What do you use a CC with rewards for?

[calypso726]

Fidelity Amex pays 2% on every purchase, double that of Disney or most other cards.

We don't do the "for 3 months you get 5% off" game as we rarely use it for the things you get 5% on........travel, eating out, etc....I can get a much better deal on travel than that, and a much better deal on gift card offers for eating out.

Dawn

We don't mind the 3 months 5% game on the Chase Freedom since it is no annual fee and we do get creative with each quarter's spend to meet our needs. If cash back (statement credit) for travel related purchases is a goal then the Barclay Arrival card is excellent since it essentially gives you 2.2% back on travel purchases. We picked this one up so we could pay for a B&B in Scotland this year and get the statement credit and will have stayed there for free.

We focus more on air miles since we get a better value for them than we do cash. For example, our flight to Edinburgh this year (one way) is 62.5K miles in first class. If we had been using a cash back card 62.5K points would equal $625. That wouldn't buy me a one way seat in economy, much less first class. A first class ticket on our flight is $10,937 Not that I'd ever pay that but the miles let us travel in a manner we would not be able to afford.

What is this? Is it something to do with DVC? We are new DVC members, but I don't know of anywhere I can load gift cards for extra credit. Please fill me in!

home! It is a Disney savings account that you can fund with your credit card, debit card or Disney gift cards. DH and I use it to consolidate our Disney gift cards that we purchase when we are getting 5% back since it will give us an additional $20 Disney gift card for every $1000 we spend through the account. We have used it to pay for our upcoming Alaska cruise, our premium annual passes with the DVC discount this year and more recently Harambe Nights tickets. I know you can use it to save to purchase ownership interests in DVC but I don't know if it can be used to pay for maintenance fees. I've been trying to find out but am unable to find any information o it and the program is so new that some CMs have no idea what it is about. One thing we found out is when you do try to pay for something you must tell the CM to enter your account number as a gift card.

 

[North of Mouse]

Hey Everyone!

I'm curious... how many people use "rewards" type cc for groceries, gas, etc. and just pay them off every month instead of just using cash/checks/debit cards?

We are paying off our credit cards except for our Disney Rewards Visa. I would love to start using it for gas and groceries.

Tell me some other creative ways you earn points and how many you average a year!

We use our Disney Rewards Cards (both dh & I have one) for everything we buy during the month, then they are paid off in full every month. We use the rewards for Disney vacations (of course) Home and cars are paid off.

 

[erin1715]

My husband and I both already have the Chase SW Premier CC, but I see they also offer the Plus CC with the same 50,000 points. Does anyone know if I can apply for the Plus CC and get the 50,000 points again? Or would I be better off applying for the business card?

 

[erin1715]

My husband and I both already have the Chase SW Premier CC, but I see they also offer the Plus CC with the same 50,000 points. Does anyone know if I can apply for the Plus CC and get the 50,000 points again? Or would I be better off applying for the business card?

I read the fine print and it says you can earn the bonus points on one personal card and one business card, so since I already have the personal card it looks like I'd have to apply for the business card.

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok, can somebody please explain the points chasing game to me?

Doesn't having all those cards make for a whole lot of fees?

million miles secrets add a 'dotcom'

 

[Melany502]

I did Southwest for myself and my business and ended up with over 110k points and a companion pass that is good for 2 years. Now I am doing SPG. Next I will either do Chase Ink or the Barclaycard. All rewards to be used for Disney Oh and we did the Disney cars just to get the $200 GC for signing up. Will keep it open for discounts and special offers.

 

[alymae1010]

I read the fine print and it says you can earn the bonus points on one personal card and one business card, so since I already have the personal card it looks like I'd have to apply for the business card.

My husband did this the last time and got both the Plus and Premier personal cards. He has the companion pass now.

 

[erin1715]

I'm a little confused about how to get the companion pass. So if you open let's say a personal card and a business card, that alone will get you enough points to get the companion pass? But of course you have to meet the guidelines of charging a minimum for each card to get those points, and I'm not sure we could come close to charging that amount in 3 months.

Also, am I right that the companion pass is only good through the end of 2015? I'm not sure we would fly enough to justify all of that, but I could see me opening another card to get 50,000 more points.

 

[Angrypenguin]

million miles secrets add a 'dotcom'

also try thepointsguy and frugaltravelguy

 

[KTSMOM]

We use the Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom cards to earn points. We pay off the cards each month and use the points we earn to put in our daughter's college fund. It's just an extra way to save money. Neither one of those cards has a fee.

 

[ALD85]

Hey Everyone! I'm curious... how many people use "rewards" type cc for groceries, gas, etc. and just pay them off every month instead of just using cash/checks/debit cards? We are paying off our credit cards except for our Disney Rewards Visa. I would love to start using it for gas and groceries. Tell me some other creative ways you earn points and how many you average a year!

My husband and I uses my Disney visa in place of out debit cards and pay they balance every 2 weeks as he gets paid. I have a check register app that I keep track if my expenses so we don't over spend. And obviously all that reward $ goes to a Disney trip.

 

[Misha72683]

I use my rewards card for almost everything. Groceries, gas, most of our shopping, I pay a lot of our bills that way, etc. I average about $200-$300 a year in reward points.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We love our SWA cc. We put everything on it except mortgage & dh's truck payment. I can't remember when we had to pay for flights for all 4 of us.
For a very long time we had the USAirways card but when SWA came to Philly approx. 2005, we rarely flew USAirways so I cancelled the card. Still I racked up a ton of miles and used to be able to call customer service to change the Dividend Miles acct that miles accrue to. So dh & ds17 had lots of miles too.
In the past year all we redeemed a lot:
1. 3 of us flew free RT to Barcelona last August w/USAirways. Only had to buy 1 seat.
2. All 4 of us flew free RT last Sept w/SWA to MCO during free dining.
3. I flew RT free w/USAirways in March to MCO. Only had to buy 1 RT; it was just me & ds14.
4. All 4 of us are flying free in Aug one way out west (AZ&UT) w/SWA.
5. I booked one of us free for our return flight from Vegas on SWA.
6. By the next statement closing I will have enough points to get a 2nd return seat from Vegas on SWA. So total purchases for our next trip will be just 2 one way seats from Vegas to Philly for all 4 of us.
7. Ds14 & I are both flying free one way to MCO in Sept. Only had to buy 2 one way tickets at 165 each.

I think I've gotten my $59 worth for my annual fee.

 

[alymae1010]

I'm a little confused about how to get the companion pass. So if you open let's say a personal card and a business card, that alone will get you enough points to get the companion pass? But of course you have to meet the guidelines of charging a minimum for each card to get those points, and I'm not sure we could come close to charging that amount in 3 months.

Also, am I right that the companion pass is only good through the end of 2015? I'm not sure we would fly enough to justify all of that, but I could see me opening another card to get 50,000 more points.

You need to get 110,000 points within a calendar year. 2 Southwest cards would get you to 104,000 (50,000 X2 sign up + $2,000 X2 in spend to get the sign up bonus). Once you hit the 110,000 point total, the companion pass would be good for the remainder of this calendar year, plus the next year. There are a lot of ways to reach minimum spends for credit cards that you wouldn't expect. I'm able to pay everything, including my mortgage, while getting credit card points... it just takes a bit of work. I'd recommend reading the travel blogs that have been mentioned. They opened up a whole new world to me

 

[Angrypenguin]

You need to get 110,000 points within a calendar year. 2 Southwest cards would get you to 104,000 (50,000 X2 sign up + $2,000 X2 in spend to get the sign up bonus). Once you hit the 110,000 point total, the companion pass would be good for the remainder of this calendar year, plus the next year. There are a lot of ways to reach minimum spends for credit cards that you wouldn't expect. I'm able to pay everything, including my mortgage, while getting credit card points... it just takes a bit of work. I'd recommend reading the travel blogs that have been mentioned. They opened up a whole new world to me

Me as well. I used to worry about meeting minimum spending, but now I don't worry about it much at all. The birds are hungry!

 

[Marionnette]

I booked two RTs for 2 people for the fall, using my RR points this morning!

I had to transfer enough points from my Chase Ultimate Rewards account to be able to pay for the last flight but it all worked out. Not only will we be headed to Disney for Halloween, we will also be back for the Christmas decorations in December!

Total OOP cost for 4 RT tickets = $20 (the 9/11 fees). It doesn't get much better than that. And it was all done by using CC rewards.

 

[calypso726]

I'm a little confused about how to get the companion pass. So if you open let's say a personal card and a business card, that alone will get you enough points to get the companion pass? But of course you have to meet the guidelines of charging a minimum for each card to get those points, and I'm not sure we could come close to charging that amount in 3 months.

Also, am I right that the companion pass is only good through the end of 2015? I'm not sure we would fly enough to justify all of that, but I could see me opening another card to get 50,000 more points.

There are ways to meet the minimum spend requirements without actually spending the minimum spend requirements Meeting the spend used to freak me out too because we don't spend THAT much. However, I will also advise reading the travel hacker blogs previously mentioned which will walk you through "manufactured spending." Two years ago I would have balked at the idea of meeting a $4,000 minimum spend requirement in 3 months for two cards. Earlier this year I applied for a card that offered 100K miles for a $10,000 minimum spend. I got the card, made the spend, turned around, applied for the same card again without batting an eye. DH did the same thing and we got an extra 440K miles.

 

[erin1715]

So according to my RR account, I need 102,372 more points to get the companion pass. Does this mean I could apply for 2 SW CC's and meet the companion pass requirement from those alone? As long as I meet the spending requirements of course...

 

[alymae1010]

So according to my RR account, I need 102,372 more points to get the companion pass. Does this mean I could apply for 2 SW CC's and meet the companion pass requirement from those alone? As long as I meet the spending requirements of course...

As long as all points are from this calendar year, then, yep!