Tag: american express

I’ve mentioned this card before, but didn’t really have a reason to get it before since I had my Advanta card. However, due to the fact that Advanta has changed its term in limiting the amount of rewards you can get per year, the Advanta card has basically become useless to me:

Cash Back rewards are also earned on Bonus Qualifying purchases, which include purchases in the following categories: “gasoline and diesel fuel,” “computers, computer supplies, electronics and office supplies,” “online advertising services,” and “utilities and telecommunications.” Cash Back rewards on Bonus Qualifying purchases are earned as follows: 5% on up to $1,200 in annual purchases; 1% on purchases in excess of $1,200.

That means the 5% rewards bracket only adds up to $60 in rewards a year and everything after that you only receive 1%. The nice thing about the Advanta card is the fact it’s a Mastercard so it’s accepted practically everywhere (Costco being the main retailer I purchase from that doesn’t accept either Visa or Mastercard). I haven’t used my Advanta card in quite some time, but it’s still associated with my utilities (Comcast Cable and High Speed Internet and garbage collection). Otherwise, I’ve basically stopped using it on office supplies and electronics.

Anyway, I was reading some thread about Costco gas today and someone had asked if the Executive membership gets 2% cash back on gas also and I told them that the terms specifically exclude gas from the extra 2% back. However that got me thinking. I’m currently only getting 1% cash back on Costco gas with my American Express Costco TrueEarnings card. Costco gas accepts any type of American Express credit card and SimplyCash has 5% cash back on gas, office supplies and wireless services with no annual cash back limit. Of course American Express is also not widely accepted, but all the gas stations, office supplies stores, and wireless services that I use all accept American Express.

Cash Rebate: There is no limit to the amount of cash rewards you can earn. You will receive the Rebate in the form of a credit to your Account (net of credits for purchases). The credit will appear on the second billing statement following the billing statement in which the qualifying Purchase(s) appeared, based on the following structure: You will receive a Rebate of 5% for purchases of wireless telephone services, automobile gasoline(effective December 01, 2007, any individual Purchase transaction in excess of 75 gallons or equivalent dollar value will not be deemed to be a Purchase of automobile gasoline), and office supplies and equipment not purchased at warehouse clubs, superstores or supermarkets (“5% Purchase(s)”). You will receive a Rebate of 1% for all other purchases. To receive the Rebate, your account must be active and in good standing.

Important: You will receive a 5% Rebate only if the merchant submits the Charge for your 5% Purchase under the appropriate merchant code, industry code and required service or product identifier established by us with/for the merchant. For example, if a general merchandise retailer sells office supplies, and the retailer processes your Card transaction as a general merchandise charge instead of an office supply charge, you will receive a Rebate of 1%, not a Rebate of 5%. You will not receive a Rebate for balances transferred from other accounts, purchases of American Express Travelers Cheques or American Express Gift Cheques, fees, Finance Charges, Cash Advances and similar means of accessing your Card Account. Additional terms and conditions apply.

Therefore I’ve decided to apply for one. I’m hoping Costco gas counts as gas and not a regular Costco purchase since those only get 1% cash back. Looking at my previous statements, they do distinguish:

• COSTCO GAS #00110 94ISSAQUAH WA
• COSTCO WHSE #00110 9ISSAQUAH WA

If you’re interested, you should apply for the American Express SimplyCash Business Card.