<p>Colleges are getting wise on parents charging tuition and other expenses–it was great while it lasted. Our daughter’s college charges a fee that wipes out any benfit we might see from using the card and it is done through a third-party company so the credit card companies can’t complain about it.</p>
<p>I tear those checks up when I receive them. Discover charges interest on them from the day that they are cashed. I avoid paying interest like the plague.</p>
<p>Well, I do worry about the benefit going away. Our daughter attends a community college and I think that they would lose students if they didn’t accept credit cards. Our son’s university thankfully still accepts them with no fees; at least they have so far. We’ll see in a few weeks if they continue this. If they stopped taking them, I think that they would have sent a notice by now.</p>
<p>We can use a credit card, but it was very clear in the how you can send us your money directions that there would be a 3+% fee. I did the math and it was not worth it for us. If I could use it I would.</p>
<p>Always read the fine print…
I figured others had looked into the courtesy check angle. I shred them as well. We don’t get charged interest earlier than any other ‘purchase’, however we don’t get the cash benefit on this card.</p>
<p>HiMom - re: the Costco Amex “The 2% is now capped @ $500/year.”</p>
<p>Ours is definitely not capped. Just recently received my rebate check for more than that amount. Make sure you have the latest one as there are now two Amex Costco Exec. setups.</p>
<p>We do get those courtesy checks, and could use them for tuition, however, no points earned on those…boooo</p>
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<p>I won’t touch those checks. cause they might have hefty “processing charges” on top of the interest charges, so that you are not benefited from the use. In addition, they will treat it as cash advance and it will not be rebated the same as your purchases.</p>
<p>Once, I cashed a real $5,000 check sent to me from a “bank” in the mail, if you remember those. I later found out they charged me 2% for the first day it was cashed as prepayment of the whole month interest plus $50 processing fee, totaling $150 from the get go. I called to complain and paid it off right on the phone right there, but they refuse to remove the $50 processing fee.
It was a hard lesson learned.</p>
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<p>With the Costco Amex, executive members are getting two rebates: one from Amex is the other one from Costco. The Amex rebate is not capped (or the cap is so high that very few will reach it), but the additional Cosco Executive member rebate (2% of your Costco purchases) is indeed capped at $500. I think HIMom was talking about the latter.</p>
<p>We got two checks this year, one in February and one in May.</p>
<p>So with the costco Amex your rebate on costco purchases is capped at $500.
The rebate on all other purchases is a separate amount and is not capped (very high that very few are affected).
Does this sound right?</p>
<p>Yup, that’s right. One caveat is that you have to be a Costco executive member ($50 more than regular membership) to get the Costco rebate. Our check from Costco was $450, and the one from Amex was almost double that. We charged everything, and DH used our Amex for his business travel and purchases as well. Well, I just checked - there is no limit:</p>
<p>[COSTCO</a> Cards](<a href=“http://www201.americanexpress.com/sbsapp/FMACServlet?request_type=alternateChannels&lpid=317&openeep=7883&ccsgeep=21004&psboth=CCSG_Yahoo_B_Costco]COSTCO”>http://www201.americanexpress.com/sbsapp/FMACServlet?request_type=alternateChannels&lpid=317&openeep=7883&ccsgeep=21004&psboth=CCSG_Yahoo_B_Costco)</p>
<p>Check page 5 of this for the description of the Coscto Executive Membership benefits:</p>
<p><a href=“http://content.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/CostcoServicesDirectory.pdf[/url]”>http://content.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/CostcoServicesDirectory.pdf</a></p>
<p>Certain purchases (cigarettes, Costco food court, etc.) are not eligible for rebate.</p>
<p>BB which card do you have? the personal one or the business one? I have the business card which give me 4% on gas, I happened to call the card two weeks ago and they told me there is a cap for the 4%. I will check your reference now.</p>
<p>I got clarification now by calling the costco executive member service.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The 2% rebate on the Executive Membership has a $500 rebate cap, in which you have to exceed $25,000 purchases per year. In BB’s situation,she did not exceed that cap at $450.</p></li>
<li><p>The Amex 3 or 4% rebate on gas purchases has a purchase cap of $3000 or $6000</p></li>
</ol>
<p>item 1 and 2 above are mutually exclusive, each has its own rules. Gas purchases will not account for “Costco Purchases” even its bought at Costco.</p>
<p>I only have two cards, costco amex and charles schwab visa.</p>
<ol>
<li>For those have amex rebates above 2% and costco purchases, I use amex</li>
<li>everything else I use the Charles Schwab visa</li>
</ol>
<p>We recently opened a Penfed Credit Union VISA. Unless you work for the federal gov’t or belong to the armed services or one of the places listed on the site you must first join the credit union for a a one time 25 dollar fee. You also must open another account, We opened a savings with 5.00 and it can stay that way forever. The card we have has no annual fee, 5% gas, 3% supermarkets, and 1% everywhere else. Current summer promotion for home improvement-3% at stores such as Lowes and Home Depot. Cash reward is credited to the account each month. Pretty sure there is no limit to the reward.</p>