Disney Visa - How do you maximize...

[MommyTo5]

purchases/payments to get the most reward dollars???

Anyone want to share how they obtain the most Disney reward dollars possible? From what I can tell, it's not an option for me to pay my mortgage (Wells Fargo) with the credit card nor our car payments... I haven't checked utilities yet but I'm thinking I will start using the card to pay our monthly Dish Network bill.

I just noticed it's an option to pay via CC for the kids' school pics this year so I will be doing that!

I would really love to earn a bunch of reward dollars (quickly) for our February trip!

~ Angie
MommyTo5

 

[Kapp]

our utility bills (gas, cable, water, cell phone) with our electric the only one not taking credit cards yet. We also use it for gasoline, Wal-Mart/Target, department stores, etc. We never leave a balance (pay interest) as once you do, you are in the whole and the Disney Reward dollars are wasted. We have about 300 for our trip next month!

 

[100AcreWood]

That's a great plan! I "think" you get double points when you use the card with Disney. So I always use it at the Disney Store and when I book the reservation!

I went this past February and thought it was a great time to visit!

 

[hercamore]

No double points at TDS that I know of. At least, I've never gotten any.


herc.

 

[got2lovedisney]

I use my reward credit card (right now I'm using Discover more than Disney) for everything...phone, cable, internet, cellphones, gasoline, wal-mart, target, groceries, auto insurance...even fastfood. Any place that accepts credit cards, that's what I use and I make payments online as soon as they are posted if possible.

 

[westcliffemom]

ditto the others- adding to the list: house insurance, directv, anything and everything, any purchases $1 and up! The only bill I can't pay is our mortgage. Any bill that comes I'll call and ask if they take credit cards.

 

[pearlieq]

Ditto everyone, plus our doctor takes credit cards, as does our car insurance company. We paid for our fence with our card, and will use it for any other home services.

Basically, if they take cards I'll charge it, even if it's $0.50!

 

[3DisneyKids]

Ditto again...absolutely all utilities, grocs., gas, restaurants. BUT we pay IN FULL every month.

Other great ways we rack up rewards dollars:

Our CAR...yup, we put a "new" used car on the card. We already had the money set aside for it, so when the bill came, we were still able to pay it in full. However, if you don't have the money to pay for a car outright, just set up your car loan in advance (or better yet, pay for the car on a Home Equity line of credit, so the interest is tax deductible), then use the loan money to pay off the credit card...and viola...you have a "traditional" car loan, but you still earned rewards dollars.

Another HUGE one is tuition. ALL colleges accept credit cards for tuition payments. Again, if you (or your child) are getting a student loan, just use the student loan to pay off the credit card. Kids in private elementary school? Check and see if they take credit.

Finally, and this is the best one for us, DH has to travel a lot for business. Obviously, his company reimburses for all of his travel, etc. So, he charges everything and gets the rewards, then the company reimburses all of his expenses and we pay off the card.

We don't get the full $750 rewards dollars every year (that would mean charging $75,000...yikes!) but we'll get about $450 this year....maybe more.

OK...who else does this...every time I make a puchase (let's say it's for ten dollars), I think to myself, "there's anoter ten cents for the next Disney trip!" I am always thinking that every time I use the card! Warped? Probably...

 

[marcyinPA]

We also use it for everything...grocery store, gas station, post office, Target/Walmart/Kmart, etc.

I have not put "bills" on it...but I am thinking about paying my ds's trumpet with it every month.

I learned on these boards to use it like a debit card and deduct it from my checking account every time I use it. I write it right into the register. Then when the bill comes, I just add the charges back in and pay the bill. It has worked great for me for about a year now!

We have almost 300 points for our upcoming trip...and free dining!! WooHoo!

 

[MommyTo5]

WOW! I am so excited about this! Thanks for all of your responses so far - I really appreciate it as I'm sure other DISers do as well! I checked and I can't pay my Gas bill (Atmos Energy), Water/Trash bill (payable to our city), Cable Internet bill (Comcast), Electric bill (Kansas City Power & Light), nor the Mortgage (Wells Fargo) with a credit card. I'm highly doubting the car payments will be able to be paid this way but I will verify this tomorrow! This leaves me with being able to pay only our Phone bill (Southwestern Bill) and Satelite television bill (DISH Network) with the card. I can also buy the occasional minutes needed for DH's *emergency* prepaid cell phone (TracFone)... we cancelled our Sprint -contract- phone last year when saving for our cruise and this is working out soooo much better!

Tonight we used the card for some groceries and take-out from the local BBQ place (it's okay - we had a coupon! lol) - I told DH to use it in place of our debit card from now on as I plan to pay it off each month!

~ Angie
MommyTo5

 

[blessedby3]

I use my Disney Visa for all my groceries. I go and charge them, then come home and write a check out to the card for that amount. I also use it for smaller purchases and total them up for a few days at a time and write out another check for those. I just had lasik eye surgery done about a month ago and put that on my card also. My airline tickets purchased from SWA also went on this. We just pay off what was charged so as not to carry a balance. My mom had to buy a new fridge and I told her to put it on her card. She is going with us on our next trip so I have to get her in the thinking mode of charging purchases to add up rewards. They also had about $750 in car repairs recently and she put them on the card. My DH and I have about $360 in rewards right now. We only have about 10 weeks left to add some more!!

 

[vicb]

ditto for me too plus I am paying DD's monthly braces fee with my Disney Visa! She gets a kick out of knowing her current misery results in $2 Dis dollars each month! Also put every possible house repair on my card, monthly bill, groceries, gas, airline tickets. Haven't been to WDW for 2 years and think I will have about 1,000 points by time we go in Feb. !! BTW, yes we do pay ours off every month! Never charge what you can't afford to pay for.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I don't use it for the mortgage, car insurance & telephone bill. Everything else gets charged to the card. I'll charge any amount of $7.00. I don't carry alot of cash and I rather earn the dollars, being that I pay the bill in full each month. We've had about $475.00 for each of our last 2 trips.

We are renovating our house this year, so I'm charging alot. I think there is a max you can reach yearly , and I may reach it be next August.

 

[ceecee]

We do the same, charge almost everything. We even got double rewards for a year, usually charge $2000 a month. Put several business trips on ($3000 each) and our grand total for this years rewards??? $250.00! I am not impressed with the card and we plan on cancelling after this years trip, we get much better rewards on our other card. We have put three Disney trips and many DS purchases and never received double rewards. Most cards do that but not Disney.

 

[cepmom]

I charge what I can in purchases...I was using it for gas, gorceries etc, but now I have Citicard which pays 5% for gas, goceries and pharmacies.. when that reaches it's limit ($300 annually) I will switch back to Disney Visa for those things. I haven't tried using for utilities though....I will have to look into that.

We are having some extensive landscaping done in a couple of weeks and I just found out that they will take credit cards!!!! We have the money set aside already, but I will charge it and then pay it off right away.

DH uses it for work expenses, then gets reimbursed each month.

I also use it to pay for our WDW trips (resort, tickets, cruise, car rental, airline etc) and charge everything we spend while we are on vacation. Again, the money is already set aside for these expenses, so when we return from vacation, it gets paid off in full.

The biggest thing is to pay it off in full each month, otherwise what you earn in reward $$ goes out the window in finance charges.

 

[vicb]

We do the same, charge almost everything. We even got double rewards for a year, usually charge $2000 a month. Put several business trips on ($3000 each) and our grand total for this years rewards??? $250.00! I am not impressed with the card and we plan on cancelling after this years trip, we get much better rewards on our other card. We have put three Disney trips and many DS purchases and never received double rewards. Most cards do that but not Disney.

Just wondering what your "other card" is and what rewards do you get?

We might not be using our Disney Visa after this upcoming trip either since we don't plan to return in the next couple of years (this will be our 4th trip in 8 years). We recently opened an AMEX Hilton Honors which seems pretty good, points toward free nights at all Hilton family hotels. But I'm always on the look out for other reward deals.

 

[KCMiller]

Another HUGE one is tuition. ALL colleges accept credit cards for tuition payments. QUOTE]


Umm, not all - you might want to check - for instance, The Ohio State University specifically does NOT accept credit or debit cards (which is too darn bad, if you ask me - why shouldn't they help me get Disney Dollars ??).


KC

 

[vicb]

Another HUGE one is tuition. ALL colleges accept credit cards for tuition payments. QUOTE]


Umm, not all - you might want to check - for instance, The Ohio State University specifically does NOT accept credit or debit cards (which is too darn bad, if you ask me - why shouldn't they help me get Disney Dollars ??).


KC

My BIL told me that Michigan State accepts some credit cards but not VISA!

 

[wdwfam]

I agree that not ALL universities/colleges accept a credit card. Certainly not my son's university. I would love to charge his tuition.

 

[GPALANGE]

Do you know if you charge your Disney vacation on the card you get 6 mos same as cash to pay it off? I got my card in Feb for upcoming Oct. trip and we charge EVERYTHING, plus the trip. But like others, I pay it off every month, can't pay the interest that negates all those sales I look so hard for. Anyway we set aside our tax return to pay for this trip but now w/the 6 mos same as cash I'm able to pay a little every month and I'll get to keep my tax refund for something else. Yippey!!!