What I learned today: Using a Gas Credit Card

I like the discounts that you can get from some Gas Credit Cards. If you know anything about me by now, it is that I am what most people like to call cheap…I like to think of it as frugal or smart…lol…but we are always looking for ways to save on everything we do.

From eating out, movies, or even vacations, I am always looking for a deal, not to mention shopping (obviously! lol). With gas prices on the rise, we were struggling with it because we love to travel and it made it harder for us to get around because we didn’t want to go over our budget for gas. This is about the time I saw an advertisement for Chevron, offering a whopping $0.30/gallon when you signed up for their Chevron Gas Credit Card. I was like…ok! So we got it and used ti for a long time, even through the $0.30/gallon dropped to $0.10/gallon after the introduction period, we knew that and it was still a decent amount. Some of the gas stations by us offered another $0.10-$0.15 per gallon at the pump on top of this $0.10/gallon credit we would get, so we felt like we were saving some pretty good money on gas.

Then out of nowhere, and without any notice that I have been able to find they stopped giving us our $0.10/gallon discount on our statement. They changed their terms to make it so you have to spend over $500 a month to get the discount…REALLY?!?!?! That is more than double what we spend, so we obviously aren’t going t plan on getting that discount anymore. We decided that we weren’t going to use that gas credit card anymore and look for another option. That’s when we found our that Sinclair was offering a similar promotion but that they take the $0.10/gallon off at the pump. Much better in my opinion because then you can see you are actually getting the discount!

There are also great programs like the Smith’s (or Kroger) Fuel Rewards that you earn by getting points on your card and every 1,000 points is worth $1 off per gallon of gas (up to $2 off). We have done this a couple of times and we were able to fill up both vehicles for what seemed like pennies!

There is also the Fuel Rewards Network that give you discounts on gasoline by earning points.

I like using our gas credit card because it is easier for me to keep track of how much money we are spending on gas, but we also have to be disciplined and not use it for anything else.