Almost all rewards cards will give you special bonuses with certain retailers. Discover, for instance I can get a $100 GC for Hyatt, for only $40 worth of Cash back bonus, but there are restrictions on it. At most retailers with no restrictions I get $50 for $45 worth of Cash Back.
Yup. I ended up getting that 30 for 30 series that was on a one day Amazon sale for $59.99...I paid $8.00. I had enough points that I only had to pay shipping.
it's always better to just pay with the CC and let the points accrue on your bill when you pay it off the next month. by using points, you don't get the 3% cashback.
Just the regular Capital One card. I have about 15,000 points built up. That gets me about $75 in cash back. But I can get a $25 GC to several places (including Amazon) for 2,500 points. So 15,000 points = $150 in gift cards or $75 in cash. Kind of a no-brainer.
i see. Chase Freedom and Chase Amazon visa suck in that regard then. so Chase just sucks. the same $50 GC to a retailer cost the same in points as cash. no incentive at all to choose a GC. edit: actually, now that i've reread your post i don't think Chase sucks at all. for cash, Capitol One is only giving you .5%. you're forced to choose the GC because it LOOKS like they are "doubling" your cash when in fact they are just cutting it in half. for 15,000 points, Chase Freedom/amazon will give you $150 cash OR GC.
Wow this sucks hard. Chase freedom gives you $150 cash for that many points. 1,000 points = $10 cash.
It does suck, but I would probably just use the cash at Amazon anyway, so I guess it's a wash. Also just found out that Musicians Friend (music gear website) gives 6 points for every dollar spent. Time to go shopping!
I've been using the Marriott Premiere Visa card for the past four months while traveling for work...have racked up about 500,000 Marriott points since then.
if you want to get the most bang for your buck, I would suggest applying for the Chase Amazon rewards card asap. using just Amazon GC you're losing out on 3% of your money, not to mention the opportunity cost by using the Capitol one card.
I have an Amazon card and it's good if you purchase stuff from their site. You get 3 points for every dollar you spend. However, if you spend it outside, it's only 2 points at resturants and 1 point for everything else. I have Amazon prime so 2 day shipping is free (after the 79 dollar yearly fee). I do a lot of shopping there.
I had about $120 worth of "rewards points" at Worst Buy and used them all on video games, music and accessories for my kids'. Right now I have about 3500 Sears rewards that I haven't used. I know they expire, but I don't know when. On Discover, I've always had the 5% cash back used... and this has been since about the mid-90s. Also, I have the Sapphire from CHASE but I don't have many rewards points on that. I only use credit cards when I absolutely have to. Recently I bought a lens for my camera and I realized later (D'oh!) that I should have used one of those two for points, but I didn't. I am not rich, and am not poor, either, but... REWARDS POINTS, I HAS THEM for an emergency.
I pay my cards off in ful every month. I have 3 different cards I use, depending on the situation. The Citi Forward gives me 5% back at Amazon and restaurants, the Chase Freedom gives me 5% back at revolving locations each quarter, and the Fidelity Amex gives me 2% back everywhere. I recently cashed in some points with my Citi card to get $325 worth of checks to put toward my student loans. You can also get checks to put toward your mortgage. They do offer cash, but you get less per point than with the student loan or mortgage options. The Chase Freedom offers cash, 1000 points for $10, so I use my points on that, although I have got a few gift cards when they were discounted 20% (so 800 points for $10). The Fidelity Amex is a bit different. Once you've amassed 5000 points, they automatically deposit $50 into an IRA that you opened with them. If you don't know which card(s) to choose, you can go to a number of different sites, put in your estimated expenses, and have it give you your best bets. I don't really like those much because they tend to leave a lot of cards out. Here is a decent one if you want to try it (I'm on my phone, so I'm just posting the link): http://www.creditcardtuneup.com/ I usually direct people to this link when we discuss this topic: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/711457/ Pugs
I saw this article today and this thread is as good a place as any to post it: This 28-Year-Old's Startup Is Moving $350 Million And Wants To Completely Kill Credit Cards Alyson Shontell|November 11, 2011|422,779|121 There's a tiny 12-person startup churning out of Des Moines, Iowa. Dwolla was founded by 28-year-old Ben Milne; it's an innovative online payment system that sidesteps credit cards completely. Milne has no finance background, yet his little operation is moving between $30 and $50 million per month; it's on track to move more than $350 million in the next year. Unlike PayPal, Dwolla doesn't take a percentage of the transaction. It only asks for $0.25 whether it's moving $1 or $1,000. ... http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-11/tech/30381380_1_credit-card-interchange-fees-paypal Here's the site: https://www.dwolla.com/default.aspx Anyone know anything more about this?
After seeing that so many people use Chase Freedom, I went ahead and got one. Can't wait to earn points Christmas shopping!
My amazon rewards card is my go to CC for years. I use amazon a lot so it's perfect for me. The best part of the amazon card is that now you don't have to wait till you get a certain amount of points to cash in. Any rewards you get, you can use immediately at amazon. I still keep some cash around for gas stations and the occasional store.
