Credit Card Rewards Strategy session

This post will be growing organically.

Here are some suggestions on how to maximize your credit cards rewards:

For grocery, drugstore and gas station purchases, Citibank offers 5% rewards, either in a cash-only rewards program or a rewards program (Thank You Network or Thank You Redemptions or something like that). You can have both type of cards. You can't complain with 5%! There is an annual cap on your total rewards per individual credit card.

Chase has a new creative idea for their Chase Freedom card. They have fifteen (15) categories of purchases. Each month, they calculate your top three categories and give you a 3% reward on those purchases. Everything else earns 1%. The categories are computer-calculated for every statement. You have a choice of rewards or cash. You can switch between the two choices once per month

American Express has special mail-in and email offers to receive double points for purchases until August 31, 2007. This means your Amex Blue or Optima purchases earn 2% instead of 1%. Not bad for things that don't qualify for higher rewards in other cards.

Discover's Get More program offers featured rewards that change every quarter (every three months). These earn you a flat 5% reward on those featured purchases regardless of your regular reward percentage status. The 5% reward has a cap per quarterly promotion

As always with all these, make sure you read the fineprint!