Beobank Reward Credit Cards Reviewed: Save more By Spending Money
Every month I get a satisfying overview of my credit cards. Satisfying? Yep! Every euro I spend using my cards gives me a reward. I have two, both having a different reward.
My Beobank credit cards
That there are cards with benefits linked to them won’t come as a surprise to most people. It’s well known you can get some interesting deals or rewards if you make an effort to compare.
I’ve been using reward credit cards for a few years now, and I’m happy about how much money I’ve saved using them over the years. Mind you; it’s not an earth-shattering or life-changing amount.
Make your cards work for you
It’s not really rocket science when you want a credit card. Get a card from a bank that offers one for free.
Getting this free card is most of the time the reward itself. You will get nothing extra by using them. Quid pro quo as they say.
That’s why instead of looking for free cards, try to find a credit card that offers a good deal.
The best deal you can make is the one where you know you can get your money’s worth and thus save money.
My MasterCards summarized above are a good example of this idea. I use it for my expenses as much as possible. By just using it, I reach a minimum of 5 EUR in a matter of a few months. It’s simple, 1% cashback equals 1 EUR/100 EUR. After spending 500 EUR on clothing, repairs, sports equipment, etc. I get 5 EUR back.
By keeping track of my expenses I know I can get at the lowest about 1 EUR/month of cashback and in a “good” month I can get as much as 30 or 50 EUR back.
To top it all off, both cards offer extra perks when I buy stuff with them.
Additional benefits to using credit cards
Besides their main benefit, 1% cashback and 1 mile per euro spend, my credit cards also offer some additional benefits.
While these extras are not perfect and thus not useful in all cases, I’m not upset I get them as I already made use of some of them a couple of times.
Which benefits both cards offer, is listed below:
Extra MasterCard Insurances Extras
Flyingblue MasterCard Insurances Extras
Two credit cards too many?
While I’m glad I have both cards and I really like the benefits they offer, I keep having doubts about the usefulness of the MasterCard one and if it’s not the one too many.
The Visa card is a solid choice. I earn a fair amount of cashback every year using that one. The MasterCard, on the other hand, is less obvious.
Getting things like cancellation insurance is very convenient. Not losing the air miles I have earned throughout the years is also a nice benefit. The problem is that these extras are very limited in nature. They are only useful in case I travel by plane.
When I originally signed up for the air miles card, I had planned to travel more by plane than I ended up doing (once per year).
In the end, my plan to travel more got taken down by reality.
Flying is a want, not a need
While I enjoy traveling by plane, the plane ticket does eat into my travel budget quite a bit. This is because I’m not one to skimp on luxury and relaxation when I’m on holiday and my holiday starts the moment I leave.
Because of this way of thinking I got seduced into traveling business class for two long-haul flights. Mind you, I do not regret it one bit. It was an excellent experience. It makes the entire holiday just that more enjoyable.
However, this way of traveling is expensive (especially in business) and my main goal is not flying business class every year once or twice nor is it flying in general. It’s reaching FIRE.
I won’t reach FIRE by spending money on wants so I decided not the fly for the next two years at least.
This decision means that I don’t need the extra insurances that come with the air miles credit card.
It does still prevent my miles from expiring which are now well into the 50,000 but I’m not going to use them any time soon, so is it worth 75 EUR/year or 6,25 EUR/month?
The final point against the air miles credit card is a more environmental one. One I shouldn’t neglect.
Planes are heavy polluters and there are a lot of nice places I can visit by train or at worst by car in Europe.
By writing this down I realize I’m still on the fence about what to do.
For the time being, I’ll keep the card but anyone that has an idea on what I should do is more than welcome to share it.
Do you have a reward credit card or do you not really care and just have one that was available for free with your bank account?
What should I do with the air miles credit card, ditch it?
Please leave a comment down below and share your thoughts.
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same results.
Hi! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that
would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to
new updates.
Hey, yes I do: https://twitter.com/fightToFIRE1
Thanks, i knew only about the Beobank cards that charge €75, they are on most comparing website. However the €5 I’ve never seen.
I’ve requested that card 30 mins ago!
I use it constantly. It’s one of the few cards in Belgium that offers a real benefit, up until now, I’ve used the entire 200 EUR/year cashback. It’s, of course, nothing compared to the US but that’s because Europe blocks the interests creditors can charge.
I hold the BeoBank FB MC as well. Last year they gave a 20k mile bonus to all customers (after 50 EUR spend in a certain month or so), which is already worth about 150-200 EUR, offsetting the annual fee by far. This year they give a 3x bonus on all spend during Nov-Dec 2020. I think it’s a keeper!
Hey Robby,
Thanks for your comment. Very good points you make. I’m going to keep it in the end. While it’ not the cheapest, as I will be traveling more in the years to come with family living abroad, I believe it’ll be useful.
Greetings,
Mr.FightToFIRE
Great blog, is that Beobank card also for non customers?
I used to use the miles and more American Express when I travelled:
https://my-amex.be/nl-be/kaarten/aanvraag/main-bair-premium/startpagina#promo=BAIRPM6MMG
At the peak I had around
160.000 miles on it if I remember correctly.
I would say its probably better to have a cashback card as its instant money you can invest. Points tend to lower its value over time..
Hey RoadtriptoFire,
Yes, I started out with Beobank with just their credit cards. Of course, you get access to their platform once you get them as an account is linked to each card (so you can top it up).
A nice bonus to the FlyingBlue Mastercard is that if you have a positive balance Beobank doesn’t charge any extra costs for cash withdrawal. Of course, the other bank might still do it but you save at least one fee.
Greetings,
Mr. FightToFIRE