How Many Disney rewards have you accumulated??

[Julia M]

I started using the Disney rewards card in early April. I have accumulated about 85 Disney bucks.....not bad for me for 3 months.

I am saving for our trip to WDW next August (13 months away) and hope to have about 400 bucks by that time.

If only I could charge my mortagage....then I'd be a happy camper!

 

[WendyZ]

I have 73! Doing my best before our trip next month!!!

 

[patsal]

I have 101. I hope to have about 500 by the time I get to go again in 2004.

 

[ceecee]

I wanted to charge our last car and pay it off the first month, you should have seen the salesman's face when I asked if they took VISA!!! I fiqured 25,000 was an airline ticket and it was worth a try. My husband couldn't believe I even asked.

 

[disneysteve]

I also tried to charge my last car, but couldn't of course. And no, you can't charge your mortgage. You can charge almost everything else: school or daycare tuition, local, long distance and cell phone bills, insurance bills (we charge our auto insurance), home alarm fees, internet access fees, auto maintenance, gasoline, groceries, utility bills, US savings bonds, magazine/newspaper subscriptions, doctor/dentist bills and lots more. As long as you pay your bill in full each month, a reward credit card can be a great financial tool.

Steve

 

[pooh2001]

I nver thought of a mortage payment. Call the loan institution and ask.
I did try for my kids school tuition. They do not take charge cards.
And it's associated with a Church. Go figure.
I figure they would take $$'s anyway it comes.

I am charging my food shops. I hope that builds the rewards.
We just got our Visa Card - so I guess I have $1 in rewards.

I will try to see what else I can do. We go in 2005.
We only have a $6K credit line. With my Mastercard I have $20K.
I guess that is all they give newies.
But we got a great rate of 11% after the free first 6 months.

If I can build even $200 in rewards- it will help in the cost of
WDW passes. With food shopping, holiday gifts, and a few
dinners out - we should do at least $100 per year.

After our refinance - I am going to look into the mortage payment.
My DH would probably not like me to do it. He does not like
charging items.

I am keeping all my food bills and leaving the $$'s in checking
till the Disney Visa bill comes in.

I am going to look into the charging the car insurance.
Very nice idea. Thank you for this thread.

another idea ....
In a month I will ask for a large credit limit.
We plan on residing our home. We'll have the $$'s from
the refinance. So if I can, charge on Disney $20K.
Get $200 in rewards. Pay the Disney Credit card from the
refiance $$'s. No interest paid and a fast way to get Disney
rewards.

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[lopo]

Although I have accrued 48 reward dollars to date, I have basically stopped using this card for most of my purchases. Frankly, it takes too long to accrue the rewards when I consider the benefits available to me when I use some of my other credit cards. For instance, American Express often offers double points to me and I am able to earn gift certificates to several businesses that I patronize in a realtively short time.

If Bank One offers similar promotions, I will go back to using my Disney Card. But, for now, it is just gathering dust.

 

[BethR]

I have 53 right now. I am using it to pay for as much as I can. But Aldi's and Sam's Club (where I do most of my grocery shopping) do not take Visa.

I hope to have 70 for our trip in August. And then I will start again for another trip down the road.

 

[dzneprincess]

Originally posted by lopo
Although I have accrued 48 reward dollars to date, I have basically stopped using this card for most of my purchases. Frankly, it takes too long to accrue the rewards when I consider the benefits available to me when I use some of my other credit cards. For instance, American Express often offers double points to me and I am able to earn gift certificates to several businesses that I patronize in a realtively short time.

If Bank One offers similar promotions, I will go back to using my Disney Card. But, for now, it is just gathering dust.

lopo
I have just gotten the Disney Visa and my DH just got amex green rewards or whatever it is called. We were not sure which seemed to be better, but I have been using the Disney as I KNOW that I will be able to use the rewards on our cruise. Can you give me an example of what rewards you are able to use from amex, if you are able to use them towards a disney trip?

 

[disneysteve]

"But we got a great rate of 11% after the free first 6 months."

Be careful here - the interest rate shouldn't matter to you at all because if you can't afford to pay your balance each month then you shouldn't be using a credit card. What good is a 1% rebate if you have to pay 11% interest to get it?

"Frankly, it takes too long to accrue the rewards when I consider the benefits available to me when I use some of my other credit cards."

I agree completely. I got a Disney card but have yet to use it and probably won't unless they improve the rewards program (which I don't expect). I mainly use a Marriott VISA (also from Bank One). They pay 1% on general purchases and 3% on Marriott charges. They often do special promo's to earn additional points - for example, they recently had double points for charges at Office Max. I bought a bunch of items that were free after rebates, got a few hundred reward points and spent practically nothing (just had to pay sales tax and postage). Also, the charge card points get combined with the points earned from staying at Marriott hotels. In about 20 months, we've earned over 70,000 points. That's enough for up to 12 free hotel nites depending on location.

Many other cards are better than Disney. Unfortunately, thousands of people will use the Disney card just because it is from Disney, even if there are better deals out there. So there is no incentive to improve the rewards program.

Steve

 

[lopo]

dzneprincess, as with all of the credit cards, there are many different types of programs available for rewards. AmEx has at least a dozen types of cards that offer rewards (Bank One which administrates the Disney Visa supposedly offers 100's of cards!) Anyway, I am not sure about the AMEx green card but your husband can check out the options at the web site. My particular card is Blue and I am enrolled in the Membership Rewards Program it offers. Although I am not able to accrue specific Disney rewards, I can earn gift certificates to restaurants (that I use on my vacation), retail stores (such as the Gap, where I buy some of my vac. clothes), and AmEx gift checks (same as cash in most places!) HTH.

 

[lopo]

disneysteve, I agree with you wholeheartedly!

 

[ducklite]

I've earned about $180 worth so far.

Anne

 

[prncess674]

Originally posted by ceecee
I wanted to charge our last car and pay it off the first month, you should have seen the salesman's face when I asked if they took VISA!!! I fiqured 25,000 was an airline ticket and it was worth a try. My husband couldn't believe I even asked.

I don't have a Disney VISA but I but I do have a Southwest Airlines Visa and a Starwwod AMEX because these are the two best deals in my opinion for reward cards. I had already planned on putting $8,000 down on the car so the dealer let me pay that amount split between my two cards. It doesn't hurt to ask these days. Dealerships won't usually offer it as an option but if you ask and they display the VISA/AMEX logo they are supposed to take it. My dealer didn't give me any hassle.

PS - always negotiate the cost of the car before talking about how you plan to pay. Method of payment should have no bearing on the price.

Buying this car was a fun adventure. You can read my "trip report" here

 

[Julia M]

Yes, the Disney card doesn't have the best reward program out there, but it's not the worst, either. My friends use the Toys R Us visa, and it gives rewards of 1/2 %. It does give 5% on anything you buy at Toys R Us, but I think I'm better off with 1% on everything.

I do agree, also, that it's unlikely Disney will up the ante on their program. I had heard somewhere (probably on this board) that they were going to offer double points this month, but so far, nothing.

Julia

 

[Disneylvr]

Okay, I am way behind all of you! I think I have maybe 5 points so far???!!! But then I have only had the card for a month and didn't even think about charging my utility bills and groceries. Thanks for the idea!

 

[prncess674]

Charge anything and everything as long as you have the money to pay it off at the end of the month !!!

Even Sonic and Burger King by my house take Visa! Starbucks takes plastic! I can pay my cell phone bill with Visa too. I look for the VISA/AMEX logo everywhere I go. If it is over a $1.00 and they take plastic I use it!

 

[Julia M]

One thing I do to keep track of my charge expenses is a 2nd checkbook register. Whenever I charge something, I write it in my "charge" check register. Instead of taking money away (as you do in a checkbook register), I add it up, keeping a running total. That way, I can look at my checkbook and see how much I have and then easily take away my charge expenses. It keeps me from thinking of the charged items as "free" or forgetting a few items and having a surprise at the end of the month. It's a big help to me.

Julia

 

[ducklite]

Julia--I do something similar. At the beginning of each month I write a check for $1000 made out to the credit card company. That's to cover day-to-day stuff like gas and groceries. I tuck it away in my checkbook.

As the month goes on, I write checks to cover any large purchases (I just spent $3000 on furniture, and wrote the check as soon as I got home.)

When the bill comes I write the chck for anything over the checks I've already written, which is usually less than a few hundred dollars, making it painless

Anne

 

[prncess674]

Originally posted by ducklite
Julia--I do something similar. At the beginning of each month I write a check for $1000 made out to the credit card company. That's to cover day-to-day stuff like gas and groceries. I tuck it away in my checkbook.

As the month goes on, I write checks to cover any large purchases (I just spent $3000 on furniture, and wrote the check as soon as I got home.)

When the bill comes I write the chck for anything over the checks I've already written, which is usually less than a few hundred dollars, making it painless

Anne

do you send multiple checks in your payment envelope? Why not just sign up for online payments. It is not like an auto deduct. You physically log onto www.bankone.com select make payment and that is it. No mailing multiple checks. They even let you enter what day you would like the payment to come out. I like this option better because if the payment is due on the 20th I always select the day before as my payment date and that way the money sits in checking account (earning interest) for the longest amount of time and I don't have to remember to send in a check.