Gas prices suck. Unless you take public transportation, walk, or have taught yourself how to fly, you already know this.
In my Toyota Camry, I get about 23 mpg and drive about 1,000 miles a month. That means I’m buying about 43 gallons of gas a month. At current prices of about $3.50 a gallon here in Texas, that comes to $150 a month, or $1,800 a year, just for gas! Now imagine if gas prices keep rising and they hit $4 a gallon ($2,064 a year). Or $5 a gallon ($2,580 a year).
My first reaction is to find a way to sell my car and start taking the bus. Or maybe I can invent a worldwide system of teleportation devices so I can stop using cars altogether.
Unfortunately, I don’t see either of those things as a realistic option right now. It is something I will have to seriously consider when the lease is up on my Camry, but for the moment I’m just going to have to find a way to drive less and save money on the gas I purchase.
Cash Back for Gas Purchases
Enter the PenFed Platinum Cash Back Rewards Card. Before I get into the details, know this is not an advertisement. I just like helping people save money. With this card, you get FIVE PERCENT cash back on gasoline purchases. Not five cents per gallon; five cents per dollar!
Think about it. You’d probably drive down the street if a different gas station were charging five cents less per gallon. If gas is $3.50 a gallon, this card will save you a whopping 17.5 cents per gallon! My gas tank is about 15 gallons, so it will literally save me $2.63 every time I fill up my car.
Here’s a table showing the projected annual benefits at 1,000 miles a month and 23 miles per gallon, depending on the price of gas.
[table “4” not found /]
Joining PenFed and Getting the Card
There is a small catch to this card; you have to be a member of the PenFed credit union. There are lots of ways to join, but here’s a summary of how. Either work in the military or government, or be related to someone who does. If that doesn’t apply, you can join by being a blood donor or money donor to the Red Cross (they use the honor system here), or pay $15 or $20 to join Voices For America’s Troops or National Military Family Association.
I joined because I donated money to the Red Cross for Tsunami victims. Even if I hadn’t done that, I would have paid the $15 to join Voices for America’s Troops, as we already discussed I will be saving a lot more than $15 by using the card. The last step is to deposit a minimum of $5 into a share account and you are ready to apply for the card. (you need good enough credit to get accepted)
So just join, apply, get the card, and then save lots of money. Well, as long as you pay off your card in full every month. But that goes without saying, because Thousandaires are transactors, not revolvers.
Read More:
Costco Cash Back Rewards: What You Need To Know
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
For serious? That seems like a great deal!
Yep, my card should be in the mail and is on it’s way to my house
I have a Marathon Mastercard from Chase that also offers me 5% back per gallon. I can attest that I do drive farther down the road to go to a Marathon station as that 5% really does add up! This deal you speak of sounds fantastic.
The nice thing about this card is that you can use it at ANY gas station that accepts Visa. You just have to make sure you pay at the pump.
I used to get 5% cashback on gas with my Citi Dividends Reward Card…. Then they cut it to 2%… Then they cut it to 1%…. Pretty soon I won’t get any rewards at all!
I wonder if PenFed will be able to sustain this 5% because it is very intriguing!
I sure hope so. Otherwise I got it for nothing, because I will use other cards for everything else that’s not gas.
I’m glad you wrote about PenFed Kevin! Great rewards and a CU to boot!
I’ve always had good experiences with credit unions. However, my loyalty is only as good as the rewards are good to me. If they drop the rewards, I’m gone!
5% back is a great deal!
I get 5% back for restaurants and entertainment with my CitiForward card too. I love cash back!
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog post.