Just discovered my credit card's "Cash Back" program. Is it really just free money? I find it too good to be true.

[u/cop-disliker69]

I was paying my credit card bill online and I found a link on the Bank of America website said I had unredeemed cash rewards, several hundred dollars. I had never noticed this before. It gave me a few options for how to redeem it, it said they could send me a personal check in the mail or I could deposit this money directly into my savings account with the bank. It says I get 1% cash back for every purchase I make, and 2-3% for certain purchases.

Is this really how it works? I get paid a small bonus every time I spend money using my credit card? And it's just free money no strings attached?

I was always taught if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. I suppose it's not that much money, because I think these hundreds of dollars were earned over like five years since I first got this credit card. Still, what's the angle here?

EDIT: Disclaimer. This is not native advertising. Bank of America is a racist, redlining, predatory-lending, family-evicting pack of jackals. This was a genuine question I asked in good faith and did not expect to get huge like this.

[u/Lockon007]

Try Oil and Gas.

Go check the hotel price in Odessa,TX.

I max out my bloody limit every time I go there. 🙄

[u/Coomb → u/Lockon007]

I just did and I see several hotels with less than $100 per night rates and a lot with less than $150.

[u/[deleted] → u/Coomb]

people at that level do not stay in $100 a night motels.

they stay in nice hotels, have generous per-diems for food, and can expense all kinds of incidentals.

and it's entirely possible (probable even) that if they are in sales, they are picking up the tab for groups of clients.

hell, the last travel-sales job my husband had, he was even given a budget for booze.

[u/Coomb → u/[deleted]]

/u/Lockon007 didn't tell me anything about his "level", just a location.

[u/Lockon007 → u/Coomb]

Ah sorry,

I'm just an entry level field engineer.

All I was trying to say is - if you look at your local standard "business" hotel like Courtyard, Holiday Inn or etc. they're massively inflated compared to any other neighborhood.

I took a quick look for a hotel 2 weeks from now. Same prices as they have been for the past year or so.

Hotel	Per Night Cost ($)
Courtyard	336
Fairfield	228
Hilton Garden	374
Best Western	296

Which I think is ridiculous, since I can get a room at the MGM Grand in Vegas for the $304 the same week...

[u/Buffett_Goes_OTM → u/Lockon007]

That's nuts, I stay in downtown Houston every week at 4 star hotels for usually $170 a night and this is for hotels much nicer than those you listed.

​

Heck, I just stayed at the Standard Hotel in NYC and it was only $280 a night and that's a 5 star hotel. Not sure how those hotels cost that much or anywhere near that.

[u/Lockon007 → u/Buffett_Goes_OTM]

I agree! It's bloody ridiculous. There's nothing of interest in Odessa (Unless you're a big Friday Night Lights fan I suppose).

The main reason it's so expensive, is that a good chunk of people working in the field commute there week to week. So during the work week, there's a super high demand, so the hotels can get away with it. During the weekend, when no one is around, they drop back to their standard $100ish prices.

[u/Buffett_Goes_OTM → u/Lockon007]

That's crazy. I think I'll stick with my Houston boutique hotels for $170 a night.

[u/highoctanecaffeine → u/Coomb]

Try closer to the field, Pecos TX is usually ridiculous.

[u/mictlann → u/Coomb]

He might be talking about 4-5 star rated hotels that cost $300+ a night

[u/Lockon007 → u/mictlann]

No sorry,

I'm talking about standard mid level business oriented hotels.

I'm not important enough to be frivolous with company money unfortunately.

​

[u/dlerium → u/Lockon007]

But even then Odessa isn't expensive. Your standard 3 star Courtyard is $129 which is what it's like in most suburbs. Good luck getting that rate in San Francisco. It's easily double that. And given the sheer number of tech shows we have here, good luck coming here during DreamForce, WWDC or any other crazy week.

[u/Lockon007 → u/dlerium]

I don't know how you're getting those prices.

A standard Tue-Friday trip 2 weeks from now at the local Odessa Courtyard is clocking in at a cool $336 right now. 120 is closer to weekend price from what I can see.

[u/girandola → u/Lockon007]

Odessa,TX.

bloody

What are you?

[u/Lockon007 → u/girandola]

A weird mix of a bunch of unrelated stuff. 🤗