What rewards cards do you have?

[GotRice?]

So, recently I thought about signingup for a couple rewards cards. ie.Airmiles and such. Before I never really bothered but now I realized that I could have racked up alot of points in the past and could have got some free stuff. Free is good.

My question is, what rewards cards do you have and what have you got from it so far?

[taemo]

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/337298/bm...es-mastercard/

I have airmiles card and BMO Gold Mastercard, my gf and I personal accounts are linked to it as well, fuel up at Shell, stay at Holiday Inn on business trips and rent Budget or National to maximize airmiles collection.

Just trying to save enough points for a free flight for us in the state next year, then I'm switching to my cash back credit card.

[Pacman]

The only card I have is a RBC Visa Avion card. I have only used the points once to book flights to Maui, and it was painless and easy to do.

We recently booked flights using Aeroplan (my wife has over 400,000 points that we are trying to burn up) and I found it to be a very frustrating experience, as the flights were limited with lots of layovers.

[eblend]

MBNA cash back card for me, Aeroplan card for flights to vancouver and such, Speedpass (linked to aeroplan) for fuel and 1.5 cents discount at esso, petropoints (to convert to asia miles for flights) and Sobeys card (auto convert to aeroplan). That's all I can think of.

[eblend]

Originally posted by Pacman

We recently booked flights using Aeroplan (my wife has over 400,000 points that we are trying to burn up) and I found it to be a very frustrating experience, as the flights were limited with lots of layovers.

Me and my friend went to China last year via Aeroplan, so it is possible, just have to book way in advance. When he booked his, mine became unavailable, but we kept checking a few times a day and the flight showed up again, and we were able to book the second seat.

[Pacman]

Originally posted by eblend


Me and my friend went to China last year via Aeroplan, so it is possible, just have to book way in advance. When he booked his, mine became unavailable, but we kept checking a few times a day and the flight showed up again, and we were able to book the second seat.

We were booking last minute. It helped that we were open to Boston, New York, Chicago, LA, Vegas etc.

Most of the cities had silly 8 hour layovers, but we managed to snag LA flights with a quick 1 hour stop over in Denver.

[Khyron]

I've gotten a 58inch TV, over 1,000 dollars in groceries, a trip for 2 to Amsterdam, couple of 20$ gift cards and 600 bucks off my washer/dryer.

Assuming you pay it off every month, you'd be crazy not to use a rewards card of some sort for every single purchase you can.

Right now I'm just getting the 1% back for superstore groceries as the 3% sears point trick was fixed a few years ago. Some of the better rewards have yearly membership fees which eats into the value.

[boarderfatty]

TD First Class Travel Visa
American Business Gold Rewards Card
Wyndham Rewards
Starwood Rewards
Marriot Points
Airmiles
Aeroplan
Safeway
Sobeys
Save-on
Denny's

The Only ones I carry on me though are the credit cards, Denny's and Save-on. I will never really randomly stop by any of the others to make a purchase so I will only grab them if i know I am heading there.

[GotRice?]

Originally posted by eblend
MBNA cash back card for me, Aeroplan card for flights to vancouver and such, Speedpass (linked to aeroplan) for fuel and 1.5 cents discount at esso, petropoints (to convert to asia miles for flights) and Sobeys card (auto convert to aeroplan). That's all I can think of.

So you are collecting both Aeroplan AND Essopoints for this combo? If so, I think I'll sign up for the Aeroplan as well because right now I have an Esso Royal Bank Visa and I only gas up at Esso.

[yellowsnow]

For travel I use TD First Class Infinite; my wife uses her Amex plat aeroplan card (has a $400 annual fee tho).

For everyday expenses I use the MBNA cash back card. 3% on groceries/gas, 1% on everything else.

2 or 3 credit cards is all you need.

[cet]

I have the TD Platinum Travel Visa, Airmiles and Aeroplan. Over the years the Visa/Airmiles have paid for a few flights (US and Europe) and a few hotel stays. I've also been able to claim a rental car on the visa and Disneyland passes from the Airmiles.

[eblend]

Originally posted by GotRice?


So you are collecting both Aeroplan AND Essopoints for this combo? If so, I think I'll sign up for the Aeroplan as well because right now I have an Esso Royal Bank Visa and I only gas up at Esso.

No, just aeroplan, don't collect esso points, you have a choice of one or the other.

[Chandler_Racing]

1. RBC Avion (Personal)
- Ping driver, golf balls, and lawn care products

2. Diner's Club (Corporate)
- This card has a significant part of the companies corporate travel, events, etc.
- The card has 500,000+ points and will likely be used to buy gifts for the staff in my departments.

[Guillermo]

Originally posted by Khyron

Assuming you pay it off every month, you'd be crazy not to use a rewards card of some sort for every single purchase you can.

I agree, and I use my credit card for basically every purchase I make. I pay it off in full each month, and rack up the points.

This seems great, but ultimately it's just taking more money from consumers and turning it into profits for the credit card companies. For every single credit card transaction, the merchant has to pay the credit card up to $4-$5, as well as a percentage of the purchase price on top of that. To cover these fees, the merchant passes the cost on to consumers via increased prices. So while it seems like the rewards give us something for free, in reality, we're just having our money stolen by multinational corporate credit card companies (the rewards cost just a TINY fraction of what the credit card companies make in fees, obviously). The only way to stop this is if everyone stops using their credit cards, but since that won't happen I continue using mine to try and recover at least a tiny fraction of the money I lose through increased prices.

the credit card industry needs to be regulated, but unfortunately they have too much power over government and it likely won't change. meanwhile, credit card companies are making record profits.

[Tomaz]

Airmiles and Safeway Club card. I usually give myself a small vacation to BC every year using Airmiles.

[wintonyk]

Originally posted by Guillermo


I agree, and I use my credit card for basically every purchase I make. I pay it off in full each month, and rack up the points.

This seems great, but ultimately it's just taking more money from consumers and turning it into profits for the credit card companies. For every single credit card transaction, the merchant has to pay the credit card up to $4-$5, as well as a percentage of the purchase price on top of that. To cover these fees, the merchant passes the cost on to consumers via increased prices. So while it seems like the rewards give us something for free, in reality, we're just having our money stolen by multinational corporate credit card companies (the rewards cost just a TINY fraction of what the credit card companies make in fees, obviously). The only way to stop this is if everyone stops using their credit cards, but since that won't happen I continue using mine to try and recover at least a tiny fraction of the money I lose through increased prices.

the credit card industry needs to be regulated, but unfortunately they have too much power over government and it likely won't change. meanwhile, credit card companies are making record profits.

I never thought about it that way but totally makes sense to me. I just screwed over less than the next guy because i pay things off in full.

I have Co-op membership, costco exec (2% cashback), airmiles, scene card and just upgraded to the visa avion.

[eblend]

Originally posted by Guillermo


I agree, and I use my credit card for basically every purchase I make. I pay it off in full each month, and rack up the points.

This seems great, but ultimately it's just taking more money from consumers and turning it into profits for the credit card companies. For every single credit card transaction, the merchant has to pay the credit card up to $4-$5, as well as a percentage of the purchase price on top of that. To cover these fees, the merchant passes the cost on to consumers via increased prices. So while it seems like the rewards give us something for free, in reality, we're just having our money stolen by multinational corporate credit card companies (the rewards cost just a TINY fraction of what the credit card companies make in fees, obviously). The only way to stop this is if everyone stops using their credit cards, but since that won't happen I continue using mine to try and recover at least a tiny fraction of the money I lose through increased prices.


the credit card industry needs to be regulated, but unfortunately they have too much power over government and it likely won't change. meanwhile, credit card companies are making record profits.

Unless something changed since last time I was in the know, there is no "$4/$5" dollar fee + % , it is just a percentage. American Express charges the most, hence why you don't find too many places that accept it. Both debit and credit charge, but debit charges little less and is therefore prefered by small shops (think back to Memory Express back in the day, used to have to pay a surcharge just to use your credit card)

[l/l/rX]

I want to stick with collecting aeroplan miles...

cibc aventura visa infinite or cibc aerogold visa infinite? It seems like the aventura has more flexibility since I can choose any airline outside of Star Alliance, or I can transfer my points over to aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio. The choice seems pretty straight forward ya or am I missing something here?

[eblend]

Originally posted by l/l/rX
I want to stick with collecting aeroplan miles...

cibc aventura visa infinite or cibc aerogold visa infinite? It seems like the aventura has more flexibility since I can choose any airline outside of Star Alliance, or I can transfer my points over to aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio. The choice seems pretty straight forward ya or am I missing something here?

Since you still have to pay taxes on aeroplan purchases, I find that with my cash back I get alot more back in cash than I would with points and can buy my trip a few times over directly with the money I get back before I am able to collect the points needed

[Vagabond142]

Scene card (Cineplex Odeon): For every 9-10 movies, depending on bonus deals for seeing some movies opening weekend, I get a free movie or free concession combo. Basically, it's 11 movies for the price of 10. Also, if you nom on concessions, a scene card gets you 10% off. I see a movie almost every other weekend, so it's worth it.

Chapters card: Meh, it knocks off a buck or two on the price of a book for $25 a year. I buy about 15 books a year, so it pretty much pays itself off. Might not resub this coming year. (It's only really powerful against hardcovers, paperbacks it's only $1 off or so, but it knocks out $4-$8 off hardcovers)

Best Buy Rewards Zone: I only really use BB to buy blu-rays and games, so I'll use it for $$$-off coupons msotly