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I travel enough that using ThankYou points on Expedia at 100 per $1 has definitely been the best way to redeem. Better for me than gift crds since I really don't spend that much at individual stores besides Amazon. Main issue is that you need at least 30k pts ($300) to really buy an airline tickets, which is a lot if you are only earning a point per dollar. My cards have multipliers though so it's not that bad.
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Nov 25, 2010 02:56
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I'm pretty seriously considering signing up for the Amazon Rewards Visa. I already spend a ton of money on Amazon, and the extra 1-2% on everything else with no annual fee is very appealing. Guinness fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Nov 25, 2010 |
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Nov 25, 2010 09:40
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Guinness posted:I'm pretty seriously considering signing up for the Amazon Rewards Visa. I already spend a ton of money on Amazon, and the extra 1-2% on everything else with no annual fee is very appealing. Might as well get the citi forward then, Amazon gets classified as "books" so you get 5points/dollar.
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Nov 25, 2010 09:44
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Magic Underwear posted:Might as well get the citi forward then, Amazon gets classified as "books" so you get 5points/dollar. So even if I buy electronics or household type crap, it gets classified as "books" with the Citi Forward? Hmm... thousands of dollars of "books" wouldn't set off any red flags?
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Nov 25, 2010 09:46
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Going through my finances, I charged a little over $30k to my credit cards last year (and paid them off). What would be a good card for someone in this spending range with excellent credit? I current use Amazon Rewards and Chase Freedom. I don't travel and my expenses are all over the board category wise.
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Nov 25, 2010 11:48
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baquerd posted:Going through my finances, I charged a little over $30k to my credit cards last year (and paid them off). What would be a good card for someone in this spending range with excellent credit? I current use Amazon Rewards and Chase Freedom. I don't travel and my expenses are all over the board category wise. I can't help you much without some idea of where your spending is, but here is a good all-around suggestion: the fidelity amex is 2% cash, straight up. There is also a 2% cashback card from Bank of America floating around. With $30k in spend you should also look at the Amex Blue Cash, 5% on gas and groceries after $6500 in spend, and 1.25% on everything else.
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Nov 25, 2010 20:35
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Magic Underwear posted:Might as well get the citi forward then, Amazon gets classified as "books" so you get 5points/dollar. Hmm this sounds like something I'd find useful as I spend a ton of money on Amazon as well. 3 questions: 1. Is there a list somewhere of the points rewards for Citi Bank. For example on my Amazon card 5000 points will get me one of few different things, including a $50 Check or a $50 CC balance Credit, or some other stuff. I've read a few places that the Citi rewards program is somewhat mediocre. 2. Does Citi have that Ultimate Rewards/ShopDiscover type deal going like Chase and Discover where if you make your online purchases through the retailer links on their websites you can earn up to an additional 10%-20%? 3. Is Citi Forward the only card that does the Amazon=Books=5 points per dollar thing? Or are there other cards that do that, too? -Blackadder- fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Nov 26, 2010 |
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Nov 26, 2010 04:13
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I ended up going with the Chase Freedom card after reviewing as much info as I could handle. There are certainly better offers out there, but the Chase Freedom was the best-simple solution I was able to find without needing to create a Schwab account or monkeying around too much.
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Nov 26, 2010 05:07
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There's been a lot of mentions of the Amazon Visa on the last couple of pages, so I'll just say that I've been very happy with it and use it as my primary card. 3% on Amazon purchases, 2% on gas, restaurants, and drugstores, and 1% on everything else. I average about 2% overall since I purchase a lot from Amazon. One thing I really like is that you can get cash or statement credits in $25 intervals. A lot of other cards will give you gift cards at $25, but will withhold cash and statement credits until $50 or even $100. My only problem with the card is that Chase has been incredibly stingy with credit line increases. I got the card in 2007 with a $400 limit. I've used the card as my primary card since then, which means paying off the card multiple times each month. Despite not carrying a balance and always paying on time, my credit line stayed at $400 until I finally called Chase last month and asked what was up with that. They increased my limit to a whopping $900. My credit score is ~750, I never carry a balance and utilization never exceeds 10% on my credit report, and I have a couple other cards (including a Chase Freedom) with significantly higher limits. For the life of me I can't figure out why Chase is limiting my Amazon card so severely.
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Nov 27, 2010 03:44
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smackfu posted:I travel enough that using ThankYou points on Expedia at 100 per $1 has definitely been the best way to redeem. Better for me than gift crds since I really don't spend that much at individual stores besides Amazon.
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Nov 27, 2010 05:53
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10-8 posted:There's been a lot of mentions of the Amazon Visa on the last couple of pages, so I'll just say that I've been very happy with it and use it as my primary card. 3% on Amazon purchases, 2% on gas, restaurants, and drugstores, and 1% on everything else. I average about 2% overall since I purchase a lot from Amazon. That's odd. I just signed up for this card last month and have a similar credit score to you and they opened me at a 3000 dollar credit line.
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Nov 27, 2010 20:51
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10-8 posted:There's been a lot of mentions of the Amazon Visa on the last couple of pages, so I'll just say that I've been very happy with it and use it as my primary card. 3% on Amazon purchases, 2% on gas, restaurants, and drugstores, and 1% on everything else. I average about 2% overall since I purchase a lot from Amazon. They started me at $4000, just bumped me to $6000. Same credit score as you. You may want to pull your reports from all the bureaus, there might be something negative on the one that Chase uses.
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Nov 27, 2010 22:37
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Sock on a Fish posted:They started me at $4000, just bumped me to $6000. Same credit score as you. You may want to pull your reports from all the bureaus, there might be something negative on the one that Chase uses. Seconding this, In my experience they have been anything but stingy. I started with a $1000 chase limit and after three years of using it they raised me to $4,000 then $6000. I called since I was using it heavily (on reimbursable corporate travel) and they bumped it to $8000. Then recently they just bumped it to $11,500.
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Nov 27, 2010 22:55
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I just got an Amazon rewards card too to use for gas and groceries and help rebuild my credit. I don't mind the $400 for now and I'm positive it's because my score is barely in the "fair" zone.
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Nov 27, 2010 23:30
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Sock on a Fish posted:They started me at $4000, just bumped me to $6000. Same credit score as you. You may want to pull your reports from all the bureaus, there might be something negative on the one that Chase uses. It's not a big deal since I don't make many large dollar purchases and it's not a hassle to transfer money from my Chase checking account to a Chase credit card every week or two. It's just a curiosity, mostly.
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Nov 28, 2010 02:49
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10-8 posted:I pull all 3 reports regularly and there's nothing negative on them. My most recent scores were all between 725-760. And I have a second card with Chase with a $6,000 limit. I imagine they use the same bureau for both cards, so I really don't have an explanation for it. Just a fyi the credit "score" you get from a free credit report from one of the three big agencies is generally 50 - 100 points below your actual fico score. I used to work in mortgages and got all too used to people being shocked that their actual fico wad 670 when then thought it was 750 when trying to buy a house. They do this so you'll be less likely to dispute every little thing on the report because it would cost the agencies quite a bit if everyone did so. For an anecdote- last I checked my "real" fico was 760 and I currently have a $25000 limit amazon chase visa. Edit- its nearly impossible to find out what your actual fico is on your own as a consumer PUNCHITCHEWIE fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Nov 28, 2010 |
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Nov 28, 2010 07:52
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10-8 posted:I pull all 3 reports regularly and there's nothing negative on them. My most recent scores were all between 725-760. And I have a second card with Chase with a $6,000 limit. I imagine they use the same bureau for both cards, so I really don't have an explanation for it. I've had the same experience, in fact I was denied twice despite flawless credit. It's likely because your potential debt to income is too high. Add up all your credit card maxes, compare to your yearly income. It seems that once you hit around that line, new lines of revolving credit are difficult these days.
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Nov 28, 2010 12:31
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PUNCHITCHEWIE posted:Just a fyi the credit "score" you get from a free credit report from one of the three big agencies is generally 50 - 100 points below your actual fico score.
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Nov 28, 2010 19:40
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I think you're speaking of the "VantageScore" thing that TransUnion and Experian do. Yeah it's nonsense designed to get people out there taking on new credit when they really should not be. I believe Equifax still gives you the traditional FICO score at least. I'll check out my report from all 3 but I'm only ever concerned with the score from Equifax.
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Nov 28, 2010 21:59
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Is there such thing as a charge card that needs to be payed off every month that is a Visa or Mastercard?
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Nov 29, 2010 07:07
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The Good posted:Is there such thing as a charge card that needs to be payed off every month that is a Visa or Mastercard? All of them.
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Nov 30, 2010 12:33
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10-8 posted:I pull all 3 reports regularly and there's nothing negative on them. My most recent scores were all between 725-760. And I have a second card with Chase with a $6,000 limit. I imagine they use the same bureau for both cards, so I really don't have an explanation for it. Chase dings you for having too much credit with Chase. I was denied a Chase Freedom card and the denial letter specifically said it was because I have another Chase card with a high credit limit. I have excellent credit.
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Nov 30, 2010 18:31
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On the Chase Freedom. It says you get like a lot more points for online purchases in the "ultimate rewards mall". Barnes and Noble it said 8 points per dollar. Wife wanted a color nook for christmas and I tried to go through the rewards mall thing to get to barnes and noble but it just kept timing out. I ended up just typing barnesandnoble.com into my browser and buying that way. Is there some reason you'd have to navigate to the BN site through the rewards mall to get the extra points? Or does it just see any purchases at BN online and do them at 8? like it would any purchase at any of the quarterly 5% categories? (The chase rewards mall site being just for reference sort of) (also this was my 1st online purchase I've ever had to pay sales tax on, I was pissed!) Vin BioEthanol fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 22:20
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I don't have a Chase Freedom card (yet), just Amazon Chase which doesn't seem to have access to the Ultimate Rewards Mall, so this is only a guess, but I suspect the links on the Ultimate Rewards Mall Website are some sort of affiliate links that you specifically have to click through to and make the purchase to get the additional points. You've probably seen these types of links before on various web pages especially for popular company's like Amazon.com. If you post them on your website and people click through them and buy something they give you some money for it. By having their own website with a bunch of affiliate links to various online vendors credit card companys like Chase and Citi can make a few extra bucks when their members buy stuff through their affiliate links and pass some of that onto their members in the form of extra points, so everybody wins. This would mean that if the page wasn't loading properly and you weren't able to use their links, you might not have gotten the extra points. This is all just guesswork on my part, though, so maybe someone who has Chase Freedom card can better answer you or just call the help 800 number. I've used them for my Amazon Chase card and they're usually pretty helpful. -Blackadder- fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Dec 5, 2010 |
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Dec 5, 2010 03:12
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Wagonburner posted:On the Chase Freedom. It says you get like a lot more points for online purchases in the "ultimate rewards mall".
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Dec 5, 2010 05:01
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stingray1381 posted:Chase dings you for having too much credit with Chase. I was denied a Chase Freedom card and the denial letter specifically said it was because I have another Chase card with a high credit limit. I have excellent credit. 10-8 fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Dec 8, 2010 |
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Dec 8, 2010 15:24
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I want to apply for the PenFed Visa Platinum Cashback Rewards card. How do I know I am eligible to apply as an american red cross volunteer? I gave blood once 5 years ago. I didn't see any info about requirements for that and don't want to get denied because of it, but it'd be nice to dodge the fee.
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Dec 27, 2010 07:13
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A couple people I know signed up for PerkStreet, which is an online bank that features a 2% reward card.
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Dec 29, 2010 22:49
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What do you guys think about the amazon card? http://www.amazon.com/gp/cobrandcard/marketing.html/ref=cobrand_ch_c1_oce/?source=oce&type=P&pr=con321&place=camp&plattr=CBCE1009 Seems nice to have a constant 2% back on the stuff you always buy (really wish groceries were on there). I also buy a lot of crap from amazon. Im deciding between that one and the chase freedom card. Any suggestions for other cards of this type? I've never nor will I ever have a balance on my card so interest rates aren't an issue.
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Jan 1, 2011 12:56
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Does anyone know a ThankYou card that gives good gas/grocery points?
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Jan 1, 2011 17:23
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madkapitolist posted:What do you guys think about the amazon card? I like the Amazon card, mainly since I buy a lot of things through them. I rack up 5,000 points pretty quickly (not just from Amazon purchases), and have ordered a $50 check back ever other month or so, which ships for free. Since I always pay off the card before interest hits its like they are paying me to use the card. You can also order $25 checks at 2,500 points, but I typically wait until I have 5,000 points before I cash in. The only issue I have was they limited my credit line to $4,000, which I can burn up quickly since I sometime have to place work-expenses on the card (airfare, hotel, etc.). I asked for an increase last year but they denied it (and I have excellent credit). Guess I'll ask again for a limit increase a bit later this year.
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Jan 1, 2011 19:22
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nnnotime posted:I like the Amazon card, mainly since I buy a lot of things through them. I rack up 5,000 points pretty quickly (not just from Amazon purchases), and have ordered a $50 check back ever other month or so, which ships for free. Since I always pay off the card before interest hits its like they are paying me to use the card. You know they have $50 statement credits now too? If you use the card as much as me, it is as good as the check without the hassle of having to actually cash it.
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Jan 1, 2011 19:52
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madkapitolist posted:What do you guys think about the amazon card? I opened an Amazon card recently and so far I like it. I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon and love the 3 points per dollar on those purchases. I also like the 2 points per dollar on restaurants and gas since I do go out to restaurants pretty frequently. It'd be even better if groceries got you 2 points, too, but can't win 'em all. Looking through the rewards, the best point-to-dollar-value reward is definitely just the cash back or statement credit, but that's a-okay with me since it's just a straight 1 point = 1 cent redemption. Other things like airline tickets and stuff aren't nearly as good a deal, so if that's what you're looking for there are better options out there. And like was mentioned, my only minor gripe so far is that they started me off with a $4000 limit. It hasn't been a real issue, but I do wish I had a little more breathing room. If I still traveled for work frequently it would be a bigger issue than it is now. With time it'll probably get raised, though. Edit: Oh, also, the interests rates suck really hard, but if you're carrying a balance on a rewards card you're doing something terribly wrong. If I need to make a purchase that I know I won't/can't pay off at the end of the month (for example, big emergency expenses) I still have my credit union CC with an excellent rate but no frills. Guinness fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jan 1, 2011 |
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Jan 1, 2011 20:14
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Just applied for it and they held my application for further review. Im assuming since Im a full time student with zero income. I hope I get approved though this seems like a great card. Weird since I got approved for non student discover/amex cards.....
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Jan 1, 2011 21:10
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I used the Amazon card for a long time and really like it. I finally switched over to PFCU because I just got too aggravated by having to dig the rewards checks out of the mail and type the codes into the Amazon web site. I'm glad to see they are doing statement credit now, and may switch back. That's still not as nice as PFCU's automatic credit system, but I think it will work out to a greater percentage back for me.
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Jan 2, 2011 05:10
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Is the Platinum AmEx worth it? What spending points/how often to travel is necessary to override the $500 annual fee?
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Jan 3, 2011 16:33
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Biggest benefit is getting into airline lounges. Those cost a couple hundred a year which covers about half the cost of the annual fee. I would only say it is worth it if you are traveling every week.
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Jan 3, 2011 17:17
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alreadybeen posted:Biggest benefit is getting into airline lounges. Those cost a couple hundred a year which covers about half the cost of the annual fee. I would only say it is worth it if you are traveling every week. Yeah the airline lounges are nice. I feel like it's hard to value the Platinum card because of the less direct nature of the rewards. I mean it's nice getting a bus class ticket free once a year but you have to buy a bus class ticket on the same flight to get it, and usually it's cheaper to fly 2 people coach than one bus class ticket. Also, better insurance on cars/travel/manufacturer warrany, etc etc. I travel maybe twice a month but they're usually shorter flights anyway rarely with layovers so I'm not sure if it's worth it.
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Jan 4, 2011 00:38
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Chin Strap posted:You know they have $50 statement credits now too? If you use the card as much as me, it is as good as the check without the hassle of having to actually cash it.  . That teaches me to review the list of rewards more frequently.Seems odd they would add that convenience option, since that's another reason, like with the cash-back options, to avoid picking the third-party sponsored rewards (hotel discounts, airline miles, etc.).
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Jan 4, 2011 02:48
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nnnotime posted:Haha, no, I didn't know that I know, it actually made me a bit sad, because now I am getting less extra fun amazon dollars to spend on whatever. The funny thing is, the statement credit is uniformly better than the amazon gift cards at least, because for every $50 in statement credit, I can just charge $50 more from amazon to the amazon card, and get 3 more points per dollar for it, where you would get no more points for the gift cards. The only way I see anyone taking the gift card is if they don't hit 5000 points quick enough, because amazon gift cards start at 2500.
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Jan 4, 2011 04:03
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