An idea for Canadians!

[mshanson3121]

Maybe this has been shared before, but it you sign up for PC Points (which is free), you can redeem those points towards gift card purchases in store - including Visa gift cards! I find I can easily earn 5000-10,000 points a week. 20,000 pts = $20. Even more, if you get one of their PC Mastercards, you'll earn 10 pts for every dollar you charge to your card. So if you use your card for all purchases, bill payments etc... it's easy to rack up points. Anyways, if you earn 500,000 points in a year, that's $500 you can redeem for a Visa gift card, which you can in turn spend on your Disney vacation I figure every little bit helps!

 

[JETSDAD]

What we do is use an Airmiles Mastercard and run everything through it. We are going to WDW at the end of February and had enough airmiles to get 2 x 7-day adult passes. We now have enough for another pass but have already purchased it so we will save that for next time. As you said, every little bit helps especially with this dollar!!

 

[mort1331]

We have the new PC World Elite MC it gets you 3x the points when buying groceries from them. I just cashed in 700,000 which is $700 and bought the Prepaid MC. I then used it towards the dining plan. I know there is the 6.95 convenience fee plus they still have the 2.5%forex fee, but hey its buying my food at Disney.

 

[mshanson3121]

What we do is use an Airmiles Mastercard and run everything through it. We are going to WDW at the end of February and had enough airmiles to get 2 x 7-day adult passes. We now have enough for another pass but have already purchased it so we will save that for next time. As you said, every little bit helps especially with this dollar!!

I've looked into Airmiles, it just seems like they add up so slowly? It seems you have to spend $10-30 to get 1 point? And it's 3550 pts for one 5-day ticket.

 

[Hopeful8]

What a great idea! I am a big PC points collector so I am definitely aiming for this with my points.

 

[mort1331]

I've looked into Airmiles, it just seems like they add up so slowly? It seems you have to spend $10-30 to get 1 point? And it's 3550 pts for one 5-day ticket.

I hear ya, I never collected them until they started at Sobeys and there was a short term loop hole to get a S*% Load of points. Did it and have not used it since.
PC is so much easier.

 

[dancin Disney style]

That's a great idea for using PC points. I save mine up to cover groceries while I'm laid off in the winter.

I am an avid Airmiles collector. I have used AM for park tickets for the last 10 years. If I had to pay OOP for those tickets we would not be at WDW 2-3 times a year. In the past 8+ years I have earned a boat load of AM paying for university, college and competitive dance.

 

[Madame]

We used to shop at the Superstore & collect PC points. The workers went on strike & since I refuse to cross a picket line we were forced to shop elsewhere. Best thing that ever happened to my budget. We now shop at Freshco & are saving $300-400 a month (I track all our spending & verified it) vs the Superstore. I could never save that much in PC points.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

That's a great idea. Just started paying attention to my pc points and loading my offers and it's easy to accumulate. Didn't realize you could use them for prepaid Visa's. I wish you could do that with Shoppers points (Don't think you can, can you?).

I collect AM as well, mainly through my cc as I put everything through it. Getting harder to collect at places like Safeway as I find it too expensive. Do most of our shopping at No Frills and get PC points there. Hmmm, will have to do the math - might be better to get a PC MasterCard and get prepaid visas to use any way I want, rather than locked into what you can get with Airmiles.

 

[JETSDAD]

I've looked into Airmiles, it just seems like they add up so slowly? It seems you have to spend $10-30 to get 1 point? And it's 3550 pts for one 5-day ticket.

I get 1 Airmile for every $10 with the World Elite Mastercard and more if it is a location that offers Airmiles using my AM card. It was 3775 pts for each 7 day pass and we got 2. We had to buy one with cash as we didn't have enough pts at the time and once converted to CDN it ended up costing $517.94 so we saved $1036 on the tickets.

7550pts for $1036 = 7.3pts/$1 of redemption so I had to spend $73 for every dollar in return.

World Elite PC Mastercard earns 10 PC points/$1 spent and 1000 PC pts = $1 in redemption so I would need to spend $100 for every $1 in redemption using PC pts.

Now I do realize that there are extra points for certain purchases at grocery stores etc. however the majority of my expenditures are business and other living expenses rather than grocery so I come out ahead with the Airmiles Card. We do also get PC pts using the regular PC card on groceries but gain more yearly using Airmiles.

Either way, using a rewards card to help out with vacations or whatever else should not be overlooked!!

 

[pangyal]

Maybe this has been shared before, but it you sign up for PC Points (which is free), you can redeem those points towards gift card purchases in store - including Visa gift cards! I find I can easily earn 5000-10,000 points a week. 20,000 pts = $20. Even more, if you get one of their PC Mastercards, you'll earn 10 pts for every dollar you charge to your card. So if you use your card for all purchases, bill payments etc... it's easy to rack up points. Anyways, if you earn 500,000 points in a year, that's $500 you can redeem for a Visa gift card, which you can in turn spend on your Disney vacation I figure every little bit helps!

Their fine print used to say that PC Pounts cannot be redeemed for gift cards- did this change?

 

[mshanson3121]

Their fine print used to say that PC Pounts cannot be redeemed for gift cards- did this change?

Yes.

 

[bcwife76]

I love PC points and we have the World Elite PC Mastercard so the points add up, fast! And yes, you can use points to redeem for gift cards instead of just using them to buy groceries.

We also have an Airmiles Amex so whenever we shop somewhere that accepts Airmiles (Safeway, etc) we use the Amex to get more Airmiles as well.

 

[Silvermist999]

thanks OP for the tip about the gift card. I've just been redeeming my PC points to save on groceries, didn't think to use it for gift cards.

But my question is, can Visa/MC gift cards bought in Canada be used in the U.S.?

 

[mshanson3121]

thanks OP for the tip about the gift card. I've just been redeeming my PC points to save on groceries, didn't think to use it for gift cards.

But my question is, can Visa/MC gift cards bought in Canada be used in the U.S.?

Yes

 

[Silvermist999]

Yes

Wow!! Thanks, Good to know!

 

[kuhltiffany]

You can also sign up with the guiding stars program for even more points, just know that you have to load the offers separately for them each week: http://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/en_CA/health-wellness/guiding-star.html

 

[EastCoastCdn]

Maybe this has been shared before, but it you sign up for PC Points (which is free), you can redeem those points towards gift card purchases in store - including Visa gift cards! I find I can easily earn 5000-10,000 points a week. 20,000 pts = $20. Even more, if you get one of their PC Mastercards, you'll earn 10 pts for every dollar you charge to your card. So if you use your card for all purchases, bill payments etc... it's easy to rack up points. Anyways, if you earn 500,000 points in a year, that's $500 you can redeem for a Visa gift card, which you can in turn spend on your Disney vacation I figure every little bit helps!

I'm glad I read this. I didn't know the points could be redeemed for gift cards. Thank you for posting this

 

[mort1331]

thanks OP for the tip about the gift card. I've just been redeeming my PC points to save on groceries, didn't think to use it for gift cards.

But my question is, can Visa/MC gift cards bought in Canada be used in the U.S.?

Yes but subject to the same fees your regular CC would have.

 

[mort1331]

I get 1 Airmile for every $10 with the World Elite Mastercard and more if it is a location that offers Airmiles using my AM card. It was 3775 pts for each 7 day pass and we got 2. We had to buy one with cash as we didn't have enough pts at the time and once converted to CDN is ended up costing $517.94 so we saved $1036 on the tickets.

7550pts for $1036 = 7.3pts/$1 of redemption so I had to spend $73 for every dollar in return.

World Elite PC Mastercard earns 10 PC points/$1 spent and 1000 PC pts = $1 in redemption so I would need to spend $100 for every $1 in redemption using PC pts.

Now I do realize that there are extra points for certain purchases at grocery stores etc. however the majority of my expenditures are business and other living expenses rather than grocery so I come out ahead with the Airmiles Card. We do also get PC pts using the regular PC card on groceries but gain more yearly using Airmiles.

Either way, using a rewards card to help out with vacations or whatever else should not be overlooked!!

Everyone has to see where their spending is. For us the PC card works great and have done very well with it. I have looked at others, they are starting to get more competitive. Being able to get the prepaid cards is a big thing for us with the flexability it affords, something you can not get yet with others