The Sun's Financial Diary

As crude oil went over $110 a barrel, gasoline prices are also surging. According to GasBuddy.com, (BTW, a good site to find the cheapest gas in your area) the national average price of regular gas is $3.257 per gallon. Though New Jersey has the lowest gas prices in the nation, filling up our cars every week becomes more and more expensive. Both my wife and I have to drive to work everyday and we spent nearly $80 every week on gas. So far we haven’t reached the point that we have to change our plan because of the high gas price, or cut down spending on other items as fuel costs get bigger and bigger, but we do want to reduce our gas bills.

In addition to finding stations in our area that sell gas at a lower price, we also take advantage of the cash rewards offered by our credit cards to get a little bit back on what we have to buy. We are both credit card person and paying gas with credit cards is almost like a no brainer to us. For me, I use a Chase Freedom Card to get 3% cashback on gasoline. My wife uses a Fidelity 529 College Rewards Card for 2% rebate on everything, including fuel. Though every time we can only get something like a buck reduced from our gas purchase by using a credit card, savings add up little by little, especially when the money saved are invested

The following is a list of credit cards that give cardholders solid rewards on gasoline purchase. None of them charges a membership fee, some even offer extra benefits such as 0% APR balance transfer for a year, or cash incentives of using the card. Take a look if you are in the market for a gas reward credit card. Or share with us if you know a card that allows card member to earn better rebates.

Discover Open Road Card

• Program highlight: With Discover Open Road Card, you can earn 5% cashback on gasoline purchases at any stations where Discover is accepted. Plus, it also offers 5% Cashback Bonus on auto maintenance. However, the drawback is only the first $100 are eligible for 5% bonus. Other purchases earn 1% Cashback Bonus.
• Introductory rate: 0% APR until October 2008 (6 months).
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 0% APR until April 2009 (12 months), 3% balance transfer fees, but not less than $10 and not more than $75.

Chase Freedom Credit Card

• Program highlight: Chase Freedom Card is the gas reward card I am using, though not exclusively for gas purchase. The card gives 3% cashback on all purchases at any gas station. But it comes with a catch: Gas purchase must be one of top 3 categories in monthly spending to e receive the 3% reward. Otherwise, the rebate will be just 1%. In addition, the card also has a maximum of $18 you can earn on 3% bonus every month.
• Introductory rate: None.
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 3% balance transfer fees, but not less than $5 and not more than $75.
• Additional promotion: Get $50 after first purchase.

American Express and Costco TrueEarnings Card

• Program highlight: The TureEarnings Card just added gas to its reward program last month. Now it allows cardholders to earn 3% cashback on all gas purchase. The problem is not every station accept AMEX. The TrueEarnings card also gives back 3% bonus for restaurants, 2% for travel, and 1% everywhere else including at Costco. There’s no limit on cash rebates you can earn.
• Introductory rate: 0% APR for the first 3 months.
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 1.99% APR balance transfer for the first 6 months, no fee when the transfer is made in the first 40 days.
• The TureEarnings Business Card gives 5% cashback on all gas purchase.

Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards for Travel & Gas

• Program highlight: If you travel a lot, then Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards for Travel & Gas makes a good choice, though I don’t like Capital One itself (it’s not in my wallet). With this card, you can earn 3 miles for every dollar spent on gas, as well as travel, and 1 mile everywhere else. There’s no limit on miles you can earn and the miles don’t expire either.
• Introductory rate: None.
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 13.4% APR, no balance transfer fee.

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card

• Program highlight: The Dividend Platinum Select Card used to pay a generous 5% cashback on gas, but not any more. Now you can earn 5% on gas purchases for just the first 6 months, as well as purchased made at supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, and on utility bills. After 6 months, the reward goes down to 2%. Other purchases earns 1% cashback. A maximum of $300 bonus can be earned in one year.
• Introductory rate: None.
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 0% APR for 12 months, 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum of $5 and maximum of $250.

Chase PerfectCard MasterCard

• Program highlight: If you are looking for a card with high temporary gas rebate, then Chase PerfectCard could be a choice. The card gives a fat 6% cash rebate on all gas purchases, but only for the first 90 days. After that, the rebate drops to 3%, which is still good. In addition, the card also allows you to earn 1% cashback on all other eligible purchases. The maximum monthly rebate on gas, however, is $15, which is equivalent to $500 of net gas purchases every month.
• Introductory rate: 0% APR for 6 month.
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 0% APR for the first 6 month, 3% balance transfer fee but not less than $5 and not more than $75.

Citi Driver’s Edge Options MasterCard

• Program highlight: With Citi Driver’s Edge Card, you can earn 3% rebate on all gas purchases and 1% on purchases at everywhere else. Use your rebate toward the purchase of a new or used vehicle, automotive parts, or merchandise rewards..
• Introductory rate: None.
• Balance transfer rate and fee: 0% APR for 12 months, 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum of $5 and maximum $75.

In addition, there are other credit cards that offer extra bonuses when purchasing a particular brand of gasoline. Though the rewards are usually higher those from the general cards listed above, I am not interested in these “special” cards because of the limitations on where the gas is purchased. All the cards in this category also offer 1% cashback on purchases made elsewhere:

• BP Visa Card: 10% cashback at BP/Amoco gas stations for the first 2 months, 5% afterwards.
• Citgo MasterCard: 4% bonus on Citgo gas.
• ExxonMobil MasterCard: 3% rebates at Exxon/Mobil gas stations.
• Gulf Platinum MasterCard: 3% cashback on gasoline purchases at Gulf stations.
• Hess Visa Card: 5% rebate on gas purchases at Hess, Hess Express and Wilco Hess stations.
• Lukoil MasterCard: 4% on gas purchases made at Lukoil/Getty stations.
• Conoco Phillips MasterCard: 4% rebate on gas purchases at Conoco/Phillips gas stations.
• Shell MasterCard: 5% rebate on Shell gas purchases.
• Sunoco MasterCard: 4% rebate on Sunoco gas.

What’s your preferred gas reward credit card?

photo credit: momo_the_monster

crowdsourcing at Birp Blap

Crowdsourcing is - at a very basic level - throwing a task or request for information out into the public, and accumulating and selecting the best results. The theory is similar to “getting a second opinion.”

Managing Your Money is Easier Said Than Done at Money Smart Life

Have you ever given anyone advice, then looked back later and seen that advice from a whole different point of view? Maybe it was good, maybe it was bad, or maybe it was part right and part wrong.

Feeling Poor: Here Are The Two Largest Reasons Why at Lazy Man and Money

I asked myself a simple question, “Are people having problems with their personal finance because the available tools are not helpful?” I would love to believe that better tools could solve people’s money woes. I think most people need to focus on two things to escape a life of little financial worry.

Informal In-Trust Accounts at Million Dollar Journey

An informal in-trust account is an investment account that is opened for a child (beneficiary). Once the beneficiary turns the age of majority (determined by province), the account automatically gets transferred to his/her name.

Upromise Rewards: Free Money at My Dollar Plan

Upromise is a free service that helps families earn extra money for education. It’s that simple. You earn rewards from partner companies when you buy certain products or services. Common rewards we earn are from buying gas and groceries, dining out, and shopping online.

Beware Of The Laundry Detergent Cap at No Credit Needed

On the back of the detergent bottle, there are ‘recommended’ amounts for various types of ‘laundry loads’. For a medium-sized load, the manufacturer suggested that I fill the cap to line “1″. I looked on the outside of the cap and I couldn’t find any numbers. But, on the inside, there they were. Very faintly, there were three lines - 1, 2, and 3.

Simplest Way to Wealth at Money Ning

Earn it.
Save it.
Have fun with it.

Vanguard Brokerage Account Review at 2million’s Personal Finance Blog

There is a lot of appeal to me to make this our primary joint money management account. We can get all our direct deposits redirected to this account from our checking accounts and immediately earn money market rates on the account balance. No more shifting money around between accounts — I can get almost all our cash flow put in to this account, make immediate investments through the brokerage account, write checks our use the online billpay to handle expenses.

Great Website For Teaching Kids About Giving And Charity at My Two Dollars

The company is called markmakers.org, and adults buy the kids what amounts to a debit card that works on the site, and the kids get to “shop” the different charities.

I sent out several $20 Amazon.com gift cards tonight to those who used my bonus sharing program in February. Last month, a few readers used my referral links to open and fund their brokerage account at Zecco.com, which rewarded me a $50 bonus for each new account I referred to them. I in turn offer a $20 Amazon.com gift card as bonus sharing. Actually, I bumped the bonus up to $25 early this month so now the bonus is evenly split. If you are looking to open a brokerage account, check out my referral page see if you can find one from a list of brokers with which I have accounts. You could get either free trades or up to $50 bonus.

Also early this month, Ebates.com announced a promotion which gives me $10 bonus for each new signup through my referral link till the end of this month. A few people signed up and made qualified purchases, and I have received payouts from Ebates.com. Therefore, I also emailed $5 gift cards.

Again, big thanks to those used my referrals last month

Featured information

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Here are some articles I found worth reading:

• Consumerism Commentary has a post on a study which shows that payday loans cause more bankruptcies. The conclusion should be of no surprise if you know what payday loan is and how it works.
• Haven’t filed your tax return yet? Check out a review of TurboTax by The Digerati Life for what you can expect from a popular tax preparation software, which is also my choice for the past two year (BTW, Generation X Finance is giving away 3 TaxCut Federal + Stat flash drives).
• Quest For Four Pillars wondered whether Visa (V) is a Buy now. I don’t know, but the hype was certainly there before the IPO and the instant winners are no doubt those big banks which underwrote the deal. For small investors like me, the question I asked was “Is this a good business that I want to own?” The answer is Yes and I bought the stock yesterday.
• When Bear Stearns defaulted and sold itself for 2 bucks a share to JPMorgan Chase early this week, big losers are not only those investors who held the stock last Friday at around $30, but Bear’s employees who have the majority of their 401(k) money invested in their own company. Who could imagine a stock that less than one year ago was around $170 now becomes worthless. The lesson? Diversify, says The Penny Saved.

Did you buy any HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008? If you did, then you can get a $50 Best Buy complementary gift card from Best Buy for each HD DVD player you purchase. Since Blue Ray has won the battle between HD DVD to the standard format for high-definition DVD, your HD DVD player will soon become obsolete. Though you won’t get back the hundreds of dollars you already spent on HD DVD, the $50 gift card can offset a little bit on your next Blue Ray purchase, if you decide to switch

I did. Did you?

I called my broker Scottrade this morning when the markets opened, but had to wait nearly 20 minutes before my called was transferred to Scottrade’s national service center instead being answered by brokers at my local office. I never had problem contacting them before.

When my call eventually went through, I was told by the broker who answered my phone that the bid prices were anywhere between $50 to $100, but the stock hasn’t come to secondary market yet. Then she asked me how much I am willing to buy and I told her $60. So I placed a limit order to buy 250 share of Visa (V) when it’s available. At 10:15 am, the order was executed and the price I paid was $59.50.

Well, I could have waited and got the stock at a little bit lower price, but I am not too concerned about the price I paid since I plan to hold this stock for a long, long time.

Two days ago, I ran a poll asking whether you will buy Visa and of the 371 respondents, 336 said they will buy the stock and among those who said Yes, 248 indicated that they will buy Visa today. So, did you actually buy the stock?

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