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KATX, the Farm Bureau Card pays a FULL 2 % back once you have spent $35,000 and points/$spent carry over as noted above. What that means is, if you are like me and spend over $35,000 a year, I get a check for $700. The other graduated paymnt cards NEVER reach a true 2 % becuase the first xxx and yyy dollars spent only pay the lesser % amount no matter how much more you spend.
So for those that spend over 35K, it is a full 2 % back on the full 35K. I could be wrong but I know of no others that match it at that spending level. I have not comparedd it at lesser levels becuase it works best of all cards for me, but heck, I maxed out my American Airlines CitiBank AAdvantage card miles at 60,000 last year $$$ are better than miles unless you are using miles to Upgrade -- I use Farm Bureau to buy the ticket and AA to upgrade to business class. >>
Ok, I did some more checking and I did find the rules. They are at:
http://www.farmbureaubank.com/disclosures/rules_grids.PDF
And if you spend $35000 in three years, you would get back $700 (which is 2%).
A few points, however:
1. There is one other "true" 2% card: Amoco credit card. However, they would give you the cash back in gas money and the limit is $70 of rebate per year. So the FB (Farm Bureau) cards sound a lot better. But for those of us who would spend less than $3500 a year on CC, Amoco is the ?true? 2% rebate card. FB is not.
2. I am a bit uneasy to wait as long as 3 years to get my rebate -- not to mention the interest that you lose on that. What if I am late on one payment? Can they cancel me? They say, if cancelled, I would lose all my points.
3. On the subject of how much time I have to earn 35,000 points, here is a quote from them:
?Points earned in the Program shall be subject to expiration at the end of the third calendar year after accrual.?
This is a bit vague. What if I accrue a point in 12/30/2000? Then we have 12/31/2000, 12/31/2001, 12/31/2002 and on 1/1/2003 I would lose the points. This sounds more like two years to me. I know that that is not the only interpretation. The most liberal interpretation would give you between 3 to 4 years depending when in the calendar year you earn the point. (It is not always 4 years as earlier claimed.)
Having said all of the above I say that FB sounds like a great deal.