Turn lemons into lemonade! This is how we turn the painful gas prices into a rewarding experience. If you don't already have a credit card that has rewards, research card companies that have great rewards. We use a Chase card and often they have a promotion that will reward 5% on everything purchased at a gas station, including the convenience store. We have to buy gas, we use the card. If you are a cash-only person, when you buy the gas on the card, take the same amount in cash and put it in an envelope.
And if you are out with the family and need a quick drink or lunch, don't stop at a drive through, go to a gas/convenience store and get the family meal there. Benefits: everyone can stretch their legs, bathroom breaks, healthier food choices, cheaper drink choices, AND the rewards that come with that spending.
Discover is long known as the "card that pays you back", but my Discover cash back rate is 1/4%. I get 20 times that much with my Chase card. And we save all our rewards up over a year's time and then use those rewards to help pay for our annual vacation. You'll be amazed at how quickly you will accumulate rewards!
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I really am happy that you love your Chevy Chase Bank "Chase" Card. You have not been their "victim" yet. I have. Here is a court victory against Chase. There are many, many sites you could go to find out about not just Chase but almost all the big bank Cards.
www.atomicweb.com/
www.pcpursuits.com/
I had a Bank One credit card for years and paid 2% above prime interest. It was so low, I used it to remodel my house ($15,000).
It was December 2005, and I believe we were watching a 60-Minutes report on Chase customers and how having a Chase card had thrown their lives into absolute turmoil. I didn't even know that I would be a Chase victim. I told my husband, I am so glad we don't have a Chase card. Those poor people.
I opened up my mail and there was a Chase Card with my name on it. BankOne had sold my account to Chase. Within two months Chase raised the interest rate on my existing balance (these were charges made under the original terms of my BankOne Card) to over 30% with absolutely no explanation. My payment went from $300 to almost $1200 a month. I had no late payments ever on my Credit Report or with BankOne. Perfect Credit.
Ralph Nadar jumped onboard, and class action lawsuits were filed. Chase bought credit cards where people had great credit and never ever made late payments. Then they jacked up the interest rate, assuming that these wonderful people that adored their stellar credit ratings would anti up rather than lose their ability to have credit. Well they put many people right into bankruptcy, ruined their credit rating, showered them with incredulous fees, and laughed all the way back to their shareholders. Ironically the banking industry lobbied Congress and passed legislation exempting credit card debt from most bankruptcies.
Even though they lost the court case, have to repay money, and erase bad credit ratings from their victim's credit reports, it does not undo the damage that victims suffered for years, trying to make the outrageous payments, trying to hold onto their homes, unable to use their phone because of unrelenting credit collection calls. My cell phone lay idle for months, because Chase dominated it 24 hours a day. With all the fees no amount of money mailed into Chase lowered the total amount due more than a few dollars.
I'm glad you were not one of their victims. But thousands and thousands of us were not so lucky. Thanks to Chase, I may never have good credit again, because even though they have been court ordered to clear negative reporting from our credit reports, it doesn't help to clear the other bad ratings that occurred when we couldn't pay our other bills on time because we were struggling so hard to line Chase's pockets with gold.
Not everyone is going to get a credit card and have the option or discipline to pay it off in full every month. These will be Chase's and other credit card companies who play under the "new rules" future victims. Please be careful.
I use my USAA debit cards for all of my purchases, including gas. This also helps with costs by giving me money for my purchases but also keeps me from racking up credit card debit because I am "saving" money. You don't have to use a credit card to get free money anymore! YAY!!! =)
Discover has a gas card that offers 5% back beginning
with first purchase, i.e. no minimum must be met.
Application here:
Discover Card that you were talking about can help you save not jut 5%, but up to 10% if you redeem your cash back balance for gift cards or shop at Discover shopping network. There's also a BP card that saves 10% and a few more that save more than 5% on gas purchases. Check out these sites to see them all:
www.PumpAndSave.com
http://www.pumpandsave.com
CreditCardMix
www.creditcardmix.com/
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