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May 08, 2006
Save two bucks every time you fill up
Gas rebate credit cards can save you two or three bucks per fill-up. That could mean hundreds of dollars in savings per year to drive your obnoxiously large, gas-guzzling SUV, even though you probably don't deserve it.
Three types of gas rebate credit cards are popular. All typically have no annual fee and offer a higher rebate on gasoline purchases (around 3-5%) than general cash back cards (only around 1%). One type is good for buying just gas at certain stations. This type of card is worthless since you can't use it to buy anything at any other store. (Well, you could use it to buy peanut butter-filled pretzels at the Chevron MiniMart, but that's about it). Unless you plan to have 20 different cards and a wallet as big as George Costanza's, skip this card.
The second type is a Visa or MasterCard offered by oil companies to use at certain stations. The Marathon MasterCard is a good example. It rebates 10% during the 60 day intro period and 5% after that but, again, trying to cut down on the George Costanza factor should be your goal.
The third type of card is a general credit card that offers gas rebates as part of a larger reward program. About 14 million pieces of direct mail for oil and gas cards were mailed just last year. I suspect this number is low, since one million of those pieces came to me. Since you're a loyal reader (thanks Mario!), I've sifted through all the offers so you can apply right now without thinking:
1. Blue Cash from American Express earns 5% cash back on gasoline (and supermarkets and drug stores) and 1.5% on everything else. You have to spend $6,500 for the year to earn these rates - until then, you'll earn only 1% on the gas. But, it comes with no annual fee, a 0% intro rate for 6 months, and according to the commercials, you'll be as cool as Robert DeNiro by having an AmEx card.
2. The Discover Gas Card comes with 0% intro rate for 12 months and 5% cash back on gas purchases, 1% cash back on everything else. I use this card because I like the picture of the beagle dog on the front.
3. Finally, it's a bit pretentious to call your credit card "perfect", but Chase isn't shy, and actually their PerfectCard is pretty sweet. No annual fee, 6% rebates on gas purchases for the first 90 days, then 3% rebate after that, 1% cash back on everything else, and a 0% intro APR.
Now inflate your tires to the correct pressure, don't drive too fast, and think about riding your bike to work once a week - you're too fat and you'll save money.
Posted by brian at May 8, 2006 12:02 PM
Comments
You can get 5% cashback on Discover card for gas this month and next month by logging into your account online and clicking a button. But yeah you should get the gas card to always get the 5% deal.
Posted by: sergio at May 8, 2006 06:33 PM