Costco and AmEx breakup

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I just accompanied my wife to Costco so she could spend the AmEx reward worth near $300. Just recently, looking at my Quicken screen I realized that the Costco membership cost us $119. That's pretty steep, and I did not think that we would spend enough to get that much kickback, particularly in recent years when we shopped for groceries at Costco less and less due to being empty nesters. My wife takes care of recurrent bills and card rewards, so I just let her choose what she said made sense for us. We still have another year to see what to do about the AmEx/Costco separation.

You don't have to spend it, you know. You can just get cash back.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrvlBug I always cash those in, including the Costco rebate. That way I get the rewards on the spending! They always ask if I want to apply the reward against my bill and I graciously decline.

+1

[Brat]

What I want to know is details of the deal they make with the replacement card issuer. Give me the skinny!

[Philliefan33]

I read an article a few years ago that compared a Costco shopper to a Sam's Club shopper. (Sorry I don't remember where...). One thing that was pointed out was that a Costco shopper would see a Cashmere sweater for $40 and realize that it was a great deal, but a Sam's Club shopper wouldn't buy a $40 sweater --they are looking for $8 sweaters.

Even though our kids have moved out, DH and I still frequent Costco. We get a lot of things there. I recently switched to "natural" peanut butter and found Kirkland brand to be the best deal. Of course it takes me six months to go through the two large jars...

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 You don't have to spend it, you know. You can just get cash back.

My wife takes care of things like that reward check, and perhaps she did know. However, I think she thinks of that money as "freebie", and wants to splurge on something. I only come along to carry the "stuff". I did mention several times that she did not have to spend it all, but she kept saying she had enough cash on hand, but not enough "stuff". Women!

Still, next year I will mention to her that she can splurge with that check, but to present it after paying for the purchase. She would not pass up the couple of extra bucks, once she reflects on this.

[gromit]

Costco announced that the new credit card deal will be with CITI for a co-branded VISA card. The new card will start in April 2016. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costc...133636171.html