Taking Advantage of Incentives

I’m not one that actively seeks out incentives just to have them. I don’t have a cash rewards credit card because I don’t want anymore credit cards and am fine with the one I have because I don’t like using them anyway. My USAA card gives cash rewards on occasion, but generally nothing significant.

Right now they are doing 2 programs that I am taking advantage of however.

1. 0% APR on all balance transfers for a year. I immediately switched the remaining balance of my dad’s Tractor Supply over, because 0% is way better than his 29.99%.

2. 3% back on all gas purchases up to $150 each month (you don’t receive the entire balance of what you save until May 2010, but hey it’s free money). So I’ll be using the card for all of my gas purchases now, and probably getting my dad to do the same since I don’t spend $150 on gas every month. Naturally I pay these off every month so I don’t have any lingering balances.

In addition to these two incentives, our local grocery store does one all year long where for every $100 you spend in groceries (and use your uber special Giant savings card, which is not a credit card it just lets you get their special discounts at checkout), you get 10 cents off per gallon of gas on your next gas purchase. You usually have a month or two to use it. Right now I can get 30 cents off per gallon at my next fill-up. But we don’t really buy that many groceries, at most $300 a month so I expect 30 cents off per gallon is the max I’ll get. With rising gas prices, 30 cents off per gallon is just fine with me.