Good Rewards Cashback program- not cc

[bizlady]

I'm looking for a good cashback rewards program that is not tied to a credit card. The kind where you get cash back for purchases.

I do much of our shopping online, and thought I should try to take advantage of this. My US bank program is OK but does not have many merchants.

I did find one that seems pretty good, but I need to subscribe to a magazine for about $10 a year- I would easily recoup that. But anyone else have a program they like?

This one is the best I have found so far- scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see hundreds of popular merchants offfering cash back.. Browse Merchants - Shop Online at LuckyRewards

 

[FUEGO]

These are both tied to a CC, but I use the Chase rewards plus online shopping (through chase.com site) and the amex worldpoints mall (through fiacardservices / amex).

Mrrebates dot com worked on 1 purchase, and hasn't worked since, so I don't plan on using it any longer.

bing dot com cashback of course is huge. 8-10% on ebay, 15-20% on walmart sometimes.

 

[ziggy29]

We have a *debit* card from USAA which, when swiped like a credit card transaction, gives 0.5% cash back. Not much, but better than nothing, and no debt to be repaid later.

 

[powerplay]

I use Fat Wallet for a lot of online shopping as they have a Fat Cash program. Each merchant they are promoting has a different % usually in the range of 1-5%.

Bing Cashback can also be quite good, however the money isn't always easy to claim. My most recent Bing $$ was through Endless.com and my only choice was to convert the $73 to Amazon gift certs. I will eventually use it, but what a hassle and I had to set up another Amazon account to do it since my Bing CB uses a different e-mail address than my Amazon acct.

I really think the cc plans work best. Just cashed my Costco cashback check yesterday.

 

[kyounge1956]

We have a *debit* card from USAA which, when swiped like a credit card transaction, gives 0.5% cash back. Not much, but better than nothing, and no debt to be repaid later.

Bank of America also has a debit card reward program. You get airline miles when you use it. IIRC it's one mile for every two dollars paid using the card. I used to use my debit card for almost all purchases, and it took me about three years to accumulate enough miles for a ticket. The card has an annual fee, so basically my reward would have been a ticket to anywhere in the US for $90. Unfortunately, when I did want to travel, none of the available flights were at the right time of day, so I ended up buying a ticket out of pocket.

I'm thinking of switching to a "keep the change" card, which rounds purchases up to an even dollar and puts the money in your savings account. That's not a true reward, but OTOH there's no fee on the "keep the change" card. Since I've switched to using a cash envelope system I don't think I'm accumulating air miles fast enough to make the "free" ticket less expensive than just buying one next time I need to fly somewhere.

edit: I forgot to say, I think the airline miles can also be converted to some kind of points and used for discount hotels and such.

 

[Delawaredave5]

I recently used the Bing / Live Search cash back - I got back around $25 on a $300 netbook purchase - and the netbook was a great deal from J&R Camera.

The $25 got automatically deposited in my Paypal account - was pretty easy.

 

[youbet]

no debt to be repaid later.

So....... no free float?

Zig, we're still debit-card-free since I can't find an advantage to using one over a CC. What am I missing?

 

[ziggy29]

So....... no free float?
I have no problem with taking the "free float", but some people do, whether for philosophical reasons or because of historical difficulties using credit wisely.

Zig, we're still debit-card-free since I can't find an advantage to using one over a CC. What am I missing?

See above. Also, some places will give "cash discounts" for purchases using PIN-based debit card transactions that don't apply to credit.

And personally, if someone's going to get my card number and scam me, I'd much rather it be a credit card than a debit card. But having said that I hope this doesn't turn into yet another debate about credit cards...

 

[youbet]

See above. Also, some places will give "cash discounts" for purchases using PIN-based debit card transactions that don't apply to credit.

I didn't know that. Is this a significant thing? You know how I love a bargain! I'd get a debit card (both my credit union and my bank will provide one if I ask them) if it provided some advantage in certain situations. If I could get a nice discount on substantial purchases, I'd get one and use it for those...... as long as the discount had more value than the CC float and reward points.

 

[ziggy29]

I didn't know that. Is this a significant thing? You know how I love a bargain! I'd get a debit card (both my credit union and my bank will provide one if I ask them) if it provided some advantage in certain situations. If I could get a nice discount on substantial purchases, I'd get one and use it for those...... as long as the discount had more value than the CC float and reward points.

I know of at least one retailer (Spec's, a Texas liquor store chain) that offers a 5% discount on all cash purchases. That also includes checks and PIN-based debit card transactions (which don't get the 0.5% cash back -- that only applies to transactions where the debit card is swiped like a credit card). Needless to say, 5% off with no "rewards" is better than 2% with the credit card or 0.5% as a debit card swiped as a credit card, so there you go...

I'm sure there are other examples as well.

 

[youbet]

I know of at least one retailer (Spec's, a Texas liquor store chain) that offers a 5% discount on all cash purchases. That also includes checks and PIN-based debit card transactions (which don't get the 0.5% cash back -- that only applies to transactions where the debit card is swiped like a credit card). Needless to say, 5% off with no "rewards" is better than 2% with the credit card or 0.5% as a debit card swiped as a credit card, so there you go...

I'm sure there are other examples as well.

Excellent. I'm not aware of any of these opportunites where I commonly shop now, but if I find one, for 5% I'd definitely go cash or debit card. I'll start asking and paying attention and see what I come up with. Thanks.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I know of at least one retailer (Spec's, a Texas liquor store chain) that offers a 5% discount on all cash purchases....

I'm sure there are other examples as well.

The half price theater ticket kiosk charges a couple of bucks less for cash transactions. I forget the exact amount but it's enough better than the credit card reward that I do pay cash there.

 

[flyfishnevada]

We use our AMEX. Sure it costs $85 for our two cards every year, but we get about $300 in points every year. We use it on air travel to offset the our flight to Jamaica every spring. They have all kinds of other deals where you can get double and triple points by shopping here or there or upgrading your card (more fees). You can't get cash, but you can get a AMEX Travelers Check, which is just about the same thing. No interest and it needs to be paid off each month, so no problem of deciding to let it ride. Another down side is some places don't accept it because they charge a huge fee to do so. But we've never had it turned down at major places, usually just mom and pop stores and diners.

 

[Ronnieboy]

I'm looking for a good cashback rewards program that is not tied to a credit card. The kind where you get cash back for purchases.

I do much of our shopping online, and thought I should try to take advantage of this. My US bank program is OK but does not have many merchants.

I did find one that seems pretty good, but I need to subscribe to a magazine for about $10 a year- I would easily recoup that. But anyone else have a program they like?

This one is the best I have found so far- scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see hundreds of popular merchants offering cash back.. Browse Merchants - Shop Online at LuckyRewards

I use Ebates.com Online Rebates from Ebates.com - Cash Back - Online Coupons (feel free to use my email as a referral ). It seems similar to lucky rewards, but you don't have to subscribe to a magazine to get the benefits.
You get your cashback rewards every quarter or you can donate the proceeds to a charity.
One time I had gotten my check, misplaced it, and found it again about 6 months later. It had one of those "void after 90 days" statements on it. So I emailed Ebates, told them how I misplaced it and they reissued the check. I was thinking tough luck, but they came through.
Whenever I purchase anything over the web I go there first and see if the store is listed. Most are but one noticeably absent that I have shopped at is Amazon.com.

Have used it for Apple itunes, Best Buy, Target, WalMart, etc. No problems.

 

[braumeister]

I know of at least one retailer (Spec's, a Texas liquor store chain) that offers a 5% discount on all cash purchases.

I may be wrong, but I think that's illegal.
Normally, the contract between a merchant and a credit card issuer stipulates that the price charged must be the same for any form of payment.

 

[shellyagal]

I am a regular online frugal shopper and mostly use cash back portals like Bing, ShopAtHome, AAfter Search and Ebates.