So you’ve heard cashback cards offer the best savings, and you want to switch. Or maybe you already have a cashback card, and you’re wondering why the only thing you’re saving up is added grief. Well, there’s a trick to it, because the benefits of a cashback card are more fragile than an alcoholic’s resolve. In this article, I look at how you can maximize your card’s savings, without having to get your CPA:
What’s a Cashback Card?
Cashback cards offer a cash rebate, which varies based on the amount you spend. So a cashback of 5% means you get back 5% of the amount charged to the card. This usually comes as a cheque, issued after each billing cycle.
Recent product launches have signalled a huge shift in favour of cashback rebates when consumers choose what credit card benefits they want. This is reflected in a whole glut of new credit cards, such as the American Express True Cashback Card, the ANZ Optimum Card andOCBC’s 365 Card. Of course, the oldies such as the Citi DIVIDEND Card are still holding strong amidst this heavy competition.
Cashback has an advantage over discounts, because discounts tend to go unused. For example, there’s no point getting 10% off at a restaurant you’ll never visit. Cashback just straight up puts money in your pocket, instead of plugging you with offers you don’t need.
“Sorry, your card discount only applies on leap years, the Pope’s birthday, and when we feel like it.”
But you have to maximize it by:
Knowing the cashback limit
Knowing the terms and conditions of the cashback
Paying the balance in full
Being aware of introductory rates
Matching your spending habits
1. Knowing the Cashback Limit
In some cases, there’s a limit to the size of the rebate. The UOB ONE card, for example, has a maximum rebate of $600 a year. If you know your cashback has reached this amount, it’s time to switch to another card.
Calculate how much you can charge to the card before you hit the maximum rebate. Then get a little sticker or something, write down the amount, and paste it on the front of the card. Apart from reminding you when to switch, it’ll also remind you that you’re overspending. Because if you hit the maximum rebate, you probably are.
“There’s a cashback limit. And you just used it paying postage for your query letter.”
2. Knowing the Terms and Conditions of the Cashback
If you’re unlucky, you’ll get one of those half-assed rebate cards with more terms and conditions than the Versailles treaty. It’s easy to fall for this, because brochures tend to only advertise thehighest possible rebate.
The OCBC Robinson’s card, for example, only gives rebates at Robinson’s outlets. But that’s to be expected, being that it is called the Robinson’s card. Other cards may not be as honest or obvious. You don’t want to charge $500 of petrol to a card, then find out it’s 5% cashback for shopping and 0.5% cashback for petrol.
You should also check for minimum spending requirements. The UOB One card, for example, only starts giving cashback after you charge more than $300 to it. So don’t want to use it for a handful of $50 transactions, and get nothing back at the end of the month. Some other companies have taken advantage of this, with cards like the Amex True Cashback Card offering an unlimited cashback of 1.5% without requiring a minimum spend.
“Before I send you the terms and conditions, do you have any history of back problems?”
3. Paying the Balance in Full
Some card companies suggest you let the cashback pay off the card’s interest. That’s possible, but it’s not recommended. Remember: it’s better to collect the interest than to try and offset it.
A cashback card rewards savers. If you’re actively blowing money on Martinis or the latest tablets, you’ll get higher average savings from a card that caters to that. It’s easy to find a card with 10-15% discounts at Courts or your favourite nightspot; it’s hard to find cashback rebates that high.
So if you’re using a cashback card, commit yourself to maximizing the savings. Pay off the balance in full and collect on the interest. If you intend to actively spend, and you know whereyou’re spending, then get a card with the appropriate discounts instead.
“…and the last repayment is a human sacrifice. Pretty cheap, this bank.”
4. Be Aware of Introductory Rates
Cashback cards sometimes come with introductory rates. Most often, this is 0% interest, or bonus $100 cashback. Some cards like the Amex True Cashback offer 5% cashback for a limited period of time and for a limited amount. As with point 2, don’t take anything on the brochure for granted.
Banks seldom advertise that introductory rates are temporary. In most cases, the huge rebates and 0% interest disappear after three months. Nor should you expect a warning from the bank; they’re just waiting for you to slip up, and they’ll implement new terms without so much as an e-mail. Think of bankers as muggers with really nice suits.
Your best bet is to grill the bank’s service rep on the details. If you’re really worried, hold the conversation with the rep via e-mail. This will give you evidence in case you’re mislead.
“Sure it’s interest free. It comes with free 24% interest.”
5. Matching Your Spending Habits
As I mentioned in point 2, some cards offer different rebates for different purchases. Don’t pick a cashback card just because it gives a flat rebate on everything. These cards are versatile, but the rebate tends to be lower.
For example, the Amex True Cashback card gives the same rebate on every purchase, but the rebate is only 1.5% throughout. The OCBC Robinson’s card, on the other hand, only gives rebates at Robinson’s. But the rebate is up to 10%, right off the bat. Some new cards, such as the ANZ Optimum Card allow you to choose which category of spending you would like to enjoy the maximum cashback of 5% for, and then provide a separate cashback rate for other spending categories.
If you do most of your shopping at Robinson’s, then the Robinson’s card is the better deal. If you’re not specific in where you shop, then getting a more generic cashback card is better. Match the card to your spending habits, and don’t just pick the simplest one.
“Wow, they know my shopping habits. The application form came with a bankruptcy notice.”
MindMeister is a market leading brainstorming and data visualization application based in the cloud.
MindMeister 6 is by far our largest and most substantial product redesign since our inception in early 2007. We've managed to keep all your favorite features, as well add over 200 user-requested additions.
One of the most under utilized aspects of Photoshop is the vast wide amounts of free Photoshop plug-ins, which you can download for free of charge. The beauty of Photoshop plug-ins are they open up so many new features to Photoshop, which allows you to use Photoshop outside of the boundaries it was developed for.
This blog post we have carefully scoured the web in search of the best free Photoshop plug-ins, and have compiled all these great plug-ins to into one blog post. All the plug-ins are compatible with Photoshop CS6.
I hope you enjoy the compilation of free Photoshop plug-ins, and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.
Add a heavy dose of excitement or a subtle amount of elegance to your photos with Perfect Effects 4 Free. Choose from over 70 effects to enhance and stylize your images, including effects to create the popular HDR and vintage looks, textures to add depth and dimension, and borders to add a finishing touch. Instantly add any effect with a single click or combine them to create a look of your own.
Mosaic makes your photos look as if they were created out of a mosaic tile. Photo-realistic depth and variable tile size and color options give this effect an infinite number of looks.
With GuideGuide, it doesn’t have to be. Pixel accurate columns, rows, midpoints, and baselines can be created based on your document or marquee with the click of a button. Frequently used guide sets can be saved for repeat use. Grids can use multiple types of measurements. Best of all it’s free. Honestly, if you haven’t started downloading it by now, you’re probably a masochist.
The second stage of the beta test of Filter Forge 4.0 is now available! The new beta includes support for loop operations that provide new ways to create textures and effects – learn more and grab the beta on the Beta Page.
Mr. Stacks is a Photoshop script that rapidly generates storyboards, stacks, and PDF(s) for CD check-ins, client-ish presentations, and whatever else it is you do. Helping to Nail some of the most monotonous tasks in art direction.
NKS5 is a custom extension for Photoshop that provides the user with a versatile collection of natural media, texturing and production tools in a compact palette.
iAtkos ML2 : OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 (10.04.2013) | 4.79 GB
iAtkos ML2 - OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 - the latest version of the most advanced operating system in the world. Mountain Lion includes over 200 new features that enhance your Mac.
With new Messages app, you can send text, photos, videos, contacts, links and documents to any user Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - you can even start conversation on one device and continue on another. The new export button allows you to easily send links, web pages, photos, videos, and publish tweets directly through the application to which you are working.
The image of a quick "recovery" system on the hard drive!
in fact the system here, "restored" who is interested in - view the contents of "10.8.2.Base.pkg"
installation: 1. Burn to DVD9 *. Dmg image through TransMac 2. Boot from DVD9 3. Set (during installation, click Customize and select all desired kekstov) 4. Boot from a partition on the hard drive with the installed system 5. To use the system!
System requirements: The Intel Core 2 Duo or higher (supports 64-bit architecture) compatible graphics card 2 GB of memory (RAM)
Continuing a long-standing New Year’s tradition, today we present an up-to-date list of the world’s most-visited BitTorrent sites. At the start of 2013 The Pirate Bay continues to pull in the most visitors, followed by KickassTorrents and Torrentz. Household names BTJunkie and Demonoid have dropped off the list as both sites are no longer online.
Which torrent sites get the most visitors at the start of 2013?
Traditionally BitTorrent users are very loyal, which is reflected in the top 10 where most sites have had a consistent listing for more than half a decade. This year there are a few movers and shakers, as well as several newcomers.
The most notable absentees this year are BTJunkie and Demonoid. Both sites have been featured in the top 10 since 2006, but went offline in 2012. BTJunkie permanently quit early last year and Demonoid’s future is also uncertain after it disappeared during the summer.
The first newcomer in tenth place is H33t, which has been growing steadily in recent years. The second newcomer is TorrentReactor, one of the oldest torrent sites around that makes its comeback after not making the list last year.
Then there is also a group of notable sites that didn’t make the cut, but deserve a mention.YIFY-torrents.com for example, which launched late 2011 and has grown exponentially since. Also worth mentioning are the Pirate Bay proxies, including Pirateproxy.net, which in itself almost deserves a spot in the top 10.
Below is the full list of the 10 most-visited torrent sites at the start of the new year. Only public and English language sites are included. The list is based on various traffic reports and we display the Alexa and U.S. Compete rank for each. In addition, we include last year’s ranking for each of the 10 sites.
Did we miss anything? Feel free to join the discussion below.
To many people The Pirate Bay is the equivalent to BitTorrent. The site was founded in 2003 and is still expanding, despite the various legal troubles and new blockades in the UK and the Netherlands. The Pirate Bay currently has well over a billion page views a month.
KickassTorrents was founded in 2009 and has moved up in our top 10 year after year. Responding to increasing worries over domain seizures, the site moved from its kickasstorrents.com domain to kat.ph in 2012. This year the site continued to grow, despite being blocked by Italian Internet providers.
Alexa Rank: 116 / Compete Rank: 719 / Last year #3
Torrentz has been the leading BitTorrent meta-search engine for many years. Unlike the other sites featured in the list Torrentz does not host any torrent files, it merely redirects visitors to other places on the web. The site uses several domain names with the .eu being the most popular.
Alexa Rank: 166 / Compete Rank: 882 / Last year #2
Two years ago isoHunt became the first search engine forced to implement a keyword filterprovided by the MPAA. Despite this setback, isoHunt continues to be listed among the world’s top torrent sites. isoHunt is currently trying to get rid of the filter through the Appeals Court.
Alexa Rank: 213 / Compete Rank: 1,935 / Last year #4
ExtraTorrent continues to gain more traffic and has moved up again in the top 10, now being the 5th most visited torrent site. This success didn’t go unnoticed to rightsholders groups such as the RIAA and MPAA who have called out ExtraTorrent as one of the top pirate sites recently.
Alexa Rank: 279 / Compete Rank: 1,973 / Last year #6
1337x focuses more on the community aspect than some competitors. The site’s owners say they started 1337x to “fill an apparent void where it seemed there was a lack of quality conscience ad free torrent sites with public trackers.” The site moved up from spot 10 last year to 6th in 2013.
Alexa Rank: 1,031 / Compete Rank: 9,228 / Last year #10
Unlike the other sites in the top 10, TV-torrent distribution group EZTV is a niche site specializing in TV content only. It was one of the newcomers last year despite being around for more than 7 years, and is relatively popular among Australians. Because of its focus on TV-content EZTV’s traffic varies in line with the TV-seasons.
Alexa Rank: 1,128 / Compete Rank: 16,622 / Last year #8
BitSnoop is one of the largest BitTorrent indexes, claiming to index a massive 19,091,736 torrent files at the time of writing. The site’s traffic continues to grow steadily, as do theDMCA notices that it receives.
Alexa Rank: 1,159 / Compete Rank: 5,648 / Last year #9
TorrentReactor is back in the top 10 after dropping off last year. A few months ago the site was blocked by a court order in Italy, but the site nonetheless continues to gain visitors.
Alexa Rank: 1,314 / Compete Rank: 4,530 / Last year #NA
H33T has been around for many years and has built a dedicated user base, mostly in Europe and Asia. Despite the wishes of the music industry, the site isn’t yet blocked by any court orders. The site made the news a few months ago when its owner took a stand against the avalanche of copyright takedown requests.
Alexa Rank: 1,403 / Compete Rank: 6,234 / Last year #NA
Disclaimer: Yes, we know that Alexa isn’t perfect and that Compete has plenty of flaws, but combined both do a pretty good job at comparing sites that operate in a similar niche.
Services that can help you send large files are everywhere, it seems, but for some reason I find that I always blank out on which one is most appropriate to use when I actually need one. This post aims to provide an at-a-glance reference for ten of FREE file hosting services, most of which you’d heard about but some which you hopefully have not.
Specifically, we look at ad-hoc ‘file locker’ type services designed solely for the quick sharing of large files, and will exclude cloud storage services such as Dropbox and others like it, and exclude P2P services that send files from one computer straight to another. The services compared here are: File Dropper, DropSend, WeTransfer, Jumpshare, Minus, Ge.tt, Kicksend, Transfer Big Files, Send6, and YouSendIt. We compare these across multiple criteria.
