Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Are the points worth it?

Okay folks... need your opinion here.

As you may know, I am always on a crusade to find small ways for saving money. Like for instances, whenever I can consolidate bill payments into one single payment I do... (i.e. Bell Mobility, Bell Sympatico, Bell Telephone), meaning 3 bills paids at the same time, but recorded as one transaction in the banking world.

Now my new crusade is Visa/Mastercard. There aren't too many Visa's out there that don't offer you some sort of points reward system. For example... I am currently a Shopper's Optimun Visa point collector... but lately in my wifely duties of SHOPPING, I have discovered that Shopper's Drugmart is expensive, and the although when I can use the points its fun, I can buy half the stuff I need for a lot less at Walmart, Jean Coutu (who take Airmiles) or the local grocery store. I have pretty much resigned to the fact that Optimum points aren't worth it. So I am looking for something new.

PC and I also have PC Points Mastercard... no annual fee, and you redeem your points for free groceries every once and while... so far its been a good deal. But again, it takes a while for the points to add up, and I find in one swipe of $140 grocery bill... they are gone!

Now we are on a hunt to find one credit card... with the most benefits... and we are headed towards the TD Travel Visa... but there is an annual fee of $120 a year. Before we were married, PC had this card, and we actually use the points for a pretty nice weekend in Montreal FREE (well... you know what I mean) before he cancelled the card. Looking back on it, it was awesome.... we stayed right downtown, parked, and ate without opening our wallets!

So... this is the part where you the faithful readers weigh in... is paying an annual fee worth if for a credit card... in the case of TD Visa... you get point for every dollar you spend, and the reward is this case if free vacations... or should I stick with a no annual fee Mastercard, for the reduced cost of groceries every 8 to 10 months???

I am leaning towards the TD Visa, but you may persuade me otherwise... let's hear from the peanut gallery!!