Too many rewards, too little time
I had one of those “I could kick myself” moments yesterday. A little over a month ago, I received a postcard in the mail from ING Direct offering a $20 bonus for simply using my debit card five times during the month of November. The fine print said that all purchases needed to be at least $10 and they must appear on your November statement to receive the credit. I’m not a big fan of debit cards, but 30 days to make five purchases larger than $10 seemed like no problem.
Filled with enthusiasm, I immediately made three purchases online – two separate Starbucks $10 gift cards and a $15 iTunes gift card for my roommate’s birthday. I still had two to go, but I had nearly three weeks until the end of the month and I was confident.
Then I got greedy. I was surprised to discover that most of my purchases are less than $10 with the exception of gas and groceries, which I always put on my Chase Rewards credit card since I receive five points for every dollar spent. Each time I found myself at the grocery store or gas station, I was loathe to use my debit card so I just told myself I’d use my ING Direct debit card on my next purchase.
The month hurtled by – helped along by Thanksgiving – and on November 29 I found myself still two purchases shy of the necessary amount. Luckily it was a Saturday and my plan was to shop for some Christmas presents. I made the final two purchases at Ross and TJ Maxx and as I drove home, I calculated the “actual” cost of the presents with the $20 savings factored in, mentally patting myself on the back.
That is until yesterday when I checked my ING Direct account and saw that the late purchases had not been credited until December 1. My initial reaction was annoyance at ING for the delay it took to post the purchases, but what did I just blog about yesterday? Oh that’s right, personal accountability.
The truth is I have no one else but myself to blame. I could have bought gas or groceries with my debit card instead of coveting the point rewards. I could have bought two more Starbucks gift cards in that three-week period. I could have done a half dozen other things to ensure I received the reward.
When it comes down to it, I didn’t lose any money by charging the three purchases to my debit card, but boy do I hate missed opportunities.
