“At the end of each year,” according to Stacey Pearson, associate vice-president of retail products at TD Visa, “we send out cheques to cardholders in the tens of millions of dollars. For many of them, it is the happiest day of the year. With the cash they receive, they can go out and buy what they want.”
With mounting credit card debt, mortgage payments, taxes (property and income), student loans, rising food and transportation costs, please tell me that the happiest day of the year is not when you reward yourself for ‘shopping’ by shopping.
Here’s a novel idea. Instead of cash back or reward travel, Bank of America’s Home Advantage Credit Card offers rebates that are applied to the principal of your mortgage.
In Canada, RBC Visa Infinite offers a similar card, however it is only available to private banking clients with a minimum $250,000 income. It also comes with a hefty $399 annual fee.