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Honey Badger posted:I've got a quick question about secured credit cards. Right now, I've got no credit history. I'm a student with no debts and low monthly income, so from what I understand, I'm basically a ghost and there's no chance in hell that I'll get approved for a decent credit card (no annual fee, 0% APR early on, rewards). I want to start building my credit, but I'm not sure if secured credit is the way to go. Student cards are made exactly for your situation, I would look into those before a secured card. The student version of Discover It is a great one, but there are plenty of options. http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-college-student-credit-cards/ I wouldn't worry about the hard inquries unless you are planning on applying for 6+.
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Jan 31, 2015 21:19
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My girlfriend was in a similar position with no credit history and got approved for a low limit card from capital one. Once she has 3 months of on time payments an automatic increase will occur. It's pretty easy to get an unsecured card it seems
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Jan 31, 2015 21:27
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asur posted:Sign up for the British Airways card. Id save Chase Sapphire for later as Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to a lot of places.  Question, there is no way to have Avios credit points back after the fact, is there? Eg buy tickets now, fulfill $2k bonus spending next month, and have it credited back like Barclay does? I'm guessing not. Also, how long (roughly) does it take for the bonus points to be credited to the account after hitting $2k? We should hit $2k during the first billing cycle.
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Jan 31, 2015 22:59
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For all the new Sapphire users, remember that you can get 5k extra points for signing up a secondary authorized user on the card during the bonus window and then using that card. For funsies, I use the name of someone who's dead and therefore doesn't exist. Just use the card at a gas station once and you're done.
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Feb 1, 2015 08:55
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Blinkman987 posted:For all the new Sapphire users, remember that you can get 5k extra points for signing up a secondary authorized user on the card during the bonus window and then using that card. For funsies, I use the name of someone who's dead and therefore doesn't exist. Just use the card at a gas station once and you're done. You don't ever actually have to use the AU card. It has the same account number as yours, so they can't tell them apart.
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Feb 1, 2015 14:33
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Any Chip & Pin cards in the US right now that you guys know about? My corporate card got upgraded to Chip & Pin recently but the best any of my personal cards are is Chip & signature.
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Feb 1, 2015 16:06
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Bisty Q. posted:You don't ever actually have to use the AU card. It has the same account number as yours, so they can't tell them apart. Hmm, don't know about the Chase card, but I know that secondary users on Amex can be differentiated, so there's definitely the potential for metadata.
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Feb 1, 2015 16:09
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baquerd posted:Hmm, don't know about the Chase card, but I know that secondary users on Amex can be differentiated, so there's definitely the potential for metadata. The cards could have different CVV1s, but if "your AU" makes a purchase online, there's no way to tell them apart. The account number, expiry, and CVV2 are all the same for the Chase products I've seen. (Amex issues different account numbered cards to AUs.) I have done this with 2 chase cards and my AU (who is a legit AU) has never used either card. I still got the bonus. It's for 'adding an AU' and 'making a purchase', not 'having the AU make a purchase', even though people tend to interpret it that way.
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Feb 1, 2015 16:48
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Thanks, I can confirm they have the same numbers and CVV2 are the same. I figured that Chase may have done something new because the last time they offered me this bonus, I didn't even have to use it. Just had to sign someone up. I'll abstain from using the card for the month and see what's up.
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Feb 1, 2015 19:44
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I just made a mistake - I applied for the Sallie Mae Mastercard and got approved instantly. But...where it asks how long you've lived in your current apartment, it has months and years boxes. The first box is supposed to be years. But I thought that was where you were supposed to put months, because when you put a number in the years box, like 18, it says "18 months". I know, stupid. So I accidentally put 18 years. Do I need to call them? Edit: I just called them, and they didn't seem to care much. 
Doghouse fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 21:42
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Thoguh posted:Any Chip & Pin cards in the US right now that you guys know about? My corporate card got upgraded to Chip & Pin recently but the best any of my personal cards are is Chip & signature. Barclaycard Arrival+ is chip and pin.
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Feb 2, 2015 23:43
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khysanth posted:Barclaycard Arrival+ is chip and pin. Well. It's signature preferred, so it will only go to PIN if it can't do signature, which means you won't be PINning lots of places. This includes a lot of Europe, where people say that they've had transactions voided when a signature slip prints out. If you are ultra ultra paranoid, the only 'real' Chip & PIN cards in the US that anybody can get are Diner's Club (applications temporarily closed) and UNFCU. There are a few other CUs that will issue PIN-preference cards, but they require military affiliation.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:02
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Does anyone with Amex Blue shop at The Vitamin Shoppe? Cause if that counts as a Supermarket like it does on Discover I'm probably around $2500 on "groceries" for the year and believe it would be worth it to get the Preferred.
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Feb 3, 2015 05:39
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Good Will Hrunting posted:Does anyone with Amex Blue shop at The Vitamin Shoppe? Cause if that counts as a Supermarket like it does on Discover I'm probably around $2500 on "groceries" for the year and believe it would be worth it to get the Preferred. The ones that I saw are all over the map in classifications, but nowhere food-related. We've got 5499 (convenience stores), 5999 (general merchandise), and 7999 (recreation/amusement facilities  ). Each store is franchised so can pick its category code. It doesn't seem like any of them are going to be anywhere near grocery. I don't know why you're getting it at Discover, except if the one you go to is 5499, Discover might lump those together (since it uses a different categorization system). Amex does not include convenience stores in grocery stores. In fact, it often misses bodegas, IME.
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Feb 3, 2015 05:46
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Bisty Q. posted:The ones that I saw are all over the map in classifications, but nowhere food-related. We've got 5499 (convenience stores), 5999 (general merchandise), and 7999 (recreation/amusement facilities Thanks for that quick reply. My Discover statement says "Supermarkets" for a lot of things actually now that I'm looking at it, not just this. Many of which aren't supermarkets. So it'll be the free Blue or the Citi for me to supplement with my rotating Discover bonuses.
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Feb 3, 2015 06:01
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Bisty Q. posted:The ones that I saw are all over the map in classifications, but nowhere food-related. We've got 5499 (convenience stores), 5999 (general merchandise), and 7999 (recreation/amusement facilities Is there a good way to tell what category businesses are if that information isn't included on a statement (I don't have a Discover or an Amex Blue)? I usually just have to go back and do the math to see if I'm getting bonus points somewhere or not.
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Feb 3, 2015 14:08
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Grumpwagon posted:Is there a good way to tell what category businesses are if that information isn't included on a statement (I don't have a Discover or an Amex Blue)? I usually just have to go back and do the math to see if I'm getting bonus points somewhere or not. https://www.visa.com/supplierlocator/
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Feb 3, 2015 14:18
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I'm buying furniture soon. What's the best card for dropping 3-4k on it, rewards-wise? Bonus points for 0% APR for a year or something, but that's secondary (I have the cash). I saw the Sapphire, but I don't really fly that much. Are there cards with a similar deal that aren't travel focused, or am I being dumb about this?
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Feb 4, 2015 05:36
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Omelette du Fromage posted:I'm buying furniture soon. What's the best card for dropping 3-4k on it, rewards-wise? Bonus points for 0% APR for a year or something, but that's secondary (I have the cash). Citi Cash.
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Feb 4, 2015 05:40
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Buzz, Arrival Plus. Citi Double Cash doesn't have a signup bonus. You will need to make a ~$500 travel purchase to get the value, but it's definitely worth doing. "Travel purchase" is a pretty wide category on that card, too.
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Feb 4, 2015 06:02
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Bisty Q. posted:Buzz, Arrival Plus. Citi Double Cash doesn't have a signup bonus. Citi does have no APR for a period of time, which is why I suggested it.
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Feb 4, 2015 06:09
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Would Arrival Plus be the best bet if I want to get 2x tickets to Thailand in about a year? I already have Amex Blue Cash, Discover It and the Chase Sapphire that I used for regular rewards poo poo but I have never gotten into airline points before so I know jack poo poo about how it works.
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Feb 4, 2015 08:00
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hitachi posted:Would Arrival Plus be the best bet if I want to get 2x tickets to Thailand in about a year? I already have Amex Blue Cash, Discover It and the Chase Sapphire that I used for regular rewards poo poo but I have never gotten into airline points before so I know jack poo poo about how it works. I'm new to travel cards but this is what I learned last weekend due to suggestions from the thread and research I did.
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Feb 4, 2015 15:40
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For those who have or are thinking of getting a US Bank Cash+ Rewards Visa… It was that you could get a bonus $25 once per year if you redeemed $100 or more in cash back at once. They've now changed it to a $25 once in the lifetime of the account. Lame! I'm going to keep mine for a few reasons, mostly because when I move this summer I'm going to buy some furniture and that 5% cash back will be noice.
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Feb 4, 2015 15:49
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Bisty Q. posted:You will need to make a ~$500 travel purchase to get the value, but it's definitely worth doing. "Travel purchase" is a pretty wide category on that card, too. I bought a lift ticket to my local ski resort the other day and it shows up as a travel purchase for me. In other news, several years ago I got a Chase rewards card that had a $29 annual fee. I paid the fee for 2 years, and then I was going to cancel it but on the third year (when I had stopped using it) there was no fee. So I kept it open and set a notification if it ever had a balance or fee, but it never did. Last week I got a new credit card in the mail, apparently a replacement for my old card (same CC number), except now it's a Chase Freedom card with the 5% cashback and no fee. I checked my credit report just to see if there was anything going on, but it's clean. Elysium fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Feb 4, 2015 |
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Feb 4, 2015 15:55
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I recently just started using credit cards for the rewards recently, and wanted to share my plan and get feedback to see if I could do any better. Right now I'm only focused on cash back rewards since my wife and I are still working on paying down some past credit card debt on some old cards we don't use anymore. I currently have a Sallie Mae Mastercard, and use that for most purchases and pay the statement balance every month. However I figured I could do a lot better on purchasing things outside of gas, groceries and Amazon so I started looking around and saw the Citi Double Cash card, and the US Bank Cash+ card and felt they could work well with my plan. This is what I'm thinking: Groceries, Gas, Amazon: Sallie Mae Mastercard Restaurants: US Bank Cash+ (picking the restaurant category every quarter) Everything else: Citi Double Cash I would say majority of my monthly purchases fall within groceries, gas, Amazon, Target (use my RedCard for this) or restaurants. Is using three different cards too much and I'm spreading my rewards across too many banks? Credit Karma says my score is 740 so I am hopeful to get approved for the Citi Double Cash and US Bank Cash+.
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Feb 4, 2015 20:55
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I believe the US Bank Cash+ card Restaurant category was lowered from 5% to just 2%, so there's no real point in getting it just for restaurants if you have the double cash. There aren't a lot of good options for no annual fee Restaurant cards, Sam's Club has a card that is 3%. I don't think 3 cards is too many, I have a very similar setup using the no longer available Citi Forward card for eating out.
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Feb 4, 2015 21:07
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lmao zebong posted:This is what I'm thinking: Sallie Mae and Citi DC are my two primary rewards cards. US Bank Cash+' restaurant category got reduced to 2% in November, so it's no longer a worthwhile card from my perspective. That being said, Chase Freedom Q2FY15 rewards is 5% on restaurants, if you're interested in chasing rewards.
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Feb 4, 2015 21:24
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Ah man, thanks for the Cash+ info. Too bad about them dropping the restaurant rewards down to 2%. I guess the NerdWallet review is outdated, since they're also still talking about the yearly $25 bonus. I have the Chase Freedom and saw the Q2 rewards is 5% at restaurants, but I was hoping there was a good option for year round. Thanks!
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Feb 4, 2015 21:52
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I see people asking for chip-card recommendations. What is the driver of this request? I've never cared what technology is on my card - should I?
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Feb 4, 2015 22:32
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dexter6 posted:I see people asking for chip-card recommendations. Visiting or living in Europe, or lots of other countries outside the U.S. Some kiosks will only take chip and pin, and people have said they've has chip and sig rejected though that's never happened to me. In theory a card with a mag strip should work almost anywhere, but it's just annoying as people take forever to figure it out and if you don't speak the language it's a hassle.
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Feb 4, 2015 22:37
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SiGmA_X posted:Arrival Plus does a cash statement credit. I think for International, a miles based card is better, check out the British Airways card, plus Chase Sapphire. You can export points from Chase Sapphire to BA, so if you spend $2+4k in 90 days, you'll receive a 50k+40k sign up bonus, plus points earned by spending. I actually have the Chase Freedom not Sapphire. Does anyone know if I can sign up for the Sapphire and get the 40k sign up bonus still? I think I read some places restrict you to one bonus redemption ever.
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Feb 5, 2015 00:44
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hitachi posted:I actually have the Chase Freedom not Sapphire. Does anyone know if I can sign up for the Sapphire and get the 40k sign up bonus still? I think I read some places restrict you to one bonus redemption ever. Yes you can, and Chase is probably one of the most generous on allowing you to churn sign up bonuses on the same products.
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Feb 5, 2015 02:36
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nickutz posted:Yes you can, and Chase is probably one of the most generous on allowing you to churn sign up bonuses on the same products. Awesome, thanks. I guess I will have to look back in the thread for the convo about how the whole deal works with British Airways.
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Feb 5, 2015 04:16
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BA isn't that great for long distance flights as their chart is mileage based. You also probably need to fly a partner airline as you don't want to fly through London on BA award flight as they add really high fuel surcharges when you do. I'd definitely look into how many points you need compared to other airlines before committing and if there is an additional amount you have to pay. edit: For sign up bonuses, I haven't heard of a credit card company only allowing you to get one bonus across all their products. Some, like Amex now, will only allow you get the sign up bonus for a specific product once. asur fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Feb 5, 2015 |
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Feb 5, 2015 10:17
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Using there calculator thing online it looks like this 50000 $ 0.00 + taxes, fees and carrier charges 40000 $ 135.00 + taxes, fees and carrier charges I think that is one way so it looks like I could get one ticket for $135ish and the 90k points from the 2 signup bonuses? No idea if that is a good deal or not. Would I be able to purchase a second ticket alongside redeeming a reward seat or is that a pain in the rear end?
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Feb 5, 2015 10:26
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hitachi posted:Using there calculator thing online it looks like this I can't really speak to if its a good deal ('the best deal'), but when I looked at Alaska Airlines for domestic flights using BA points, I could order extra tickets at the same time. I hope I saw that correctly and am not misleading you, but that's what Alaska seemed to show.
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Feb 5, 2015 20:17
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A few months ago we picked up the Barclaycard Arrival+ and hit the sign up bonus. Today I was approved for the Chase Sapphire and will hit that bonus within the first three months. When it comes time for us to redeem the travel rewards (probably plane tickets somewhere next year), what is the best way to use them both? Buy one ticket on each?
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Feb 5, 2015 23:11
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hitachi posted:Using there calculator thing online it looks like this Keep in mind "carrier charges" can be hundreds of dollars depending on airline and route. If you're looking for longhauls on BA, you're going to be looking at another $700+ per person in 'fuel surcharges', despite fuel being the cheapest for airlines it's been in 15 years.
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Feb 6, 2015 00:03
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Are there any other specific cards I should look into other than the BA and the Barclays to see if they offer better deals?
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Feb 6, 2015 04:01
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