Brasilian CREDIT CARD REWARDS programs

I'll be the first to admit that I don't care about reward points accumulation for things like credit card purchases, as most programs are so ridiculously watered down nowadays, that actually being able to redeem your points total for something of value, is like catching the proverbial leprechaun with his bag of gold.

A week ago our microwave stopped working. So, we took it to the local electronics repair shop a couple of blocks away that fixed it last year for a small problem, and they gave us the verdict, it's going to be a boat anchor now. No absurd diagnostic charge for the evaluation either, it's Brasil after all.

So, my wife and I are sitting around looking at Mercado Livre online before we set out on foot to check out the physical products in stores. Most range from R$900 to 1.200 to replace what we had before. But, and here's the twist, my wife is a points junkie. The literal "mao de vaca" KKKKKK.

She looks at our Santander VISA card account online, and we have 35,000 points which is enough to buy a R$150 toaster on their site. Next she looked at our ITAU Mastercard where we have R$935 in cash rewards that can be applied to our monthly bill or redeemed for products from their site as well. We split our monthly purchases roughly 50/50 between both cards, and we've earned R$150 versus R$935 after about 12 months.....hhhmmmm.

We bought a R$880 Electrolux microwave from the ITAU site for R$525, it will be here Tuesday......this exact microwave was listed for between R$870-920 at the three different physical stores we visited this afternoon. Apparently all the ITAU products are also deeply discounted for card members as part of the rewards benefit program.

Gonna keep the Santander VISA card, but reduce our purchases on it to a 10/90 split to keep it active in our profile, and move all the buying over to ITAU. FWIW the two cards are basically similar, except for the much better rewards program with ITAU, better in person and telephone customer service, and the significantly higher credit limits that ITAU gives to their customers.

Food for thought if you bank here, the experience today blew me away. It's worth looking closely at ITAU when you are investigating banks.