Credit Cards

[ptr2593]

Just noticed this as an option on my BCE account.  Does anyone know anything about it?  I've been reading through the fine print to see if there are any fees or anything, but I haven't found anything yet.

[Open123]

It's a good program to sign up for, since it's free.

Basically, you get 5% rebate on all restaurants in the program.  If you spend "x" amount, the rebate can go as high as 15% redeemed in the form of an Amex gift card.  It's a nice program with the only downside being that not many "great" restaurants are on the list.

I'd sign up for it, since there's no downside.  The points earned stack are in addition to everything else you may earn.

[ptr2593]

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Open123 wrote:

It's a good program to sign up for, since it's free.

Basically, you get 5% rebate on all restaurants in the program.  If you spend "x" amount, the rebate can go as high as 15% redeemed in the form of an Amex gift card.  It's a nice program with the only downside being that not many "great" restaurants are on the list.

I'd sign up for it, since there's no downside.  The points earned stack are in addition to everything else you may earn.

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Ok thanks.  I wasn't sure if there was a reason not to do it  Seems too good to be true.

[ptr2593]

So has this basically made Citi Forward obsolete?

[Open123]

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ptr2593 wrote:

So has this basically made Citi Forward obsolete?

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No, since there are only "select" restaurants on Idine's list; however, you can enter a Citi Forward card onto Idine and receive both 5 thank you points and whatever rebate earned.

Check out the restaurants on Idine in your area.  If there's a good selection, this would be a heck of a program for you.  Also, there might be gift card bonus for your first dine.

[frogfan12]

I've seen this too. Does anyone actually use the iDine?

[stan_the_man]

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frogfan12 wrote:

I've seen this too. Does anyone actually use the iDine?

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iDine (aka Rewards Network) is the backend for all (or nearly all) affinity dining programs -- frequent flyer, hotels, etc.

I've been enrolled in the United Mileage Plus Dining program for nearly 10 years now, and I've racked up something like 50,000-75,000 frequent flyer miles from the program. Though, most of those miles were earned from 2003-2007.

The exact program member seems to change a lot, as well as the overall program structure every 2-3 years. However, the nice things about these dining programs are:

• No out of pocket cost to you
• It's passive -- once your card is signed up, you don't need to do anything else other than use that card at the member restaurants
• It can be stacked with other offers

Every other months I get an email notifying me that I earned miles for a dine -- most of the time, I didn't even know that the restaurant was even a member.

[ptr2593]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  So this Idine thing isn't just for AMEX?  I guess I need to look more into it.  Over the past couple of months I've been focusing a lot on school and haven't really payed much attention to maximizing my CC rewards.  Gotta get back into it!

[frogfan12]

The iDine sucks. It's just like the AAdvantage dining program I signed up for through American. I've earned a whopping 75ish miles since signing up. 

[stan_the_man]

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frogfan12 wrote:

The iDine sucks. It's just like the AAdvantage dining program I signed up for through American. I've earned a whopping 75ish miles since signing up. 

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I don't completely disagree. However, it doesn't take more than about 5 minutes to signup and it's passive -- so there's not real ongoing cost of time.

If you happen to get a participating restaurant/cafe/bar that you go to frequently, you can rack up for rebates/points/miles -- even under these lower terms than in the past. I earned the bulk of the points from a diner/bar that my buddies and I used to go to several times per week.