Value Your Credit Card Points as Currency

Like the title of this post states, I believe you should value your credit card points as another form of currency.  Credit card points enable you to purchase flights and book hotel rooms as well as possibly making other redemptions like exchanging for cash or stuff like a new iPad.  

My point of this post is to just put the thought in your head when you redeem your credit card points.  It's always nice to feel like we get something for "free" when we use our points, but we also don't want to waste our hard earned points on a bad redemption.  This is the reason, why I've mentioned before about looking at the value you get per point when you are looking at redemptions.  You can use the basic formula of (Redemption Value/Points Required = Per Point Redemption Value).

Of course, using your credit card points the way you want is your prerogative and I will never judge anyone on the way they use their points, but this post is meant to just keep the thought in your head.  We comparison shop when we buy things with cash, we should probably be doing the same thing when we redeem our points.  We don't want to waste our cash, so likewise we don't want to waste our points.  

Redemptions feel free, but they're actually not, you had to work for your credit card points the same way you had to work for your cash.  You’re usually able to get at least 1 cent per point value by cashing out your credit card points or using them for statement credits depending on the card issuer so that should be the minimum you ever redeem for. 

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