Free Money from American Express

I just got my year-end re-cap (which coincides with my card anniversary date) from American Express. I use an Amex Blue Cash card as my main credit card because I like cash back as my incentive, and it's the best all around card I've found for giving cash back. I use it not only for personal purchases, but for all my business trips (for which I'm reimbursed before the credit card bill is due), so I end up charging quite a bit over the course of a year. (Of course, it has no annual fee.)

Here's how the rebate structure works:

• For total annual purchases of $0 to $6,500, I earn 1% back on "everyday" purchases and 0.5% back on all other purchases.
• For total annual purchases of $6,500.01 to $50,000, I earn 5% back on "everyday" purchases and 1.5% back on all other purchases.
• Everyday purchases are purchases made at U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and drug stores that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs.

This past year, I charged $19,948.55 on the card and earned $334.84 (for an average rebate of 1.68%). Not bad! Not bad at all!!!

I like getting free money for doing something I'd already do (especially when that free money is from a credit card company), and this card does it for me!

What credit card reward programs do you use? What'd you earn in 2005?

Comments

[RS]

I use the same card as you. Quick question though...where did you get this summary? I have been with this card for about a year and I don't remember seeing this info. Thanks.
-RS

[FMF]

It appears in two places I believe (I don't have my statement with me). The upper right corner of the first page (where your payment tab is) has a summary of what you've earned. In addition, there's a more detailed summary of what you've charged and earned at the end of your statement (last page).

[Doug]

I use citibank's dividend card on all my everyday purchases- no annual fee, 1% cash back on everything, 5% on 'everyday' purchases, Jan-March this year the 1% cash back on everything was bumped to 2%, and no minimum amount to spend like the AmEx program. On non-everyday purchases I use my American Airline's miles card.

[Blaine Moore (Run to Win)]

FMF, you should jump into the credit card poll over at FiveCentNickel - http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2006/03/06/money-poll-3-credit-cards/ - one of the commenters (Emma) is trying to convince a few of us that using a card for the cash return may not be worthwhile.

[MikeK]

I just setup 3 accounts this year to maximize cash back: I use my Citibank Dividend to get 5% on Gas, Groceries, Drugstores ($300 limit per year). I use my AmEx Costco card to get 3% on Restaurants, 2% on travel. I use EmigrantDirect card to get 1.25% on everything else.

If this becomes too much work, I'll just Citibank Dividend for everything.

[Dan]

I spent a lot of time about nine months ago researching which rewards card to use. I wanted cash back, or at least the option for cash back; I figured it would be too difficult to manage "points" and prizes. I also wanted to earn rewards for everyday usage, and not just above a certain dollar amount; I didn't want anything to dilute my reward earning power. Finally, I didn't want a bunch of restrictions or caps on the amount of rewards I could earn.

After extensive research, I landed on the Chase PerfectCard. It pays 3% on gas and 1% on all other purchases. (There was also a bonus for opening the card, where those percentages were higher for a few months.) There is no cap on the rewards you can earn, and the cash back is applied directly to my bill each month. Easy to understand, easy to manage.

This was literally the only card I found that met the criteria I pointed out above. Other cards paid back more, but they often capped rewards at $300/year or required you to manage and redeem points. I'm certainly open to other suggestions if people have them.

[samerwriter]

I've almost the same situation as Blaine; Citibank Dividend gas and supermarket purchases and Costco Amex for travel and restaurant purchases. My backup card is an Amazon.com card (A lot of our purchases are from amazon, and we get 3% back with that card).

Unfortunately the Citibank card caps out at $300/year. Last year I hit that in October, and never noticed. This year, I've already earned $147 in rewards, so I'm looking at opening the Chase clone of the Citibank card to use after my Citibank rebate maxes out.

It's not unrealistic to expect about $1000 in rebates this year.

[MikeK]

samerwriter: It was interesting... I had another Citibank Platinum Visa that we weren't using. I called Citibank to cancel. They said that I could get a Citibank Dividend VISA on top of the Mastercard. So I now have 2 Citibank Dividend cards (one mastercard, one Visa). I too will monitor the $300 limit carefully and once its done, will switch over to the Visa and do the same.

[firststartfinance]

I too have the Citi Dividend Platinum which earns 5% on everyday purchases and 1% on all others. To get around the $300 cap, I also have a Chase Cash Plus Visa which earns 5% on everday and 1% on all others, but the limit is $600. In addition, sometimes the credit card companies run promotions that give you some points to start with. For the Chase one, they offered $100 worth of points to sign up with the promotional code, so you can quickly earn some free money that way too. That is, if you pay off your balance each month, which I do.

[Allen]

My wife and I use four cards. Three pay 5% cash back on gas, grocery and drug store purchases and 1% on everything else, with a maximum cash back of $300 each per year. The fourth card pays 1.5% cash back on all purchases, capped at $1,500 per year. We only use the 5% cards for 5% purchases, using one card until until we reach the $300 cap, then switching to the next card, etc. That gives us $900 cash back each year. Everything else, including things like utility bills, goes on the 1.5% card. We haven't had that card for a year yet, so we'll see how much we get back on it. Two keys to the way we use these cards: We don't carry balances on any of them, and we're careful to make sure that we don't let the cash back cause us to buy more than we would otherwise.

[F. D. Bryant III]

I use three cards. A Chase Cashbuilder - a tiered card that I supposedly get up to 2% on. However in reading when I got my reward this year it looks like I only get that if I run balances (I'm sure that wasn't the case when I signed up). A Chase PerfectCard that gets me 3% back on gas purchases. Finally the Costco AMEX.

I think I need to look into other cards though a re-evaluate what I should be carrying.

[SingleMom]

I use the MBNA Cash Back Platinum Plus card. I talked about it here today.
http://singlemomandmoney.blogspot.com/2006/03/fridays-fabulous-financials.html

1% cash back anywhere, on anything, can redeem anytime, no annual fee, no tiers, and no annual reward limit.

[AJ]

MBNA World Points is great - travel, cash (1% unlimited), stuff, cruises, whatever. Subaru Mastercard is great. If you have a Subie and you top out the $500 annual limit, just get another Subie card, and another one and another one and so on. Spend a lot and in a few years you'll have enough for a free Subabru! ;-)

[Jon]

I use the Discover Gas Card. 5% on all gas/auto service purchases, and for everything else .25% up to $1,500, .5% up to $3000, and 1% from then on. What really makes the card nice though is the Shop Discover, which gives you 5-20% back on a ton of online stores (including the Apple Store with 5% back). Also, you can get gift cards intead of the cash, and the companies will give you extra for your cash back. For example some companies double your cash back when you buy their gift cards ($20 cash back = $40 gift card) such as Sharper Image, the major cruise lines, Enterprise, and some others. This effectively gives you a cash back percent of over 10%!.

[Animesh]

How much cashback do you get with AMEX blue cash credit card at Amazon? In other words, is Amazon listed under 5% rebate or 1.5% rebate?

[FMF]

"Everyday purchases are purchases made at U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and drug stores that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs."

Everyday purchases get the 5%. Since Amazon isn't a supermarket, gas station or drug store, it's a 1.5% earner.