credit card rewards

[cruella4me64]

How do I determine the most advantageous credit card rewards programs?

I have the Disney VISA from which I earn 1% in rewards. I save those to help pay for my Disney vacations. At 1%, it takes me a really long time to get to Disney.

Today at work, someone with a Royal Carribean VISA was telling me she gets one dollar reward per dollar charged match. Holy Toledo! I'm thinking that I have been wasting the past several years saving at 1% rewards ratio for a vacation.

She's making $1 dollar per dollar purchase and I'm making 1 cent per dollar.

The one time I used my years worth of Disney rewards at WDW, I booked under Free Dining that was available for the general public. I never made it over to the Character Spot at EPCOT at the right times for a free photo. I did get a 10% discount when I made large purchases at select resort gift shops.

Other than smiling at the picture on my Disney CC when I use it, I'm thinking if I have enough points to pay for a cruise with just my normal spending habits, a day or two at WDW would be affordable.

What do you fellow DISers think? I'm thinking I could smile at a cruise photo on a different CC. Does anyone use Discover? What is that reward program?

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Brancaneve]

I agree, I always smile when I pull out my Disney Visa card. However, I agree that the return is slowly earned. However, we have the American Express through Costco and we charge about 90% of purchases on that card, and redeem about $400 a year! We usually ask them to send us a check before a big vacation, which can then be used at Disney or wherever! The flexibility of the cash is really nice. I highly recommend using that one! Plus, they have a car rental insurance plan where you pay $17 every time you rent a car, and you have a month of full coverage. It gives us peace of mind when we rent a car in WDW. The key is to pay it off in full each month.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

How do I determine the most advantageous credit card rewards programs?

I have the Disney VISA from which I earn 1% in rewards. I save those to help pay for my Disney vacations. At 1%, it takes me a really long time to get to Disney.

Today at work, someone with a Royal Carribean VISA was telling me she gets one dollar reward per dollar charged match. Holy Toledo! I'm thinking that I have been wasting the past several years saving at 1% rewards ratio for a vacation.

She's making $1 dollar per dollar purchase and I'm making 1 cent per dollar.

The one time I used my years worth of Disney rewards at WDW, I booked under Free Dining that was available for the general public. I never made it over to the Character Spot at EPCOT at the right times for a free photo. I did get a 10% discount when I made large purchases at select resort gift shops.

Other than smiling at the picture on my Disney CC when I use it, I'm thinking if I have enough points to pay for a cruise with just my normal spending habits, a day or two at WDW would be affordable.

What do you fellow DISers think? I'm thinking I could smile at a cruise photo on a different CC. Does anyone use Discover? What is that reward program?

Thanks for any ideas!

Before you get too excited over the RCCL Visa rewards, I think your co-worker had the rewards confused. With that Visa, you earn 1 point for every $1 charged and can then redeem the points earned (once you earn 5,000). Turns out that if you have 5,000 points, you can get "$50 USD onboard credit toward onboard purchases ie: Spa, Shore Excursions, Gift Shop, Bar, etc. (multiple onboard credits may be applied to a reservation if earned)" which, of course, is a 1% return. -- Suzanne

 

[dtr_angel]

We have the Disney Visa, and we also have a Chase Freedom card that runs different % programs, and a Discover card. We just rotate which card we are using depending on the promotion. For example, starting in July discover has 5% cashback on gas,hotels, movies, and theme parks. I will charge all of our gas to that card until we max out ($300).

 

[JenGC]

Before you get too excited over the RCCL Visa rewards, I think your co-worker had the rewards confused. With that Visa, you earn 1 point for every $1 charged and can then redeem the points earned (once you earn 5,000). Turns out that if you have 5,000 points, you can get "$50 USD onboard credit toward onboard purchases ie: Spa, Shore Excursions, Gift Shop, Bar, etc. (multiple onboard credits may be applied to a reservation if earned)" which, of course, is a 1% return. -- Suzanne

I have a disney visa too. Just remember that you get $50 OBC with the Disney Visa as well. I have a cc that gives you a point per dollar too. 2,000 points =$20. So It's good an all, but the very same thing. I am booking my whole Disney vacation on my card because I can get 0% financing for 6 months, $50 OBC, Free dining before everyone else, free 5x7 at Epcot and then the points. I am ONLY putting that on the Disney card. I am putting all my other purchases on the points card then I can use that money for Disney stuff, or OTHER stuff. I pay off the credit card with the money that I would have paid cash for. So I get 1% either way. I just chose to use the cash when I can and the points for the vacations.

 

[XYSRUS]

I've always loved my AMEX Blue Cash. After you charge $6500 you get 5% on groceries,gas and drug stores and 1.5% on everything else. You get a credit back once a year. We charge everything! I mean everything. We get enough back to cover an average month's charges.

 

[mrsklamc]

We have the costco amex too and just use the Disney Visa for stuff that doesn't take Amex. Although we've stopped using the Disney Visa altogether because I am tired of seeing others with similar spending habits get bonus offers when I don't.

Anyway, I didn't know you could REQUEST a check from the Costco Amex! I thought I had to just wait for it to come!

 

[nchulka]

go to icardbonus.com and you can see all the deals for opening a card. I have 1 card that I use all the time, but then I will open a new one when there is a good deal, usually something like put 500 on the card in 3 months time and get 100 dollars. I open the card, use it for groceries for a month, pay it off just as I would have paid for the groceries and then get my 100 dollars, and cancel that card. You can also go to ibankbonus and see what banks are offering money for opening a checking or savings account. I just move my Disney fund from bank to bank every 3 months or so (the amount of time most banks require you to have the account open). I've made about 500 dollars doing that in the past year or so, it's really added to my disney fund.

 

[elaine and the boys]

We have a Starwood American Express and earn points to stay for free at the Swan/Dolphin!