We have used the same bank for eight years now. I don't pay a lot of attention to what they send in the mail other than my statement. I knew they had some rewards thing, but I didn't get it and, as my husband said, it gets tiring to discover that when you get a thousand points you get a plastic water bottle with the bank logo on it. So we haven't paid much attention.

Things have been very tight for us as we pay off my husband's medical bills from last spring and some back taxes from a couple of years ago. We are committed to not going into debt other than what we needed to do to establish credit after having closed all of our accounts and finding we had no credit scores. Anyway, we have been stressing over not having anything extra to spend for the holidays. We looked at our bank's rewards program and at the points we've earned and discovered that our 55,000+ points will get us about $400 worth of merchandise or gift cards. AND, one of the options is Amazon, which I love because there is no tax and we have free shipping through my daughter's student Prime account. YES!!! Needless to say, I am very relieved and very grateful.

I'm curious as to what kinds of credit cards you all have that give some sort of rewards (ours were all from using our debit cards, but they give double the points if using a credit card). We need to apply for a credit card to get our score a little higher so we can apply for a mortgage loan in the near future. I'm not sure whether to just go with the bank or get something else through an airlines or Costco, or whatever else is out there.

I would be bery curious about what bank you use that offers reward points for a debit account, I've never heard of such a thing. The main credit card I use is Chase and have been very happy with it. In fact I pretty much make all of my purchases on it just to build up the rewards and credit, and then I pay it off every month to avoid interest charges. I get 1% cash back on everything and every quarter they offer different categories for getting 5% back. Then you can use those for all kinds of things from cash to gift cards and merchandise. I took a trip to Cancun last summer and used some of the points for excursions.

It is a local bank with ten branches, only in my county. At times they drive me crazy (how long it takes for an electronic transfer to show available funds, etc.), but they are conservative and were completely unaffected by what went on with the economy and the banking industry. So, they're a good place to be, but I keep all of my MS stuff at my credit union.



Brak Wrote:
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> I would be bery curious about what bank you use
> that offers reward points for a debit account,
> I've never heard of such a thing.

I use my American Express for everything and their rewards program is linked with Starwood hotels. I get about 4 free nights at any Sheraton four star, which is close to 500.00 a year.
I use two yearly to visit my daughter in Chicago, and if doing a run in the city, might stay overnight and work for two days, two blocks from the ocea,. when that Fiji trip comes up, I'm ready...

I carry 4 cards - AMEX which I rarely use because the points et al never amount to a hill of beans; a MC with AT&T which we have had for 30+ years that has no fee and no rewards programs but does provide 30 minutes of free long distance time per month (which used to be useful on the road but is less so now with cell phones); a Chase Freedom Visa that pays cash rewards and a Discover that pays cash rewards.

I keep track of the gimmicks because until the end of the year Chase is paying 5% cash back on dining, department stores, movie theaters and charitable organizations. Discover is doing 5% on restaurants, department and clothing stores. I spend a considerable amount each year on shops for reimbursement and see a lot of cash back. Within the past several months I have been able to pay down my Discover with $50 of cash back earned and Chase recently sent me a check for my cash back. During the course of the year the categories include gas and groceries, both of which are shopped, in addition to restaurants. When they are doing groceries, it is kind of nice to realize that for each shop I do I'm getting an extra 50 cents in 'pay' and October-December, that $80 restaurant visit with no fee is actually 'paying' me $4.

Like Flash, I use my Discover Card for shops with reimbursements and for gas and get a tidy sum back at least twice a year. Then I have an Amex card that is linked to Hilton hotels "frequent sleeper" program. I use that card for a ton of shopping travel expenses and especially for my hotel shops for that chain. I get 7-10 free nights at Hilton "family" hotels a year from that card. That really makes the fees for the hotel shops pale in comparison.

Almost forgot, I can also get 5% rebate on Discover card purchases made with online merchants on their list. So, I just got three pairs of jeans, on a great sale, from Kohls online, free shipping, and will have a 5% rebate on my next Discover statement. To get the savings, I had to access the Kohls' site through the discover Card site for my account.

Not all such "deals" are created equal. Be sure to check that the product that you buy through any affiliated online merchant is not "marked up" in price to account for the "rebate" savings.

And there are other ways to play the bonuses if you have some 'slush' in your shop kitty. A restaurant we frequently shop we can use gift cards for the shop. Right now I can buy $25 in gift cards for $20 (buy a $20, get a $5 free). We usually shop 2 or 3 of these per month. The $5 cards expire in February, the $20 have no expiration. I can save $5 on every $20 I can advance and 5% because until 12/31 I get bonus cash. When I see the January shops post in December I can be sure there will be an ongoing relationship into 2012 with the company and will purchase a stack of the 'deals'.

Similarly gas and groceries have the 5% bonus in the same 3 month cycle. I buy extra gift cards for both the gas and groceries because I can't earn 5% on savings and can use the cards when the 5% bonus is not offered.

What truly becomes special is when the grocery store is selling $50 gas cards for $40 with other purchases. I had a series of grocery shops and a wad of coupons. I got the register up to $25, which allowed me to purchase the gas card for $40, I presented my coupons and got about $15 of the grocery cost cleared off, I got a $10 reimbursement for the shop and basically walked out with $25 of couponed or reimbursed groceries and a $50 gas card for $40 with 5% cash back on the $40 to boot. I still am tanking up with gas cards now that the 5% on gas is over.

Great work, Flash!

Well, you sure know how to play your cards right! I'm impressed.


Flash Wrote:
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> And there are other ways to play the bonuses if
> you have some 'slush' in your shop kitty. A
> restaurant we frequently shop we can use gift
> cards for the shop. Right now I can buy $25 in
> gift cards for $20 (buy a $20, get a $5 free). We
> usually shop 2 or 3 of these per month. The $5
> cards expire in February, the $20 have no
> expiration. I can save $5 on every $20 I can
> advance and 5% because until 12/31 I get bonus
> cash. When I see the January shops post in
> December I can be sure there will be an ongoing
> relationship into 2012 with the company and will
> purchase a stack of the 'deals'.
>
> Similarly gas and groceries have the 5% bonus in
> the same 3 month cycle. I buy extra gift cards
> for both the gas and groceries because I can't
> earn 5% on savings and can use the cards when the
> 5% bonus is not offered.
>
> What truly becomes special is when the grocery
> store is selling $50 gas cards for $40 with other
> purchases. I had a series of grocery shops and a
> wad of coupons. I got the register up to $25,
> which allowed me to purchase the gas card for $40,
> I presented my coupons and got about $15 of the
> grocery cost cleared off, I got a $10
> reimbursement for the shop and basically walked
> out with $25 of couponed or reimbursed groceries
> and a $50 gas card for $40 with 5% cash back on
> the $40 to boot. I still am tanking up with gas
> cards now that the 5% on gas is over.

Wife and I use Chase Rewards card for every purchase not attached to the ground (i.e. our mortgage). 5% cash back on the promotional items (different segments every quarter) and 1% or 2% cash back for everything else, can't remember which.

Forgot to mention that I have a second type of discover Card for 3% off gas, and then use it at Sheetz, which has low prices and gives me another 3 cents per gallon off for using their preferred shopper card (not a credit card). the Sheetz card also gets me low cost lattes and other food and beverage discounts.

with me i use cap one no hassle cash... 1% on everything and more through their site and various retailers... crappy customer service... but pretty simple system... no points and what not...

2% cash back on gas and use it to buy the gas cards (5 cents off a gal at shell)
all that combines to 13 cents a gallon savings... bout $1 a week

they only have $25 as their lowest card... but that gets me a week of gas...

when the first of the year rolls around i should be able to have good enough credit to get my CU's mastercard which gives a 1% rebate on balance transfers... that will bump it up to 2-3% on most purchases... doesnt sound like much but it adds up quickly...