Credit Card Points - what do you use them for?

I have friends that always swore by air miles cards. Now they are swearing at them, as they fold and give notice that all your points will disappear or must be used by next Tuesday and only on carriers that you have no wish to use.

I have always had gold card points, as I don't travel nearly as much as I'd like to, but figured I could always find something to cash them in on. I've done thay ever since the mid 90s when I 'bought' a couple of Montblanc fountain pens I still have and would never have paid full whack for.

Although we did use some points for a large screen TV and a hard disc recorder, when I look at what we have 'spent' the points on, it turns out to be mostly kitchen stuff. A toaster oven, a nice stainless Oster food processor, a stainless De Longhi coffee maker, a (you guessed it, stainless) panini maker.....

Anyone else using up these points in the kitchen? And maybe wish they offered a bit more range in kitchen appliances?

Of course the best return would be to just charge us less, or give us money back (which I understand some do), and I get frustrated when you have 90% of the points you need for an item and they tell you that for those points plus about 50% of the value in cash, you can have it......sort of like being 10 air miles short of a destination and they tell you that you can't use your points.

It looks attractive, but they hope you'll forget about them. Same goes for rebate coupons.

I have a cashback card from Staples. I used the points to help pay from my new digital camera and got it down to $90.

I forgot about that - I did get SWMBO a digital camera as well. Dragged her, kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Next, we'll make a try for the 21st!

We use our debit card as a credit card whenever possibly. It is not a really big deal, but we did collect a $100 last year for the points credited. Yes, we will include it on our taxes.

Since Cincinnati is a Delta hub city, I have an Amex card that earns Delta Skymiles. Have used the miles quite a bit for free tickets. In years past, they also issued a free companion cert, a 2-for-1 deal on a domestic ticket. We used those as well.

Just recently acquired a Marriott points credit card mainly because we acquired a Marriott timeshare. Those points are useful in acquiring vacation time and travel.

All the other credit cards we have give cash back....Discover and various other issuers. We also have a Costco Amex that gives you even more money back on your purchases there.

In years past, they also issued a free companion cert, a 2-for-1 deal on a domestic ticket. We used those as well.

That's a great deal. I'll be curious to see if that is available in the future now that they have merged with Northworst. NW almost doubled the number of miles needed to obtain even just a coach seat.

Atfer years of sending 0.1% of our purchases to the General Scholarship Fund of Columbia (why they need any more $ is a mystery to me) we now accrue it as REI store credit and are working up to replacing our now-20-year old Sierra Designs Meteor Light Tent with a new Meteor Light tent


Mark Lipton

The greatest worth I've gotten from that sort of thing is undeniably Marriott points (hotel rooms, and best of all there's a deal where you can get a rental car for up to eight days free---look at car rental prices in Europe and you'll see why that is so important!).

Second best has been the Amex miles program for various and sundry stuff. Comes in handy for lots of stuff, like gift cards for restaurants and such.

Had one of the surprised of my life recently when I went in to United to try to get some kind of seats to Europe on miles. Surprise, surprise: not only did I get the destinations I wanted, I got the days I wanted too. And I got them on Super Savers. Woo hoo. No hassle, no bargaining, no screaming. So the Iron Butt award gets me two tickets to Venice for less than $100.

One of the big ripoffs that's popular with corporations now is these gift cards like Persona Select. You're happy to get the award; you're happy to get the money. But then you realize you can 'spend it' only with certain places. some retail, some online only. The ones you you access/spend online are generally so overpriced and with no discounting or dealing that you end up paying a lot more than you would in points dollars than you would if you were using real money.

Still, gift horse and all.....

working up to replacing our now-20-year old Sierra Designs Meteor Light Tent with a new Meteor Light tent
Mark Lipton

Well since we are canvassing the subject, I have always found camping to be an in-tents experience, Mark....

Took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about. To we photographers, a 'light tent' isn't a non-heavy chunk of weather cover, it is a bit of gear for taking close-up and macro shots without getting glare.

My partner and I have frequent flyer points cards. We use up the points going on birdwatching trips, so we don't give them a chance to expire.

Got a Garmin Nuvi from Cabelas in December.

Oh, I forgot...got a Bose SoundDock for my ipod.

Loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Then Yaniger had to go diss it on this very forum, and suddenly all the fun was gone away. *sob*

Only for frequent flyer miles. Used the miles to go to Europe twice, and also for a lot of travel within the U.S.

I have found that I am better off staying away from credit card usage for anything other than emergencies. So no points for me!

Frequent flier miles. I cash 'em for upgrades and first class tix to Europe.

I traded mine for two Le Creuset pots - a big 28cm one and a little 20cm one.

[Jenise]

I was smart enough--well okay, lucky--to have signed up for an Alaska Airlines credit card back in the late 80's which I used when I travelled on business. I chose them because at that time, my 'business' was a project just 50 miles south of where I live now, in Anacortes, that I visited monthly. My husband at that time was attached to a Technology center of ARCO that managed all U.S. projects for all U.S. properties, so Alaska wasn't in our plans. But eventually that's where we ended up, and with all the miles I'd accumulated we were going to be accumulating a lot more, and now we live here and Alaska's the airline we use most anyway since it's the busiest and the best on the west coast, so even though I dip into it for free tickets two or three times a year, my account stays right about 500,000. Alaska has NEVER retired miles, and only last year did they finally raise their price for a free domestic ticket for the first time in all this time, from 20K to 25K. I can't complain, and if I can use these miles for things like kitchen appliances I'm completely unaware.

Whoever has the most points when they die, wins!

Whoever has the most points when they die, wins!

Nay, you want to use them up BEFORE you shufffle off.

I was up to something like 120,000 points and decided to wage a campaign of reduction and ended up with all the appliances.

Likewise, I hope to drink my last bottle of wine exhausting my cellar 5 minutes before passing away (hopefully there won't be a cause and effect relationship between the two).

[Jenise]

Whoever has the most points when they die, wins!

I agree with Bill! We have points on other airlines we should use and just can't find the time. Wish I could buy lumber with them....