Taking Advantage of Credit Card Rewards
For about a month now I’ve been using my credit card to pay for everything. Generally, I used to put everything on my debit card except for major purchases but perhaps this was because I wasn’t so responsible with money, therefore, buying more than I could really pay for. Now that I’m more financially aware and mature about my personal finance, I am able to use my credit card for all my purchases and pay it off all of the statement balance at the end before the interest can be calculated. This way I get to take advantage of my reward points and build my credit at the same time.
However, using my credit card for everything means that my debit card will begin collecting dust and Keep the Change program, which is great, won’t be a factor anymore. But that’s OK since I have 2,394 point available right now on my AmEx Blue Sky. At 7,500 points, I can purchase any plane ticket up to $100. Assuming I charge $600 per month on Blue Sky, that’s already 7,200 points per year. My side goal for the future (in 10 years or so) is to have enough points racked up so I can use it all up on a trip to anywhere. Blue Sky isn’t American Express’ best airline rewards card, but it has no annual fees, no blackout dates, and especially, no expiration date for the points.
Also, I’m seeing rebates for my Citi Driver’s Edge card show up. I’ve made $109.07 worth of gas, grocery and drugstore purchases, and I am now seeing that I’ve earned 6.54 Driver’s Edge rebates. That’s about 5.996% rate on rebates, rounding up to 6%, on my first month of purchases. I’ve been reading all these stories about how people are earning huge rewards through smart rewards cards and I think I am finally getting a similar type of feeling. But on a smaller scale of course.