Credit Card: Rewards questions

Is there any limit on the amount of points or cash I can earn each month or year?
Ideally, the answer is no. But if you don’t spend more than a few thousand dollars each month, you may never run into any of these caps.

Do the rewards ever expire if I wait too long to redeem them?
These days, most of them do. Airline miles may evaporate in 18 months if there’s no activity in the mileage account. Card-only programs may have points that expire in three years. As long as you’re an active user, vigilant about not letting accounts go dormant and spend points as you earn them, however, you shouldn’t lose anything here. It helps to only participate in a few programs, so you can keep track of them all easily.

How do I get my cash refund?
If card companies were playing fair, they’d just post a credit to your card statement or deposit the money in your bank account without you having to ask them. Some actually do this, and trumpet it like they’re doing you a favor (instead of merely doing the right thing).

The rest make you call or write or wait months to get your reward. It costs them less money this way, since they hang onto their money longer (and earn interest on it) before giving it away to you in the form of the reward refund.

If the cash refund is a check, do I have to spend it in a certain store?
Usually not. And when you do, it can be worth it if it’s a lucrative program.

If you’re giving me points that I can exchange for travel or other goods, where can I see a catalogue of all of the rewards you offer and what they cost in points?
Incredibly, many card issuers don’t put this on their web sites, or don’t put it where anyone could easily find it. But this is crucial stuff. If the golf clubs you want require $30,000 in spending with one card and $40,000 with another, that’s a huge difference. Don’t sign up for a card before you’ve seen the prices for the goodies.

If I redeem my points for domestic airplane tickets, do I have to pay extra points or money if the plane tickets I want cost more than a certain amount? For instance, if it normally requires 25,000 points for a free plane ticket in the U.S., will I need to give you more points if the ticket I want has a cash cost of over, say, $400?
Again, you want to see the prices and the fine print. If a card company is offering free domestic plane tickets after you have 25,000 points, find out if they limit you to tickets with a retail value under say $400. If they do, can you pay extra in points or money to get a $450 ticket, or will they simply not let you have it?






This article was taken from: filife