 |
Here's a stellar opportunity to save $200 per year on purchase you need to make anyway. | |
|
Shell Gas and Citbank have teamed up to offer a Shell co-branded credit card. You get 15% back on all gas and Jiffy Lube purchases for the first sixty days and 3% back on all other purchases if you apply for a card before the end of the year. After the initial 60 day period, you save 5% on all gas and Jiffy Lube purchases and 1% back on all other purchases. | ||
Let's do the math ...
First the gas ... Say that you fill up your gas tank which is 12 gallons (that's on the small side of gas tanks) twice a week and that gas stays at $2.50 per gallon for the next year. For the first 60 days, you will put $240 (8*12*$2.50) of gas into you car. At 15% that's $36. During the rest of the year you will put $1200 (40*12*$2.50) into your car. At 5% that's $60.
Now the oil changes at Jiffy Lube ... Let's say that you change your oil 6 times a year at $40 a pop. That's $40 at 15% and $200 at 5% - for a total of $16 at Jiffy Lube.
Now ... are the rewards on the card generous enough to use them for your other purchase. I would argue that 3% back on all purchases is a better deal than you'll get on most cards, so let's say that you put all of your normal credit card charges for the first two months on this card. That might be $1500 per month, so $3000 at 3% is $90.
The long and the short of it is that you would conservatively save $202 by applying for and shifting your your spend for stuff you have to buy.
There's no such thing as a free lunch - so what are the catches?
-- there appears to no cap on the cumulative rebates that can be earned
-- you can only earn rebates on up to $100 in daily purchases at Jiffy Lube
-- the APR is 16.24%, but Citibank reserves the right to raise the rate to
maximum of 32.24% (usually if you are late on your payments)
-- there is a annual fee of $20 that is waived for the first year and will be
waived for additional years if the card at Shell at least 9 times
Happy Shopping,
Moe