My Credit Card Rewards for 2011: Almost ... - Free Money Finance

Last year was a banner year for me in credit card rewards. Why? Because I hit the trifecta: I increased the amount I spent using my credit cards, I got some cards with terrific cash back levels, and I received some very nice bonuses for getting new cards.

Before we get into the specifics of 2011, here's what I've earned historically:

The results for 2011 show how my strategy evolved over the course of the year. Here's what I earned by card.

• FIA Services card: $496.48. This is the old "Schwab" card that I used for much of the year until they tried to replace it with the cut-rate Bank of America card (which I cancelled). When this card was discontinued I re-evaluated my credit card strategy and changed to a new, multi-card effort.


• Citi Dividend World card: $550. This is a card offer I received in the mail (and have never seen online.) It is a 1% cash back card but for the first year they gave a bonus 1%, so it's a 2% card (on everything). It also came with a sign-up bonus which I believe was $150. I got this card shortly after the FIA card died and I'll use it until the bonus runs out. I was able to rack up so much on it because I charged a good amount of business travel as well as many of my charitable contributions on it.


• Chase Freedom? Visa: $351.02. I maxed out most of the 5% cash back bonuses this year as well as added on extras because I have a Chase checking account. This card still heads my list of the best cash back credit cards -- especially if you carry only one or two cards. (FYI, it still has a $200 cash bonus if you get a new one.)


• Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card: $625. Absolutely wonderful bonus for signing up -- saved me a ton of money on the flights (which I purchased in 2011) we used for our cruise. It also has no foreign transaction fees, so we used it on our trip. This was my first points-based credit card in some time, but given the great reviews it's received, I may be using more of it in 2012. (FYI, this card is still on my shortlist of the best credit card bonus offers since $625 is nothing to sneeze at.)


• American Express Blue Cash Preferred: $275.95. This is the 6% cash back card on grocery purchases that converts to 6% on other things if you can buy a gift card for it at your grocery store (FYI, do a test charge before assuming this will work at your store). I wish that there were more gift cards to use and that it wasn't such a hassle managing them. Or better yet, I wish this card just gave 6% cash back automatically on everything. That would be GREAT!!!!!???


• TrueEarnings? Card from Costco and American Express: $299.43. I used this card for three things: 1) purchases at Costco, 2) gas (when I didn't have a gift card at 6% or the Chase Freedom card didn't have a 5% bonus), and 3) (the biggie) our cruise purchased through Costco (which earned 2% cash back.)


• Gold Delta SkyMiles? Credit Card from American Express: $187.50. This is the value I assigned the points I received for signing up for the card, but it does NOT include the $150 I saved by using the card to skip baggage fees (because these savings were in 2012). I'm expecting this card to save me $300 to $400 this year in baggage fees alone.

All these add up to a grand total of $2,288.90! Wow! What a year! Over $2k for simply taking some time and effort to buy things in one way (with a card) over another (with cash or a check.) Of course that's still a ways behind what this guy earned, but I'm catching up to him. ;-)

One thing I haven't included is the amount I charged this year. That's because with the number of cards I opened and closed as well as both the rewards themselves and the bonuses, it was difficult to get an exact amount charged -- and I didn't want to tell you a false number. But an educated guess would be that I earned 2.5% to 3% cash back on average in 2011, so that would mean charges somewhere between $40,000 and $48,000 if I take out the large bonuses I know about. I was able to reach these levels because 1) I traveled for work a lot this past year and charged the costs (and was reimbursed by my company), 2) I charged almost everything pertaining to our cruise, and 3) I made a significant portion of my charitable contributions with a card, including those from my Red Kettle Challenge.

How about you? How much in cash back rewards did you earn in 2011?

Source: http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2012/02/my-credit-card-rewards-for-2011-almost-2300.html

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