More of CNN's infinite wisdom:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/02/pf/rawdeal_rewards/index.htm?cnn=yes

If you skip the article and just read the bold bullet points at the end it's actually quite good info, though nothing new for most folks here.

zoop76 said:More of CNN's infinite wisdom:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/02/pf/rawdeal_rewards/index.htm?cnn=yes

Considering the avarage Joe's personal finance knowledge, pretty good article IMO.

Besides, all they did was quote Consumer Reports. It is CR, if anyone, who deserves the board's wrath

I think the subtitle makes perfect sense. "What has your rewards card done for you lately? Not much most likely."

Out of all the reward cards I have, only a couple make sense. Sony card, Chase Rewards, Capital One, fee free airline cards... all these cards have reward systems far worse than some of my Citi cards or a 2% Household bank card. We have a case of a loud main title rather than a stupid article.

I think this CNN article is very good for FWers. It discourages newbies. Less credit card applicants mean more aggressive reward promos, which means more money for FWers

turkey79 said:zoop76 said:More of CNN's infinite wisdom:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/02/pf/rawdeal_rewards/index.htm?cnn=yes

Considering the avarage Joe's personal finance knowledge, pretty good article IMO.

Honestly, I think a lot of us FW'ers occasionally forget that a giant portion of the population is financially challenged. This article is obviously absurd to anyone who is already on this board. But, to the people who run up credit card debt or take out ridiculous mortgages, sadly, this article is news to them.

revheck said:I have found my AMEX Blue Cash to be straightforward and worthwhile rewards card.

But they are sure right about airline miles: I had 43,000 miles built up from an old my NW airlines Worldperks card, which I decided to finally cash in this summer. During the 2 week period I could have flown, there were ZERO flights available (out of few hundred) at the 25,000 mile level. I ended up having to use 50,000 points, and paying $90 just to transfer 7000 points from my wife's account. Including $15 booking fee, I paid $105 plus 50,000 points for one lousy ticket to Milwaukee. IMHO airline miles are just another scam.

If you use them intelligently, they are of really great value. Look @ flyertalk. The best value can be obtained by redeeming leisure first/business class tickets.

Cnn caters to "American Heros" and card rewards are really complicated for those folks...

jeeves said:

If you use them inteeligently, they are of reaaly great. Look @ flyertalk. The best value can be obtained by redeeming leisure first/business calss tickets.

Cnn caters to "American Heros" and card rewards are really complicated for those folks...

Definitely. I've used miles from cards to fly in F and C (or I, whatever) from here to Europe a few times and Japan a few more, each flight including a stopover of a few days somewhere other than my destination. Getting tickets that would have cost upwards of $10-15k is not unusual, and is rather painless with the ability to more or less check Star Alliance availability online. Considering the cost to me to get the miles is essentially the fee for the cards I think it's worth it. I do agree with the part about using miles quickly, but if people are confused by the use of these things (and cannot find sources of help) then they deserve to have problems.
I would like to thank those with credit problems for subsidizing my vacations. I would also like to encourage people to keep using miles for domestic awards in coach.

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