Roger is definitely onto something. You need to separate things in order to make them more manageable.
Now -- one thing you may find is that one rewards program is better than another. If that's the case, you'll probably do better trying to consolidate into fewer cards. This is good anyway, as the more credit cards and stuff you have, the more chances for defaults and credit history errors.
By "better", well, that can mean a lot of things. Here are a few ideas on what would make one program better than another:
- It's a program that gets you to better rewards levels faster
- It's a program that gives you more spending flexibility
- It's a program for things you want more, or purchase more often
- It's a program where you don't have to concede in other ways, such as higher prices or more expensive shipping, etc.
- It's a program where redemption is easier
For example, let's say you want to buy a cordless phone for the house. You've got (this is just an example and the #s are only for illustrative purposes) Best Buy, Sears and your local supermarket's cards. Best Buy is $100 for a phone but you get a reward with an equivalent value of $25. And shipping is $10. Sears is $80 for a phone and you get a reward with an equivalent value of $30 but you have to buy a $20 warranty. And the supermarket phone costs $50 with a reward of $5 but you get it at the store. It also has fewer features than the other two phones.
The Best Buy phone is $100 - $25 + $10 = $85
The Sears phone is $80 - $30 + $20 = $70
The supermarket phone is $50 - $5 = $45 but it has fewer features
If you can live without the features, get the supermarket phone even though you get less in reward $$. If the features will make or break the deal, get the Sears phone, which also has a warranty (a lot of these 1- or 2-year electronic equipment warranties are kind of useless, but that's in the parameters of the fact pattern -- in real life you should usually avoid these kinds of short-term warranties for equipment that you will probably be replacing in a few years anyway). The last choice is the Best Buy phone, even though you get the best rewards $$ as it costs the most and is no better than the Sears phone -- but if you can get free shipping on the Best Buy phone (by either buying it in the store or getting some sort of deal), then it costs $75 at the end of the day. Still more than the Sears phone, but not by much. Then it's more of a question of where you get the best service, etc. and other intangibles.
Anyway, bottom line, don't let the size of the rewards be your single decisive factor when you choose to purchase from one place or another. Consider price, features, warranty, service, convenience if you need to return the item, etc. All of the things you should be considering outside of a reward are things that you should still be considering even in the face of rewards. You may very well find that a lot of your rewards aren't such bargains.
Oh -- one more thing -- some rewards and points can be combined. Try
www.points.com as you might be able to consolidate some of these programs.
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