AMEX

I have an American Express credit card I got from Costco. Used to be that most places didn't take AMEX, only VISA and Mastercard, but since they got this deal with Costco, more stores will take it now. Problem is AMEX gives you a cash rebate on your purchases. Over the course of a year it comes to a couple of hundred bucks. It's always nice to get a little extra cash.

But this whole deal stinks. If you pay cash for something, you pay the same price as you would with a credit card, and you get no year-end rebate. I mean it's not much: 2 or 3% maybe, but still. There is this nagging little feeling that you can save some money if you use the credit card, which means you start using the credit card for more stuff, and using cash for less, which means the credit card companies are making ever more money.

This is insidious and someone should put a stop to it or the credit card companies will end up owning us, and that would not be good.