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Buying Gift Cards Thru Grocery Stores at 5% Discount?

Contributed by mm | June 22, 2004 10:23 AM PST



I regularly read FatWallet Finance Forum. Today, there is a discussion surrounding buying gift cards thru grocery stores and taking advantage of Citi's 5% cashback offer for grocery store purchases (as in the Dividend Platinum Select® Card).

I am usually a naysayer of gift cards - I see no use of giving cash to companies for free for future purchases, not to mention potential issues like maintenance charges and expiration periods, but if the strategy can easily earn 5% back, it is definitely worth some trying if you already want to make a big-ticket purchase from Circuit City, Best Buy and alike pretty soon. (The drawback may be: if for some reasons you need to return the purchase, you will end up with a large cash balance in the gift cards.)null

On a similar occasion, the 5% Citi rebate changes dynamics in gas filling too. I used to fill gas from Arco a lot because it can always offer a price 5 cents or more lower than the other chains. However, Arco only accepts check card (and will assess 35 cents transaction fee). With gas prices above two dollars a gallon now, I am using Safeway and Chevron now: the 5% cashback is worth more than 10 cents per gallon, effectively eroding Arco's price advantage.

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Read all 41 articles in the same category.
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Read More ... 41 Posts In The Same Category

09/01/05 | Reminder: Free Credit Report Is Available Nation Wide | (3)
04/29/05 | Citi Backpedaling Popular Credit Card Offer? | (9)
03/18/05 | What's In Your Credit Score | (1)
03/16/05 | Call You Tell Good Debt From Bad Debt? | (3)
02/16/05 | How High Can Credit Card Interest Rate Be? | (1)
02/07/05 | Why Do Credit Cards Expire? | (1)
01/08/05 | 10 Credit Card Tips for 2005 | (1)
12/27/04 | Average Size Of Credit Card Transaction | (2)
12/13/04 | Who Is Stronger? Visa or Mastercard? | (2)
12/09/04 | MBNA Customers, Be Aware | (2)
11/23/04 | Free Credit Reports Are On The Way | (1)
11/10/04 | Kmart Rewards
11/06/04 | MBNA Starts to Issue American Express Cards
11/04/04 | How MBNA Takes Away Your Benefits, Gradually | (2)
10/17/04 | The Radical Guide to Credit Cards
10/14/04 | Watch Out for Bad-Loan Signals
10/07/04 | Dirty Secrets of Airline Credit Cards
09/15/04 | Demystifying ARM Indices
08/30/04 | American DreamCard - Play Lottery by Charging
08/11/04 | Another 0.25% Rate Increase and How It Will Affect You
08/10/04 | Phishing Is Becoming Epidemic | (1)
08/04/04 | Anti-Identity Theft Freeze Gaining Momentum
08/01/04 | Real Credit Card Debt
07/31/04 | Gasbates
07/26/04 | As Cash Fades, America Becomes A Plastic Nation | (2)
07/05/04 | Rates Move Higher ... Now What? | (1)
06/26/04 | Debit Rewards Cards Expand Offerings -- And Come With Costs
06/23/04 | 4 Ways to Snag the Best Reward Card
06/06/04 | Free Credit Reports Are Coming Gradually
06/02/04 | Credit Cards That Pay | (1)
05/25/04 | A Summary of Late Fees
04/29/04 | Nodebt.com Pays You For Paying Your Bills On Times | (1)
04/17/04 | A Credit Card With $1,500 Annual Fee
03/29/04 | Credit Card Companies Raise Penalties To $39
02/15/04 | Scoring a Loan
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