Credit card rewards programs - do you partake?

[Bimwad]

I've never been one to get into rewards programs, like the airline mile credit cards, or frequent flyer programs. I don't travel frequently enough, and it's not worth the effort to me to track, and keep up with the expiration dates and dwindling benefits each time an airline merges or goes bankrupt.

Yet, the two cards I do carry have auto-enrolled general rewards programs, and I find myself with a fair number of points that have accumulated over time.

Since they're essentially worthless if not spent, the question is, how to spend them?

Amongst the various ways to cash out, some are noticeably poorer "value" than others, like payment credits, ordering mechandise directly, or using them to pay for purchases at retailers like Amazon. The better values seem to involve travel (see above), or exchanging them for gift cards. From what I've read, the $0.01/point redemption value seems to be benchmark average.

For those who do partake in this kind of stuff, is that the consensus?

It's all gravy to me, but extracting the most value is still desirable.

[graylocks]

The best value for me is cash. All of my cards are cash rewards cards. All accounts are paid in full monthly. I get cash back for something I was going to buy anyway.

[Markintosh]

I find with mine that redemptions for travel sometimes end up being better than cash...had the best luck with car rentals.

[silvarios]

Mine gives points that can be used to pay off my bill or sometimes pay directly at places like Amazon or I can cash in for other deals. I use it, but it's not the best rewards plan in the world.

[davester]

It's the only way we can do world travel on a budget. We play the airline miles game intently, and travel all over the world on a pittance. Almost every dollar we spend is channelled through our miles cards and we regularly switch credit cards so that we can get big introductory bonus miles offers. Between my wife and I we currently have about 500,000 miles, good for about 4 roundtrips for both of us to most places on earth (and that's after we cashed in a bunch of miles for an epic Turkey/Spain/France trip last summer). The cash back cards would be a better value if it wasn't for those bonus offers and the ability to do stopovers on the miles cards.

[Michael]

I only use cash back cards but my daughter and her husband does the kind of world travel for a pittance that davester is talking about. She is currently doing something with a couple of different cards and the Target billpay system that allows her to funnel a large number of purchases into cards that have big points for travel. I think she's found that transferring those points to the Hyatt system, as well as for flights, allows her to travel and stay for free. I think she gets most of her ideas from here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz-370/

[Speedy]

I fly about once a year. I have never joined a frequent flyer program, rather I take the cheapest flight. I should have joined decades ago but didn't. I have a Sears MasterCard (through Citibank) that I use when I need a card which is often enough that I have enough points to get a $750 gift card for Sears or $400 for a gift card for a number of other companies that I patronize. I probably should use the points before Sears goes belly-up but I don't need anything that Sears sells.

[testcase]

Cash back from Discover Card. For 30+ years now! Amazon will, with my authorization, track my Cash Back rewards and, allow me to apply them to Amazon purchases. No "Black Out" dates / restrictions to worry about. No miles that might expire. Customer Service at Discover Card is generally excellent.

[dmann]

I should pay more attention to the programs than I do. My business CC gives me points that I usually turn in for Amazon GCs. I have made some fun purchases that way (kitchen appliances, household goods) and bought a bigger TV than I would have otherwise.

One of my personal cards also gives me points that I sometimes convert to cash or use for travel.

Like I said, I should probably pay more attention to the options, especially with for my business CC.

DM

[Fritz]

I did math this year for citi points. Turned out that a ss roaster was a better use then cash back.
I used some site that told me the value of point vs $ or travel or merch etc.
We needed a roaster anyway. I "paid" $25" more then the best rice for the same item.
This might have been the site, but I'm not sure.