An idea for Canadians!

alohamom · Feb 1, 2016

I wasnt a big fan of Optimum until late last year. I made a beauty area purchase as a gift and it happened to be 20x the points that day so I ended up with 40,000 points and have been building ever since with the "load to your card" program. Now I find I am buying grocery items too because they are priced similar to other stores. I am not sure what I am going to do with all my points tho, LOL, I am up over $100 in "value" and I guess I will just keep collecting until I hit the next level. I like the idea of using them to purchase items for a trip-maybe that is what I will do...

Tinkershelly · Feb 1, 2016

mshanson3121 said:
What are the fees?

This is a couple of years old but I think the information is relatively correct. "But prepaid cards come with hidden fees that aren’t apparent unless you comb through the terms and conditions. Activation fees, monthly service fees, ATM fees and transactions fees can eat up a good chunk of the money on your card." http://www.thestar.com/business/per...s_offer_prepaid_cards_but_beware_of_fees.html

dsneygirl · Feb 2, 2016

dancin Disney style said:
It's 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

Same. We have about $50-$60 a month in points. We use it the last week of every month. That's money that comes out of our grocery budget and into the vacation savings. No transferring to any accounts, just tracking it all in YNAB.

Applemomma · Feb 3, 2016

grantclaire said:
To me it's just more fun to use points towards trips. I collect airmiles, TD travel points, WestJet points and Shoppers Optimun!

You got it! Points are my way of "planning" between trips. Airmiles go towards car rental, Aventura to flights. Now I'll add pc points to spending money! I have aeroplan but there's so few places to build those around here it isn't worth it. The exception is that I won't spend extra just to get the points...counterproductive. I'm hoping the Optimum rumor is true!

dancin Disney style · Feb 3, 2016

dsneygirl said:
Same. We have about $50-$60 a month in points. We use it the last week of every month. That's money that comes out of our grocery budget and into the vacation savings. No transferring to any accounts, just tracking it all in YNAB.

Curious to know how you accumulate that many points per month? The very best I've ever done was 11,000 in one trip....that's only ever happened once. I only got that many because every item I needed to purchase had a digital offer attached. I typically earn approx. 2,000 per trip.

dsneygirl · Feb 3, 2016

dancin Disney style said:
Curious to know how you accumulate that many points per month? The very best I've ever done was 11,000 in one trip....that's only ever happened once. I only got that many because every item I needed to purchase had a digital offer attached. I typically earn approx. 2,000 per trip.

We charge everything single thing all month long on our PC Elite Mastercard (groceries, daycare, gas, dentist, parking etc) My son has Type 1 diabetes and we have to pay for many supplies and then apply to be reimbursed through insurance. We charged about $8000k last year just for his supplies. With bonus offers and the Elite is really starts to add up.

dancin Disney style · Feb 3, 2016

dsneygirl said:
We charge everything single thing all month long on our PC Elite Mastercard (groceries, daycare, gas, dentist, parking etc) My son has Type 1 diabetes and we have to pay for many supplies and then apply to be reimbursed through insurance. We charged about $8000k last year just for his supplies. With bonus offers and the Elite is really starts to add up.

I had not even thought of the PC Mastercard. That makes perfect sense.

mshanson3121 · Feb 4, 2016

dancin Disney style said:
I had not even thought of the PC Mastercard. That makes perfect sense.

If you think of everything you buy in a year: paying bills, gas, groceries, every single purchase you make, all of that gets 10 points per dollar if you charge it to the MC. You can easily rack up a lot of points in a year.

grantclaire · Feb 6, 2016

We have an added bonus this year as our DD's university now accepts mastercard payments for tuition and residence. That is a lot of points!

mort1331 · Feb 6, 2016

Our daycare and afterschool both accept MC, we are around $5000 per month so points add up fast.

dancin Disney style · Feb 8, 2016

So here it is.....Optimum can be exchanged for PC points
http://smartcanucks.ca/exchange-your-optimum-points-for-pc-plus-points-check-your-emails/

Not really a good deal at all. You would be better off using your Optimum points in small amounts to buy basic groceries....milk, bread, eggs.

mort1331 · Feb 8, 2016

I wonder if they will let you convert the other way for the same exchange?

dancin Disney style · Feb 8, 2016

mort1331 said:
I wonder if they will let you convert the other way for the same exchange?

I sort of doubt that.

Tammy Sarault-Levy · Feb 12, 2016

Thank you! That sounds like a great idea! We've been using our Costco MasterCard to maximize the cash back which we put in our vacation savings account. The PC points seem to add up more rapidly and you can trade them whenever you want so that's a big plus! I will definitely look into it!

Donald - my hero · Feb 12, 2016

dancin Disney style said:
So here it is.....Optimum can be exchanged for PC points
http://smartcanucks.ca/exchange-your-optimum-points-for-pc-plus-points-check-your-emails/

Not really a good deal at all. You would be better off using your Optimum points in small amounts to buy basic groceries....milk, bread, eggs.

Well i can say that if they make it a complete switch i will be buying everything other than medication at Rexall, I don't collect PC points and it looks like a pretty lousy comparison. Most of our grocery shopping is done at Metro for the Airmiles (and generally better meats & produce in my case), only thing we ever buy is hubby's milk at Zehrs since Metro stopped carrying it.

dsneygirl · Feb 12, 2016

mort1331 said:
Our daycare and afterschool both accept MC, we are around $5000 per month so points add up fast.

We're averaging about $6000-$7000 a month on our CC. (My ODS has braces billed automatically) last month we had $70 in free groceries, we already have $35 and it's only the 12th of the month.

mommymanda · Feb 13, 2016

We have done this in the past.. I'm an avid PC points collector and we cashed out $300 in Visa gift cards before Christmas, already have $150 in points saved...however don't plan to use those cards state side. We tried our last Disney trip and it was WAY to much hassle trying to get the amount right between added exchanged fees and exchange. Lesson learned we now use the points towards our groceries the weeks prior to the trip, than take the grocery funds and cash out into US for the trip.

mctoffee · Feb 19, 2016

mommymanda said:
We have done this in the past.. I'm an avid PC points collector and we cashed out $300 in Visa gift cards before Christmas, already have $150 in points saved...however don't plan to use those cards state side. We tried our last Disney trip and it was WAY to much hassle trying to get the amount right between added exchanged fees and exchange. Lesson learned we now use the points towards our groceries the weeks prior to the trip, than take the grocery funds and cash out into US for the trip.

Thank you! I have been trying to figure this out to see if the cards would be worth while in the states. Thanks!

archdandy · Mar 11, 2016

If you have the PC credit card and you use it for something and then go home and pay it off right away do you still get the points for it?

mort1331 · Mar 11, 2016

archdandy said:
If you have the PC credit card and you use it for something and then go home and pay it off right away do you still get the points for it?

yup, no different if you pay right away or when balance is due. Just don't run a balance or the points are useless. The percent is not even close.

An idea for Canadians!

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