If you have a travel rewards credit card in your wallet, it's good to have a dream destination in mind for when you rack up enough points.
Maybe a trip to the supermarket, or a commute to work. Or, how about a drive to your kid's soccer game, or swimming lessons? What, too boring? Sorry, but in the era of high oil prices, this is the kind of travel that looks especially inviting for people earning loyalty points through a credit card.
A recent Personal Finance column made the argument that with gasoline prices as high as they are, it's sensible to patronize gas stations with the lowest prices rather than those with the best loyalty programs. But several readers have pointed out that there are a few obscure credit cards offering particularly generous rewards in the form of gas rebates. Think of them as travel reward programs for an era in which high oil prices are diminishing the ability to travel affordably.
Reader Harvey Easton of Port Stanley, Ont., suggested the no-fee Canadian Tire Gas Advantage MasterCard, which offers discounts of 2 to 10 cents a litre on fuel purchased at Canadian Tire gas bars. The more you spend on the card, the higher the discount.
"How much have we saved?" Mr. Easton wrote in an e-mail. "In the past year my wife added up the saving on gasoline purchases. She calculated a saving of approximately $400 on the purchase of gasoline. So you can see we really like this card. We drive fuel-efficient automobiles so anyone driving a less-than-fuel-efficient vehicle would probably save more on the cost of gasoline."
The exact amount of savings you get with the Gas Advantage card is pegged to the level of spending you did in the previous month. If you spent up to $499.99, you save 2 cents a litre. To qualify for 10 cents a litre, you have to spend $2,000 or more.
"Over the past year we have had this credit card, we have never had less than a $1,000 balance in each month as we purchase all of our essentials with it," Mr. Easton wrote. "Things like groceries, gasoline, staples, dinners out at restaurants, clothing, entertainment, winter vacations, etc., all are purchased on this card monthly." (Note: Mr. Easton said he pays his card bill in full each month and does not pay interest that would undermine the benefit of his gas rebates.)
Canadian Tire offers double earning power on purchases made at its stores and those in Mark's Work Wearhouse, which means a $100 purchase counts as $200 when tallying up your monthly spending. One fine-print issue for those who qualify for the top discount of 10 cents a litre: This price break applies to your first $700 in gas per month; thereafter you get a discount of 2 cents.
Reader David McLellan of Orleans, Ont., suggested the no-fee National Bank Ultramar MasterCard, which saves him 2 per cent on his fuel in months when he spends more than $100 on gas at Ultramar stations. Ultramar is a gas station chain operating in Eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
The Ultramar MasterCard gives you a 1-per-cent rebate if you spend up to $100 a month and 2 per cent for higher amounts. If your total purchases at Ultramar reach $2,500 or more in a year, you get an additional annual rebate of 0.5 per cent. Mr. McLellan said his current credit card statement showed three gasoline purchases totalling $128.10 after subtracting $2.61 for the monthly rebate.
The Ultramar card also offers an annual rebate of 0.25 to 1.25 per cent of your other spending other than at Ultramar stations to a maximum of $250.
One other gas card option is the no-fee Citi Petro-Points MasterCard, which offers an automatic discount of 2 cents a litre on gas purchased at Petro-Canada stations. You also get 10 Petro Points - that's Petro-Canada's in-house customer loyalty program - for every $1 you spend on the card.
Percy Lauwaert of Stratford, Ont., has found that conventional credit cards can be used to cut gas costs as well. Mr. Lauwaert's strategy comes out of his frustration with trying to book travel rewards with points earned on his Royal Bank of Canada Visa card.
Instead of flights and rental cars, he's now redeeming points for $25 gas gift cards. He said he uses his card to buy gas, groceries, gifts and such, and that this average yearly usage would be equal to $36,000.
"This gives me 18,000 points, which can be exchanged for six $25 gas cards or four tanks of free gas," Mr. Lauwaert wrote in an e-mail. "My next step will be to purchase a more fuel-efficient vehicle."
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Save on gas
Here are three credit cards with loyalty programs that provide discounts on the purchase
Canadian Tire Gas Advantage MasterCard
Annual fee: None
Rewards: Rebates of between 2 and 10 cents per litre, depending on much you spent on the card in the previous month; savings apply
at Canadian Tire gas bars
Info: ctfs.com/english/gasadvantage/index.html
National Bank Ultramar MasterCard
Annual fee: None
Rewards: Rebates of up to 2 per cent
of monthly gas purchases at
Ultramar stations; an extra 0.5 per
cent rebate applies annually if your gas purchases are above $2,500; other rebates for non-gas purchases
Info: nbc.ca
Citi Petro-Points MasterCard
Annual fee: None
Rewards: instant two-cent-per-litre
savings at Petro-Canada stations;
Petro Points are earned as well.
Info: citi.com/canada
Rob Carrick