|
Didn't that card used to only have Amazon cards as the reward, and they would just show up in the mail randomly every time you hit 2500 points?
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2011 16:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 12:28 |
|
|
smackfu posted:Didn't that card used to only have Amazon cards as the reward, and they would just show up in the mail randomly every time you hit 2500 points? That's another issue with the Amazon cards, the fact they just don't email you a drat code. There is absolutely nothing better than the statement credit.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2011 16:40
|
|
|
I'm ditching my Amex Blue Cash since my rewards have been plummeting yearly from them. My spending has increased ever single year and the style of spend really hasn't changed. I almost doubled the amount I put on the card from 09 to 10 ($18k, $30k) and my rewards have sucked this year. Year rewards in arrears (May-May) 2007 - $681 2008 - $420 2009 - $325 2010 - $389 2011 (YTD) - $176 I'm hopping over to Starwoods Rewards. ATLbeer fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jan 4, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2011 18:17
|
|
|
I just graduated from college and am going to need my own CC (i've been using my parent's the past couple years). I have a steady job as an engineer and I'm pretty stingy so I manage my money well. Most of my money goes into food, gas, and online shopping. I do a decent amount of shopping at Amazon, how does their CC sound for someone like me?
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2011 19:46
|
|
|
Geno posted:I just graduated from college and am going to need my own CC (i've been using my parent's the past couple years). I have a steady job as an engineer and I'm pretty stingy so I manage my money well. Most of my money goes into food, gas, and online shopping. I do a decent amount of shopping at Amazon, how does their CC sound for someone like me? If you don't have any established credit than I wouldn't count on getting approved. I have a few cards and a ~700 fico score and I was denied recently.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2011 08:50
|
|
|
The Good posted:If you don't have any established credit than I wouldn't count on getting approved. I have a few cards and a ~700 fico score and I was denied recently. I was surprised by this too. Right out of college I applied and was declined. Got a local bank credit card for a year and re applied and was still declined. Reason given: not enough credit history. That was for Citi Forward. For a card that was supposed to be for establishing a credit history. Consensus was if I was still in college I would have been approved automatically.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2011 17:32
|
|
|
I was approved for the amazon visa and I am still a college student. I have 3 other credit cards and each of them have a limit of about $2000. The amazon visa decided to give me $6500 of credit though. Too bad I don't even have that much money hah.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2011 03:59
|
|
|
I have been puzzling for a long time about how I got the rate that I have with Capital One, and was wondering if anyone else has a Capital One with a similar rate. The card I have is a Capital One Platinum Visa. I got it when I was a freshman in college and 19 years old (in 2007). I had no real credit history to speak of at that time except I had a Discover Card that I got when I was 18. Somehow this card has a 5.4% APR for purchases, and I don't understand how that's possible. I cannot find any credit card offers at all that have anywhere near a rate as low as that. It is not a promotional rate--it's been that low for years. I called them to ask why it is that low and they just told me that it is a variable rate and rates change. I'm asking because several of my friends want to get the same card, but I can't find how to get a rate that low, and I honestly can't remember how I was able to get this one except that I just applied for it after I got an offer in the mail in 2007. Is it a mistake and I got lucky? My other card is a Discover and it has 11.99%, which seems much more normal. Edit: The rate I have is better than Capital One's elite loving card, how is that possible??? 
Can I Phaser You fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Jan 14, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 03:56
|
|
|
Can I Phaser You posted:I have been puzzling for a long time about how I got the rate that I have with Capital One, and was wondering if anyone else has a Capital One with a similar rate. Credit flowed very freely back then, things tightened up enormously as the markets crashed in 2008-2009. It's been getting better for a while, but APRs that low are very uncommon in this environment.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 06:24
|
|
|
I heard an NPR radio interview a few months back about a hispanic woman who would open a store credit card, make a bunch of purchases with the card under promotional stuff, never pay any interest, then close the card. She did this with like 20 cards, yet had excellent top-tier credit. I guess I'm wondering, if it worked for her, can I get away with say opening some cards, getting the billion initial bonus points, cashing them in and closing the card, or was she a fluke? My googling isn't so great tonight so can't find the article on her. edit- Found it, http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/15/130595403/living-at-the-poverty-line but it doesn't get into her credit score, I think if you listen to the audio version it goes into it more. sublyme fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Jan 14, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 10:07
|
|
|
sublyme posted:I heard an NPR radio interview a few months back about a hispanic woman who would open a store credit card, make a bunch of purchases with the card under promotional stuff, never pay any interest, then close the card. She did this with like 20 cards, yet had excellent top-tier credit. Well first as you allude to, we need to define and confirm she has "excellent top-tier credit". She has a number of bad practices and a very poor overall grasp of managing finances, and it is highly unlikely that opening and closing accounts rapidly will produce a very favorable credit score. She's apparently just charging up another card or directly cashing an advance check, then taking 0% APR balance transfer offers: "Edith says she's borrowed about $13,000 from Citibank this way, and has never paid interest (though she does pay a balance-transfer fee of 3 percent)." 3% off the top of a balance is like floating the whole thing on a 36% APR card for a month or a more normal 12% for 3 months, obviously not a good move to do.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 11:08
|
|
|
Everybody has balance transfer fees now, which tends to negate any benefit you get by loving around with the interest free deals. With savings rates what they are now, you can't even earn interest by putting your cash in a savings account instead of paying off a 0% balance. And the typical 10% off the first purchase when you open a store account... I guess you can benefit from that if you shop a lot and open a bunch of accounts (why are you doing these things if you're making $16k/yr?), but there's a certain amount of hassle involved and the benefits are pretty limited in the big picture. I don't deny it might be possible to save a little money with these games, but it is way more trouble than it's worth to me. I still root for the PenFed card's no-bullshit rewards that are credited right back to the statement every month.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 17:54
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:Everybody has balance transfer fees now, which tends to negate any benefit you get by loving around with the interest free deals. Depends on the interest rate, the math is pretty easy to do to see if it's a good idea or not. My mom was paying 18% on a $2500 charge card balance, the 3% up front was like 2 months of interest for her, so she saves...it's just that easy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 18:03
|
|
|
Yeah, agreed it can be helpful for that situation. She saves what, $75? Might be worth the trouble. On the other hand if she's going to pay it off in a year or so, why bother. But it's pretty typical that people in that situation made a different mistake getting the balance up there in the first place. Or got hammered bad by life, I understand that happens too - it's just that overspending is so common.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 18:10
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:Yeah, agreed it can be helpful for that situation. She saves what, $75? Closer to $200 plus the delta in interest of the new card. Remember that 18% is like 1.5% or 37.50 a month. It's really misleading. I'm of course talking about paying the 3% up front to get 12 months of 0% which is the most common deal.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 18:16
|
|
|
Is there anything preferable to the Starwoods Amex with annual fees in the ballpark of $50-$100? I find with Starpoints you're getting at least 2.5 cents on the dollar when you redeem at their nicer hotels. Do they still have those cards that sweep 2% into cash back for Fidelity or Schwab? Google had a couple of results from 2008, wasn't sure if they were still current.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2011 06:33
|
|
|
Jewdicator posted:Do they still have those cards that sweep 2% into cash back for Fidelity or Schwab? Google had a couple of results from 2008, wasn't sure if they were still current. Schwab's card still exists, but they're no longer taking new applications. Not sure if they'll ever open it back up. Fidelity has a 2% AMEX and a 1.5% VISA (that goes up to 2% after $15k).
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2011 05:23
|
|
|
The Chase Freedom quarterly bonus categories are nice in theory but it seems like Chase weasels out of actually giving the bonus. The bonus is 5% at drugstores and grocery stores, but every place I shop at is classified as "other" on my statement: Meijer, CVS, and all three neighborhood grocery stores I go to (Hyde Park Produce, Village Foods, Treasure Island). Maybe they will actually be counted at the end of the promotion, but it just seems weird.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2011 19:38
|
|
|
who cares posted:The Chase Freedom quarterly bonus categories are nice in theory but it seems like Chase weasels out of actually giving the bonus. The bonus is 5% at drugstores and grocery stores, but every place I shop at is classified as "other" on my statement: Meijer, CVS, and all three neighborhood grocery stores I go to (Hyde Park Produce, Village Foods, Treasure Island). I also noticed that the grocery stores I shop at are categorized as "Other" on the statements (Harris Teeter and Giant). Somewhere on the Chase website, though, they state that they use a different criteria for the rewards points than for transactions on your statement. I've got a ton of 5% rewards since the grocery store category began in September, so it does seem to work for me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2011 20:32
|
|
|
I hate chase because their 5% has a cap of $1500 and even after I called and specifically asked about this they told me there was no cap. Felt pretty dumb after I moved $4500 in hotel spend over to the now semi worthless chase when I could of just put it on the marriott card for additionl points.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2011 05:07
|
|
|
I need some advice- I am a current college student who has had a Wells Fargo credit card for 11 months now. Rarely carry a balace, I've charged up to $1000 out of my $1200 limit in the last couple months, and now the card is completely paid off. I want to try and find a card that I can start to earn points/airline miles with it, but I'm not sure if any of them are worth it. Right now, the only debt to my name is about $8k in student debt that is deferred until graduation. What impact would it have to pay off the WF card totally, close it, then open a different rewards card? Second question: I still use my debit card for most purchases because I'm enrolled in Wachovia's Way2Save program. Each month, $75 is transferred into the account, along with $1 for every purchase made, and then I earn 2% interest (I believe) on that balance. Would there be a rewards card good enough to cancel Way2Save and jump to using my credit card for everything? EDIT: TransUnion doesn't have any score for me, but the Experian and Equifax reports both have me and mid/high 700s for my credit score. FakeUsername fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Jan 24, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2011 05:35
|
|
|
eso posted:I also noticed that the grocery stores I shop at are categorized as "Other" on the statements (Harris Teeter and Giant). Somewhere on the Chase website, though, they state that they use a different criteria for the rewards points than for transactions on your statement. I've got a ton of 5% rewards since the grocery store category began in September, so it does seem to work for me. Yea, don't worry about that. The website only shows a very limited breakdown of purchases. I get 5% from all my grocery purchases. But Meijer probably won't get you 5%. alreadybeen posted:I hate chase because their 5% has a cap of $1500 and even after I called and specifically asked about this they told me there was no cap. Felt pretty dumb after I moved $4500 in hotel spend over to the now semi worthless chase when I could of just put it on the marriott card for additionl points. At one point last year the cap was different for different people. Ranging from like $1000 to unlimited. After September they just made the cap the same for everyone. I've hit the cap twice now (buying furniture and travel) and it sucked but just getting the 5% in the first $1500 is pretty great.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2011 05:54
|
|
|
FakeUsername posted:I need some advice- I just looked up the Way2Save program. You realize that it isn't a rewards program at all? From what I can tell it just puts your money into a savings account with a so-so APR. You would be much better off finding an interest bearing account somewhere (suggestions: Alliant, ING Direct, Ally, Smartypig) and picking up a 2% cashback card. The ones that I know of that are still offered are * Fidelity 2% Amex * 2% Cash Rewards BankAmericard (I swear this is still out there, I just can't find a link) To be more clear: there is no reason to keep using your debit for anything. Get a rewards card and pay it off in full every month. Other good rewards card options: * Amex SPG (for travel) * Any PenFed card (hard to get!) * Citi Forward (restaurants, books, movies, amazon)
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2011 06:00
|
|
|
Magic Underwear posted:There's no reason to close the WF card, but it won't hurt you if you do, it stays as a positive on your record for 10 years. I know that Way2Save isn't a rewards program, but it was a nice way to plug money into my savings account and get decent interest on it (my basic savings with Wachovia is some abysmal <1% interest). My roommate has the CitiForward card, so I think I might try that one. As far as changing accounts around, how difficult would this be: Have an online savings account at a place such as ING, a Wachovia checking account, and a Citi credit card? I've never had to deal with transferring money from different banks, so I'm not aware of the simplicity or charges for doing so.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2011 14:40
|
|
|
eso posted:I also noticed that the grocery stores I shop at are categorized as "Other" on the statements (Harris Teeter and Giant). Somewhere on the Chase website, though, they state that they use a different criteria for the rewards points than for transactions on your statement. I've got a ton of 5% rewards since the grocery store category began in September, so it does seem to work for me. Relating to this and the difference in categories in the account activity screen and the categories that actually pay 5%, Is there a way to see what purchases you had that were actually paid at 5%? After a statement closing, on the website in ultimate rewards - rewards activity - rewards statements it tells you total # of points, # of regular points and # of points earned at 5% but I can't seem to see what counted toward that. I had a lot of 5% points this month, haven't been to a drugstore and the only grocery stores I've been to are walmart supercenters and I thought I'd read somewhere once that "superstores" don't count as grocery stores for the promo. Vin BioEthanol fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jan 26, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2011 17:06
|
|
|
Is there something wrong with this offer that I should be on the look out for?quote:DiscoverŪ More Card - No Balance Transfer Fee http://www.creditcardguide.com/balance-transfer.html I have $8500 on another card that I want to pay off so I am thinking of transferring my balance to this and paying it off over the year. Is it worth keeping after that and using as a pay in full rewards card?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2011 19:09
|
|
|
Wagonburner posted:Relating to this and the difference in categories in the account activity screen and the categories that actually pay 5%, Is there a way to see what purchases you had that were actually paid at 5%? If there is a way, I haven't found it - but the bonus points I get roughly reflect 5x my "traditional" grocery store spending, so I've been fairly unconcerned. I think you're right that supercenters don't count. That said, my card changed from a vanilla Chase card to a Freedom last July, but it took until October for me to get any bonus points, which then came in a large lump sum. Ever since then they've shown up monthly. It might be possible they do strange things sometimes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2011 19:55
|
|
|
So, I'm a single recent college-grad, working as an engineer at the moment. Currently have a Chase Freedom Visa (my checking is via Chase) and a Discover card. I use the Chase for "everything", Discover I just kinda signed up for to use as a gas card (I end up spending around $150/mo on gas on it and pay it back). My credit score is pretty good (760 last time I used freecreditreport), was thinking about picking up another card I can use for my online spending on computer hardware and other goodies. The AmEx no-fee offerings look tempting. Blue Cash - 5% only at 3 fixed categories, 1.25% everywhere else, have to spend $6500 in a calendar year to get the higher percentages (do they apply retroactively?) Blue - 1 point, 1 dollar, unless I book via certain sites, or shop through portals. I have this feeling that the portal will be slightly pricier than say comparison shopping to score a cheaper deal, so I'll have to weigh the 3X benefits. Getting 6000 points for buying a MacBook sounds nice though. Blue Sky - every 7500 points (so, $7500?) is a $100 statement credit towards travel-y things Clear - every $2500 I get a $25 gift card, essentially. Why Amex? Already have Visa and Discover, and I think their cards look neat  So, I dunno which one to go for. Definitely not interested in paying an annual fee.If it makes a difference, "big purchases" coming up would be a motorcycle (and that would be via check via Craigslist), then insurance for said bike. Will also spend plenty this year on applying to med school again.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2011 21:11
|
|
|
movax posted:So, I'm a single recent college-grad, working as an engineer at the moment. Currently have a Chase Freedom Visa (my checking is via Chase) and a Discover card. I use the Chase for "everything", Discover I just kinda signed up for to use as a gas card (I end up spending around $150/mo on gas on it and pay it back). quote:Blue Cash - 5% only at 3 fixed categories, 1.25% everywhere else, have to spend $6500 in a calendar year to get the higher percentages (do they apply retroactively?) quote:Blue - 1 point, 1 dollar, unless I book via certain sites, or shop through portals. I have this feeling that the portal will be slightly pricier than say comparison shopping to score a cheaper deal, so I'll have to weigh the 3X benefits. Getting 6000 points for buying a MacBook sounds nice though. quote:Blue Sky - every 7500 points (so, $7500?) is a $100 statement credit towards travel-y things quote:Clear - every $2500 I get a $25 gift card, essentially. quote:If it makes a difference, "big purchases" coming up would be a motorcycle (and that would be via check via Craigslist), then insurance for said bike. Will also spend plenty this year on applying to med school again. Amex works really well for big purchases, due to their extended warranty service and their extremely customer-friendly chargeback process should you have any problems. The other big benefit of getting a "real" amex (not co-branded) is backdating. Lets say you get your first amex in 2011. If you open another amex card from amex in 2021, amex reports it as being opened in 2011, so your brand new card looks like a 10 year old one on your credit report. This can be a huge boon if you're looking to boost your score in preparation for a car loan, home loan etc. Amex is the only company that does this, to my knowledge.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2011 01:38
|
|
|
Thanks for the info, Magic Underwear. Just applied for and got the Blue Sky, should have it in a week or so  Definitely don't spend enough for the Blue.That backdating thing is cool as hell, that should pay off handsomely in a decade or so. Lots of extra goodies like roadside assistance, warranty extension, etc. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with them while applying, very friendly customer service (at least to get the card, hopefully I'll never have to call them for a chargeback).
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2011 02:42
|
|
|
movax posted:Thanks for the info, Magic Underwear. Just applied for and got the Blue Sky, should have it in a week or so Yes, they basically have the best customer service of any company I've ever worked with. Hope you like the card, it's all cool and see-through.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2011 02:51
|
|
|
Magic Underwear posted:Hope you like the card, it's all cool and see-through. Not going to deny that this was a deciding factor in choosing the card 
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2011 20:39
|
|
|
I just applied for the Everyday Points Citizens Bank Credit Card. It's pretty much my first card (I had a card with BoA 3 years ago but I closed it due to inactivity and I was 18 and didn't really know what I was doing (but I do believe I made sure that it didn't negatively effect my credit score when I closed it). I went through and itemized my spending for this month and I ended up spending about $2700 this past month (but that was because I bought a $1500 cruise vacation) and then about $342 on restaurants and $565 at supermarkets (grocery store and wal-mart). I put all this on my debit card so I figured it'd be wise to finally get a credit card and use the travel protection, and points offered instead of just drawing every purchase from my bank account. I put in the information of my spending into creditcardtuneup.com and it said the best card for me would be the Capital One Venture Rewards Card, but I don't want my first card to be one with an annual fee and I probably wouldn't get approved for it anyway. Hopefully, since I have a Citizens Bank account and carry a balance with them they will approve me, but if not -- anyone have any suggestions for a good rewards card I can use to redeem for airline tickets?
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2011 20:34
|
|
|
ABlix- posted:I just applied for the Everyday Points Citizens Bank Credit Card. Ehh, I don't really like that card. The APR is nothing special, you're paying a $25 annual "program fee" (so much for your first card not having an annual fee), and I highly doubt that the rewards are anything near 1 point = 1c. If, as I suspect, 3 points = 1c, then that card is just a boring rear end 1% card except that it's tied to a points system which can easily be devalued even further. I don't like Capital One either, they are primarily sub-prime and they pull all three credit reports when you apply. As for airline cards, I'm not a big fan of them either, but right now the Citi AAdvantage card has 75k miles after $1,500 spend (but also an annual fee). I say check out the fidelity 2% amex and maybe Citi Forward. 2% straight cash is better than you're ever going to get from airline miles, and Forward is 5% (in points) on restaurants, movies, and books (which includes all amazon purchases).
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2011 22:06
|
|
|
Magic Underwear posted:Ehh, I don't really like that card. The APR is nothing special, you're paying a $25 annual "program fee" (so much for your first card not having an annual fee), and I highly doubt that the rewards are anything near 1 point = 1c. If, as I suspect, 3 points = 1c, then that card is just a boring rear end 1% card except that it's tied to a points system which can easily be devalued even further. I don't plan on ever keeping a balance on the card so I really don't care about the APR. The program fee, as I learned from the bank rep only applies if you use the "debit card" rewards system and not the credit card so you still get points there. I heard that points are better value than cash back..2% cash back is nothing really....$2 per $100...? I'd rather get $5-10 toward a airline ticket per $100 if that's at all possible...
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2011 04:36
|
|
|
ABlix- posted:I heard that points are better value than cash back..2% cash back is nothing really....$2 per $100...? I'd rather get $5-10 toward a airline ticket per $100 if that's at all possible... But with your card, that's not possible...  From what I can tell, it looks like you're going to get $1.50 toward an airline ticket per $100. If you find a card that gives you a 10% reward, let me know. minute fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Mar 1, 2011 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2011 06:30
|
|
|
ABlix- posted:I heard that points are better value than cash back..2% cash back is nothing really....$2 per $100...? I'd rather get $5-10 toward a airline ticket per $100 if that's at all possible... Not possible, never been possible, don't know where you got that idea. 2% unlimited cash back is one of the best deals out there these days. Anything more than that is either limited (discover, chase, citi) or certain categories only (chase, discover). I think your expectations of credit card reward programs are too high. Seriously, you thought you were going to get 10% back using a credit card? Come on... Magic Underwear fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Mar 1, 2011 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2011 07:07
|
|
|
With that card it says I get 3 points for dollar I spend. I guess my confusion comes from not knowing what a point entails. Is that like a 3% cash back?
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2011 14:24
|
|
|
ABlix- posted:With that card it says I get 3 points for dollar I spend. I guess my confusion comes from not knowing what a point entails. Is that like a 3% cash back? Reward "points" are not generally regulated and have no standard value. If they let you trade a point for a penny, then yes that's like 3% cash back. If.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2011 15:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 12:28 |
|
|
Citi Dividends still gives 2%, but they sometimes offer deals like 5% on certain catagories. The problem is the max is pretty low at $300 a year. I've hit the max three years in a row now... last year by July.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2011 15:55
|
|