We win, you lose

Ah, now I know how the new BP VISA rewards program works. I wrote earlier about how confusing it is, but here's the scoop. You earn "cents per gallon" based on a formula (so much for BP gas, 2% for dining and travel, 1% for all else). Rewards can be taken in a discount per gallon for BP gas for a fill up of 20 gallons or can be taken as a credit on your VISA bill.

So, let's say you've spent enough in a month or so to have the rewards program show you have earned "$3.24 per gallon." Let's just look at $3.00 of this. What this means is the following (gotta read the fine print here):

1. I can go to a participating BP dealer and get a discount at the pump of $3.00 a gallon for up to 20 gallons. If my gas-guzzling SUV takes 20 gallons, I'd get a credit of $60 right there at the pump. If I only fill up with, say, 12 gallons since that's all my gas tank will hold, I'd get $36 credit on the purchase, but would forfeit the rest.

2. If I choose to take a credit on my VISA statement instead of getting a discount at the pump, I can get $15 credit for each $1 "per gallon." So, for the same $3.00 as above, I could get $45. That's it.

So the real catches are:

1. Can't fill up with 20 gallons and give them back some of the rebate.
2. Get a credit on my VISA statement instead and give them back $5 for each "$1 per gallon."

They win, they win. And you? Hahahaha.