Are You Getting Your Rewards? Part 4

I heard back from the credit card company about my diminished rewards on my new cash back credit card. To be fair, they did give me most of the rewards promised, but they still had to adjust for the first statement.

The transaction history shows the bonus rewards for each item and not the total rewards for each item.  So, if you look by transaction, you will only see the bonus cash back reward above the baseline 1% cash reward received on all transactions.  The 1% cash back reward on all items is calculated on the statement total on the final billing date.  You will not be able to see this amount until the statement period closes and the reward is calculated and posted to the account.  There will be only 1 line item for the total monthly purchases. 

The first month's statement however, only had the 1% reward and customer service still had to adjust for the bonus rewards for a couple of transactions on that statement.  My best guess, is that these rewards occurred between the original phone call and the follow-up conversation where the customer service representative said that they would convert the original credit card to the new rewards program as well.  The transactions were just caught between the now and the not yet rewards program.

My list of cautions on rewards programs is growing. When it comes to credit card or retail rewards programs, make sure you know what you are suppose to get and know how to tell if you are actually getting your rewards.

Cautions on Rewards Programs:

     1. Rewards you will never use, are not rewards.
     2. Rewards you don't actually get, are not rewards.
     3. Rewards that last only for a promotional period of time should be re-evaluated when that period ends. 
     4. Reward programs should all be reconsidered once a year for benefit.

Related Posts:
      Are You Getting Your Rewards?
      Are You Getting Your Rewards? Part 2
      Are You Getting Your Rewards? Part 3