Comment by lxgr

It's usually more than 3 cents out of your left pocket and 1.5-2 into your right one, even if you do everything right and never incur interest charges or fees.

> It's a great trick though, people really buy into the whole points/cashback thing and don't realise they're being paid with their own money

Even better, they become poorly-paid lobbyists for the entire scheme, since it successfully makes them feel like they're getting "luxury" items/services for free by "gaming the banks", when they're really just participating in a loyalty scheme exactly as designed.

Sure, it's possible to eke out a net cash profit here and there, but all in all, it's just a great counterexample to homo economicus.