In my experience so far, the only card whose points haven't devalued much (if at all) over the years is Discover. The redemption multiples are a little more modest than the good old days, but the number of retailers you can use is excellent and still expanding. Plus, their service absolutely rocks. Just don't carry a balance...

Cash rewards never devalue (well...except for inflation). Amex Blue Cash FTW.

@sleze69:

I also have the AMEX Blue Cash - LOVE it :-) and go WELL over the $6500/year to boost the points :-)

Cash rewards don't devalue, but they can get taken away. We had an HSBC card with almost $100 in accrued cash back that we stopped using for a few months. Six months to the day after our last charge on the card, they unilaterally closed the account and told us to take a hike regarding our accrued cash back.

@Ash78: Ahh, Discover. Ironically it's better accepted in China than in the States where it's based (in the US "we don't take Discover" is commonplace- in China if they take any credit/debit cards they have to take Discover).

American Airlines is the worst, in my experience. I had 270,000 miles in my account and when I called in late 2007 was given assurance that they would not expire until December 2008. When I called in November 2008 to donate the miles to Make-A-Wish I was told the information given to me in 2007 was inaccurate, and that the miles had already expired. They would do nothing to help me, or restore the miles for Make-A-Wish. They accepted no responsibility for the inaccurate information given to me by an American Airlines telephone representative. Delta handled the donation of miles I had in their account with accurate and polite precision. American Airlines is lame.

We have an Amazon card. Every 2500 points they send me a $25 gift certificate. Works for me.

@Ash78:

I've had an Amex blue cash for a couple years. They haven't devalued cash, and they haven't changed the percent of cash I get back.

I have a discover driver's edge, but pretty much never use it. I miss the Staples $20/$40 certificates, and you used to get 5% back on the first $1500 in gas. Now it's $100 per month. They also have stupidly low credit limits.

@sleze69: Ditto. :D

@Starfury:

Not to mention they started up offering bonus points like Discover where you get extra points on a certain category for a limited time. From Mid-Oct through the end of the year it was 3 points for each dollar of gas. Now from Jan 15th-Mar 31st it's 10 points for each dollar on monthly bills. This is including cable, internet, utilities, auto insurance, phone, newspaper.

Until they change it, the American Airlines treats miles posted by the American Airlines citibank card as refresher miles, so as long as you use it every so often, your American Airlines miles won't expire.

Same applies to American Airlines Dining (formerly idine). Register ANY credit card, and when you eat at a participating restaurant, you get bonus miles credited to your American account.

@jamar0303: Interesting...I would have echoed your statement 5-10 years ago, but I very rarely encounter retailers that don't take Discover. Just the local boutique shops and the occasional greasy spoon restaurant.

Weird thing is, like China, Dollar General ONLY takes Discover (of all CCs)

@Starfury:

The Amazon card rocks... especially if you use it on Amazon as much as we do! Between dodging state sales tax (6%) and the 3% we get back on the Amazon card... we save a LOT of money.

It's especially cool that we pay it off every month and have no finance fees.

@Starfury: I like the card too, I believe I got mine last year for the first time. It figures I get it at a time when I don't need to be buying things off of Amazon though.

I just wish there were more special offers that went with it. When I first got it, there were some big coupon codes for cardholders only that saved you big money on Blu-ray movies. Since then, there hasn't been a single offer for Amazon cardholders. That's frustrating.

I learned about this the hard way... I have a BoA Yankee card... 1 pt per dollar spent... I'm at like 11000... about 8 months ago i h eld out hope of gettin to $50 Best Buy Gift cards for 11000 only to see they raised them to 6000... then they raised it to 6500... then they eliminated it and only had a $100 for 12000... and recently they raised it to 13000... so close.. .yet so far... it is quite a crock... is tere no way to weasel my way into getting them to reward my points retroactively? lol

@Ash78:Discover lost me as a potential customer years ago when I was a student and they denied me for a student card, for which I'd signed up for on campus, saying they didn't think I was a student. They wanted a letter from a school faculty member (!) or adviser to prove I was enrolled there. I've torn up their solicitations ever since.

@sleze69: Amen to that. If you charge more than $6500 a year and don't keep high balances, Blue Cash is probably the best rewards program - 1.5% on all purchases, 5%(!) at gas stations and grocery stores - out there.

@sleze69:
+1 I love my Amex. I use it for everything and pay off the balance every month. Last year I got $845 in cash back, well off that month's bill. I had to spend a total of ~$45K to get that much back though.

Discovercard 1% cash back and 5% on certain other purchases. Its not much but it doesn't change.

With the airline points and the other assorted scam point deals, as soon as it benefits them they change the terms, kind of like tempting someone with a carrot and when you are about to bite they pull it away from you.

If you have reward points you're not going to use (say, an airline you flew on once but don't expect to fly on for another five years), you can donate them to charitable organizations, too.

@Louie Colon: I think the problem is that you are a Yankee fan. Try switching to another team and see what happens.

@Ash78: Really? The ones here usually have the Visa logo and no others posted outside-hmm.

@Starfury: I had that card for a while. They're stiff about raising the credit limit and the APR is simply outrageous. Terrible for large purchases. Plus there are better rewards programs out there; I put 2,000 on my Citi card for a cruise and traded in for a $25 card to Bertuccis. (And paid the balance in full next month of course.)

@sleze69: Unfortunately Amex Blue Cash is one of the worst (speaking in purely monetary terms) reward cards out there. Check out Credit Card Comparator, a web program I wrote to find the best reward card for your spending patterns. You'll see how much better you can do.

@Nitsuj116:

I love my Blue Cash, but they have just (as of Jan 1st, I believe) got stricter about the rewards in the 5% categories - now if they're not coded correctly, you won't get your 5% (or your 1%, if you haven't reached the $6500 threshold yet).

I'm crossing my fingers that the effects won't be too horrible, but I know that more often than not, the gas station purchases that earn me so much cashback are coded as anything but gas stations: service station, fuel dispenser... very rarely is the merchant coded as a "gas station". :(

This article made me realize I should do something about my accumulated points so I'm looking to the group for suggestions. I currently have 140,000 points with Citi.

My card is a cash rewards card so I can redeem my points for cash, but the kicker is that it costs 16000 points for $100 - I pay them $60 to give me $100.

There are other forms of financial rewards but they all seem to be at a horrible exchange rate. Is there some authority out there that helps consumers find the best bang for their buck when it comes to points?

I want to maximize the value of my points. If I can buy the same thing for less than the equivalent value in points, I dont want it.

@MsAnthropy:
What I do is use my Chase rewards card for gas and food until I pass the $6500 threshold (~2 months). That way I'm always getting 5% cash back on gas and food. I would always use the chase, but that card is limited to $600 back per year.

Last year I lucked out as I got 5% back on $2000 I spent at a car dealer as it was flagged as automotive.

Good reminder. I need to check my credit card points. I have about 800,000 points on my hotel club and used to have 55,000 on my credit card - which was used to pay off the huge hotel bill.

@sleze69: That's why I can't wait for my Costco Amex to come in.

I definitely have reward points on a Visa card to burn, perhaps I should turn them into something soon.