Gas Credit Cards

Costco VISA. Get a couple grand back each year.

I once had a Shell credit card and my local station was on my block. When I was laid off from my job, I wrote a letter to Shell, saying I wanted to keep the card, and I would pay something every month without fail. My card was cancelled and I was in collection status in three days.

Gdetrailer wrote:

I "earn" much more than $250 per yr on just 200 shares of stocks that pays a min of $.40 dividends per share per quarter.. That IS real "earnings" unlike the "cash back" credit card scam and I DIDN'T "spend" or lose money in the process.

You don't even have to buy individual stocks, there are "money markets" that also offer quarterly dividends.

CC cash back programs encourage spending, they encourage folks to pile on more on the cards than they would typically spend.. It is a "carrot" being dangled..

$250 per yr boils down to a "reward" of a measly $20 per month and to get that you will have to put $12,000-$36,000 in charges to get it depending on percentage back offered..

Granted, you could put rent, mortgage, car, electric, phone, gas and more bills on it, but now you get slapped around with a single $1,000-$3,000 CC "payment" every month.. Without ever seeing exactly what you spent and on what or knowing exactly where your money goes is a dangerous place to go..

It is too little, too late and too low of a "hanging fruit" to be of any "savings value".

You want real money, there ARE better ways to earn it that can substantially be more than any measly 1%-5% cash back CC.

I have a family member that used the zero percent "transfers" thing for many yrs, hasn't worked out well.. Can't afford to sell his home and move to a better place due to continual remortgaging to cover his bills and has more owed than the value of his home, can't afford a new vehicle, CCs are maxed out all the time, barely able to pay the min payment due so he barely gets by.

He is older than I and yet I have retired as of last yr at the ripe age of 55.. He is out of luck unless some "rich aunt" that I am not aware of dies and leaves here entire estate to him..

I guess I have done things all wrong..

CC cash backs are nothing but a toy, not worth bothering with..

You clearly do not understand the conversation or lack the self control to use a credit card as a financial tool. For someone talking big of your investing options you are willing to forgo 2-5% income on cash that will be spent regardless of payment method. Some of us take entire vacations for free based on rewards points or cash back and pay zero interest. If your total budget is a couple hundred dollars per month probably does not make a difference. But if it is several thousand that is a pretty big lost opportunity cost.

And when I spend $36k on my card it is over $1k in benefits, not $250. Not sure where you came up with that number.

rk911 wrote:
our preference for fuel stops in the MH is Flying J so we have their Pilot/Fkying J RV Plus Card charge card. we have a Pilot near our home so we tend to gas the cars there. the card gets us a $0.05 p/g discount. otherwise we just use our Discover card. we stopped carrying gas CCs decades ago.

We use our Good Sam "Swipe and Save" card for the $0.05/gallon discount at PFJ's, and then pay with our PenFed Cash Rewards Visa card that adds an additional 5% rebate. It all adds up...

One Christmas we bought Kroger/Frys gift cards for the family at 4x points. Wound up with $1.40 off per gallon of gas. Filled 35 gallons (Kroger limit) at $1.00/gal (max allowed) off and then another 35 gallons at $0.40/gal off on diesel.

PLUS the bill is paid that month with my 5% cash back CC. That's 5% subtracted from that months bill - not a year later!

I swear that they will start paying me to buy fuel. :B:B:B

Yeah MH is thirsty. Krogers is smart - most cars take way less that 35 gallons and no carry over. I game the system.

I've also bought Home Depot gift cards for myself.

fj12ryder wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
I haven't paid a dime of credit card interest in probably 30 years, that's a fool's game.

X2 Dear Fool's, Thank you for the interest free loan. Bob

And the merchant increase in price to cover their CC costs well that is the cost of doing business today.

Yep, except for gas and a few other items, you'll pay the same whether you use a card or pay cash. I have negotiated a price cut for paying cash, but it doesn't happen often. Like you say the price reflects the CC costs regardless.

my experience as well. We pay off the CC every month, don't pay a dime in interest and collect the benefits offered and don't have CC that have any annual fees. I don't "decide" what to buy based on CC "points, cash back or whatever". We just spend like we normally would but use the CC, in fact that makes it easier to see where expenses are going as well. And instead of monthly bills coming from the checking account, if the utility etc. takes CC w/o any fees, it goes on the CC. In the end, we get 5% + usually Kroger points on gas, and enough points on our Visa card to pay for all our airline tickets for planned travel every year.

Green Goblin wrote:
I have been researching credit cards and gas cards for the last couple years now. One of the cards that has the best returns is a Shell card. What comes in second is Chase. Given that RVing requires a lot of gas and utilities (lp tanks) that get purchased at gas stations. What do you use for a CC? There isn't one universal card for Coast to Coast use because most gas stations are typically grouped into regions. What I have found, for myself, is my REI credit card. The 2% I will get back is used for camping gear replacement every year. I will probably average into the 100s to a 1000 as I already get back about 250$ each year with normal use. So what do you use for coast to coast use?

I mostly use the Costco Visa, but also have the REI card same as you, and BofA visa for mostly business. REI is spent at the store, other two give cash.
Chase is on my cancel list as they backed out of an agreement. By the time the NY AG made them retract the change, the scramble on my finances had already been done.

CA Traveler wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
I haven't paid a dime of credit card interest in probably 30 years, that's a fool's game.

X2 Dear Fool's, Thank you for the interest free loan. Bob

And the merchant increase in price to cover their CC costs well that is the cost of doing business today.

Yep, except for gas and a few other items, you'll pay the same whether you use a card or pay cash. I have negotiated a price cut for paying cash, but it doesn't happen often. Like you say the price reflects the CC costs regardless.

fj12ryder wrote:
I haven't paid a dime of credit card interest in probably 30 years, that's a fool's game.

X2 Dear Fool's, Thank you for the interest free loan. Bob

And the merchant increase in price to cover their CC costs well that is the cost of doing business today.

Gdetrailer wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
My thought about cash back cards is that you're going to buy stuff anyway, why not get a bit of it back. Yeah, maybe sometimes I buy a couple extra things because it isn't "cash", but most of what is purchased would be gotten anyway. I haven't paid a dime of credit card interest in probably 30 years, that's a fool's game.

Yeah, I'll take my $250 check from Costco and enjoy every dime.

The Costco card is what we use for gasoline and diesel. I don't really see how getting a few cents/gallon back doesn't work in my favor. I'm going to buy it anyway, and every little bit helps. Costco gas around here is the cheapest, plus the money back. Win, win. But we only fill up there when we are at Costco anyway.

I "earn" much more than $250 per yr on just 200 shares of stocks that pays a min of $.40 dividends per share per quarter.. That IS real "earnings" unlike the "cash back" credit card scam and I DIDN'T "spend" or lose money in the process.

You don't even have to buy individual stocks, there are "money markets" that also offer quarterly dividends.

CC cash back programs encourage spending, they encourage folks to pile on more on the cards than they would typically spend.. It is a "carrot" being dangled..

$250 per yr boils down to a "reward" of a measly $20 per month and to get that you will have to put $12,000-$36,000 in charges to get it depending on percentage back offered..

Granted, you could put rent, mortgage, car, electric, phone, gas and more bills on it, but now you get slapped around with a single $1,000-$3,000 CC "payment" every month.. Without ever seeing exactly what you spent and on what or knowing exactly where your money goes is a dangerous place to go..

It is too little, too late and too low of a "hanging fruit" to be of any "savings value".

You want real money, there ARE better ways to earn it that can substantially be more than any measly 1%-5% cash back CC.

I have a family member that used the zero percent "transfers" thing for many yrs, hasn't worked out well.. Can't afford to sell his home and move to a better place due to continual remortgaging to cover his bills and has more owed than the value of his home, can't afford a new vehicle, CCs are maxed out all the time, barely able to pay the min payment due so he barely gets by.

He is older than I and yet I have retired as of last yr at the ripe age of 55.. He is out of luck unless some "rich aunt" that I am not aware of dies and leaves here entire estate to him..

I guess I have done things all wrong..

CC cash backs are nothing but a toy, not worth bothering with..

Wow, you are waaaaay out in left field. If you have to spend X number of dollars on gas, how do you pay for it? If you get a cash refund of 1.5% on every dollar you spend on fuel, how is that a bad thing? If you spend X number of dollars on groceries, and you get 2% cash back refund, again, how is that a bad thing? These are things you have to buy, unless of course, you're totally self-sufficient, or without the need for food and fuel.

This isn't an investment strategy, geeze where did that come from. This is getting money back for things you're going to have to buy anyway. I have investments that earned me a hundred grand this year, and this has nothing to do with that.

Obviously I'm not as wealthy as you are, if I see a couple hundred dollars that cost me nothing, then I'll go for it. Actually works out to around $400 for the year from two different cards. I'm blue collar enough that free money, and it is free money regardless of how you feel about it, is nothing to sneeze at. What's chump change to you will buy me several tanks of fuel to go traveling with.

We'll just have agree to disagree.