Maximizing Gas Credit Card Rebates

As many of you know if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’re certainly aware that I’m an advocate of getting a gas card as an easy way to help you save money on gas.

However, as many readers have pointed out, the gas card that I tend to recommend, the Discover Open Road Card, only gives you a 5% rebate on the first $100 you spend each month. And I’m well aware that with gas prices being what they are that just about all of us are spending more than $100/month in gas right now.

While there are several other cards out there with higher limits, none of them offer the 5% cash back at any station that the Open Road Card does.

This dilemma got me to thinking about how we can “have our cake and eat it too.” And then it became pretty clear to me how to maximize the gas rebates you get in any given month… simply get another gas card.

Here’s what I think would be the ideal situation. If you live in an area with a lot of BP stations (and a lot of us currently do), then you could also apply for a Chase BP Visa Card. This card gives you 5% cash back on all purchases made at a BP Station (10% for the first two months) and 2% cash back at all other stations.

So here is what you could do. Apply for both the Chase BP Visa and Discover Open Road Card. Then use the Chase BP Visa card for all of your fill ups at BP Stations but keep your Discover Open Road Card with you for times when another station simply has a better price or it isn’t convenient to fill up at a BP Station. This way you’ll still be earning 5% cashback on all of your gas fill ups, but you’ll still have the flexibility to fill up at any gas station.

Now for those of you who don’t live in an area with many BP Stations, then I’d recommend you combine the Discover Open Road Card with the Chase Freedom Card (3% cash back).

The one trick to pulling this off is that your credit needs to be in the good to excellent range. If you have bad credit, you’re going to have a hard time getting approved for both cards.

I’d be interested in hearing your feedback on “maximizing gas card rebates” and what you think.

And if you need to apply for the cards I mentioned above, here are the links:
Apply for the Discover Open Road Card
Apply for the Chase BP Visa Card
Apply for the Chase Freedom Card