I have a Discover CC and just Discovered the Bullshit

[MaxDepth]

Funny...yeah I have Visa rewards and my SunTrust account recently switched from carrying Visa points to their own, which meant that my total just got chopped by 75%.

Think of the points with your credit cards just like the ticket points you get at a Dave & Busters or a Frankie's Fun Park. You spend about $100 to get 60 tickets to buy a plastic comb or glow in the dark ring.


With my SunTrust points, I think I can almost get TWO plastic combs.

 

[vrbaba]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
all the flyer programs use 1 mile = $0.01 AFAIK
last time i was active in delta's program, you could get a free US flight (regardless of the price) for redeeming 25,000 miles

except southwest, i think they don't go by miles, it is something like fly 8 flights and get one free

yeah, my amex gives 1 point for a dollar. and 100 points = 1$ reward. So basically 1% cashback to redeem on anything. a $200 ticket can be redeemed by spending $20k.

i think special airlines cards give a little more.

I need to ask amex to do better.

 

[RossMAN]

Normally it's $1 = 1 point but some cc's are 2% or 5%.

$50 = 50 airline miles

 

[Auric]

For the average Muhammad... cash rewards uber alles. Spend it on what you want (including airlines) and avoid the BS limitations.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Miles can be valuable if you save up for Business Class or First Class overseas flights. 120,000 points can get you a First Class Ticket to Europe or Asia valued at over $10,000. But I'm not sure how your system works so you may only be able to get a certain dollar amount off a flight with your points/miles.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I got the Discover Miles thinking every mile works like a physical mile. I got some 5500 miles saved up from purchases. I called customer service for some reason and was asking how the mileage is redeamed. You get a $50.00 credit for every 5,000 miles you saved up. Is this some bullshit. WTF do you do with $50.00.....

Kind of misleading if you ask me.

Maybe you should stick to paying for things with a check.

 

[bctbct]

You thought they were going to fly your ass 5500 miles because you spent $5500 netting them a gross of about $180 before expenses....think about that for a min.

 

[JS80]

I love my 0% BT for life on my discovercard.

 

[AndrewR]

I will agree that it is misleading if they called them "miles" and the reward is supposed to be airline tickets. I will also agree that you were naive in believing that could possibly be the reward system.

It took me quite a few years to rack up enough points on my Sony card to afford a $350 external flash for my Sony A100 DSLR. I still have about $80 on there and am waiting to buy another Sony product to use it up. Rewards take a LONG time to accumulate, if they don't expire first.