Save 5% at gas stations, grocery stores, and pharmacies
The Citi Dividend Platinum Select is one of the most useful cards out there. It allows you to get 5% cash back for purchases made at gas stations, grocery stores, and pharmacies which are commonly referred to as “everyday purchases.” If gas costs ~$3 then it effectively reduces the price by 15 cents. It also gives 1% back on all other purchases but that can be gotten from many other cards. Unlike some other programs, you don’t have to get points and use them for gift cards, you can get a check for $25 when you accumulate that many dividend dollars. There is also no annual fee so there is no reason not to have this card.
The only drawback is that there is a limit of $300 that you can earn in any calendar year. So if you only used it for purchases eligible for 5% back then you would be limited to receiving rewards on $6000 of purchases. If you spend more than that there are several options to supplement this one. As I mentioned previously, it appears that some of the 5% cards are no longer be issued. You can still get the AT&T Universal Card from Citibank which is pretty much the same just that you get thank you points instead of straight cash back. The closest cash equivalent redemptions available are gift cards and student loan repayments. The Discover Platinum Gas card is another option to give 5% back on the first $1200 for purchases at gas stations.
One other way of utilizing this card is to buy gift cards at supermarkets or pharmacies. You could buy them for other stores you know you are going to shop at and effectively get 5% back for many other purchases.
This card also has a very useful no fee 0% balance transfer offer. However, citibank has similar offers of 0% interest for 12 months on many of their other cards. One of those would probably be more appropriate for those looking to go that route. If you do take advantage of the bt, however, make sure that you don’t use it for purchases because the purchase apr is a regular rate. You would also probably want to get another card for everyday purchases. This is what I did. The BT offer is for 12 months from the time you make the transfer and you can do it anytime within 12 months of getting the card. This is one of the good features of most Citibank BTs, the ability to delay the start of your offer normally as long as the actual offer itself.
This is one of the cards I would recommend to everyone. The 0% bt rate ends in a few months on mine and it will probably become my most used after I fully pay off the card.
June 21st, 2006 at 12:39 am
I have a Dividend Platinum Select and I have been very happy with it.
June 23rd, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Yep, love that Dividend Platinum Select for grocery stores, drug stores, and gas. I just got my first reward check.
I use a Fidelity 529 card from MBNA with 2% cash back for purchases that are not gas, groceries or drugs. Er, I mean, drug store purchases.
Check out my credit card philosophy here.
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Very similar to my philosophy, minus the spouse part
June 27th, 2006 at 6:31 am
Festival of Frugality…
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Festival of Frugality. For those of you who don’t know, this carnival is about frugal living and saving money. (BTW, entries not matching this description have been left out.) I’m sticking with my…
June 27th, 2006 at 10:53 am
I have been on the program for quite some time now and, while I am happy to receive the check, I would like to clarify that the 5% is not on the gas itself, but only on the purchases you make when you go in the little convenience store.
June 27th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Hmm so are you saying that Citibank doesn’t give 5% back if you just purchase gas at the pump? If thats true I wasn’t aware of it. Can anyone else confirm this? I haven’t used mine for gas purchases because I have been taking advantage of the 0% offer on it.
I just checked past statements online for the chase rewards card I mentioned in a previous post and they have been giving me 5% back on gas purchased at the pump every month.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
I just checked over a previous statement this year from citibank. I remembered that I had used the card earlier this year when I had paid back the BT for a month(to avoid being hurt when I filled out the fafsa for financial aid). They did give me 5% back on just gas purchases. I never go into the little convenient stores so I know it wasn’t purchases there.
However, it looks like either a gas purchase or a drug store purchase didn’t give 5% back so it must have been classified as a different type of store unfortunately. So if you aren’t getting the cash back from just gas purchases then it is probably due to the classification of the store. I dunno if its a problem on the stores part or citibanks.
August 18th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
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September 16th, 2006 at 12:33 am
Unfortunately, the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card is going from at 5% card to a 2% card.
The recent changes to the cash back rewards of the Citi Dividend MasterCard prompted me to do some personal analysis to find the best mix of cash back cards for my spending patterns.
That personal analysis inspired me to build a general-purpose tool to help anyone determine the single best card or mix of N cards that will maximize their cash back rewards. You just plug in how much you spend each month (broken out by categories for best results) and you’re presented with a list of recommended cards sorted from best to worst by your expected annual reward. If having more than one card and using each card to its strengths could yield a greater total reward, then each combination of the Best N cards is presented as well.
You can see the tool at http://www.creditcardtuneup.com/ .