Last night I participated in a Twitter chat hosted by Common Cents Mom. One of the questions asked was:
Do you prefer to pay with Cash or credit when shopping?
I instintively answered “credit card!” because, you know, points! I love points and I love getting free stuff.
After the twitter chat was over, Le Monsieur and I had a conversation about our credit card situation. Currently, we each have our own credit card that keep because of their 10-15 year credit histories but lately I've been looking to get something better so that we can get more free stuff. The credit card situation has changed drastically since 1998 and I think that 1% cashback is insulting when there are so many better credit cards in Canada.
Originally when we moved back to Canada, we looked into getting the Westjet credit card since, well, I live an terribly far distance from my family and friends. We went to the bank and the bank guy advised us not to apply, mostly because of me and my freelance/foreign income situation. Unperturbed, I looked up the best credit cards in Canada and have been trying to get Le Monsieur to get a PC Points Mastercard so that our grocery bill will be even less than it already is or the Scotiabank 4% cashback Amex (except that nowhere in town takes Amex :/).
There's a reason that I married Le Monsieur and it's because of his calm rationality. He asked me how much our credit card bills are each month. Between Netflix, the occasional hotel and groceries, we probably spend $500/month on our cards. After doing a bit of math, it turns out that chasing a better credit card will come out to… Well, maybe $60 a year.
$60 a year for another bill to pay and card to keep track of. If the card is denominated in points and not cashback, that's another points program that I have to keep track of and another place where my rewards will grow in tiny increments.