FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - What's in your wallet?
View Single Post
Old May 27, 2010 | 8:47 pm
  #40  
angel.x.martinez
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Worldwide
Programs: Amex Plat, BMI Silver
Posts: 401
Originally Posted by adamj023
"I prefer cards rewarded in dollars rather than points. It's harder to devalue dollars."

This belief is false and incorrect.

Chase Freedom was 3% cashback on top 3 purchases and was reduced to a 1% Cashback card on all purchases.

HSBC had a 5% cashback for $5000 charged card which was reduced to a 1% straight cashback.

The banks will find a way to devalue both miles and cashback programs equally and in fact they have but on the other side of the coin some banks have increased the value of their mileage programs.

So I wouldn't hesitate to use miles over dollars if the current percentages were in line.

Capital One actually lowered the points needed to obtain points rather than increasing it since I had the Rewards Checking account and that lowering allowed me to cash in a reward on the account.

Chase allows on ultimate rewards to switch between cashback and points, but I don't know what effect this has. My rewards are shown in dollars and points.
I am going to have to side with scubadiver...

Cash is cash... they may change the % of cashback... but unlike points, a dollar is a dollar... Points or miles can decrease in value...

Example: 25k miles for a round-trip ticket one day and 50k miles the next for the same ticket.... even though the ticket is still worth $400... miles required increased.... value decreased...

Costco Amex is my favorite... It's my version of the SPG card....
angel.x.martinez is offline