If you must spend, reward yourself

You can save plenty of cash by using a reward point program

By TERRI WILLIAMS
As you are reading this column, I'm enjoying my family's annual March break ski vacation (not that I needed to see any more snow this winter!).

Vacations are very important to our family and therefore, so are reward point programs. I'm surprised every time I'm in line at my local supermarket when I hear a customer say they are not an Air Miles collector.

I can't tell you how much we've saved on vacations over the years due to using points -- and we don't charge every purchase to credit cards in order to get points. We simply choose to shop at locations that provide loyalty points.

My husband goes out of his way to fill up the car at a certain vendor. Our points have resulted in great savings on airfares, car rentals and even Christmas shopping.

Air Miles is the largest loyalty program in Canada with points awarded by over 100 companies. Approximately two-thirds of Canadian households collect Air Miles.

Another very popular program is Air Canada's Aeroplan program.

The latest is CIBC's Aerogold Visa Infinite Card, which CIBC announced yesterday. This card offers additional purchasing power, such as travel medical insurance, trip interruption insurance and access to exclusive offers.

According to Cheryl Longo, senior vice-president of CIBC Card Products Division, every day some 2,000 Aerogold cardholders fly with their Aeroplan Miles.

But there are dozens of other plans -- everything from hotel chains, gas stations and retail clothing stores offer loyalty rewards. Here are some tips to get the most out of loyalty programs:

- Don't spend more on your credit card than you can afford to pay off just to earn points! This strategy could get you into debt trouble quickly.

- Be careful of the costs. Some credit cards have much higher fees based on the number of points they give you for purchases.

- Pay attention to deadlines, rules and policies of the programs. You may have to use points by a certain deadline.

- Look for and use bonus point offers -- Rewardscanada.ca is a great resource to find out about a huge number of programs and bonus rewards.

- Double dip. Use your points credit card to pay for a purchase at a points vendor.

Using loyalty programs is a great way to save money on everything from travel to everyday purchases, but you need to be smart about it. Don't overspend just to get the rewards.

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What rewards/points programs are you a member of?

Have you cashed in your points for any goods/services?

Anything you wanna add... Discuss.

I mainly use my Airmiles card, and I think I curerently have 1500-1700 points. I have previously used it to cash in for a flight to NYC. I remember I only had to pay the taxes and service charges. I also am a member of Airplan (Aircanada?) Miles, but I've only used it a couple of times. Since I don't fly often enough, and when I do, I don't necesarily use Air Canada, I dont even know what the status of my account is on that one... Another one I have, but seem to always forget it at home is the Shoppers Drug Mart points card.

 

-- Edited by LGigolo at 10:46, 2008-03-13