Credit Cards That I use

Personal credit card choices certainly depend on the individual's credit card habits. For instance, I don't care about what interest rate my credit cards choose because I pay off my credit cards each month. None of the credit cards that I use charge an annual fee either.

If I could not pay off my credit cards each month, then I would certainly be looking for the low interest credit cards.

My credit cards consist of three Chase credit cards. They happen to all be from Chase, because Chase bought up the companies that originally issued my cards.

I have a Chase PerfectRewards credit card. This card pays 3% discount on gasoline, and 1% on all other purchases. Right now when you first sign up you get 6% discount on gasoline for the first 90 days. Now here is the catch, you don't immediately get the credit, it shows up on your bill and will apply to your next months credit card balance.

So, for example, if I charge $500 in gas in May, I get a credit of $15 that will apply to my bill next month. So if in June, I also charge $500, I will then benefit from the $15 credit, so I will pay $485 for my May charges. Plus I have earned another $15 credit based on my $500 purchase during June. Using this as an example, it represents $180 savings over the period of one year.

However, the key is to pay off the full balance each month, otherwise the finance charges will eat away at your savings.

The other two cards I have are Chase BP, and Chase Marriott. The Chase BP offers 5% discount on gas at BP stations and 1% at other stations or other charges. However, I only buy gas at the BP stations when their price is within a few cents of another station.

The Marriott card provides reward points of 1 point for each $1 spent. These add up over time and can give you discounts or free rooms at Marriotts. These are good if you do a lot of business travel, especially if you stay at Marriott Hotels and are a member of their Marriott Rewards program.

So the bottom line is, credit cards can be used to gain small discounts that will add up over time. However, you have to be very careful. You do not want to get to the point of spending more than you could pay for with cash. Make sure you read my post on the lessons I learned about credit cards.

I do this by keeping a 3x5 note card in my glove compartment. I have a budget amount for gas and I write that at the top. When I buy gas, or other purchases, I note the amount and subtract it from my budgeted amount, and that way I know how much I have left to spend. This technique can apply to all of your credit card purchases. Just put down your budget amount on the index card and subtract each of your purchases as you are shopping.

Here is another tip to find the cheapest gas in your area. Just search on Google for gas prices and include the name of your state. For example, there are sites named www.SouthCarolinaGasPrices.com and www.VirginiaGasPrices.com. These also help you out with your budget for gas prices. More about that in a later post.

Have a great day!