Do you aggressively pursue rewards from credit cards and banks?

[cbgg]

Disclaimer: Obviously I know that no one here caries a balance on their credit cards.  I have never, and will never carry a balance and my husband and I have zero problem controlling ourselves with credit cards


There are some great looking rewards to be had from credit cards and bank accounts if you are willing to "play the game."  If you aren't aware of this, check out sites like http://travelhacking.org/ or even MMM's recomended credit cards: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/credit-cards/

Do you aggressively pursue these offers and milk them for all they are worth?  Is it really worth it? 

I've personally always preferred a low administration, sustainable approach.  I chose a good no fee bank account and have stuck with it for years, and a zero fee credit card that pays 1% cash back (with a few bonuses) and stay away from other complicated offerings.   I like to make a good decision 1x and not have to revisit it often.

This was all fine and good until my husband decided that he wanted to take advantage of more offers and is signing up for credit cards with fancy rewards.  For example, he signed up for two new cards and each needs to be used for different purchase types to maximize rewards.  The rewards are pretty high but seem a little complicated, and after a year the value of the rewards will have to be traded off against annual fees.  He similarly signed up for a bank account that gets him some sort of reward (or something, I've lost track). 

To me it seems too error prone to have all these cards floating around and like it's too good to be true (one card has a $400 bonus...seems insane).  I also have a gut feeling that while we may rack up lots of points we may not actually get to use them since they are spread across different cards.  It could also maybe have some implications for identity theft or our credit rating? (I'm not really even sure why I care about our credit rating since we don't plan to borrow any money in the foreseeable future...)

What do you think?  Have you tried it?  Was it worth it?  Am I overestimating the hassle? 

[Emilyngh]

I credit card churn.   Doing this I've made $2,150 tax free in the past year with minimal effort (so far I haven't done any manufactured spending beyond using amazon payments).   So yes, I think it's worth it.

[Hugh H]

I did for a while, but my credit score took a big hit (Applied for a bunch of credit cards in the span of several months to reap rewards). I know it will recover, but it might affect me if I want to go for a real estate deal, for example.

[Thegoblinchief]

It's not for me.

[SDREMNGR]

I don't know if you can do it more than once.  My wife and I did a few of them and got about $2000 out of them and more credit.  It's a bit of a pain to keep track but worth it I think.

[Catbert]

I try to keep my life simple so I don't churn CCs.  I'm just disorganized enough that I know I would screw it up every once in a while and wipe out the gains made.  Things like forgetting to cancel the card before the yearly fee accrues, spending $3999. on a card instead of $4000 to get the bonus, confusing two similar looking cards, etc.  YMMV.

[Cpa Cat]

I only have two cards and I already feel like I need a cheat-sheet to remember which one I should use where. My husband has a third travel-type rewards card and I know he never remembers how to juggle the three and just ends up using that one for everything.

I don't mind too much. Our three cards have no annual fees, so accruing awards is strictly passive. We put in zero thought/effort and still get a marginal return, so that's a great deal!

[LalsConstant]

Well, don't assume no one here carries a balance.  I used to be horrible with credit cards.  I'm sure there's some people here who are working toward not being horrible.  And occassionally there's someone who has a really good aribtrage opportunity, it's not my thing, but it happens sometimes.

As a result I tend to churn savings products more than credit products.  Like opening accounts to get $100, making automatic deposits to get $25, stuff like that.  That way I'm generally milking something I feel more comfortable doing.

These opportunities aren't as plentiful of course.

I did get an offer recently from Discovercard that promised $75 cash back if I made $1000 of charges by July 31.  I spent all of ten minutes trying to think if there was going to be something I could charge for that much by then.  I do have a couple of insurance premiums that are going to be close to that, but not quite.

I don't want to use it for my regular stuff, because habit, or thinking "I need to make that thousand dollars I better buy more stuff!" and getting into a false economy situation.

So if I can't think of an easy, non disruptive way to take advantage, I won't.  It's better imho to keep my habits that keep me from getting into financial trouble again.

I can see how someone whose "job" is managing their own money (as opposed to learning to not be an idiot, which is my real "job") would be aggressive with it though.

[matchewed]

Seems like an awful lot of work and research for little benefit. But hey if your good at it and like it...

[zarfus]

I do, haven't bought a plane ticket with money....ever.

[Jamesqf]

Agressively, no, but to some degree - say one new card a year or so.  For me, it's not so much the immediate signing bonus, or the rewards, but the ones that keep offering a year or more at 0% interest.  So I get one of those, put most of my spending on it for a year, meanwhile stashing the money in my mutual fund account, and pay it off just before the end of the free period.

[ritchie70]

After a fashion.

I put as much as I can on one of my rewards cards and pay it off every month, figuring that a free 1% is a good thing.

Once or twice a year, Discover sends me an offer like "$100 bonus rewards if you spend $1000 in the next two months." So I call them up and use my Discover card enough to earn their $100 credit, then I go back to the other card.

[katie]

I do.  I don't hit it hard by any means and I use it to get really nice seats on flights.  It is pretty much the only way I can get my husband to travel far with me since he is tall.  I am still spending the same amount on traveling, but now my accommodations are much, much nicer.

[ruthiegirl]

Not aggressively, but I do get $400-500 a year with cash back on a couple of different cards.  It is as much as I can handle. 

[nvmama]

I do it a little bit.  For example, if we have a big purchase coming up (such as my husband needs new tools, or lately he wants a shed), we will wait until we get a good offer.  Recently I just got a spend $1000 with in 3 months, get 50,000 points (which is about $500 in travel or gift card).   I will then pay off the charge when we get it, collect my rewards and if necessary cancel the card (however, I only really do that with ones that will have an annual fee after the first year). 

For our everyday spending, I do maximize different credit cards for the most rewards points.  For example, I have one card for gas(5% cash back immediately credited on each statement), one for groceries (3% cash back), one for restaurants (5% cash back) We don't go often, but when we do that's the card we use, and an everyday card for other purchases (1.23% cash back).  I label the cards with a sharpie for my husband to keep them separate.

[hybrid]

No, we have the Costco AMEX we use it like a debit card (paying in full when the balance comes in) and in February we get a check in the $500 range. Kudos to those that have the time and energy to play the game.

[Dr. Doom]

I don't do it.  Honestly because I'm lazy.  I recognize it's a cool optimization and it can feel good (Take that, Mr. Bank!  I'm ripping your ass off!) but it's way too much effort for me personally.  Plus I spend so much little money in general that the 1-3% rewards on low dollar amounts don't account for much.

So I put nearly everything on the same Discover and collect 1%, much lower maintenance, no wasted thoughts about this sort of thing.  When they don't take that I use a Costco Amex.  Finally I fall back to an Amazon Visa if neither of those work.  3 cards workflow, end of game.

[rusty]

For our everyday spending, I do maximize different credit cards for the most rewards points.  For example, I have one card for gas(5% cash back immediately credited on each statement), one for groceries (3% cash back), one for restaurants (5% cash back) We don't go often, but when we do that's the card we use, and an everyday card for other purchases (1.23% cash back).  I label the cards with a sharpie for my husband to keep them separate.

Could you name the different cards that offer these rewards?  I use a standard 1% card, but would like to analyze what I spend and see what I am missing compared to using multiple cards.

[Mr. Frugalwoods]

For the average person I'm not sure it makes sense to chase rewards.  At the very least it requires a really good attention to detail to avoid being charged fees that will totally negate the benefits.

But there are a couple of situations where it really makes sense:

• If you travel a lot for work, definitely get the cards for your preferred hotel and airline if you are allowed to book your own travel.  This can be lucrative, since you aren't spending your own money but you are accruing points.  Different companies have different rules about this, so make sure you check before assuming this is possible.
• If you do purchasing for work, get a card where you often make reimbursable purchases.  For me, this is the Amazon card.  Whenever we have a new hire we order a computer and a laptop... and I get the amazon rewards.  This adds up fast.
• If you love to travel and you have a way to hit minimum spending requirements for credit card bonuses.  This quickly can become a consuming hobby, but for the right person can pay off in cheap travel.  I've also seen people who go overboard and make poor travel financial decisions to accrue "loyalty" that they aren't able to fully use.  So go into it with a clear head.

[nvmama]

For our everyday spending, I do maximize different credit cards for the most rewards points.  For example, I have one card for gas(5% cash back immediately credited on each statement), one for groceries (3% cash back), one for restaurants (5% cash back) We don't go often, but when we do that's the card we use, and an everyday card for other purchases (1.23% cash back).  I label the cards with a sharpie for my husband to keep them separate.

Could you name the different cards that offer these rewards?  I use a standard 1% card, but would like to analyze what I spend and see what I am missing compared to using multiple cards.

Sure.  For gas we have a Penfed visa platinum cash rewards card. its 5% for gas, but less then 1% for everything else, so we only use it for gas.  For our grocery shopping it is American Express Blue cash every day card.  This is 3% groceries, 2% gas stations and department stores, and 1% for everything else.  We use the Citi Forward card for 5% on restaurants.  It also gives 5% for bookstores, movie theaters, and Amazon purchases.  And for everything else (walmart, salvation army, and any bills I can charge) goes on out Capital one venture card which is 1.25% for everything.  I have recently heard of another capitol one card that does 1.5% for every purchase, but I haven't looked into it mush yet.

[kpd905]

Seems like an awful lot of work and research for little benefit. But hey if your good at it and like it...

My fiance and I got about $5600 worth of flights, hotel stays and statement credits last year, bring our travel budget near zero while still taking two week long vacations.  I see it as more than a little benefit, since we were then able to invest that money instead.