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Useful Links Newbie Personal Finance thread How to Create a Budget thread Goon Credit Card random referral page: https://goo.gl/aA5mzH Referral page courtesy of Jerk McJerkface. Referrals may not always apply to the best offer available, do your research first. Dedicated credit card churning thread Doctor of Credit: A mostly crowd-sourced repository of knowledge with tons of very specific information about credit card issuers, rewards, bonuses, and other related things. While it's mostly focuses on churning, it's an excellent source of information that isn't just trying to push cards with profitable affiliate offers like almost any other credit card review you will find. Below is a list of cards that offer rewards that goons in general like. You should only use a rewards credit card if you are paying off the full statement balance every month. You can ask general credit card questions in this thread, but it is mostly focused on discussing credit card rewards. The Newbie Personal Finance thread may be better. No annual fee Cards Citi Double Cash Card Simple 2% cash back on everything. Good general purpose card but does not have a sign-up bonus. Nearly all of the additional benefits from this card have been removed so it's notable only for its simple 2% cash back rate. Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Simple 2% Cash Back on Everything with no foreign transaction fee. Previously this was an American Express but recently was changed to a Visa Card. Rewards must be redeemed into a Fidelity account. If you don't have a brokerage or IRA with Fidelity you can open a 0 minimum balance checking account with them. Chase Freedom Flex or Discover IT Rotating 5% cash back on different categories. Both cards rotating categories are frequently very useful, not the best card for purchases outside of the current 5% categories. The Freedom Flex additionally earns 3% on dining and drugstores year round which are both decent categories at a higher than average rate. Bank Americard Travel Rewards or Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards 1.5% cash back on all purchases. You can earn a bonus to your cashback by having other accounts and investments with Bank of America, up to 2.6%. The travel rewards has no foreign transaction fee but rewards must been redeemed against travel or tourism expenses. Capital One Quicksilver 1.5% cash back on everything, no foreign transaction fee. Good general use card, automatic reward redemption makes it one of the simplest cards to manage rewards for. Capital One also has a $39 annual fee version of this card called the QuicksilverOne for people without a great credit score, make sure you're applying for the correct one. Amazon.com Rewards Visa 5% back on Amazon/Whole Foods if you have prime. Without prime it offers 3% cash back on Amazon/Whole Foods. Besides Amazon purchases it's a alright card too with 2% at Gas Stations, Drugstores, and Restaurants, 1% everywhere else. Extra year of manufacturer warranty on items with a warranty of less than 3 years. Occasionally has offered additional deals. If you are the type of person who only wants 1 single card for everything than this isn't too bad, or you could leave it at home and use it exclusively for Amazon purchases. It also is fairly easy to qualify for and is a good candidate for a "starter" credit card. Amazon Store Card 5% cashback at Amazon, and nowhere else. OK if you do a lot of shopping at Amazon. To get the 5% cashback your account must have a prime subscription. You will not get 5% cashback with this card if someone is sharing their Prime benefits with you. The card doesn't give 5% cash back on Prime membership and digital purchases (games/software, and newspapers, possibly music?) but you can get around this buy buying Amazon gift cards and using that instead. You can also choose to get interest free financing for a certain time period instead of 5% cash back, but I don't recommend this. If you use the interest free financing be sure to pay the entire purchase off before the interest free period ends or you will be charged interest retroactively. Discover Secured Card The absolute best secured card available. A secured card is useful for people with bad credit or no credit history at all. Discover's is the best because it has no annual fee, earns rewards, and graduates to the standard version of the card after ~7 months of on time payments. A secured card is NOT the same as a prepaid debit card, you need to pay the card off every month. Your deposit is only returned when you close the account or the card graduates. Alliant Visa Signature 2.5% Cashback with no annual fee, but it requires some hoops to jump through. You must have a checking account with them, maintain an average balance of $1000, and have direct deposit setup into that account. Alliant's has an excellent checking account however with refunded ATM fees, no overdraft fees at all, and decent interest rates for checking/savings. This card also offers no foreign transaction fee and the vanishingly hard to find benefit of extended warranty protection. Citi Custom Cash 5% Cash back on your highest spend category each spending period. Decent sign up bonus. Best used as a dedicated gas or grocery card if you spend a lot in one of those categories. Annual Fee Cards Cards with an annual fee tend to be travel focused cards with benefits focused mostly on redeeming or earning based on travel or hotels. Used properly and often enough they usually offset their annual fee, but can be especially lucrative for their high sign up bonuses. These change more frequently than I update the thread, I recommend checking out doctor of credit's Best Current Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses for up to date information on these or other available offers. American Express Blue Cash Preferred 6% cash back on groceries, 3% on gas and department stores. Extremely large cash back rewards on groceries and gas makes this card great for family expenses. $95 annual fee. Chase Sapphire Preferred Chase's midtier travel focused card. Earns extra points on travel and dining plus many additional benefits for travelers. Points can be transferred 1:1 to many airline or hotel partners. No foreign exchange fee and a big sign up bonus. $95 annual fee. Chase has some pretty specific rules in general to restrict people from churning sign up bonuses with extra specific rules for their Sapphire family of cards. Look these up and make sure you meet them before applying. Chase Sapphire Reserve Chase's premiere travel focused card. $300 in travel purchases a calendar year refunded and other high end perks. Has a $550 annual fee. Chase has some pretty specific rules in general to restrict people from churning sign up bonuses with extra specific rules for their Sapphire family of cards. Look these up and make sure you meet them before applying. American Express Platinum/Gold American Express' two high spend cards with annual fees of $695 and $250. Signup bonuses for these are once per lifetime so wait for a good one! Frequently asked questions I have bad or no credit. Try a student card if you're a student, a secured card if you're not. Check the nerdwallet recommendations link at the top of the thread. Discover's secured credit card in particular is excellent. Should I keep a balance to build up credit? NEVER. Pay the full statement balance every month before the due date. If you are unable to pay the full statement balance you shouldn’t be using the cards recommended in this thread as they typically have very high APRs. Should I pay off the full balance or the full statement balance? Does not really matter. There is no reason to pay more than the full statement balance, but no real downside to paying the full balance either. Can I use a credit card to pay for things a month later if I don't have money now? Don’t do this. You should treat any purchases made on credit card as if you were paying for them immediately. Any emergency or unexpected expense can leave you unable to make the payment in time and leave you paying high interest. I'm extremely far behind on credit card bills, help! See the Newbie Personal Finance thread and the How to Create a Budget thread. I don't believe in credit cards, they are all just a scam. When used responsibly credit cards can earn you cash back on purchases or other rewards, make tracking expenses easier, and protect you from fraud. What are some other features credit cards offer that are actually useful
THF13 fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Mar 9, 2024 |
# ? Nov 6, 2014 22:53 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 18:13 |
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You probably should include Chase Sapphire Preferred; it has a nice signup bonus and Ultimate Rewards points are great to redeem for travel. I'd also mention Blue Cash Everyday as a companion to BCP, and that the cutoff for where it is worth it to pay the AF is $2500 a year in grocery spending (or lots more on gas/dept stores.)
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# ? Nov 6, 2014 23:45 |
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So I'm starting grad school in Australia next year, tuition will effectively be paid in cash (personal savings). As it turns out, my university-to-be doesn't charge anything for credit card payments, so it seems like I might as well be leveraging my tuition bills into hitting the minimum spend for miles (credit score is excellent, no plans for a mortgage anytime in the next few years). Pretty much the only way I'll be able to travel anywhere at that point in my life, heh. Given that situation, what are my best bets? (FWIW, I've currently got mileage programs with AAdvantage and United.) I'm not sure if I can split the bill up into ~$3k parcels for multiple cards at the same time, although I do get billed per-semester over the 4 semesters, which seems like a good compromise in spread. Caveat is that my uni only takes Visa/MC, so no Amex or Discover. Obviously, I want to be sure there are no foreign currency transactions, although that seems to be across the board with all of the ones I've looked at. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Nov 7, 2014 |
# ? Nov 7, 2014 03:06 |
I have taken out 2 money loans in the last 6 months with Regions, which my rep told me would help build my credit, and paid them back on time. However, I still can't get any of the student cards, or cards for people with "little or no credit". This is getting frustrating. I wish rent payments and utilities counted for credit, I've been paying that for 2 years. SSJ_naruto_2003 fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Nov 7, 2014 |
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 14:22 |
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GreyPowerVan posted:I have taken out 2 money loans in the last 6 months with Regions, which my rep told me would help build my credit, and paid them back on time. However, I still can't get any of the student cards, or cards for people with "little or no credit". Find a "secured" credit card to apply for and use that/pay it off for a few months. That is usually enough to qualify you for student cards, etc.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:23 |
Dengraz posted:Find a "secured" credit card to apply for and use that/pay it off for a few months. That is usually enough to qualify you for student cards, etc. Is that the one where you put down $200 as a deposit for $200 limit? Would closing it after I got done hurt my score too much, and do they typically have annual fees? EDIT: Most do have annual fees, and the capitalone secured card looks best, but I really, really hate having to pay fees when I'm poor already. SSJ_naruto_2003 fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Nov 7, 2014 |
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:26 |
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They may be able to upgrade or product change your secured card to another offering. This will keep the credit line's opening date the same on your credit report.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:29 |
nickutz posted:They may be able to upgrade or product change your secured card to another offering. This will keep the credit line's opening date the same on your credit report. Ah, cool, I'll go ahead and ask them about it before I get it.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:31 |
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Check with your bank or credit union first. Often you can "graduate" or convert your card from a secured to an unsecured version. Capital One does this, but has a small annual fee on the secured card. I'd suggest googling around for decent ones.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:36 |
Dengraz posted:Check with your bank or credit union first. Often you can "graduate" or convert your card from a secured to an unsecured version. Capital One does this, but has a small annual fee on the secured card. I'd suggest googling around for decent ones. I did google around, and theirs was the only one I could find that looked halfway decent. There's one with no fee but I think it requires you to physically come to their branch and sign up. My local CU doesn't offer it, sadly.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:40 |
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I have been considering changing cards lately but have been lazy so far. I use chase checking and have a chase freedom card. After this year they are removing the bonus points for having a checking account with them. I was averaging about 1.65% cash back accounting for the bonuses, categories, and 1% on everything. The new citi double cash card looks pretty good. Here is some info about how we use our card: Spend per year - $42-45K (average of the last 3 years) Haven't done any international travel but would like to in 2 years after my wife's current contract is up. Just want cash back with no hoops to get it (the chase card is nice, deposit right back into my account). If I do add a card or change a card I would probably keep the chase and use it for 5% cash back when it makes sense. Both our credit scores are hovering around 800. What do you think?
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 19:37 |
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spwrozek posted:I have been considering changing cards lately but have been lazy so far. I use chase checking and have a chase freedom card. After this year they are removing the bonus points for having a checking account with them. I was averaging about 1.65% cash back accounting for the bonuses, categories, and 1% on everything.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 19:41 |
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Bisty Q. posted:You probably should include Chase Sapphire Preferred; it has a nice signup bonus and Ultimate Rewards points are great to redeem for travel. I'd also mention Blue Cash Everyday as a companion to BCP, and that the cutoff for where it is worth it to pay the AF is $2500 a year in grocery spending (or lots more on gas/dept stores.) I added the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but I'm not sure about the Blue Cash Everyday. If you're below the break even point for the Blue Cash Preferred I think you would be better off with the Sallie Mae Card.
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# ? Nov 7, 2014 20:14 |
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I'm looking at picking up a new card for signup bonuses. I already have a discover, chase, citi, and amex card so I've covered most of the big names. I thought I heard that one of the large companies back-dates new cards to be the same as your oldest line of credit with them so a new card wouldn't affect credit age - is this true? Also, how big of a hit is a new line of credit going to be? I'm 25 with a 766 score and creditkarma gives my credit age as: Average Account Age 5Yrs7Mos Oldest Open Account 7 Yrs 5 Mos Newest Open Account 3 Yrs 8 Mos
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 04:28 |
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Richard M Nixon posted:I'm looking at picking up a new card for signup bonuses. I already have a discover, chase, citi, and amex card so I've covered most of the big names. I thought I heard that one of the large companies back-dates new cards to be the same as your oldest line of credit with them so a new card wouldn't affect credit age - is this true? It's Amex. Impact on your score depends on utilization. If you are spending near the CL on your current cards, your score will probably go up, as util is worth a lot more of your score than age of accounts/# of inquiries.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 05:18 |
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Nice! Thanks for the effort. I have closed the old thread - holler at me if there are any issues. How does the PenFed cash back card compare to others? I think the rewards are less, but it's also a (mostly) no-BS credit union instead of a for-profit bank. slap me silly fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Nov 8, 2014 |
# ? Nov 8, 2014 06:30 |
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It looks alright, but you could do better with the Citi Cash, BoA Travelcard, or Quicksilver. That is if you don't care about supporting The Man. I'd recommend the BoA card if you travel a lot. If you charge a lot per year (>~$12000), the Barclays wins.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 07:12 |
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GreyPowerVan posted:I did google around, and theirs was the only one I could find that looked halfway decent. There's one with no fee but I think it requires you to physically come to their branch and sign up. Discover has a pretty obscure secured offer that is pretty good. You can't apply for it directly but are sometimes offered it if you appply for and are denied for a regular Discover it or Discover it student card. It has no annual/monthly fee, gets the same rewards as the regular card and automatically gets upgraded into the regular version after a year. Discover is also supposed to be one of the easier cards to qualify for so you may get lucky and not need the secured card at all. Googling around some people have had success with calling their reconsideration line if they don't get approved, 888-676-3695.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 08:08 |
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Other than it occasionally not being accepted in some places, I feel like my Discover card has been really amazing. I also love that I can link it to Amazon and apply my cashback points to any purchases there right away. They match all the 5% cashback categories that Chase Freedom does, and are currently doing a promotion (invite only, but luckily I'm in) for an extra $300 cashback after 5 months when I put $2000 on the card every month. Good customer service too. The Chase Freedom customer service were assholes compared to Discover when my wallet got stolen and I was freaking out. But that guy could have just been having a really bad day.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 16:49 |
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spatula posted:Good customer service too. The Chase Freedom customer service were assholes compared to Discover when my wallet got stolen and I was freaking out. But that guy could have just been having a really bad day. FWIW my experience has been the complete opposite with the Target and Home Depot breaches and the 2 times I had unauthorized charges. Super responsive and never had any issues.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 20:21 |
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spatula posted:Other than it occasionally not being accepted in some places, I feel like my Discover card has been really amazing. I also love that I can link it to Amazon and apply my cashback points to any purchases there right away. They match all the 5% cashback categories that Chase Freedom does, and are currently doing a promotion (invite only, but luckily I'm in) for an extra $300 cashback after 5 months when I put $2000 on the card every month. spwrozek posted:FWIW my experience has been the complete opposite with the Target and Home Depot breaches and the 2 times I had unauthorized charges. Super responsive and never had any issues.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 22:29 |
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Yeah, like I said, I could've caught a bad customer service rep, and since my wallet had been stolen I was probably a little emotionally sensitive. But I just got way better vibes from Discover that day.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 22:45 |
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On the flip side, I think Chase has the best over-the-phone service I've experienced from any company, and this is over three cards I've had with them (and sadly all closed).
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 23:06 |
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I still rock the Amex Hilton HHonors card. We like to stay in decent to nice hotels when we travel, and do so enough that the discounted to free room "pays" me more than a 2% cash back card would. Hilton bumped up their points requirements, but if you use the card to pay for everything (and then pay it off weekly/monthly) you still accumulate pretty quickly. I think it's 7pts/$ at Hilton brands, 5pts/$ at gas/grocery stores, 1pt/$ everywhere else.
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# ? Nov 9, 2014 00:33 |
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ETB posted:On the flip side, I think Chase has the best over-the-phone service I've experienced from any company, and this is over three cards I've had with them (and sadly all closed). I agree. They really step up their game though if you have the Sapphire Preferred card - the number on the back of that card is a VIP line, where a person will pick up pretty drat fast. So I typically call that number even if I'm calling about a Freedom card or any other card. Even if they have to transfer you to someone else, they'll transfer you, skip the line, and explain what you're looking for in Bank Terms to the new customer service rep. It's pretty impressive; night and day vs. any other company I've ever had to call up for customer service.
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# ? Nov 9, 2014 19:06 |
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Wells Fargo Propel American Express card is pretty sweet if you're able to pay expenses off in full each month. Regardless of holdings, it's free for the first year and then $45/year. You get bonus points if you meet minimum holdings requirements in "linked" PMA (premium checking) packages. https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/propel365/ It rules for me because 1) I signed up under an introductory program where they waive my fees if I keep $10k linked; 2) we have enough linked funds to get 25% bonus reward points; 3) my mortgage is through Wells Fargo so I've been using rewards as cash toward my mortgage. I could also just dump it straight to one of the cash accounts. Wife and I do around 90% of all expenses through the card. We opened it in January and I've already applied $750 in rewards toward our mortgage principal.
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# ? Nov 10, 2014 20:42 |
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You're still probably better off with the Citi Cash card on average, though the no FTF is a nice feature.
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# ? Nov 10, 2014 21:39 |
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With the fee that card is not at all worth it unless you want to get the signup bonus and cancel it in the first year. If you want ease of use get one of the 2% cards and if you're ok with two cards add a gas specific card. This is even if you're getting the 50% bonus, if you aren't then it's even worse and the 1.5% Capital One card is probably better and doesn't charge a fee. Missed the part about the fee being waived, but still think you can do better. asur fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Nov 10, 2014 |
# ? Nov 10, 2014 22:36 |
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Thanks Asur. You might be right. I have an irrational historical hatred for Citi (they kicked me when I was down) but I work for a financial company and I know that we're all lovely so I should get past that. This prompted me to do some quick math. In the 10 or so months we've had the card I'm getting a total cash back of 1.598% with all the bonuses. We've spent around $42k on the card and on pace for $50k per year and at that rate the .4% I'm leaving on the table is around $200 vs. the Citi card. I'll consider changing. The only trade off is the convenience of having all my stuff in one place (Wells Fargo) but I should consider being less lazy occasionally.
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# ? Nov 10, 2014 23:18 |
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With that high of spending, you should consider the Barclays Arrival with the 2.22% plus all the travel benefits. The break-even point for the annual fee (vs. a 1.5% card with similar benefits) is ~$12,000 a year charged on the card.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 00:25 |
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If you are redeeming all of the Barclay Arrival points on travel, wouldn't the break even point be nearer to $4050? Fee is $89 (waived first year) - 4050 x 0.022 = ~89.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 00:54 |
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khysanth posted:If you are redeeming all of the Barclay Arrival points on travel, wouldn't the break even point be nearer to $4050? No, because you would've earned 1.5% anyways. With Citi Double Cash, I actually think the better comparison is 2% where the break even point is 44500.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 01:00 |
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Rurutia's correct. Maths below. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2.22x-8900+%3D+2x+solve+for+x So really, right now the best way to maximize your flexibility and cash back is to have the Citi Cash (2%) and then one of the travel cards with no FTF and chip+sig/pin (BankAmericard Travel, 1.5%). I think I may be switching credit cards around... again...
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 01:19 |
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Interesting post made by the "Finance Buff." If you have $100k in assets and willing to sell your soul to Bank of America and Merill Edge, you get an effective 2.65% on purchases after three months of establishing a checking and brokerage account with them. This includes free trading, no ATM fees, and all the benefits of the BankAmericard Travel Rewards. It seems crazy good, but you have to be loaded to take advantage.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 16:53 |
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You also get a grand for transferring the $100k to Merill Edge. Usually I don't like to mess around with extra brokerages, because it complicates things at tax time, but that might be worth it.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 17:26 |
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I travel a lot for work (internationally) and currently have a credit card that is attached to my work that I use to pay for flights and what not. I was wondering if there are any decent cards I could get for international travel that are in my own name, obviously work will reimburse me for any payments made but it seems a good way for me to get rewards and also build up a decent credit rating. I have only recently been accepted for a credit card from CapOne, which I intend to use to build up my report, too. Any advise would be cherished. (UK goon) Edit: Being young and given a credit card as soon as I turned 18 I managed to sabotage a lot of my finances, I think I've only just managed to sort things out and get my credit rating back to where people are throwing a bit of trust back at me.. I'm now 25 and I've been earning a steady, decent income for the last 4 years. spatula massacre fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Nov 12, 2014 |
# ? Nov 12, 2014 09:33 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:So I'm starting grad school in Australia next year, tuition will effectively be paid in cash (personal savings). As it turns out, my university-to-be doesn't charge anything for credit card payments, so it seems like I might as well be leveraging my tuition bills into hitting the minimum spend for miles (credit score is excellent, no plans for a mortgage anytime in the next few years). Pretty much the only way I'll be able to travel anywhere at that point in my life, heh. Any thoughts on this, guys? Also, did some digging, and unless poo poo goes horribly wrong and I have to move back to the US, a ding to my credit score doesn't really matter (US credit scores aren't shared internationally, my Australian one will be figured out based on my history there). I mean, I don't plan on going hog wild or anything, but nice to know.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 16:47 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Any thoughts on this, guys? Would you need to get an Australian credit card or an American one? A very popular signup bonus right now is the Southwest airlines cards. They are currently offering 50,000 points after opening a new card and spending $2,000. The reason it is so popular is that they have multiple versions of the card so you can get the bonus multiple times, and they offer a companion pass which allows you to bring an extra person along for free every time you fly for up to 2 years. Only the premiere version of the card has no foreign transaction fee though, and you will want to wait until at least January 1st to earn the pass so it will last until December 2016. You earn the pass by earning 110,000 points in a calendar year. More traditionally both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the BarclayCard Arrival+ have no foreign transaction fee and good sign up bonuses. The flyertalk forums might be a better place to find sign up bonus offers like this though. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs-599/
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 17:16 |
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I've had a Discover-It card for a bit over a year now, and it has worked out really well for me. As a student my starting limit was $500 but at the 1 year mark they bumped it up to $1000 automatically (bill paid in full monthly). I also referred someone to discover and got $50 bonus cash-back. With the cashback program I've been able to buy some textbooks directly from Amazon (you can set up the card to pull cashback rewards directly through Amazon). I've been very happy with the card as a first credit card, and getting free money out of the cash-back program for purchases I was going to make anyway is awesome (and I started to build credit, which before having the card I had no credit).
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# ? Nov 14, 2014 02:21 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 18:13 |
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I have an old Capital One No Hassle Rewards (1% cash back) card that I got for an overseas trip a few years ago because I wanted a card with no foreign exchange fees. Now, I only have one automatic monthly bill charging to it, just to keep it active. Today, I got home and discovered a Quicksilver card in my mailbox, which I didn't request. It has the same number as my No Hassle card. I was confused, so I called customer service and apparently I was automatically upgraded. She assured me there were no fees or anything, but I'm basically skeptical of any financial institution just volunteering to give me more money. Is there a catch? Or should I go ahead and activate the new card?
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# ? Nov 14, 2014 05:47 |