I had wondered briefly if I had been offered the $1000 deal from Sapphire, anyway. Who knows - I threw the mail version of the offer in the trash without looking at it.

Yesterday I signed up dh for the Citi card - worth $500 in gift cards after annual fee. I decided to take the annual fee since I got so much from the Chase card. Was a small price to pay for the big rewards. & I have a $500 check in the mail - on its way to me from Chase!

I signed up yesterday since I saw the deadline was 6/30. I almost didn't because I thought something better may come along.

Of course, this morning I noticed the paper mail invitation I had set aside. 1 - to remember. 2 - to see if it was a better offer.

Indeed it was! Annual fee waived!! Plus, we only have to spend $1,000 in 3 months to get our reward.

So, if they charge the annual fee, I have an offer code to ask them to remove it. Woohoo. I suppose we will call and ask when we get the card - make sure we only have to spend $1,000.

It looks like I can probably turn these rewards into $475 Amazon gift cards. I was expecting to get much less after fees, etc. Some of the gift cards sites are paying 95 cents on the dollar if you exchange other cards for amazon cards.

It was funny because at first dh thought I should settle for $175 cash. We were arguing a bit. I was telling him "How had is it to sell a gift card? I am going to at least try the gift card thing for $100 and go from there. We will see how it goes. If it is too much hassle - we can take the cash." Of course - once I saw the amazon exchange rate - now he wants me to get $475 in Amazon cards.

Of course, now that we don't have to pay the annual fee, $300 cash, with the push of a button - sounds pretty sweet.

We've got some time to think about it...

Rewards round up for 2011:

$1000 Cash - Chase
$ 600 to ROTH - Fidelity AmEx
$ 475 Amazon gift cards - Citi

It's only 6/30 - the year is only half over - we'd both sign up for another card (each) without a thought. Is it too much to hope for more enticing rewards in 2011? I am curious what the rest of the year brings! IT's already been a record year though, so I will be content if the rewards frenzy ends...

{For reference - we tend to charge most our bills anyway (so we don't have to do anything extraordinary to meet purchase minimums), we ALWAYS pay the balance off monthly, and our 800-ish FICOs seem unaffected by semi-frequent card opening and closings for cash rewards. Once one-time rewards are earned - we immediately close those credit cards. I was blessed to be taught how to handle credit cards versus just fearing them. That said, I don't recommend utilizing these deals if you can't treat your credit card like a debit card, or if you have to rack up expenses that you wouldn't otherwise. Then, it's no deal...}.