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Rewards Tally Update

November 3rd, 2011 at 02:14 pm

I redeemed $310 in free gift cards today. I used some other gift cards to buy a kindle cover for my mom, and a new lunch bag for BM (Amazon).

I have updated rewards tally to reflect that I was able to squeeze $310 from Citi. ($10 was unexpected!). I also added smaller rewards - Target and visa.

The only thing I have yet to redeem is some SW gift cards - should be available in about a week. Then we can resuming closing cards again. Dh has 3 cards to close - I have just one. They have all been paid off, so not much to keep track of at this point.

UPDATED TALLY:

$1230 cash (Chase Sapphire $1030 + Chase Frdm $200)
$1580 gift cards (Citi $500 + SW $515 + SW $565)
$100 gift cards-Amazon- Citi for trying to close card
$310 gift cards Citi
-$99 annual fee (SW card)
+$99 annual fee refunded when closed card
-$69 Fee (SW card)
*Will they refund this one too?*
-$23 lost value for exchanging some Citi gift cards for cash and amazon gift cards
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$3128 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

+$ 500 deposit to ROTH (Fidelity Am Ex - 2% cash back)
+$ 80 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)
+$ 35 Visa Rewards (1% cash back - for places that don't take AmEx)
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=$3743 TOTAL REWARDS 2011
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I generally only use one primary rewards card, but since the AmEx is not taken everywhere, really have to rely on 2 cards. Target card adds another inconvenience factor, but the rewards sure add up!! (In addition, earned $16 for the kids' school, with Target card - 1%). So, it is working out well. What I have bee doing is paying off the smaller cards the first of every month (the second the cards close for the month). This really lessens the hassle factor. Not much to think about or remember. The negative red balances (Credit card balances) in Quicken is all I really need as a visual reminder that I now regularly pay off 3 credit cards instead of just one. Of course, I just pay online through my credit union, with the rest of the bills - VERY EASY.

2 Responses to “Rewards Tally Update”

  1. librarylady Says:
    1320342360

    Wow! That is amazing. Doesn't it hurt your credit rating to open get the cards and then close the account?

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    1320343729

    No - I have a long history of excellent credit - it seems to make no difference. If I lose 20-30 points, temporarily, off of a 830 score, big whoop... Still a better FICO than most.

    Paying balance on time 100% and focusing on utilization (below 10%) seems to be the only things that really matter in the long run. Maybe having a mortgage helps, since the only other thing we have on our reports is credit cards (no other loans). Besides these points, we do everything else *wrong.* I opened 3 cards or so in 3 months, and I never keep old cards if I don't utilize them - so my open credit history is terrible (one year?). FICO was officially 785 when I applied with Citi (they told me my FICO score when they checked). IT might have got knocked down from 800 or 820. It will be back over 800 when I close all the cards - give it a few months. For lending (& other) purposes 750 is the same as 850, anyway. So it makes no difference.

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