Rockler's new Visa card gives a $20 certificate for every $2000 charged. Since I pay my kids tuition bills by credit card and the way SWMBO spends money, I could get some nice (free) tools at Rockler. Is there a catch I have missed? Do the certificates expire at midnight or something?
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You may want to look at MasterCards rewards, Thank you card. I get 5% back on Groceries stores, Gas stations, and Pharmacies. Every thing else gets
1%. Typically I get about $35 to $40 for about $1500 of spending. The Rockler card basically only gives 1% period.and it would appear the Rockler card only gives a certificate good at Rockler. There are better unrestricted deals as you pointed out. I get cash back from Discover every year. I think its about the same order of magnitude you mention on the mastercard.
I have and amazon card that does just that. but gives 3% on amazon purchases. For me, amazon $ aqre as good as cash as my wife is both a student and a book hound.
It may not be hard for you to "find" things to buy at Rockler, but for me, Amazon certificates are about the same as a cash rebate. (That is, unlike other rewards programs with wich I have meen a member, I don't have to "figure out how to spend those points")
-Steve
Yeah, we have the same kind of return from a UPromise Mastercard, which pumps money into a 529 plan for our kids. Pretty nice deal.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. You are buying that $20 certificate just as surely as you bought Green Stamps and every other promotion. mahalo, jo4hn (just off the truck from grumpy city)
It's just like the Canadian Tire master card here in Canada. 1% on all purchase no matter where made and it's either 2 or 3% if the purchase is at Canadian Tire. The catch is the interest rate usually well over 20% the first time you don't pay the whole balance at the end of the month they got ya with usually double in interest compared to what you get in Canadian tire points.
As long as you pay it off every month it's not a bad deal I use mine for all my gas which I have to buy anyway and put our trip to Hawaii on it last year. So far I've got a free Dewalt biscuit cutter, free chain saw, numerous clamps and a bunch of other stuff with my Canadian tire points. Somewhere in the $700 - $800 range total and not a cent of interest paid.
If you can't or don't pay it off every month forget it and go for one of the lower interest bank cards.
Rick
Not necessarily. The card issuer is banking that at some point or another, you will rack up some interest charges, at which point they can get their money back. But it's within your power to keep that from happening. So, if you're smart, lunch isn't free...someone else just picks up the tab.
todd
check and compare interest rates.
Wayne
|Rockler's new Visa card gives a $20 certificate for every $2000 charged. Since |I pay my kids tuition bills by credit card and the way SWMBO spends money, I |could get some nice (free) tools at Rockler. Is there a catch I have missed? |Do the certificates expire at midnight or something?
First, I question why you're shopping at Rockler. On my last two web orders with them when I got the goods, my cc had been charged more than the web order form indicated the charges would be. On the first one it was only a buck and I called them and was told that there had been a price increase on that item. I said I didn't give a rat's ass about their after-the-fact price increase, I wanted the price the web said it would be and they promised a refund to my credit card. Never happened. After it happened the second time, they lost my business.
Second, after you get the card, they can always change the rules. I have a GM card. It used to pay a 5% rebate good for GM car purchases. You could accrue $500/year up to 7 years. They changed it to 1% and won't allow me as a GM retiree to use it at all for employee purchases. Consequently, I don't use the card and I don't buy GM cars (although the new Corvette might change my mind)
I had a First USA card that paid in frequent flyer miles. Their scam was to not credit your payments when received, and charge $35 late fees. This was well documented on a web site, firstusascams.com. (I think they were forced off the air.) There was a class action suit and settlement over this one. They pulled it on me a couple of times and when I called and challenged it they would reverse the charge. They were depending on the fools that carry a balance and don't reconcile their statements, thus never knowing they're being had.
The one we use now is Capital One. They pay in frequent flyer miles, but they also changed the rules, effectively cutting the rebate from
2% to 1%.I looked at Costco's AMex card. The big print says 5% rebates. The little print says something different.
The fine print *always* has a catch.
|and it would appear the Rockler card only gives a certificate good at |Rockler.
Kinda like the rebate coupon I got from Jet. The ads said it was good for any qualifying product. Once you received it, the fine print said that you had to use it for a purchase at the same vendor where you bought the original item.
I bought a dust collector from Tool Crib and later decided to use the coupon to buy a bandsaw at Woodcraft during a sale. No go. No sale. Ever.
... snip
Got the Costco AMEX card because we had to in order to continue using Costco and because it is the closest low-cost gas station to us. They only get the gas business charges and will never get a penny more. First year of having the card, they attempted to ding me for a "late" charge. I called and disputed, pointing out that I had mailed the payment in plenty of time. They did reverse the charge, stating that the snowstorm in the midwest had slowed down mail deliveries, but cautioned me to allow plenty of time for the mail to deliver my payment. While this was irritating, what really got me was the fact that unlike the other credit cards I have, AMEX requires payment on the 25'th of the month, but only bills about 10 to 12 days before the due date. Thus, unlike other credit cards where I have a couple of weekends before I have to pay bills to get them out on time, AMEX requires immediate attention.
Just to cement my resolve, when I had to call and activate my new card this year, I got a delightful east-Indian accented activation desk person who would not let me off the phone until I signed up for their airline ticket protection plan. Doesn't cost anything unless I buy tickets using the AMEX card (be a cold day in Arizona before I do that), but the pushiness on the other end of the line was really aggravating.
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