I have been robbing myself of my credit card points without even knowing it. I have the Citi double cash back card and I love it. With this card you effectively earn 2% cash back on all transactions. You earn 1% when you make a purchase and then you earn another 1% when you pay the balance.

What I like about this card is that every swipe earns you the 2% because there are no rotating categories to worry about. While you can earn a higher rate on gas etc. during certain months on other cards, this one frees you up to just earn credit card points without worrying about categories.

So with all that…how exactly did I rob myself of my credit card points?

Well I did it by using the points, which equate directly into dollars, to pay the balance on the card. You can redeem your balance in the following ways:

  • statement credit
  • check
  • direct deposit
  • gift card

I chose the statement credit because it was the least hassle for me. I thought I was being clever by applying the rewards directly to the statement and effectively paying less per month on the credit card.

CreditCards

I just decided to read the details again tonight and realized that it said statement credits reduce your balance but are not considered a payment. I have no idea how I missed that!!! In any case I was only redeeming $25 increments so it was not that much but the fact of the matter still remains.

To make matters worse the option for direct deposit is bringing up some weird name that is not one of my banks so I will have to get that fixed. I decided to just go ahead and have them send me a check, which I will deposit to my main bank via their mobile app.

I will now make full payments instead of reducing the balance so that I can earn my full cash back!!!