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I got my Discover It Miles card back in 2019, after a year the accumulated miles doubled, and this month I spent literally all of them (269k) on a major trip. So, what now? Product change to something else to get another bonus in a year? Close this one and start fresh with a new one? All I care about is miles.
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Jan 14, 2023 08:13
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Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:I have a garbage Citibank card that I haven't used since 2020 and they just sent me a polite letter saying that they're going to close it due to inactivity if I don't make at least one purchase by 6/30/23. That's good service! I'm not being sarcastic I try to make a point to use any of my non-active cards once a year or so to buy a cup of coffee or something just to generate a statement.
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Jan 14, 2023 15:21
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If you do a lot of shopping on Amazon, buying gift cards there can be useful too.
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Jan 14, 2023 16:23
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Busy Bee posted:If you do a lot of shopping on Amazon, buying gift cards there can be useful too. You can set Amazon to buy a gift card on a specific payment card every 6 months or a year.
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Jan 14, 2023 18:00
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Space Fish posted:New Amazon Rewards Visa opt-in bonus arrived: Thanks, I didn't see this promoted anywhere, but it did activate for my Amazon card. Should be nice for gas. Discover IT already grocery stores as their 5% category for this quarter though.
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Jan 14, 2023 22:41
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good news, folks i FINALLY managed to pass the 800 mark on my credit score. took loving FOREVER for some dumb reason, but at least we're finally there so what fun/hopefully profitable things can i do with my newfound status? pseudanonymous posted:I started a thread in C&D to talk specifically about churning since that seems to be at cross purposes to this threads focus on solid all around long-term cards: sweet. i wanted to know more about this sort of thing, actually
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Jan 24, 2023 20:18
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Mr Interweb posted:sweet. i wanted to know more about this sort of thing, actually Conveniently, it is also the answer to your first question
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Jan 24, 2023 20:21
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I’m confused why I’ve been charged an interest fee on my BOA card, and want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ve had cards for 15 years or whatever and I’m pretty sure I’ve never paid a penny in interest so I’m kinda bugged even if it’s not a huge amount of money (like $50). My 0% APR period closed on 12/19, and as I had a fair chunky balance from a bunch of stuff that had come up at the end of last year I arranged a balance transfer to a new 0% card with another provider. This totaled around $4,800 or so and by Jan 11th this was complete and I paid off the rest of the balance as well, around $1,200 or so. The due date was 1/16 so to my mind that should be all fine. The app confirms I had a balance of 0. The $50 charge says it’s against a purchase balance of $3,000 but I cannot see where this figure comes from. Since the 0% cutoff in December id charged $350 or so in online bills and that’s it and they were part of the balance I zeroed. From the newest statement a few days ago: Previous Balance $5,786.71 Payments and Other Credits -$6,018.58 Purchases and Adjustments $350.53 Fees Charged $0.00 Interest Charged $56.95 I called and asked and essentially got the runaround from a lady who couldn’t explain why and then said I needed to zero my balance two months in a row which I’ve never heard of before. They declined to cancel the charge as a goodwill thing that my gf said I should request. I feel like I now need to pay off this card the second any charges land on it to avoid any charges which is ridiculous, I’ve never had a situation where I’ve paid off the bill that was sent in the time period requested and still gotten charged.
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Jan 24, 2023 22:37
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I've always taken the "promotional rate ends on X" as "this balance must be paid in full by X or we start assessing interest immediately without any grace period".
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Jan 24, 2023 22:44
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Yeah that’s the only thing I can think of and kinda expected the person on the phone to say as such, but then she didn’t. Maybe just lack of training? Still a weird amount to run it against as doesn’t match my spending and I guess I’ve always closed these things off before the date comes up for finals so never been an issue before. Thanks.
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Jan 24, 2023 23:07
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EL BROMANCE posted:Yeah that’s the only thing I can think of and kinda expected the person on the phone to say as such, but then she didn’t. Maybe just lack of training? Still a weird amount to run it against as doesn’t match my spending and I guess I’ve always closed these things off before the date comes up for finals so never been an issue before. Thanks. Yeah generally the fine print in any 0% APR promotion is that you have to have it fully paid off by the time of the promo ending or you're charged all of the interest you would have acquired from all purchases during that period. I worked at Best Buy for a long time and it was a huge gotcha that led to a ton of pissed off people.
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Jan 24, 2023 23:29
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E: whoops, wrong CC thread
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Jan 24, 2023 23:31
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My GF and I are trying to help her younger sister get her debt under control. First step has been to apply to Citi Simplicity to do a balance transfer to help keep interest under control while she pays down her card. She got approved but only for a $2k limit (she has around $4.5k total she needs to pay down). Her credit score was still decent (~720), but her usage was already high (IIRC her limit on the 4.5k card is 6k). That combined with a low income is why I'm guessing she was only approved for $2k. What's the best move going forward for limiting interest? I assume immediately applying for another balance transfer card (e.g. WF Reflect as BankAmericard isn't an option since the balance needs to be transferred from a BoA card) would be a bad idea as that would be an additional credit hit and possibly wouldn't even be approved after the Citi application. I'm thinking she should transfer the $2k to the new card and pay the minimum while paying as much as possible on the existing card in the meantime. Then after her usage is down and credit score recovered from the new account, either a) right before the 120 day intro balance transfer period ends apply for a credit limit increase to potentially transfer more balance off the original card, or b) after 4-6 months apply for a new balance transfer card (e.g. WF Reflect) to transfer the remaining balance on the original card. Does that seem like a good approach, or are there better options?
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Jan 24, 2023 23:50
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I stopped using my BOA card because the autopay setting was horrendous. I finally canceled all of my cards with them because it was such a pain in the rear end to automate paying the statement balance each month. Im convinced they make the interface so terrible to try to force folks to carry a balance and miss payments.
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Jan 24, 2023 23:51
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Splinter posted:My GF and I are trying to help her younger sister get her debt under control. First step has been to apply to Citi Simplicity to do a balance transfer to help keep interest under control while she pays down her card. She got approved but only for a $2k limit (she has around $4.5k total she needs to pay down). Her credit score was still decent (~720), but her usage was already high (IIRC her limit on the 4.5k card is 6k). That combined with a low income is why I'm guessing she was only approved for $2k. I'd post in the BFC newbie thread for general advice on this one. The number one question that will always be asked is "is the spending under control?". The common trap people fall into is doing balance transfers onto cards and turn building the balance back up on the original
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Jan 25, 2023 00:32
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Medullah posted:I'd post in the BFC newbie thread for general advice on this one. She seems to have, but ultimately we'll have to wait and see whether she's able to stick with it. Main problem seemed to be lack of financial education and she seems committed to getting this handled now. The big light bulb moment was showing her the spot on her CC statement where it says something alone the lines of "if you only pay the minimum payment it will take you 20 years to pay off your balance and you'll have paid a total of eleventy billion dollars by the time you're finished". I'll try the other thread though thanks.
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Jan 25, 2023 01:04
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In reality how long does a referral take to get processed on a chase card? I used a friend's referral code about 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't processed on their end.
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Jan 25, 2023 01:29
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Alliant Credit Union has some bonuses up now for its checking/savings/certificate accounts. $400 total possible for new members, $300 for existing (Maybe $200?, might be worth waiting a bit for details to be clearer). The checking account is a requirement for their excellent 2.5% cashback card. Bank account bonuses are taxable unlike credit card ones, so keep that in mind. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/alliant-credit-union-400-checking-savings-cd-bonus-for-new-or-existing-members-code-fastpass/
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Jan 26, 2023 22:37
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Medullah posted:Yeah generally the fine print in any 0% APR promotion is that you have to have it fully paid off by the time of the promo ending or you're charged all of the interest you would have acquired from all purchases during that period. I worked at Best Buy for a long time and it was a huge gotcha that led to a ton of pissed off people. This is not always the case and I would expect it not to be the case with an actual 0% interest offer from a BofA/Chase type bank. But the minute that 0% ends, the interest starts billing, even if that's in the middle of your billing cycle. The deals you're thinking of will have "deferred interest" somewhere in too-small print and in my experience I've only seen them from store-associated cards like the Synchrony one that Discount Tire uses. On those, yes, the interest starts adding up at the moment you make the purchase, but doesn't actually get billed to you unless you still have any portion of the balance outstanding after the promo period ends. Either way, the safe move is to pay the promo balance in full before the promo period ends. My own paranoia makes me do it at least one billing cycle in advance so I've got at least one bill generated by their system that shows no more charges subject to interest.
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Jan 26, 2023 22:53
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This won't be relevant to most of us, but Chase is running a record-setting bonus right now for checking + savings as well. Everyone's trying to pad those Q1 books, I guess. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-chase-900-checking-savings-bonus/ I'm kicking myself because I just got around to closing my chase checking account a couple of weeks ago, when I could have done so almost a year prior. I would be eligible for this if I had.
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Jan 26, 2023 23:27
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Posting this to the more appropriate credit card thread: I'm about to embark on a major kitchen remodel and I'm thinking about how I'm going to pay for it. I originally assumed I would take out a HELOC, and right now rates are pretty high. Now I'm thinking about grabbing a 0% APR credit card, charging as many items as I can on it, and paying it off before the promo period ends (seems like 18 or 21 months is available right now). If for some reason I haven't paid off the balance before the interest kicks in, I could open another 0% APR credit card and do a balance transfer. I likely would also have to open a HELOC because I doubt every contractor I'll work with will take a credit card, and it would also give me an out in case I don't qualify for another 0% APR card for some reason. I do know that balance transfers on credit cards usually carry a 3% fee. This is still preferable to the 8% rates I'm seeing on HELOCs at the moment and ofc those are variable and could continue to increase. Where is the flaw in this plan?? I have excellent credit, lots of open lines of credit because I used to churn on the regular (but haven't for a couple years), will absolutely be diligent enough not to miss deadlines that would cause me to pay interest in the credit card once the promo period ends, etc. I kinda assume I'm gonna need maybe $20-30k on top of what I've got available in cash, so the only issue I can think of right now is I might not get a high enough limit on the card to cover everything involved with the project.
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Jan 27, 2023 04:16
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Sirotan posted:Posting this to the more appropriate credit card thread: Contractors unlikely to take cards (or will add a surcharge), like you've said. Risk of not being able to get a HELOC or other balance transfer later when you'd need it. Balance transfer fees. Risk of cost overruns. Overall though, not a terrible option? Other ideas: margin loan from (for example) IBKR which comes with its own pros/cons, or *gasp* waiting until you have all the funds in cash.
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Jan 27, 2023 05:02
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Sirotan posted:Posting this to the more appropriate credit card thread: The flaw in this plan is that it is a literal trap. Credit card companies push these offers because the majority of people who use them will not pay the entire balance back before the promotion rate ends. You do have enough credit and a good plan to potentially avoid the trap and still walk away with the 0% cheese, but just know what you're walking into. More seriously, the risks are mostly something unexpected happening. Something like losing your job, car getting totaled, or an unexpected injury that prevents you from having the money to pay off in full and on time. Or multiple incidents happening at the same time which many people don't account for. (A car accident which causes an injury that prevents you from working). Some other details to keep in mind.
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Jan 28, 2023 16:34
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I have fallen for a gift card scam at my local WalMart. I used a Chase Freedom Flex to buy a gift card for a friend in need to help with their groceries. When they went to spend it, they were told the card had a $0 balance and was already spent in another state. The friend scratched off the PIN label, so there's no visual evidence left of if/how it was replaced. The scammer would have recorded the barcode and PIN in advance and tested the numbers each day online to see if any money landed in the account. I have the gift card and my receipt showing I purchased and activated the card roughly a week ago. Is there any chance of: 1) WalMart spotting me a new gift card or refunding me? (haha no) 2) Chase letting me reverse the charge? Either way, be cautious about physical gift cards, y'all.
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Jan 28, 2023 18:01
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Contact Walmart first and then if they're no help reverse the charge through Chase. That's why I use credit cards whenever I can, it's on them to research the fraud.
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Jan 28, 2023 19:08
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Space Fish posted:I have fallen for a gift card scam at my local WalMart. I used a Chase Freedom Flex to buy a gift card for a friend in need to help with their groceries. When they went to spend it, they were told the card had a $0 balance and was already spent in another state. The friend scratched off the PIN label, so there's no visual evidence left of if/how it was replaced. The scammer would have recorded the barcode and PIN in advance and tested the numbers each day online to see if any money landed in the account. be prepared to wait a long time assuming they give you a refund. i would show provide the receipt and also the fact that it was spent in another state.
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Jan 28, 2023 19:47
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There's a way you can remove the scratch off covering the PIN code and put it back to make it seem like nothing happened.
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Jan 28, 2023 20:40
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Busy Bee posted:There's a way you can remove the scratch off covering the PIN code and put it back to make it seem like nothing happened. This seems to be getting pretty endemic.
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Jan 28, 2023 20:41
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pzy posted:Has anyone tried Bilt for rent payments? Seems too good to be true - they'll mail a check to your landlord (like Plastiq), no fees (unlike Plastiq), and you earn points for rent payments which could be like $500/yr in cash back. You also need 5 non-rent transactions per statement period to earn points, no minimums Are you still using Bilt? Have you had any issues with it? I’m thinking about signing up basically just to use for rent, but I was looking for some reviews of it from actual users, as opposed to a site like TPG. Anyone else using it?
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Jan 31, 2023 08:38
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OldSenileGuy posted:Are you still using Bilt? Have you had any issues with it? I’m thinking about signing up basically just to use for rent, but I was looking for some reviews of it from actual users, as opposed to a site like TPG. Anyone else using it? I’ve heard a lot of people having fraud issues with Bilt.
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Jan 31, 2023 09:33
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Yeah it seems like maybe their pool of card numbers isn’t big enough and the expiration dates are too similar so people are getting fraud charges on their cards as soon as they are activated. Big mess.
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Jan 31, 2023 13:49
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OldSenileGuy posted:Are you still using Bilt? Have you had any issues with it? I’m thinking about signing up basically just to use for rent, but I was looking for some reviews of it from actual users, as opposed to a site like TPG. Anyone else using it? I have been using it as my main card since I got it, saving all that money on rent is nice. I just use the points monthly towards my rent and save about $50 just thanks to regular purchases. Not having to worry about checks or mailing it is great too. I did get hit with a fraudulent charge (a test one for 99¢) about 2 weeks ago, but to Bilt's credit they overnighted a new card to me and there hasn't been a problem since. They also gave me 1000 points (about $10) for my troubles, and acknowledged that Bilt specifically was dealing with fraud issues that they're addressing.
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Jan 31, 2023 19:01
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Thanks for the info, I never would have seen all that about the fraud stuff unless I specifically searched for "Bilt Fraud" I was gonna sign up today to try to use it for rent tomorrow, but I'll probably wait a month or so until all this fraud stuff dies down and hopefully goes away.
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Jan 31, 2023 19:25
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Unsinkabear posted:This won't be relevant to most of us, but Chase is running a record-setting bonus right now for checking + savings as well. Everyone's trying to pad those Q1 books, I guess. This seems legit. I put my email in to get the coupon and all the links seem real. If I do it I might go to a branch just to make sure...
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Jan 31, 2023 19:34
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truavatar posted:This seems legit. I put my email in to get the coupon and all the links seem real. If I do it I might go to a branch just to make sure... I got a $600 bonus last year. Chase does this, and it's "churnable" if you open the account then close it and wait 2 years they will do another one.l
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Jan 31, 2023 19:38
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truavatar posted:This seems legit. I put my email in to get the coupon and all the links seem real. If I do it I might go to a branch just to make sure... I had the $300 deposit into my checking account today.
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Jan 31, 2023 22:22
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Keep in mind that you do have to pay taxes on bank bonuses though, it’s treated exactly like interest.
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Feb 1, 2023 05:09
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Can a direct deposit be something I initiated myself to my Chase account? For example, a Wise transfer or a transfer from a different bank account.
Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Feb 1, 2023 |
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Feb 1, 2023 07:32
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Busy Bee posted:Can a direct deposit be something I initiated myself to my Chase account? For example, a Wise transfer or a transfer from a different bank account. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/list-methods-banks-count-direct-deposits/ Basically, sometimes, it varies.
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Feb 1, 2023 09:00
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pseudanonymous posted:https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/list-methods-banks-count-direct-deposits/ Thanks for sharing! Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Feb 1, 2023 |
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Feb 1, 2023 11:25
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