$126.76
Posted on January 21st, 2008 – 6:09 PMBy Kara McGuire
I went to pay my credit card bill and owed $2.95. Turns out it’s rebate time! I earned $126.76 cash back by using this card and paying it off each month. And it’s not even my regular card.
This is my “her spending” card, which I use for my own personal spending for girly stuff and happy hours and the like. It also happens to be my card with the highest credit limit, so I charged our fence on the card as well. I guess some of that rebate should take the family out for dinner!
Next month will be Costco rebate time. Hey,can anyone blame me about getting excited about this?
I mean, it’s frigid and gray outside. I had to work today. And I still haven’t seen a single tax form!
8 Responses to "$126.76"
I would be super excited about that! And how great is it, that it credits your account, so you don’t necessarily feel like it’s a gift and go out and purchase something else with the money! Although, I would probably justify that for some new shoes!
Do you assign a cost to managing different accounts (his/hers) and multiple credit cards?
A few years ago I assigned a cost to my time to open mail, file, track credit cards points, review annual credit report, etc. It may be boring - but we spend very little time administering any of this now.
Costco Rebate came - about $70 - means we spent a lot at Costco.
I always look at the net return of any reward. If it’s less than 3-4% I really don’t worry about it. Airline miles are a good example of points that really aren’t worth worrying about.
Are such rebates considered taxable income?
bsimon,
No.
The IRS views them as a reduction in the price of a product.
-Ryan
I think that’s great. If you are going to spend the money anyway, and have budgeted/managed your finances accordingly, why not take advantage of any one of the various credit card rebates, kick backs, etc. I’m sorry about the weather.
You had to spend and charge money to get the rebate. Not a wise move.
Ryan - do you have a link to IRS literature to support that? My understanding was that the consumer was responsible for tracking and reporting the cash earned through a credit card program. This would be in contrast to a rebate offer, where there’s a specific item that has been reduced in price.
Bill says
“You had to spend and charge money to get the rebate. Not a wise move.”
But Kara said
“I earned $126.76 cash back by using this card and paying it off each month.”
It would seem that, perhaps, different cards have different rules. I heard an ad this week (Discover?) that promised something like ‘interest amnesty’ for one month - if you pay on time for 6 months in a row. THAT is a sucker’s deal.
