Citi and ExxonMobil recently made changes to the ExxonMobil MasterCard rewards program, upping the rebates awarded and making it more competitive with other gas rebate cards on the market. Previously, the card offered a 3% rebate at Exxon or Mobil stations and a 1% rebate on all other eligible purchases. Now, the terms are:

You earn rebates of $0.15 per gallon on eligible gasoline purchases made at Exxon and Mobil stations in the United States (”Exxon and/or Mobil Gasoline Purchases”). You earn rebates of up to 2% on other eligible purchases (”Other Purchases”) you make each year as follows: 0.5% on your total annual Other Purchases up to $999; 1.0% on your total annual Other Purchases over $999 and up to $5,999; 2.0% on your total annual Other Purchases over $5,999 and up to $10,000; and 1% on your total annual Other Purchases over $10,000.

You’ll note that 15 cents per gallon is still inferior to the other gas cards offering 5%, often on any brand of gas–at least as long as gas is above $3/gallon. The tiered 2% rebate on other purchases, however, can be worthwhile, and is maximized if you can spend exactly $10,000 annually. If you have enough discipline to spend precisely $10,000, your rebate on that amount would be 1.35%.

Rebates are automatically redeemed as a credit against future Exxon or Mobil gas purchases in increments of $10. In addition, the card offers a 0% intro APR on both purchases and balance transfers, though the balance transfer fee has no limit and is 3% with a $5 minimum. There is no annual fee.

To apply, visit Citi here.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher’s Credit Card Deals Blog.

ExxonMobil Credit Card: 15 Cents/Gallon Rebate on Gas and Up to 2% On Other Purchases

The Federal Reserve is proposing that “unfair and deceptive” lending practices by credit card companies come to an end - and consumers have until August 4th to make comments or complaints regarding this issue.  (Visit the Federal Reserve website to comment).

Changes to policies would put a stop to some of the more common, and perhaps most abused credit card practices by credit card lenders, like raising interest rates on debt you already have, calculating finance charges on two months of credit card activity instead of a single month, and applying consumer payments to the lower-interest-rate balances first.

While changes to these policies will be welcomed by most cardholders, hopefully the Federal Reserve will also deal with a common practice of credit card companies mailing statements out so that it’s impossible to get your payment back before the due date.  Have you ever received your credit card statement two or three days before the due date?  Even if you ran out to the mailbox that day with your statement and check to be mailed, you would stand little chance of it being received and processed before the due date… many times a late payment results in an interest rate hike and/or a late fee of $39 or more.

If you want to be heard on these issues, visit the Federal Reserve before August 4th and let them know what you think.

A free plane ticket is one of the more popular incentives used to woo credit card customers these days. And with airfares on a steady increase, the attractiveness of a free flight has only increased. So, with summer travel season in full swing, we decided to conduct a survey to find out which credit cards offered free airline ticket introductory promos.

We found 17 cards that fit the bill. Not surprisingly, most of them were airline affinity credit cards, but they included general reward cards as well. In part of what seems to be a growing trend across all credit cards, most of the intro promotions require at least some level of spending in order to earn the full number of bonus miles, so as to discourage customers who only use the card for the sign up bonus. Also, as is the standard for airline-affiliated credit cards, virtually all carry an annual fee, though some of them do waive it for the first year.

You can find the full list of cards along with details here.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher’s Credit Card Deals Blog.

17 Credit Cards with Free Plane Ticket Offers