rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

I was sitting at my computer getting ready to submit for some yearly rebate/dividend checks and figured that I might be able to spread the gospel to some of you guys who don't do this. Why am I taking my time to do this? I'm not sure but maybe it will help someone.

In '99 we sold our internet business that was financed completely by credit cards. We had a balance of around $125,000 on 23 cards and paid $1,000s a month in interest. When we sold we were able to pay them all off and have never carried a balance on a card since that time. It just sickens me to know that some people (I'll use my mother-in-law as an example) will pay $10 at McDonalds on a credit card and never pay it off. This means she ends up paying $100 over the next 10 years for a Big Mac (don't grab your calculator - it was just an example).


I carry 3 credit cards:
Citi Dividend Pay Pass - 5% rebate on medical and food ($300 max/year)
Discover Cashback Bonus - 5% rebate on fuel ($300 max/year)
State Farm Visa Platinum Rewards - 1% rebate on everything (no limit)

My Citi card has paid me $430 over the past two years. This means my wisdom teeth I just had removed were FREE.

My gas card gets me 5% back so when I fill up with $3/gal gas I save $.15 on every gal.

My State Farm card just paid my truck insurance with the rebate. It does this every year (or 6 months - I don't pay the bills so I don't know). My wife says that we have got back over $1500 on the card since we have had it.

I rarely carry cash and use my cards to pay for everything. Some cards (Citi in particular) pay extra for shopping at certain places. I save 6% on overstock.com and target.com to give an example.

That's all I have to say...

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

I have my alaska airlines creditcard that i use for everything. Absolutely everything actually just for the air miles. It also gives me massive discounts at hotels and rental car agencies. For example. I was going to rent a car in daytona FL. They said it would be $400 for a week to rent a large 4 door sedan. With my AK airlines card, the dropped it to less than $200. No idea how they're making money that way, but it saved me alot of money in the end.
I do use my airmiles but only when it saves me money of course. I still find the cheapest airline tickets on orbitz.com. So sometimes I have to shop around and i can get a free ticket with airmiles if I fly out of chicago. So i end up paying for the $100 ticket from nashville to chicago. But that way, i still saved myself 700 out of the 800 it was going to cost me to just outright buy the ticket on orbitz or where ever.
Now that I won't be flying as often though i'm thinking about switching to a rebate card. Though i'm not sure.

Pitlab77

iTrader: (3)

i use mine like a debt card.

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

Exactly, i dont carry debt, ever.

TonyC

a credit card "game" with *****:
http://app-o-rama.com/