I’m a shopaholic. That’s something I should admit off the top. Ever since getting my first credit card back in university I couldn’t help but by anything and everything I desired on it. Over the years since, I’ve been through several different credit cards. Lately the one I use the most is my Chase Master Card mostly because the features and perks are just far better then any of my other cards.
In a given month I might put up to a couple thousand dollars on my Chase Master Card alone. This includes every kind of purchase from dinner at a fast food restaurant to toys for the kids. Unless it is a really small purchase like a news paper or candy bar I almost never use cash anymore. As I figured out a long time ago, for good or for bad, there isn’t really much point to paying with paper money anymore. While the retailers like it because they get to keep all the cash and do a lot less paperwork because of it, there is no more benefit to me to make that outweighs the annoyance of being bogged down with change.
On my Chase Master Card I happen to have a great spending limit and perks that reward me for using their card over other forms of payment. When I first got my card, for instance, there was an introductory ninety day period where I got six percent back from all of my gas purchases and it didn’t matter where I went to buy my gas. It was that feature alone that caught my interest and got me to switch over from another bank’s card.
Now that the initial ninety day offer is over with I still get discounts on gas. As long as I pay with my Chase Master card I get three percent off of gas, still at any gas station. The discount is never immediate but it appears as a deduction on my statement so it’s worked out before I have to pay my bill.
What I found out after getting the Chase Master Card is that the discounts they give apply to more then just filling my tank. While it doesn’t sound as great as six or three percent, there is a one percent rebate on everything else I buy from any other retailer. For someone who spends as much as I do, this really adds up to a big savings. Again, it makes me wonder why anyone would bother using cash at all these days. When people think I’m odd for using a credit card to pay for a ten dollar purchase I just let them know that it all adds up. By the end of a year, using a credit card saves me hundreds of dollars.
Other great features Chase Master Cards offer are things like low interest rates and fees. Some of their cards don’t have any annual fee attached at all. They provide online access to your bill which is a free service on some of their plans. My friend’s Chase Master Card even gives him insurance on rental cards when he travels. Naturally he doesn’t like to use cash much either.
Christopher M. Luck has an extensive background in working exclusively with chase credit cards and is now offering his free professional credit card advice to the public. If you are at all interested in Christopher's personal finance advice, tips, or secrets, you can visit his finance blog