{"id":7315,"date":"2009-07-23T20:00:55","date_gmt":"2009-07-24T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=7315"},"modified":"2009-07-23T20:00:55","modified_gmt":"2009-07-24T00:00:55","slug":"leveraging-grocery-rewards-and-other-rants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/leveraging-grocery-rewards-and-other-rants\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging Grocery Rewards, and Other Rants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I reviewed the Asiana\/Bank of America Amex.<\/a> In the review, I noted that they give you three miles for every dollar spent at grocery stores.\u00a0\u00a0 I also mentioned that you could take advantage of these higher reward levels in non grocery stores by purchasing gift cards at your grocer.<\/p>\n

Buy Everything At the Grocery Store?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Later I received a question from a reader asking if this would work for other cards.\u00a0\u00a0 The answer is yes, it sure would.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My local grocery stores have practically an entire aisle devoted to gift cards from seemingly ever brand name in the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When I purchase a gift card at the grocery store, it is still a grocery store purchase.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have seen gift cards from American Airlines, department stores, and all sorts of other companies.<\/p>\n

That said, there is a little risk in this strategy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First of all, stores sell gift cards to lock you into spending at a certain retailer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you American Airlines gift cards, and then later find a better deal on another airline,\u00a0 you are out of luck.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the other hand, if you live in Dallas and know that you will fly American every week, it is a no brainer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another reason gift cards are offered everywhere is that it is well known that a certain percentage of them will never be used.\u00a0\u00a0 They are lost, stolen, or simply forgotten.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In some instances, customers make a $90 charge on a $100 gift card, and then the remaining $10 never gets spent.\u00a0\u00a0 In other instances, gift cards have monthly “services fees” or expiration dates that cut into their balances.<\/p>\n

This strategy is not for everyone, but if your spending with a particular merchant is assured, and there is a major bonus for grocery stores, it seems like it would be a good way to go.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, if your store will sell you generic Amex gift cards, that would be an almost foolproof way to go.\u00a0\u00a0 Your only concerns would be keeping track of the cards, and not giving your credit card company a loan by ing too many too early.<\/p>\n

Rants<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am getting really annoyed by ever credit card company calling me back with some kind of survey after every single contact.\u00a0\u00a0 Like telemarketers of old, these calls come at the worst time, during diner or when I am trying to put my toddler to sleep.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frankly, there is no good time.\u00a0\u00a0 Clearly, I am not shy with my opinions, yet I just don’t want to do this work for them for free on my time.<\/p>\n

If they want my opinion so badly, they should have a research company pay me to participate in an interview or a focus group.\u00a0\u00a0 I have done these before, and I usually get about $50 an hour or more for my time.<\/p>\n

Online Statements Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently signed up for a new credit card from CitiBank, largely, if not exclusively for the sign up bonus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To simplify matters, I chose to get my statements online.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bad idea.\u00a0\u00a0 I merely get a notice that my statement is ready, then I have to go their website and create a login.\u00a0\u00a0 When I have completed that ordeal, I have to parse through their website to determine the only two pieces of information that I care about:\u00a0\u00a0 What was the entire balance of my last statement, and when is it due.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Worse, with some of the cards that I have signed up for online statements, I have not been consistent in sending me the notification!<\/p>\n

These days, snail mail is still more reliable than email.\u00a0\u00a0 Furthermore, anyone in the entire world <\/em>can send you a phishing <\/a>attempt in an email that is almost indistinguishable from the real deal.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the other hand, a fake bill sent through the United States Postal Service would easily recognized if sent from outside of the country, not to mention being a Federal Crime.<\/p>\n

In a perfect world, a complete copy of the bill would be emailed to me when my statement closes, with a paper copy on it’s way if I do not acknowledge the electronic copy within a few days.\u00a0 Until then, I am sticking to paper statements from now on, even though I can still view them online.<\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Luckovich is the Pulitzer Prize<\/a> winning political cartoonist over of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The other day, he came up with this humdinger of a cartoon about credit card fees.<\/a>\"mike0719\"<\/p>\n

The cartoon is great, but I am not sure about the timing, considering the Credit Card Bill of Rights has already past.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps there was a case in Atlanta where a mother had to put her child in foster care due to credit card debt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I reviewed the Asiana\/Bank of America Amex. In the review, I noted that they give you three miles for every dollar spent at grocery stores.\u00a0\u00a0 I also mentioned that you could take advantage of these higher reward levels in non grocery stores by purchasing gift cards at your grocer. Buy Everything At the Grocery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLeveraging Grocery Rewards, and Other Rants<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/leveraging-grocery-rewards-and-other-rants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leveraging Grocery Rewards, and Other Rants\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday, I reviewed the Asiana\/Bank of America Amex. 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