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If you like you may skip the math and just go to the TIPS
Gas coupons? Credit cards that offer cash back for gas? Can they really save you money?
Yes and no.
This doesn't cost you a dime and can save you literally thousands of dollars in money and gas!
No one likes to be manipulated so take less than 5 minutes and dazzle your friends by knowing exactly how to tell what money you are saving, and what "media manipulation" is.
After reading these short few paragraphs you'll have learned exactly what the fine print means and whether it's you that's saving any money or them that's making it.
Have more confidence to make an educated decision about choosing the right credit card, transferring a balance from an existing one and whether your "Gas" or "Cash Rebate" is really a rebate at all.
I don't know why it is but everyone seems to have the money bug when it comes to, well, money! Especially when it comes to a credit card company giving you a $5000 line of credit. They know you need the money and they know in most cases you really don't read the fine print, except for maybe the finance charge's percentage rate.
It's the "Rinse and repeat" method.
This is happening to you right now so know what it is and how it works.
Saving money is making money!
They say knowledge is power and in this case it's money in your pocket.
It works like this...
Balance transfers. When one ends, another begins. Transfer your balances and keep transferring them! Write it on the calendar like any other important date! I can't stress this enough.
You save in combination with the balance transfer and the percentage you save on the rebate.
The key is being frugal with the balance transfers that will save you the money.
If you get a card with 10% for 6 months it's the same as the 5% per year deal.Here's the math. Let's say they let you have 10% for 6 months or 5% for 12, it will equate to the same discount.
In our example we are going to use a balance of $4000 and various percentage rates.
Here we go:
"GET 5% CASH BACK! blah, blah, blah..."
(((TIP: When you are on a credit card page and want to read the fine print about your rebate offer press the "Ctrl+F" on your keyboard at the same time to open the "Find" window. Then you can type in the rebate name, in our case it's "Gas", and it will find all instances of the word Gas. If the first paragraph you find for gas isn't the one you were looking for, just click "Next" on your find window and it will find the next paragraph with Gas in it.)))
Make sure to actually read the fine print - This one (put link here) says that you get a 5% cash back reward for gas or purchases ONLY if you have charged over $6500.00 AND THE BALANCE TRANSFER IS NOT A PART OF THIS BALANCE!
The only way you are really going to see a savings is if you read the fine print and choose a card that has a fixed rate for balance transfers and that balance transfer qualifies you for the rebate/cash back!
Most cards say they will apply a charge of 3% for a balance transfer, so a balance transfer of $4000 at 3% is $120 added to your account as a result of your new credit card company handling the transfer. If you read though they give you the minimum and maximum charges for a given transfer which in this case is $99. Ok, we saved a few bucks here ( a $21 dollar savings).
So if you had an existing balance of $4000 and a finance rate of 12% then you would be paying $480 a year (or $40 per month) in finance charges for that balance. 4000x12%=480 divided by 12 months = $40 per month.
Let's say you signed up for that new card. You transfered the whole $4000 balance from your existing card to it and paid the $99 dollars the new card charged for the transfer and the new card has a fixed rate of 4.99%
Here's the math for that - 4000x4.99%=199 and 199+99=298
We multiplied the 4000 dollars by the new finance rate of 4.99% which gave us 199 dollars. Then we added the 99 dollar charge our new card charged us for the balance transfer which gave us 298 dollars. Now let's add the cash back at 5% reward we get(That's even if a balance transfer qualifies us!!!!)
So, 298-60 < -- (our 5% gas cash back is deducted as money we would otherwise have had to pay as interest)=238 Now instead of paying a total interest of $298 we are now paying only $238 if we include our cash back rebates as money received and tally that into our total the company is making off of us.
So, with just a balance transfer we are paying $199 in finance charges per year plus the cost of the transfer $99 for a total of $298. If we deduct that from our original rate of 12% from our old card, that's a savings of $182.00 or roughly 15 dollars per month.
If a balance transfer somehow qualified for a cash back reward to meet the minimum amount needed on the card to get the 5% percentage back we are now at 238 dollars a year as opposed to 480. That's a savings of $242 dollars per year or roughly $20 per month. That's a 5 dollar difference with the cash back per month which equates to the 5% cash back.
If you read the cash back terms for receiving the gas it states that "You qualify for a 5% cash back toward the first $100 in every month of the calendar year for a total of up to $1200 per year."
This means the most cash you can get back for any given month is $5. For any given year it's $60.
12 months X $5 per month is $60.
So, like we discussed above adding the 60 to our $182 gives us a total savings of 242 per year which is about 20 bucks a month. 182+60=242
The grand total of all savings is $242. However many times you fill up a month you are getting a little over 4 gallons of gas free, if you want to look at it this way.
Is fine print fine for a reason? That's anybodies guess. As with the marketing of any product, the highlights are always what they want you to see for the purpose of increasing value of the product in your eyes. But if you know how to read beyond the highlight, you won't be in for any surprises and you will know the figures before you commit.
While this article covers a broad spectrum analysis, it's intention is to help you save money at the pump by whatever means possible!
You may already be aware of the tips below, but just in case I have included them for completeness.
TIPS
Maintaining your vehicle can not only add years to its life and resale value, it also saves gas.
1. Make sure your tires have the correct amount of pressure in them. Tires that are under inflated can save fuel and save lives. For every 1 psi drop in pressure you lose a 0.4% in gas mileage. Having the correct tire pressure can save you up to $.08 per gallon.
2. Make sure you change your air filter at regular intervals, usually with an oil change. This can improve your gas mileage up to 10%, or about $.25 per gallon.
3. Using cheaper gas may not always be the best answer. While the fuel that comes from the tanker truck meets the octane ratings and is mostly the same, each gas station adds there own blend of additives. Union-76 and Chevron claim to have beneficial additives in their fuel to protect your vehicle while the generic name at the corner gas may be putting additives in the fuel that meet the bare minimum to retain fuel quality and prevent contaminates that fuel is susceptible to. These lower grade additives may actually do damage to your fuel system and vehicle in the long run.
4. "Topping off". Many gas station state that you should not "top off". This is good advice. When you try to squeeze that extra amount of fuel into your tank, you get charged the extra amount but a lot of the gas that you are paying for stays in the hose and never actually makes it into your tank!
5. Keep your vehicle tuned up. Studies suggest that you can improve gas mileage by 4.1 percent or 8 to 80 cents per gallon.
6. Keeping a safe distance behind the vehicle ahead is not only safe but it allows you to use the brake and accelerator less often reducing wear and saving you gas. If you are too close constantly braking and accelerating, following the lead of the car ahead, you are using gas and putting wear on your brakes more than you have too.
7. Use a grade of oil that is recommended for your engine. Using a higher viscosity oil makes your engine work harder than needed and use more fuel as a result. Using the right motor oil can save you gas by .03 to .06 cents per gallon.
8. Driving the speed limit saves gas. Driving 5 mph over 60 mph is like paying .15 cents more per gallon.
9. Studies show that warming up your car for more than 45 seconds is unnecessary. Letting your car idle for long periods of time burns a lot of fuel. TIP: Go into a restaurant instead of the drive-thru. Starting your vehicle uses much less gasoline than idling through the drive-thru window!
10. Use over-drive if you have it. It reduces the revolutions of the engine and less fuel is needed.
You can save a noticable amount of money at the pump with these tips to save gas.
This article was written to bring awareness to consumers looking to save gas and understand credit cards with cash back for gas, get better gas mileage and save money at the pump. Please consider THESE TIPS as your gas station coupons!
Remember, transferring the balances along with using credit cards that offer cash back for gas is the trick!
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