rewards program - The Finance Gourmet

Amazon Rewards Visa Credit Cards

Credit cards that offer rewards, points and miles for every dollar you spend shopping are a great way to maximize your rate of return on your every day spending expenditures. However, in order to make credit card rewards pay off it is very important to get the right rewards credit card.

Finding out which reward credit card program is best takes a little bit of research. One of the most important factors in choosing the right rewards card is picking one that you will actually use both for spending and for redeeming points and miles for rewards. There is no sense in getting a Capital One Rewards credit card for free travel if you never really fly anywhere.

A top credit card rewards offer for people who don’t travel a lot is the Amazon.com Rewards Card which offers cardholders points for every dollar spent on a wide variety of purchases. Instead of redeeming points for free plane tickets, Amazon credit card users get free gift certificates to Amazon.com

Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card from Chase

The Amazon credit card rewards program comes with a lot of advantages for card holders with good credit scores. New customers looking for a credit card for people with bad credit or credit cards for people with recent bankruptcy might have to look elsewhere though.

New Amazon rewards card holders get $30 cash back with their first purchase on the Amazon Visa card.

Amazon rewards members earn points for every dollar spent on the card.

The big earnings come from shopping at Amazon.com which is not surprising. Cardholders earn 3 points for every dollar spent on amazon.com. In addition, credit card holders earn double points, or 2 points for every dollar spent at gas stations, restaurants and drug stores. All other places like grocery stores, bookstores, and clothing stores earn 1 point for every dollar spent.

Is Amazon Reward Card Worth It?

The best credit card reviews include not just the credit cards interest rate and whether or not the card has an annual fee, but also the value of the rewards offers and what is included in the credit card rewards catalog.

The Amazon.com Visa card is a great credit card to review because it is so easy to examine the card’s overall value.

The top value of Amazon Rewards Visa comes when you use the card a lot on Amazon.com.

The main item in the Amazon rewards catalog is a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate for 2,500 points. Other rewards in the rewards point chart are $50 cash back for 5,000 points. That makes the Amazon Visa a top value in credit cards issued by U.S. Banks.

If you spent all of our money on the Amazon credit card, earning 2,500 points would take spending just $833.33. That makes a best cash back value reward of $25 cash back for every $833 of purchases. The cash back percentage on the Amazon.com Visa card at this level equals 3% cash back on purchases made at Amazon.com. That is one of the highest cash back offers of any credit card. It is higher than cash back from Fidelity credit card and higher than the cash back rewards in the Citibank rewards catalog.

Of course, the cash back value declines with each dollar spent somewhere other than Amazon, but for heavy shoppers at Amazon this card is a great value.

Citibank Credit Card Rewards Thank You Network Update

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According to an email received this week, the fixed flight option will no longer be available as of March 1st.

Quick Summary

Before 3/1/09 – Great deal for flights between $200 and $400 (the closer to $400 the better the deal). Still a good deal for flights over $400.
After 3/1/09 – Deal Gone. You pay 100 points per dollar. Average travel reward at best.

Check here for updated information about 2011 Citibank rewards credit card programs.

Look here for an updated review of the Citibank rewards catalog 2011.

Fixed Point Travel Flight Option

What does that mean for Citibank credit card holders? A worse deal.

Until 3/1/09 you can get a domestic flight reward on “virtually any airline” for 20,000 ThankYou Points, up to $400. If the ticket is more than $400 then it is 5,000 points for every $50.

That works out to 50 points per dollar for a $400 flight and then 100 points per dollar after. That, of course, only works at exactly $400, but any flight over $200 costs you less than 100 points per dollar.

Even if you go over $400, you are still getting a good deal because that first $400 comes at what is essentially a 50% discount.

Variable ThankYou Point Flight Rewards

Starting on March 1, 2009, the “variable” rewards cost kicks in a 100 points per dollar. That’s it. No discount, no “deal”. Just the same old regular everyone has the exact same thing 100 points for $1 travel reward.

Citibank ThankYou Rewards Variable Flight Pricing Denver to Miami

The exact same flights by going directly to Expedia.com (instead of through ThankYou Network)

Advice?

What was once a pretty solid rewards program has been mercilessly dragged back to average town. There is nothing wrong with the ThankYou Rewards program, but there is nothing special about it either.

With Citibank giving the shaft to long-term customers by hiking interest rates on customers with good histories at the same time interest rates are falling in the real world, it is starting to seem more and more like Citibank will be ignoring its loyal customers to focus on the bottom line.

My advice is to use your rewards as soon as possible if you have a need coming up. Then, start over and re-evaluate your options. There may be a card that fits you better. But, DO NOT CANCEL your Citibank card until you have the new one in hand. The credit world has gone bonkers so it is possible that even a high credit score and high salary won’t result in an approval.

Technorati Tags: Citibank,Credit Cards,ThankYou,Rewards Catalog,Points,Flights,Travel

Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday Specials Good Until January 31

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Updated information about the 2015 Capital One No Hassle Rewards catalog can be found here.

Got an email from the Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards program. They are extending the specials in the Capital One Rewards Catalog Holiday 2008 edition until January 31. The original catalog cover said that the offers were only for a limited time through 1/15/09.

What kind of deals are available?

As with most credit card points and miles programs, the merchandise tends to be a lesser value than things like redeeming miles for travel, gift cards, cash, or a statement credit. Still, if you are interested in something and don’t really want to “pay” for it, there is no reason to not use your miles on it.

It is true that a Nintendo Wii console with one game, one nunchuck and a remote for 82,750 miles may not work out to the best price you can get anywhere, the fact is that you can have one for 82,750 miles if you want.

Good Value Rewards

The best way to determine if you are getting a good value for your Capital One No Hassle Miles is to find the price of what you want from the catalog and then convert that amount of dollars into miles for a statement credit or cash. Or, if you can find the item at a store that has a gift card reward, that can be done too.

Generally, you can get a statement credit or cash for 200 miles per dollar.

The math:

82,750 miles / 200 miles per dollar = $413.75

So, if you can find a similar Nintendo Wii for less than $413.75, then you would be better off buying it and then applying for a statement credit or cash. Keep in mind that the redemption amounts may not work out such that you can get back exactly the amount you spend, but you can definitely come close enough.

Capital One No Hassle Rewards Catalog

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The main Capital One Rewards program is called No Hassle Rewards. This is to indicate that unlike other programs their credit card rewards program is easy. Is it? Yes, depending on who you compare it to of course. You can take a look at more 2015 Capital One Rewards Catalog information here.

Compared to airline rewards credit cards and the Capital One Rewards for travel, the NoHassle Miles program is easier. The best part about the program is the ability to actually book your travel using your rewards miles (points) by yourself online. If you login to the NoHassle Rewards site, one of the options is book my travel online. This is wonderful if you are booking only rewards tickets. It has some hang ups if not. For example, on my last trip, I cashed in enough miles to get my ticket, but I had to buy my wife’s ticket with cash.

By calling an using a live human being, they were able to buy both tickets for me at the same time ensuring that we get to set together on the plane. With the online system, you need to buy your (or your spouse’s) ticket first, and then go back and buy the other ticket. This makes it harder to get seats together particularly if you happen to be booking one of the increasing number of flights that does not allow you to choose your own seat (see agent at gate for seat assignment). Airlines know that people who bought their tickets together want to sit together. If you buy your ticket on one transaction and your companion’s ticket on another transaction, even if they are just minutes apart, you can end up in seat 12A while they end up in seat 22E. So, keep that in mind when using the program.

Even worse, with airlines starting to give second-class status to travelers who book somewhere other than directly through the airline, you might get no seat assignments at all, or have to pay extra for things like checked bags, or even carry-on bags.

With no further ado, here is the relevant Capital One No Hassle Rewards reward structure table:

Travel

Instead of points per miles, the Capital One program works via points per dollar. This is great if you are hunting down a cheap fare (probably because you are paying out of pocket for companion tickets). Another card that uses miles instead of dollars might be more advantageous when you are flying short but expensive routes like New York to Washington, D.C.

Cost of Ticket	Number of Points
< $150.00	15,000
$150.01 to $350.00	35,000
$350.01 to $600.00	60,000
> $600.01	Cost x 100

As you can see there is some analysis to be done here. If your ticket is barely in the next tier ($373.00 for example) you can be wasting a lot of points, so make sure and do your homework first.

There is another option with many Capital One Rewards cards called the Purchase Eraser. Using this tool, you can get a statement credit for your travel instead. The free plane ticket comes at a rate of $1 per 100 miles. That means you can buy a ticket for $277 using your card. Then, you go online and “erase” that airline ticket for 27,770 miles. Using this feature, you can book your ticket directly with the airline while still using your miles.

Gift Cards

This program is good for several types of gift cards. The going rate is 100 miles per dollar, however some cards have a better deal. Typically, a $50 gift card will cost you 5,000 miles.

Retailers of note available:

Amazon
Best Buy
Home Depot
Lowe’s
Toys R Us / Babies R Us
Pier 1
Lands’ End
Eddie Bauer
Macy’s
Barnes & Noble
Bath & Body Works
Gap
Sears
Linens & Things
JCPenny
Pottery Barn
L.L. Bean
Foot Locker

Cash / Statement Credit

The Capital One No Hassle Miles program does have the option to get cash either in the form of a check or a statement credit. Either way, the going rate is 200 miles per dollar, so a $100 check or statement credit will cost you 20,000 miles. As you can see, if you have an upcoming purchase that you can use a free gift card for instead, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming for the card instead of getting a cash reward or statement credit.

Summary

Reward	Miles Per Dollar	Rating
Travel	100 *	Good
Gift Cards	100 (most)	Average
Cash / Statement Credit	200	Average

* See tiers above for actual cost below $600.

Looking for Other Capital One Credit Cards or Rewards Information?

Credit Card Rewards Catalogs, Reward Levels, and Points Redemption

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