Save Money At The Pump!
WITH GAS PRICES continuing to rise from our current national average of $2.54 a gallon for regular unleaded, who isn’t looking for ways to alleviate that pain at the pump? Using a credit card that offers cash back on your gasoline purchases is one way to potentially cut costs.
Here’s how they work: These cards offer cash back on all your purchases, with better rebates when you buy gasoline. But like any credit-card offer, you need to check under the hood before you sign up.
Needless to say, these cards will save you money — if you pay off your balance in full each month. If you don’t, you’ll most likely be worse off using them than if you were to use cash.
Here’s how to get the most mileage out of a gas card:
Look beyond introductory offers
Credit-card companies know you want to spend less on gasoline, so they’ve advertised some very attractive initial offers. Before you race to sign up, investigate how the rewards change down the road. Both the Marathon Platinum MasterCard and the WaWa Visa card, for example, initially offer 10% cash back on gasoline purchases at their branded stations. But the Marathon rate drops to 5% after 60 days, while the WaWa rate drops to 4%.
Skip station-specific cards
You need the flexibility to buy gas at whichever of your local stations has the lowest price on a given day, says Bilker. Unless you only have Exxon stations near you, or that Hess station around the corner always has the cheapest gas, you just won’t rack up enough rewards to make it worth your time.
We found our 3 favorite Gas Cards that are sure to save you money:
Discover Platinum Gas Rebate Card:
Discover touts some of the best customer service, card benefits and credit card rewards in the credit card industry. The Discover Platinum Gas Card is no exception. This card features a full 5% cash rebate at gas stations from day one, a 0% APR for a whole year and a competitive APR thereafter.
Discover Platinum Gas Card Pros: 5% gas rebate on all gas purchases at any gas station, great card benefits, and a 0% introductory APR for one year.
Discover Platinum Gas Card Cons: 5% rebate applies only on the first $1200 of gas purchases per year. After that the gas rebate is only 1%. Rewards are not automatically applied.
Summary: This is a great gas rebate card for people spending less than $1200 on gas per year. It can’t be beat there, but for gas guzzlers a different card might be in order.
Chase PerfectCard MasterCard:
Chase describes this card as the all-in-one gas card. It has many of the same features as the BP chase card except for the gas rebates apply for gas purchases made at ANY gas station and the gas rebate amount isn’t very high. For 90 days the gas rebate is 6%. After that the gas rebate is only 3% with a one percent rebate for all other purchases.
Chase PerfectCard Pros: Gas rebates apply for purchases made at ALL gas stations, rebates are automatically credited towards future card purchases, great fraud protection and card benefits.
Chase PerfectCard Cons: The rebate amount is relatively low and the maximum monthly rebate is $15 (the equivalent of spending $500/month on gas).
Summary: The Chase PerfectCard is a great all around gas credit card, with good benefits which can simplify life for people trying to manage more than one gas rebate credit card.
Blue Cash From American Express:
The American Express Blue Cash Credit Card has many of the same advantages as the BP card including great fraud protection, an established credit card issuer and great credit card benefits including a six month 0% introductory APR. Despite the fact that AmEx is advertising this card as a “gas rebate card,” it is in fact just their regular cash back credit card. The advantage of this card is that the card holder earns 5% cash back on ALL credit card purchases at any gas station and at any store. Although this card has no high rebate introductory offers, 5% on all purchases can add up!
Blue Cash From American Express Pros: 0% introductory APR for 6 months, 5% cash back on all purchases, and issued by major card issuer featuring great fraud protection and card benefits.
Blue Cash from American Express Cons: 5% rebate only begins after $6500 has been spent annually with the card (until then the rebate amount is only 1%), and the cash rebate is only automatically applied at the end of the year.
Summary: For big spenders the AmEx Blue Cash Rebate card has obvious advantages. For people making less than $6500 in credit card purchases per year, the 5% rebate never kicks in.