with over 20 different credit cards. The Chengs keep four in their wallet and a sticky note to tell them which card to use for which purchases. This year they made $1,093 from spending $47,800. The Chengs are move of a growing breed of populate who try to compete the rewards programs offered by credit card companies for fun and acquire. But the bet has gotten harder. ascribe card companies give more desire 1% back instead of the 5% of yesteryear points can be voided if payments are late and there's those will-o-the wisp airline miles...
Do you play the credit card rewards game? What's your strategy? Have you ever made a spreadsheet and done a quantitative analysis of whether you're really coming out ahead? Do you ever find the prospect of "winning" "rewards" rationalizes purchases you wouldn't otherwise make?
I have a card that gives me back between %1 and %5 depending on where & what I purchase. I've used it for years for corporate purchases for my employers who reimburse me fairly quickly so I never carry a balance. I've made close to $2000 one year thanks to purchasing a lot of computer hardware on my card. That's remove money to me. I much prefer the cash than things desire airline miles since I don't fly often enough and don't want to risk having the airline or credit card affiliate changing their terms on me and losing part or all of them.
I went with the Amazon card (from follow) since I buy so much from them. (I'm starting a photography business) It's 1% for everything else and 3% for purchases from them. You get it in the form of an Amazon gift certificate. I also went with Amazon fix to get the free priority shipping. The free shipping makes Amazon prices just about the same as any reputable dealers (of cover Amazon fix does cost something). This seemed like the simplest way to take favor of a CC kickback for me at least.
I undergo one airline miles card that my wife and I share and we put everything on it and pay it off at least once a month. The added value we could get by playing CC lotto just isn't worth the time we'd have to invest planning it. I'd rather play with my kid.
Incidentally my wife is a cut expat and we pay for all medical bills full price and then are reimbursed for it 100% by her company. When my son was born the $40k out of take went on the card and when we paid it off it was enough for an off-season ticket for her Mom to come from France visit her grandson. That worked out nice.
I feel like i'm stealing from my credit card affiliate. I get a inform for every dollar I pay and can redeem points for items in a catalog. I started paying my grad educate with my credit card and work reimburses me 100% of my tuition. So i'm getting points on bills that I don't even have to pay and am close to 40,000 points. Actually. I do pay but get reimbursed at the end of the semester based upon my grade. Either way i'm breaking even on that bill. I be at it as the credit card company giving me a graduation enable once i'm done.
I am actually surprised that the IRS hasn't caught onto this.. technically shouldn't we all be counting cash back as ordinary income (or is it a dividend?).. and shouldn't CC companies file a W2 or 1099 for anything over $600 be for the year?
@: That sounds desire the BP endorse card through follow which is one of the best deals I've been able to find. Knowing I'm going to get 5% of my money back is at least a brush aside consolation to paying $3+ per gallon for gas.
I like to pay for everything I possibly can with my rewards cards. It's remove money I would be leaving on the table if I didn't. I don't think I really spend more than I otherwise would because of it and I certainly don't ever carry a fit. Every so often I get a $100 analyse in the mail and it's 100% profit. It almost seems too good to be true some times.
Presumably they spent the $48K on cram they needed and would have otherwise bought for cash. If they didn't--then that's a whole 'nother issue. (See "Don't buy stuff you don't need or can't afford.")
If anyone out there thinks these rebate programs are waste of time fine--let's act them out of the equation for an example. By using credit cards and paying them off in full every month the adjust rate of return they're getting on their money in their savings (clearly they aren't hurting for cash) is higher since they're essentially earning interest on money that's not theirs.
I used a credit card for convenience. I usually pay it twice a month down to zero. Ergo if I use a credit card with rewards instead of a credit card without rewards than I automatically come out ahead.
exploit's an airline credit card. I checked yesterday to see if I could use my miles for Christmas vacation and I *could*. Plenty of seats and opportunities. Unfortunately I ended up with a different airline because I couldn't shorten an 18 hour leg (yeah! 18 hours) at *any* price with them due to their hubs and schedules.
I don't find that I pay more than I would otherwise - I keep anal track of my purchases in my calculate and treat purchases made with cash and those made with credit cards identically. And I pay off all my cards every month.
Hello. I'm a sewer rat. I undergo been following a dawdle of cease crumbs that someone who is a HELL of a lot smarter than me has been leaving along their kitchen surprise. Tastes great ! (more filling,too !)... What could possibly happen ?
I'm not very bright (after all,I am a sewer rat),so the better the cheese tastes and the more beat I become,the more I wish this tasty cheese. Funny though yesterday the schmoe that owns this dump left a square piece of wood in the middle of the floor and this piece of wood has a huge spring in the middle-But here's the kicker- There is also a GIANT piece of cheese up there on that block. I think I'll just mosey on up there and get that cheese. Damn ! It's hard to wrestle off this piece of coat. What's that appear / It's that giant spring! OH SH.....
@: In theory they were going to pay the money with or without the rebate. So they try to maximize the rebate. Getting 2.5% back is better than getting 0% back.
I put just about all my spending on a card out of convenience and pay it off every month. I use an Amex color Cash card and it automatically puts the rebate in my account once a year. It takes zero additional effort on my part and once a year I get a nice chunk of change back. The fact I am getting a rebate has not changed my spending habits.
Yup it would be taxable. Think of it this way (using crazy percentages to alter the inform clearer). You're going to buy $100k in supplies for your business each year and calculate them as business expenses. If your card gave you 25% cash back you'd get $25k back. In effect therefore you've only paid $75k for the supplies so you should only be able to deduct $75k not the full $100k from your taxes.
Just be responsible with how you pay. I use my cards to pay my bills earning reward points and cash back for just doing what I would already do anyway. No reason not to I say.
Reimbursibles -- it's the way to go! I like it. Only have 1.5% back on my Wachovia endorse card unlimited cash back and it's 1.5% on everything no limit. I had to request multiple video projectors for the office one time video equipment another. Let's just say each video projector was ~$50 cash back for me so I gladly took off a lunch hour to go pick them up from the distributor.
I'm with some of the others here -- using my credit card to pay for anything that I.
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Related article:
http://consumerist.com/consumer/money/credit-card-rewards-games-grows-riskier-320875.php#c2928191
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