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Talk of the Bay
Charging rewards on the retreat
By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published September 11, 2006
Credit card issuers are starting to pull back from generous reward programs that gave 5 percent cash back and double reward points for using your card at grocery stores, drugstores and gas stations. Leading the retreat are Citigroup's Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard and American Express Green, Gold and Platinum Reward and Preferred Reward cards, which are shrinking the payback for those everyday purchases. Other card issuers are likely to follow, said Bill Hardekopf of LowCards.com, which analyzes card deals. Take it as a sign that we've gotten so used to saying "charge it" at Publix and CVS that the card companies no longer need to bribe us quite so much to do it. The new emphasis: using your card to pay utility bills. The Citi Dividend card is adding utilities to the list of everyday purchases that will qualify for a 2 percent cash reward.
[Last modified September 11, 2006, 05:36:15]
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