Reward My Mom!

December 21, 2004 11:44 PM

My mom's got over 90000 (yes, ninety thousand) Wells Fargo Reward points. What do you suggest? Anything she should know? Any personal experience?
posted by ruelle to Shopping (16 answers total)

Wouldn't this depend on her personal preferences? I mean, if she's not the travelling type, she probably won't have much use for a 4 day/3 night Bahamas cruise. Maybe she wants $1000 in bath towels, who are we to know?
posted by cmonkey at 11:52 PM on December 21, 2004

Response by poster: hmm, good point, cmonkey.
She *is* a trip kinda of a person, and is looking at the Cancun thing (and anywhere exotic, frankly) but are there any strings attached? Why isn't there any hotel named? How *bad* could a free hotel be?

Anyone did this before? Anyone regret their choice?
posted by ruelle at 12:17 AM on December 22, 2004

That's $900 at Barnes & Noble. The answer is obvious to me.
posted by BradNelson at 12:39 AM on December 22, 2004

Christmas shopping for next year?
posted by sadie01221975 at 12:46 AM on December 22, 2004

Best answer: There seems to be a disparity in the $/point across rewards. Lookin' at just the cash rebates, you got $100/10Kpoints ($.01/point) up to $600/50K points ($.012/point) Looks like the more points you cash in, the futher your points go (a whole $.002/point!). The gift certificates seem to follow the cash reward scale.

I might shy away from product rewards 'cause it seems there's more risk for a bum deal (unless you want to bother doing your homework and find out how much a Odyssey White Hot Center-Shafted Putter goes for on eBay. Then again, how can you attach a price to something that's White Hot Center-Shafted?)

Though my gut tells me to treat it like found money; the most impractical choice is the best one. I would buy 18 $50 Barns & Nobel gift certificates and wallpaper my walls.
posted by Loser at 12:53 AM on December 22, 2004

I'd go with the B&N gift certificates, too, but that's the visual media geek in me speaking. YMMV.
posted by ruddhist at 12:57 AM on December 22, 2004

They have a cash rebate option available, if you noticed.

50,000 points = $600
4x10,000 points = $400

So trade it in for a cool $1,000, or wait until she has 100,000 Wells Fargo points and trade those in for $1,200.

Your choice.
posted by Ryvar at 1:57 AM on December 22, 2004

she could take $900 cash and spend it how she wants.
posted by andrew cooke at 2:00 AM on December 22, 2004

oh, or what ryvar said.
posted by andrew cooke at 2:01 AM on December 22, 2004

The Singing Machine CD-G Karaoke System

Introducing a party just waiting to start! Turn off the TV and turn on your family with a great way to get everyone together for hours of fun. Let dad prove he can't sing! CD + Graphics player features a 5 1/2" black and white monitor that displays lyrics. Or, connect it to your TV to get more people involved. Features auto voice, voice pitch, master volume and microphone volume controls and a cassette deck so you can record Aunt Judy!

lets see.. thats 5 @ 18k each. That means 5x the fun of a conventional CD-G Karaoke system.
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:57 AM on December 22, 2004

My company does a similar promotion for employees and I find that Froogle is your friend in these cases. pick a few items you might like and find out how much they cost on froogle and how much they sell for on Ebay. This gives you a realisic expectation of how much the points are worth when buying different products. Why get 900 cash or gift certificates when you can get products that will sell on Ebay for 1200 or 1500?
posted by Megafly at 7:13 AM on December 22, 2004

Hm, nothing looks all that compelling to me. I think I'd take the $600 rebate now, accumulate another 10000 pts (if that's an option - seems like she's doing something that is accumulating these), and take it again.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:33 AM on December 22, 2004

If she enjoys travel, there is a way she could do considerably better than $1000.

Round-trip air up to $500 is 25,000 points. If she accumulated another 10,000, that would mean she could take 4 flights in the 400-500 range and essentially have a reward of $2000.
posted by u.n. owen at 9:41 AM on December 22, 2004

Response by poster: Thank you, thank you everyone for the advice and giggles...
posted by ruelle at 4:27 PM on December 22, 2004

Mhhh lemme see the Fargo deal shall I

Earn points with your Credit Card, or with BOTH your Credit and Check Cards.
Get the flexibility to earn points on the Cards you use most. You'll receive 1 point for every $1 in net* purchases with your Credit Card, and 1 point for every $4 in net signature-based purchases with your Check Card.

* Rewards points are earned on net purchases only (purchases less returns).

So I guess uuhh she spent either U$90K or more on that CC ? Holy crapola, my compliments ! She can get $1000 back..that's an 1% return.

Weeeee doggie ! A whole 1% return after spending $100K ? Here's how WellFargo almost mints money I guess.
posted by elpapacito at 6:09 AM on December 23, 2004

That rate of return seems pretty standard in the world of bank-based credit card rewards. Lately I've been using my Amazon card, which gives 1 point per dollar spent, and 3 points per dollar spent on Amazon. With 2500 points you get a $25 gift certificate. So it's basically the same as the bank ones, but when you buy from Amazon you get triple points... which is good. And you get a much more useful gift cert.
posted by swank6 at 4:18 PM on December 24, 2004