Does saving Rewards help other than it's face value?

[Anonymous]

Basically what I'm asking is, by saving the Rewards does it help to show you're not 'desparate' to use them, say if you want a second card from that issuer? Also, does any other credit entity able to 'see' those piled up Rewards and say, hhmm, he's a good risk (applying wise, ect)?

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't think the banks care what you do with your rewards. They have them for a reason and you should be able to do as you please with them. They still make their money in swipe fees in the long run.

[lg8302ch]

Other than my UR points I prefer not to bank cash back for too long... reason: In case a lender decides to take AA on my account I will not loose my cash back because I already used it .. better safe than sorry is my motto ..lol

[kdm31091]

If you're doing things that could trigger AA or are concerned about AA I can see cashing out often.

Otherwise, I think this is a case of over analyzing and being over paranoid. I do not think the banks give a flying fig what you do with your rewards. Outside of programs where the points expire, there's no issue with saving them up IMO.

[Anonymous]

The issuer almost certainly won't care whether you save or redeem the rewards (in general).   (If there are concerns, they focus on how they were earned, not how they are used).  

One exception that I know of, which probaby doesn't generalize:  in the time of the Citi 5x TYP frenzy, at one point Citi started AA on people with large reward balances, apparently not checking whether they had been earned "as intended" or via MS, and some innocents had their cards closed.    So their "test" was "Who has a large number of TYPs?" rather than say "Who earned a large number of TYPs in the last two months"    So, IF a bank does a similar thing in the future, you are less likely to be impacted by redeeming rewards rather than letting them pile up.   But, again, probably very uncommon.

[takeshi74]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Basically what I'm asking is, by saving the Rewards does it help to show you're not 'desparate' to use them, say if you want a second card from that issuer? Also, does any other credit entity able to 'see' those piled up Rewards and say, hhmm, he's a good risk (applying wise, ect)?

---

This is generalizing but rewards are irrelevant for approvals.  As for your second question you can pull your own reports to see what other creditors see (rewards are not reported).

[mongstradamus]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

The issuer almost certainly won't care whether you save or redeem the rewards (in general).   (If there are concerns, they focus on how they were earned, not how they are used).  

One exception that I know of, which probaby doesn't generalize:  in the time of the Citi 5x TYP frenzy, at one point Citi started AA on people with large reward balances, apparently not checking whether they had been earned "as intended" or via MS, and some innocents had their cards closed.    So their "test" was "Who has a large number of TYPs?" rather than say "Who earned a large number of TYPs in the last two months"    So, IF a bank does a similar thing in the future, you are less likely to be impacted by redeeming rewards rather than letting them pile up.   But, again, probably very uncommon.

---

I would think that banks don't care how you accumulate points to certain extent since they get all the swipes. I think issue comes when you want to redeem your points they will look closer how you accrued all your points?

[Anonymous]

---

@mongstradamus wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

The issuer almost certainly won't care whether you save or redeem the rewards (in general).   (If there are concerns, they focus on how they were earned, not how they are used).  

One exception that I know of, which probaby doesn't generalize:  in the time of the Citi 5x TYP frenzy, at one point Citi started AA on people with large reward balances, apparently not checking whether they had been earned "as intended" or via MS, and some innocents had their cards closed.    So their "test" was "Who has a large number of TYPs?" rather than say "Who earned a large number of TYPs in the last two months"    So, IF a bank does a similar thing in the future, you are less likely to be impacted by redeeming rewards rather than letting them pile up.   But, again, probably very uncommon.

---

I would think that banks don't care how you accumulate points to certain extent since they get all the swipes. I think issue comes when you want to redeem your points they will look closer how you accrued all your points?

---

They care if they are losing money, as they were on the Citi 5x TYP (and Amex BC).   But I agree that the initial redemptions might have been a trigger, someone in the bank realizing that rewards being actrually paid out were much higher than expected.

[Anonymous]

I think banks prefer it if you save your rewards.  A large percent of rewards never get cashed out/expire before used.  That's money in the banks pocket.

Plus money they don't have to pay you right away can be invested, say into real estate or auto loans at ~5%, more money for them.

With that said, they shouldn't treat you any differently because you bank your rewards.