Redeeming Credit Card Rewards Points Takes Strategy
BOSTON (CBS) - Whether it's when you go to the pharmacy, buy gas, or use a specific credit card, we're all accustomed to getting reward points.
In fact, Americans earned $48 billion worth of points just last year.
Getting your just rewards can be harder than you think, unless you have the right strategy.
Karen Stealey is a self professed exercise fanatic. She saved up her credit card reward points to get a new stationary bike.
But she didn't have much luck. "Every time I tried to buy the bike for about six months, and every single time I went on, it was out of stock," she explained.
Melissa Cenker was dreaming of using her points to book a dream trip to Hawaii. When she went to claim her price, the flight was no longer available. "That was the only date that worked for us," she said.
A recent survey found about $16 billion dollars worth of rewards aren't redeemed each year. That's of third of all the points consumers earn and it translates into more than $200 a year per household.
Financial Consultant Juliette Fairley isn't surprised those points get wasted. "You get so exasperated that you're just going to give up," she added.
There are more than two billion different reward programs, and the average household is signed up for about 20 of them. The challenge is to keep track of them.
Kathy Doyle of the Retail, Advertising, and Marketing Association said, "People just don't understand the programs, and they just don't think about them."
The first thing a consumer should do to make sure they are getting what they deserve is to know the rules of the program. That way you won't get tricked by anything in the fine print.
Next, compare programs so you can pick the one with the most generous rewards.
Then, use that retailer or credit card as much as you can so you reach your goal faster.
Fairley said, "It's your money, and it's you're reward, and it's up to you to keep track of it."
There are growing number of websites, such as www.points.com, www.awardwallet.com, and www.traxo.com, which will help you track those points and, in some cases, swap them.
Many sites will ask you for credit card information and require that you create a password. That process doesn't appeal to Stealy, however. "I never considered using one of those web sites where you buy or sell or trade points."
Doyle believes the organizations sponsoring these programs need to do a better job making them user friendly. "It's really the fault of the business. If we make it so hard for you to redeem your cards then we failed you," she added.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports
In the end, the retailers don't want the programs to backfire and actually make a shopper mad or frustrated. The whole idea behind them is to get you to come back and create brand loyalty.
The Better Business Bureau doesn't track complaints about rewards programs per say. But when they checked their file for credit card complaints, many of them were about problems redeeming points.
