gas cards. I got 4×50 gas cards for using them and have a zero balance.
On the other hand….Chase rewards is a HUGE rip off. you spend $20,000 before you get a $50.00 card. Compare that to spending $5000 and getting a $50.00 gas card!

*AMEX* = #1 (if you pay off monthly you win BIG)

I did some research myself & the ‘2′ best cards are AMEX TrueEarnings (amex CostCo Card) & AMEX Blue Cash

AMEX Blue Cash = 5% Cash Back–> U.S. Supermarkets, Gas Stations, and Drug Stores: 1.5% Cash Back –> Everything Else

AMEX TrueEarnings (AmEx CostCo Card)
3% cash back for gasoline, 3% cash back for restaurants, 2% cash back for travel, 1% cash back everywhere else.

Get Both!!!

Use Blue Cash–> Grocery, Gas, Drug Store & EVERYTHING ELSE

Use TrueEarnings–> Restaurants, Travel

You will be Rich, get with it. This was free, now go make your $$ work for you.

Hey, want to make the rewards system work? Just pay off the balance every month. Use their money for the grace period. Costs you nothing, they make nothing, and you get the rewards. You charge and use the credit you have lost the ball game before the first ball is pitched.

We use two credit cards and are very happy with the rewards on both. The main one provides us with Continental air miles. As a family of four, we earn enough miles that whenever we travel we only pay for two tickets and use air miles for the other two. We do have a standard anual fee, but pay off our bill in full each months, so we never pay interest or fees. The second one is Discover w/ cash back. You can opt for gift cards instead of cash and they are worth up to twice what the cashback would be. Last year we used these gift cards to cover almost all of the Christmas presents to extended family by giving gift cards to bookstores, restaurants, and retail stores. Everyone loved it!

With USAA the points add up fairly quick. I just redeemed points for $200. I got the money in two day.

I don’t carry a balance, so the rewards program is what determines which card I use. AMEX Blue Cash gives me 5% back on Groceries, Gas, and Pharmacies, and 3% back on all other purchases (lower rates apply if you spend under $6500 a year). I think only Discover has similar cash back rates. I have consistently been rewarded well over $200 each year since I got this card… that’s $600 free over the last 3 years for spending money that I normally would have spent without earning rewards.

I use a Capital One card for all my purchases and do not carry a balance. I have booked, with no hassle, five flights with them over the last four years. It is the best rewards program I have ever had.

I put everything on my AX Blue Cash. I have made $2,000 over the past 3 years for doing nothing but using the card. Be sure not to sign up for these type cards unless you are able to pay them off in full at the end of the month. Another great benefit is the year-end summary that recaps all your purchases and even categorizes them.

I have Capitol One which I pay in full each month. I put everything on it and get a cash reward. I used by Cash rewards of $442.44 again my outstanding balance. It was easy and no hassle.

None of us are getting rich by most likely overspending while using our credit cards. I have scaled back my usage of my cc, but I have USBank card and use it mainly for free airline tickets. Never had a problem getting exactly what flights I want whenever I want. The reality is if I get $800.00 a year in airline tickets, but somehow I overspent by $1,000 over the year on the card, how are any of us coming out ahead. I hear all the same arguements about putting “normal” purchases on the card, but how many “unnormal” charges do you put on the card for things you didn’t budget. I bet if all of us cut up our cards, we would be just fine.

Amex Blue Cash is great. There is no annual fee and no cap to the cash rebate. I pay off the balance every month and earn $800 to $1,000 cash rebate each year. Free money (to me, anyway).

My wife and I both have a Chase Disney Visa Rewards card and I always pay off the balance every month. We get 1% of purchases towards Disney dollars up to a max of $750 per card. We go to Disney World 1-2 times a year and the reward dollars pay for all our food (about $500-600 per week). I’ve also tried redeeming Delta miles for two years, gave up and switched to Jet Blue just for the reduced cost .

I use my capitalone card for everything and I earn 1 point for every $1 I spend. Those points are used to ‘purchase’ airline tickets. I haven’t had to pay for an airline ticket in 3 years and I fly 1-2 times/year! I pay it off every month and the points are so easy to redeem. I purchase any ticket w/ any airline for any time w/ my capone card, then go online to redeem them and capone credits my account within days. If you need a $400 ticket you’ll need 40,000 points. I love it.

Pay your balance off each month. Duh. CitiCards Upromise puts money right into your Upromise account (as do other merchants associated with Upromise, of which there are many. You can then shift the money to a 529 college savings account or have the check directly to you and do whatever you want with it. I’d have the Costco Amex too but have enough to keep track of.

My Bank of America card has no rewards whatsoever. When I asked the agent if they had a different card that I could switch to in order to get some kind of reward, I was told NO.

My GM card has the deal where a percentage of your purchases can be accumulated and then put toward a new GM car or truck. I’m sure that the car dealership will find some way to either disallow the rebate earnings or they will be lost somewhere in the paperwork that goes along with buying a new car.

My Citi card is kind of a joke, too. I recently converted my Platinum Dividends card to one that promised better cash back, etc. I get the new card and the interest has gone up and the better cash back? No.. Because I converted an existing account to a different card, the account was not viewed as NEW so therefore, this new card doesn’t qualify for the higher cash back rewards – even though the agent that did the conversion insisted that it would and that my interest would remain the same (not that it matters, I pay off every month anyway – it’s just the idea).

Not happy with any of these cards and thinking about getting rid of all of them.

It looks like people who pay off their balances each month reap benefits of reward cards. People who don’t pay off balance, they wouldn’t be on this TALKBACK blog anyway because they are not too smart to read CNN MONEY. Agree guy……

I used Discover before and folks who say they give full one percent, not true, they give up to 1%. The best of the best is AMEX Business CARD: 5% on Gas and 1% on everything else. Different cash back on travel and eating out as well. If you dont carry a AMEX business, you need one.

I have my Chase Freedom Card and My Chase Continental Card and it is Great. I get my moneys worth and both cards I have no issue with either of them

We have a Shell Mastercard. We get 5% reward on Shell Gasoline and 1% on everything else. Rewards show up as a credit on our monthly statement, which we pay off every month.

What could be simpler?

I enjoy using the Mileage Plus Visa through Chase Bank; I pay the balance each month to avoid interest payments; I redeemed the miles each year for an airline ticket, and the company frequently gives me 1,000 or 2,000 bonus miles. I pay a premium fee for the card, but the service is good, and the flight has value. My hope is that the airline might give me a drink and a snack—and perhaps a meal—on my next flight for using my Mileage Plus Visa.

I put EVERYTHING on my Chase rewards card. Especially our sons’ private school and day camp tuition (many schools would rather eat the 3%, than deal with lots of checks, some of them which will bounce, each month). We have taken our last few vacations essentially for free using the cc miles.

I pay off my balance at the end of each month.

Last year, I used a Capital One card for $30,000 worth of purchases. Didn’t earn a single reward for any of it.

So decided to switch to a Chase Freedom and take the cash back. I love, love, love my Chase Rewards. I average between $30-$50 a month cash back. I just cashed $200 out, and they gave me a bonus $50 (so total of $250).

So I get an extra $30-$50 back for doing absolutely nothing except using my card like I always do. Easy money in my opinion. Perhaps a little too good to be true.

I love my rewards card…get 3% on gas and 1% on all other purchases and never carry a balance or have an annual fee. So I see it as free money and tell my wife to charge everything…the trick for us is to pay it as you go so you never spend more than you would normally spend. We check our balance alomst daily and pay at least weekly. The fun part is seeing the rebate each month and getting free groceries or a free tank of gas.

I would not be able to vacation or travel to weddings this year without my rewards memberships. I also love the AMEX rewards program, which has no annual fee with the Blue card, as well as the Southwest Airlines rewards card by Chase. I don’t spend simply to earn rewards, but everything I do spend (groceries, cell phone, cable, medicine etc.) goes on a rewards card. It takes just a few months to earn the plane ticket I need or gift card that I pass on as gifts.

I love my CapitalOne Clear Cash Rewards card. I pay the balance off every month, so I don’t have to worry about the interest rate, and there is no annual fee. I earn at least 1% on every purchase and some purchase earn higher rewards. I have had the card for several years and each year I get around $300 cash back.

American Express – AWESOME

I got an AMEX Blue Sky card with 0% APR fro 15 months and 30,000 “bonus” points after first purchase (that’s $400 credit statement right there). I charged my kitchen remodel to the card ($30,000), got another $400 statement credit, and enjoyed a free loan for 15 months. I have since paid it for. I loved it.

I never carry a balance. I never pay a penny in credit card interest. So, I don’t care what the APR is. Give me a card that gives me cash back on my normal purchases, thus reducing my purchase cost – like Discover and Chase Wawa Visa. Any other way is a ripoff and anyone who carries a balance and pays interest is an idiot!

I love my rewards. My COSTCO no fee AM EX card gives me cash back once a year per the following schedule:

3% on COSTCO purchased gas
3% dining out
2% travel and lodging
1% everything else I purchase anywhere using my COSTCO Am EX card.

February 2008 got my first check based on 9 months in 2007. We have put many things on auto pay and then pay off the card at the end of the month 100%. It is found money.

Plus, the monthly AM EX statement has a line item to tell you YTD what you have earned.

I participate in the Discover program which pays 5% cash back for gasoline purchases. At $4 per gallon of gas, this equates to a savings of $.20 per gallon. Additionally, I get 1% back on other purchases. I typically accumulate the cash-back bonus over the course of the year and redeem it all at once. My rebate balance today is $500+ and will eventually offset the cost of a planned vacation later this summer.

I have a cash back card, it’s kind of a pain, because I have to call in to claim my rewards, but it really pays off, I’ve received 50 dollars so far and I’ve only had the card for a few months. I don’t carry a balance so the higher interest doesn’t bother me.

Never had a problem with my Discover Card. I pay my bill in full each month and enjoy their cash back rewards program.

Carnival Sea Miles card is horrible. They made it sound as though we could save for a Cruise and other travel. It is horrible, worthless. Do not fall for it.

I use Citibank Thanks you points to redeem for gift cards, etc. about every 3-4 months I have been able to get $600-800 back per year by paying an annual fee of $88 and by paying all of my bills on this card. I pay off the balance in full every month so they are actually paying me. And although they have reduced the % rewards per $100 spent slightly, it still works to my benefit. Can get gift cards to all the places I need stuff like JCPenney, Dillards, Macys and Target, even gas!!

From my experience, Discover card gives the best deal. Not only that it gives 1% cash back, it has the same day for the payment date and the next statement cutoff date. Yes, you have to pay off the balance in full every month to come off ahead.

I did a lot of research before I got a reward card. I have had Discover Card for years and have been able to get some good things out of it because I shop at a lot of the ‘partner’ stores. My other reward card is with Barnes and Noble. We are both avid readers and buy books and magazines frequently. The rebates we get back from Barnes and Noble pay for the membership and then we automatically get our $25 rewards card when we reach the point limit. I don’t have to call to redeem, it just shows up in the mail and I LOVE that!

LOVE my Am/Ex rewards program. We get dining gift cards good for 100.00 at a time, and they really pay off when we are working late and need to just pick up something to eat. Also have picked up IPODS, and other cool stuff with it.

Credit Card Rewards are a wonderful thing for responsible borrowers. If you pay your bill in full every month, and your reward card has no annual fee, go for it! I have various cards here and there, 4% back on gas, 3% on groceries, 1% on everything. Whatever it is, I pay the bill in full when I get it, so these rebates don’t cost me a thing. Most of them are cash rewards, so there’s no hassle.

The trouble starts when people charge things they can’t afford with the rewards in mind as a justification. One month’s worth of interest is usually enough to eliminate the reward’s value and then some.

Bottom line, pay your bill in full every month. If you cannot afford to pay your credit card bill in full, then you need to seek professional financial advice right away.

I also use Chase and do not carry a balance and collect at least $300.00 a year. Not a big amount but allot better than nothing.

I’m not getting ripped off, because I always pay my bill in full at the end of the month. I have multiple rewards cards. I get back at least $500/year. I do not spend just to rack up rewards, but I do choose which card to use for which purchase to maximize my rewards. I know I’m profiting from the merchants and those who carry a balance, but if I didn’t take the rewards, the credit card companies wouldn’t cut their fees – they’d happily pocket the extra profit.

I love mine, but we bank with a credit union. We have the classical cash back deal with 1% of all purchases. No annual fees, but yes the annual APR is high. However, and it may be where the credit union experience kicks in, when we signed off for it, the teller was very precise about it. She never encourage us to take it ans even made sure we understood that if we were to carry a balance a straight low rate and no reward card would be a much much better deal. We pay our card in full every month and we don’t spend any extra just because of the reward. But, once a year in April, we get a check for the cash back amount. Cool.

Flew to Europe for free a few years back and flying to Cancun for free in a few months. Never paid a dime of interest. Love it!

Like many others, I pay my balanes off ewach month, so my rewards are worth it. I generally just take the cash back, because the merchandise requires far too many points (THERE is the bad deal) compared to discounters.

I use cash rewards cards that have no fees. I only buy the things that I need and would purchase anyway and I pay all balances each month. If businesses would give a break on price for using cash that would work for me as well.

We use the Amex Blue Cash card for all purchases. You cannot compare cards by simply indicating how much you got back, because people spend different amounts to earn those rewards. Last year we got $849 back on $45,480 in purchases. That works out to a 1.87% cash back rate, which is better than any other card I’ve seen. On the same purchases, the Chase Freedom card would give you 1.54% back, a Capital One card would give you 1.25%, a Discover card would give you 1.24%, adn the Citi Cash Returns card would give you 1.00% back.

Positives: What’s not to like. 100% of my family’s purchases are on Cashback Credit cards since 1995. If a plan changes or is ended we find a new one. We pay all bills at the end of the month and never pay interest. 5% back on GM card good for $500 per year for 7 years ($3500 max) good on almost every GM vehicle. This offer has not been available for 4 years but they have not changed it for existing customers. Once I hit the $500 max I put the card away and then use a different card with 5% gas and Groceries and 1.25% on all else. I also use a third card for Dining, Travel and Costco good for a nice annual check. We set up autopay on as many utilities as we can so that we get rebates from our electric, gas, phone, cell bills and even taxes. Negatives: This takes a bunch of self control. We can never spend more than we have in savings in one month. We can never have a late payment. I have to monitor the rebate status in order not to exceed the yearly maximums. Some cards you have to request the rebates but some are automatic. You have to make sue you make your request before any expiration dates.

I also have that Chase card with 5% cash back on groceries/gas and I absolutely love it. I charge everything to it, carry no monthly balances and get 300$ back every year.
My only concern is that those rewards programs might not last. With many Americans defaulting on their credit card debt it might be a matter of time before credit card companies start curbing rewards programs.

We have a rewards card through Home Depot, that we pay in full each month. We use it to buy our gas, groceries as well as anything from Home Depot, where you get the most points. We just cashed in after a couple of months for a $100 gift card and it showed up within a week. Couldn’t be happier.

If you pay off the balance every month, it works out great. I use Discover and Amex exclusivley for their rewards, and they have no annual fee. I just use them for things I was going to buy anyway. If you have no discipline though it would be better to lock your cards away until an emergency comes along. Rewards programs are no excuse to live beyond your means.

I have an AMEX Blue Cash. It is great! I charge all of my expenses to it, but never carry a balance. Last year I got almost $700 cash back.

I have a Citi Dividend Platinum card and get 1% or 2% cash back, depending on where I shop. After I accumulate at least $50 in rewards and can request a check Which I can easily do online. I’ll take $300 per year for using the card.

Personally I think they are great. I use a CITI card and they give me cash back. I spend and accumulate points. Then I get a check in the mail. I also use a VISA card and earn points that I redeem at restaurants. Perfect! I don’t know what the complaints are about.

I use a combination of Citi Premier Pass – Elite and AMEX True Earnings Business, both paid in full every month.

With the Premier Pass – I get 1 point for every 1 mile I fly and 1 point for every dollar. When I redeem rewards, I can get a airline ticket for 20,000 rewards up to a $400 ticket value, thus saving even more.

With the AMEX – 5% cash back on gas, 3% cash back on restaurants, 2% on travel, 1% on everything else. It also has no annual fee with a paid Costco membership.

Note: The AMEX is a business card. Anyone can sign up for a business card even if you don’t own a business. You can sign up as a sole-proprietor and use your SSN as your business tax ID.

We get hundreds of dollars a year as cash back. We also pay to total balance each month so we incur no interest charge.

I have gotten $1275.00 worth of gift cards, gas cards and student loan rebate checks. I love my rewards card. Never have I given them a dime of interest and this is only from Feb 06 until now. Universal Rewards Card from Citibank with the Thank you network. Thank you network is very easy to redem. They have changed the rules for new card holders, but I was Grandfathered into the old way of getting points. ( 3 point per dollar spent at Supermarkets, Gas Stations and Drug Stores. Now they only give three points for At& T products)

What’s not to like? We charge most daily expenses, making it easy to track spending, and pay off the balance monthly. The 1%-2% cash back is merely an added bonus, paid for out of the merchants’ overhead.

My rewards program contributes a percentage to my kids 529 plan. It’s only $20-40/month, but it’s better than nothing. And I don’t carry a balance, so the interest rate doesn’t affect me.

GREAT… My wife and I use a credit card for all of our daily purchases and monthly bills. We pay in full each month, so we are paying 0 interest charges. We have earned enough points to fly to Hawaii for free. The best part for us above and beyond the points program is that we pay 1 bill a month, and do not need to “nag” each other about receipts. We use the Bank of America® World MasterCard® WorldPoints® Credit Card, with no annual fee. As long as you do not carry a balance, it’s a winning solution.

If you don’t carry a balance, reward cards are excellent.

I have a card from Chase that still gives me 5% back for groceries, gas and drugstore purchases (no longer available to new users, sorry.)

Other purchases go to my Countrywide card, which gives 2% back on all purchases.

Both cards are paid off monthy.

The fact that rewards won’t offset interest if you carry a balance should be obvious.

I am currently using my Chase Freedom Credit Card. I really like it, there is no annual free and I pay off my balance is full, plus I get 3% cash back in 5 categories for purchases. The interest rate is steep but thats no concern to me as I pay it off, basically I am getting paid to use my card.

I love the rewards. Interest rates don’t really bother me because I pay the balance off every month. I put everything on my card – phone, cable, cell phone, groceries, etc. At the end of the month I have a record of everything I spent money on and at the end of the year I get a little back. I take it as credit for travel (can be used for hotels, car rental, airfare) which is a better deal than just cash back.

As long as you pay your credit card in full every month the cash rewards are good. Discover and AMEX seem the best for me.