These days you'll see adverts like this from Rakuten
with taglines like: "Stores pay us. We pay you." (FYI, this is actually a rebate) or articles like this one titled "How I earned more than $2,500 using credit cards in 2020. These cards helped me earn a 4.1% rate of return on spending last year" found on creditcards.com. It has always bothered me when I see articles and adverts claiming people are getting paid and/or that they're "earning money" when in reality they're only getting a rebate.
Please understand that I am not opposed to getting a rebate from a company or cash back from a credit card company per se, but claiming that I am being paid or have somehow earned that discount (especially in terms of a rebate) is very misleading. Rebates are best recognized as large companies acknowledging that they are vastly over charging for their goods and/or services, and that cash back or points from credit card companies are simply another form of rebate that is simply processed from another source.
What's even worse is when companies tell you that the cost for something is $X without informing you that you get that price after a mail-in rebate. Pep Boys pulled that one on me once when I was in need of an an oil change. I was quoted $19.99 for the oil change when I called ahead to find out the price so that I could be certain I had enough money available to pay for it (I did not have any credit cards at all at the time and being a non-pizza food delivery driver my personal available cash on hand was typically tight). It wasn't until my car was on the rack and the oil change was in progress that I spotted a sign informing me that the up front price for the oil change was $49.99, the $19.99 was after a $20 mail-in rebate. I was lucky that I had just enough money to pay the bill but no ability to make change for my next delivery. To add insult to injury, I never did receive the rebate. Pep Boys will never again be allowed to work on any vehicle I own.
No one actually earns a rebate or the cash back that credit card customers can receive. It is that belief that people are "being paid for shopping" that has allowed pyramid schemes like Amway to stay in business and that leads so many people to get into financial trouble with their credit cards!
Yes, you can get good discounts from credit cards and rebates, and you're better off if you can simultaneously stack those discounts for the same purchase. I am not denying that fact. But, let's call it what it really is: Cash back from credit cards are rebates, and any rebate is nothing more than a delayed discount that's saving you some money, but not a paycheque.
- Rev. J.T. Smith
