I just redeemed A LOT of Amex points for a gift card. I think this may be only the second time I've ever redeemed them. I have no idea why, but I hoard them like they're actual cash.
I should get better about redeeming points or miles etc. since I feel like they get devalued faster than I can actually use them.
How often do you cash in rewards points? What's the best thing you've redeemed them for?
Post by simpsongal on Sept 30, 2014 11:47:41 GMT -5
Yeah, like 2-3 times per year? I try to save them for lean months and I just use them for a statement credit. I guess you could use them all the time, but the payoff is nice when they accumulate.
Funny you ask - I just cashed in $173 worth today - one reason I did is b/c new spending categories start in October, and I'm planning on getting the full rewards (5% on $1500).
I request a statement credit each month when I pay the bill.
The rewards don't get better the longer I hold onto them and I don't trust my credit card company to not change their policies so I cash in my rewards as soon as I meet the minimum amount needed to redeem.
We just redeemed our Chase Sapphire Preferred points to fly to DC next month for my cousin's birthday. I pretty much wiped us out, buying the two round trip tickets. I think my last redemption on the same card was toward airfare to Miami last January for a bach party.
I think I normally redeem for airfare once every year or so.
Two cards have a $25 threshold for redemption, and the rewards don't get better if I hold onto them, so I redeem as soon as I have $25. (I get statement credits from those cards)
One card automatically makes a payment towards my student loans every month. So every month.
I redeem the points from my other two cards (money all goes in the same pot) for flights, so they get used when I need to buy a flight.
I track my redemptions and I have 28 separate redemptions YTD (total of $4088!)
We are hoarding ours at the moment. We have about $1200 in Chase rewards just chilling. We're going to use some to fly my mom down in January, but other than that they're sitting so it won't cost us anything to fly out west in 2016.
Once a year around Christmas time. I consider it an unofficial part of my Christmas savings. It only totals around $300 per year so it isn't a huge amount, but it helps.
It depends on the card. Amex we use when we shop at Amazon. Discover, we hold onto for specific purchases / vacations. Visa - we usually cash in once a year for gift cards.
At Discover I get discounts on GCs so I do those when I think we'll use them. Good ones for us have been Lowes (10%), Starbucks (10%) and SpaFinder (20%). Few vendors seem to offer discounts on GCs on our Chase points so I usually do a statement credit whenever I am thinking about it.
Post by drloretta on Sept 30, 2014 12:12:39 GMT -5
Maybe once a year? Usually for a cross-country trip to see my parents. We usually pay for hotel, flight, and/or car rental, depending on how much we have.
we've been hoarding points for flights to africa - but it looks like trip won't happen until 2017 or later So - now i think we're going to cash them in for caribbean flights - for at least some of the points.
Post by WinterWine on Sept 30, 2014 13:02:51 GMT -5
I tend to hoard airline miles for a long time until I have enough to fully cover two international rountrip flights. Currently hoarding for Tanzsnia tix as it's the best bang for the mile. For my other card I get statement credits for travel and won't redeem until our next trip abroad.
We can cash flow weekend getaways, but these rewards make the big trips a bit less financially painful.
Post by IrishBelle on Sept 30, 2014 13:10:24 GMT -5
We cashed ours from our joint CC earlier this year to pay for our flights to our cruise. We had been saving them for about 3 years.
From my personal CC, I get points towards groceries and cash those in about every 6 months or so. Less money towards groceries means more spending money for me.
Post by maddiepaddy on Sept 30, 2014 13:39:13 GMT -5
Usually once a year to help fund some of our summer travel. I like using them in big chunks rather than for small stuff over time. It makes me really happy when we can cover all of our flights or a whole hotel stay with points
So this post confirmed that I hold on points/miles etc. for way too long. But this year I've been better - We used some of my miles for two round-trip tickets to Hawaii (so a $1500 value) and then I just requested a $1000 gift card with points.
No too bad I suppose, but I should get rewards sooner next time.
We usually save up for ~2 years then cash in to cover as much of our upcoming international flights as possible. Getting a free flight to Australia seems much more rewarding to me than $100 statement credit each month.
United, American, and Hyatt cards go right to my frequent flier/traveler account.
I never cash in my Amex Member Rewards or Chase Sapphire points. I have several hundred thousand (lots of that number was a sign up bonus and double or triple points for specific categories). I am probably going to transfer some to Hyatt and some to British Airways at some point.
We have a minimum of $25 for redemption and get a 10% bonus if it's deposited into our checking account. I redeem As soon as I hit $25 and account formation the budget (either as additional savings or designated to excess expenses). My Amex for Costco redeems once a year and I use it for bigger things we need from Costco.