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nickutz posted:Pretty sure Ink points are already Chase Ultimate Rewards.
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Jun 18, 2015 08:29
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We got the amex blue cash preferred now, and chase freedom, and a citi card, all opened in the last week. They have limits over 10k each. We already have the costco amex. The costco amex is one of our longest-running credit cards that we have: I have a CC with my credit union, even longer i.e. about 5-6 years ago but the credit limit is smaller (like 6k vs amex of maybe 10k, amex opened 4 years ago?) and those are the two longest running ones that we have. My question is: will it be bad for our/my credit to get rid of the costco amex? I can't remember if the costco amex even costs anything... I have the basic version. It seems to not be worth using except maybe in costco.
redreader fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jun 18, 2015 |
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Jun 18, 2015 18:05
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redreader posted:We got the amex blue cash preferred now, and chase freedom, and a citi card, all opened in the last week. They have limits over 10k each. We already have the costco amex. The costco amex is one of our longest-running credit cards that we have: I have a CC with my credit union, even longer i.e. about 5-6 years ago but the credit limit is smaller (like 6k vs amex of maybe 10k, amex opened 4 years ago?) and those are the two longest running ones that we have. My question is: will it be bad for our/my credit to get rid of the costco amex? I can't remember if the costco amex even costs anything... I have the basic version. It seems to not be worth using except maybe in costco.
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Jun 18, 2015 18:32
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redreader posted:We got the amex blue cash preferred now, and chase freedom, and a citi card, all opened in the last week. They have limits over 10k each. We already have the costco amex. The costco amex is one of our longest-running credit cards that we have: I have a CC with my credit union, even longer i.e. about 5-6 years ago but the credit limit is smaller (like 6k vs amex of maybe 10k, amex opened 4 years ago?) and those are the two longest running ones that we have. My question is: will it be bad for our/my credit to get rid of the costco amex? I can't remember if the costco amex even costs anything... I have the basic version. It seems to not be worth using except maybe in costco. Keep the old accounts. Average Age of Accounts does make up a pretty significant portion of your credit score. When I first started opening up new cards, I only had one card, 13 years old... a few new cards absolutely nuked my FICO scores, dropped from over 800 to low 700s. It recovers, but it does certainly bring the score down. Keeping the old ones open will mitigate that somewhat.
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Jun 18, 2015 19:34
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I just got a letter from CapitalOne stating that I'm eligible to convert my current CapitalOne Platinum card to either the VentureOne or Quicksilver. VentureOne=1.25 miles/dollar and Quicksilver = 1.5% cash back. I don't use the card much but the letter says my credit line and APR will stay the same (and it's not a rewards card right now) so I figure there's no reason to not switch to one of these; I'm guessing no, but is either one significantly better for the type of reward they offer?
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Jun 18, 2015 23:18
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Are you going to fly? If no, get quicksilver.
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Jun 18, 2015 23:25
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Get Quicksilver, even if you're going to fly. I cannot think of a single benefit that VentureOne has over Quicksilver. The "miles" are just cash back that can only be redeemed toward travel.
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Jun 18, 2015 23:54
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Don't convert the card - you'll miss out on the sign up bonus of $100. Apply for a Quicksilver directly if you want one and get the bonus.
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Jun 19, 2015 06:36
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Pissingintowind posted:Don't convert the card - you'll miss out on the sign up bonus of $100. Apply for a Quicksilver directly if you want one and get the bonus. This applies to the VentureOne or the Venture both of which have a signup bonus as well. You may want to look at either the Venture of the Barclay Arrival+ as they give 2% and 2.2% effective cashback though you do have to jump through some minor hoops as it's in the form of points that can only be redeemed against travel expenses and they both have an annual fee that is waived the first year. If you just want straight cashback and don't care about signup bonuses then the Citi DoubleCash at 2% is the easiest option.
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Jun 19, 2015 07:42
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If I were to open a new Quicksilver account, is it possible to merge my credit limit for my Platinum into the new card and close the Platinum account? I'd rather not have a ton of cards open and it's not my oldest credit line so I wouldn't be hurting there. And actually, can I do the same thing with Amex? I've got a 7k limit on my Costco Amex and a 2k limit on my Blue card, and with the impending switch to Citi I might as well get that 7k limit rolled over to the other card if possible.
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Jun 19, 2015 14:07
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GobiasIndustries posted:If I were to open a new Quicksilver account, is it possible to merge my credit limit for my Platinum into the new card and close the Platinum account? I'd rather not have a ton of cards open and it's not my oldest credit line so I wouldn't be hurting there. The bolded isn't correct. FICO uses the age of your oldest account, the average age of your accounts and the age of your newest account. In general, you can call up the issuer and ask them transfer part or all of a credit limit to another account and there won't be any issue.
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Jun 19, 2015 14:18
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I added the two Amazon credit cards to the OP. I want to add a small section of airline/hotel rewards cards as well but I don't think it's possible to give simple recommendations for most of them. For those cards you need to consider where you're going, how often, and if your work pays for it or not. What are some good travel rewards blogs/sites I can link to instead for people interested in them?
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Jun 20, 2015 13:27
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The Million Mile Secrets guide is decent. It's the site I used to start and occasionally look at since he's pretty good about putting up any new offers for credit cards even if he doesn't get a commission from them. It's pretty long and he just covers the basics, but I'm not sure anyone else has a better guide as what is best for you is pretty dependent on what you want out of it.
asur fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Jun 20, 2015 |
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Jun 20, 2015 14:28
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I am an American goon (  ) and will be flying over to Ireland and Scotland later this year and I am researching credit cards. Right now I only have 1 credit card that I got through a local bank a long time ago with a really small credit limit that I have never needed to use. But I am going to need another card for travel and to buy the plane tickets on. I know Chip + Pin is the next big thing and what I am looking at getting, along with hopefully no foreign exchange fees. We don't really travel / fly alot (only second airline ride ever) so the getting later flying rewards isn't that important for us, we are just looking for the best card for buying the airplane tickets and using while overseas with no penalty. I am not sure if after the first year we will keep the card, but if so we would prefer one without a yearly fee, but that seems pretty unlikely with no foreign transaction fees. I'm guessing we should get one of these: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card BankAmericard Travel Rewards Credit Card I think we should go with the Chase sapphire and I am guessing there are other rewards than just travel / hotel deals?
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Jun 21, 2015 21:58
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In my use case, Chase points are great because they transfer to other travel partners
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Jun 21, 2015 22:17
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If you don't transfer the Chase Sapphire points to travel partners then the card is basically 2% cash back on travel and 1% cash back on everything else which is pretty mediocre. It's also a Chip and Sig card though that doesn't the biggest deal. The BankAmericard ranges from ok, 1.5% cashback, to great, 2.6% cashback, but there is a downside that you have to redeem the cashback against travel expenses. . I give two more options below, but since you're leaning towards the Chase Sapphire I'd recommend the Arrival+ instead. You'll get more cashback and since you know you're going on a trip you'll have travel expenses to redeem against. If after you come back from your trip you know you won't have travel expenses and just want a simple card then you could move to Citi Double Cash which gives 2% and can be redeemed as a statement credit or I believe a check. Capital One Quicksilver - 1.5% cashback (redeems for cash) with $100 signup bonus and Chip and Pin, basically the BankAmericard if you don't bank with BoA but easier to redeem. Barclay Arrival+ - 2.2% cash back (redeems against travel expenses and you get 10% of your points back which is how you get the extra .2%) with a $400 signup bonus with lower spend than Chase Sapphire, somewhat analogous to Chase Sapphire but in your specific case I believe slightly better. Chip and Pin as well. As a note, there are plenty of cards with no forex fees that don't have an annual fee. You gave one, BankAmericard, and the Quicksilver is another. You can also cancel or downgrade after a year since most cards waive the fee for the first year, this is applicable to both the Chase Sapphire and Barclay Arrival+. asur fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Jun 21, 2015 |
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Jun 21, 2015 22:26
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asur posted:If you don't transfer the Chase Sapphire points to travel partners then the card is basically 2% cash back on travel and 1% cash back on everything else which is pretty mediocre. It's also a Chip and Sig card though that doesn't the biggest deal. The BankAmericard ranges from ok, 1.5% cashback, to great, 2.6% cashback, but there is a downside that you have to redeem the cashback against travel expenses. . I give two more options below, but since you're leaning towards the Chase Sapphire I'd recommend the Arrival+ instead. You'll get more cashback and since you know you're going on a trip you'll have travel expenses to redeem against. If after you come back from your trip you know you won't have travel expenses and just want a simple card then you could move to Citi Double Cash which gives 2% and can be redeemed as a statement credit or I believe a check. Humm, thank you for the writeup and I think the Arrival+ makes sense. When you say after the trip I can move to the Citi double Cash, I am guessing you just mean close the Arrival card and signup for the Citi Card? Also, what do you mean by 2.2% cash back (redeems against travel expenses?) Also we really want Chip and Pin.
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Jun 21, 2015 22:35
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Redeems against travel expenses means that you can only redeem the cash back you accumulate against travel expenses on that card as a statement credit. What counts as a travel expense changes based on the card issuer and isn't always clear, but airfare and hotels will pretty much always count. It's potentially limiting if you don't have these types of expenses occasionally as then you don't have a way to get the money. Correct on switching though I would recommend you leave the old card open for 10ish months though close it before the next annual fee comes up. Just as a note, I don't think there are any chip and pin primary cards available in the U.S. I said which have the capability, but it's secondary if chip and sig isn't available.
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Jun 21, 2015 23:04
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asur posted:Redeems against travel expenses means that you can only redeem the cash back you accumulate against travel expenses on that card as a statement credit. What counts as a travel expense changes based on the card issuer and isn't always clear, but airfare and hotels will pretty much always count. It's potentially limiting if you don't have these types of expenses occasionally as then you don't have a way to get the money. Ahhh ok, so they are statement credit's that makes sense. So are the points instant and that is how you use them as a statement credit? So for example I put airplane tickets on them, and then the points are instant and I can deduct how much I have to pay the credit card statement for those tickets?
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Jun 21, 2015 23:27
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fyallm posted:Ahhh ok, so they are statement credit's that makes sense. So are the points instant and that is how you use them as a statement credit? So for example I put airplane tickets on them, and then the points are instant and I can deduct how much I have to pay the credit card statement for those tickets? Points show up when the charge does, but you have to apply them in $25 increments or the whole travel expense with a $25 minimum. You have 90 days from the date the travel expense posted to redeem against it and you can only do so once even if you didn't cover the whole amount.
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Jun 22, 2015 07:45
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Chase Freedom sign up bonus $200 for a limited time - normally $100 with $500 spent in 3 months.
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Jun 22, 2015 14:36
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One more question, on the 40,000 bonus miles on the Arrival+ Does that have to be used on 'miles' or are they points? After this trip we probably won't be taking another that involves flying so are those 40K flying points wasted? Would it be better to just get cash back card that has no foreign fees and chip and pin?
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Jun 23, 2015 01:02
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Points. Good for hotels, certain public transit, etc
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Jun 23, 2015 01:04
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Insane Totoro posted:Points. Good for hotels, certain public transit, etc So when they say 40,000 bonus miles offer, they really mean 40,000 points to spend on hotels / flights etc? drat I am either really dumb or this is really confusing. So example... I buy airline tickets and some other things but it takes me 3 months till I reach their spending minimum, would I just wait to pay off the airline tickets with the bonus miles and leave a balance on the credit card? If I was to pay off the airline tickets the first month with money, wouldn't I then not be able to use those 40,000 points toward the airline tickets because I have already paid it off? Or will they send me a check?
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Jun 23, 2015 01:18
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You can use the miles and get a straight statement credit but if you do that they are only worth half as much, so the 40,000 miles bonus would only be worth $200. When you make a purchase that counts as a travel expense you have the adoption to redeem miles against it, so if you have $400 of travel expenses you can use the bonus to get a $400 statement credit. You can though pay the $400 in travel expenses off normally from your bank account and get the $400 statement credit in a few months anyways, paying off the travel expense doesn't make it ineligible. You should never carry over a balance from month to month. It sounds more complicated than it is in practice, which is your cash back is worth double if you have travel expenses to redeem it towards.
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Jun 23, 2015 01:29
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I think the Barclay Arrival Plus is actually worth $440 in travel, not $400, since you get a 10% rebate when you redeem
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Jun 23, 2015 01:31
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I've never understood the insane love for the CSP and Arrival+. So the sign up bonus is worth about $400 in travel, right? For example: the 50000 points I got from the citi AA platinum is worth a round trip ticket to Europe (40k milesaaver) +10k extra points. It's tough to find a RT Europe ticket for <$1000, right? My WF propel bonus is 40k points which I can redeem for $400 cash or use for even more value in travel. Both of those seem like a greater deal than the CSP and arrival. What am I missing that people constantly push those 2 cards and say they have the best bonuses?
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Jun 23, 2015 03:03
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Cacafuego posted:I've never understood the insane love for the CSP and Arrival+. So the sign up bonus is worth about $400 in travel, right? The value with the CSP comes from the multitude of travel partners and the excellent non-point benefits. The value with the Arrival+ comes from getting reimbursed for a wide variety of travel expenses. If you use up those points on an airfare that could have otherwise been done through a reward booking, then you've done a pretty poor job of maximizing value. But if you use the points on train tickets or baggage fees or other travel stuff, you can get reimbursed for stuff better than with an airline-specific card. The Citi AA Platinum is a very good airline-specific card and worth having as well.
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Jun 23, 2015 03:10
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pig slut lisa posted:The value with the CSP comes from the multitude of travel partners and the excellent non-point benefits. Makes sense. I don't doubt they're good, I just didn't know why those were the 2 that are suggested everywhere. Perhaps because I churn and really only MS for the min spends, I think of things in terms of best bonus and not what is actually spent on the card. Like, I can clearly see how the ink is superior, I just wasn't thinking about it in terms of normal spending on a card like CSP or arrival.
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Jun 23, 2015 03:23
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Cacafuego posted:Makes sense. I don't doubt they're good, I just didn't know why those were the 2 that are suggested everywhere. Perhaps because I churn and really only MS for the min spends, I think of things in terms of best bonus and not what is actually spent on the card. Like, I can clearly see how the ink is superior, I just wasn't thinking about it in terms of normal spending on a card like CSP or arrival. What do you do MS wise these days? I miss easy MS'ing.
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Jun 23, 2015 04:43
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Some people also don't like to mess around with airline miles. Definitely harder to redeem than statement credit.
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Jun 23, 2015 12:47
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SiGmA_X posted:What do you do MS wise these days? I miss easy MS'ing. I have a Wells Fargo propel world Amex that earns points for the easy $1000 serve load/month, then Simon mall/sunrise GCs to load up to $5k/month. I don't get too crazy, don't have the time for it.
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Jun 23, 2015 12:58
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I got an Arrival+ a year ago (and just downgraded to Arrival) and thought that it would be my everyday card. However, the redemption process on it is just awful and made it not worth it. For the Arrival, you can redeem your points against travel expenses that have been incurred within the last 180 days. However, you can only redeem against a given expense once. This means that you have limited windows during which you can redeem at 2% and you have to be careful about how often you do so, so ensure you don't run out of eligible travel expenses. The counterargument I think would be that it is very useful for people who have more travel transactions than I do, and that it's simply not the right card for me because I do not travel all that much. However, if someone travels a lot, I think that the person would be better served with a card that rewards travel better. To redeem, you have to have your travel expense on the Arrival+, and this is rarely the best card to pay any particular travel expense with. It doesn't offer primary rental car coverage. It doesn't reimburse for baggage or economy+ upgrade fees. It doesn't give you lounge access. It doesn't have the option to transfer to an airline or hotel miles/points program for an increased redemption value. It doesn't have travel of any kind as a bonus category. Someone who travels a lot probably has a better credit card for every travel expense. For a straight, fixed cash back card for someone who just wants one card, I think the Citi Double Cash is better. You'd have to spend $40,455 per year on the Arrival+ for the extra 0.2% to break even on the annual fee. Another option is to use one of the Amex Blue Cash cards, but Amex isn't taken everywhere, and the reward structure is tiered instead of a flat 2%. Anyway every site seems to love the Arrival+, and even drcreditcard.net, which I think has pretty good non-salesman reviews, likes it. I would rather be able to redeem at 2% whenever I want and put bonus spending elsewhere.
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Jun 23, 2015 15:13
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Any no fee chip and pin cards out there with no overseas charge? Doesn't have to be rewards card but that would be cool too.
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Jun 23, 2015 15:57
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My card colleague recommended the citi thankyou premier to have for the sign on bonus which is in miles, but recently another colleague went on a rant about how awful the redemption was, you can only get flights that they are ok with through their own system, and their flights are mysteriously 200 dollars more expensive than normal. I was sort of planning on using it for a christmas flight from san jose to phoenix. Am I dumb and is it a bad card, or is this doable?
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Jun 23, 2015 17:52
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Is Citi DoubleCash the best workhorse credit card for someone who doesn't travel much and doesn't have skewed spending habits across cash-back categories? (like, my spending is spread evenly among Amazon, grocery stores, etc.) I have a Chase Sapphire but I signed up for it primarily for the awesome intro Bonus (which I used to buy my mom a rowing machine off Amazon, I didn't even spend it on travel stuff which would have extended it even more) but now it's just a 1% cashback card with an annual fee pretty much. I guess I should travel more, but in the meantime is DoubleCash great? 2% across all purchases seems amazing
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Jun 23, 2015 17:54
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Pron on VHS posted:Is Citi DoubleCash the best workhorse credit card for someone who doesn't travel much and doesn't have skewed spending habits across cash-back categories? (like, my spending is spread evenly among Amazon, grocery stores, etc.) It's best for domestic non-mileage, unless you spend a lot per year. If that's the case, Barclays Arrival Plus has a 0.22% edge on Citi, but with an annual fee. The breakeven point is pretty high regardless, something like $18k per year.
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Jun 23, 2015 18:02
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ETB already covered the Citi DoubleCash. I just wanted to chime in to let you know you can downgrade your Sapphire Preferred to regular to avoid the annual fee and leave it in your sock drawer if you are concerned about your credit score and utilization.
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Jun 23, 2015 18:12
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redreader posted:My card colleague recommended the citi thankyou premier to have for the sign on bonus which is in miles, but recently another colleague went on a rant about how awful the redemption was, you can only get flights that they are ok with through their own system, and their flights are mysteriously 200 dollars more expensive than normal. I was sort of planning on using it for a christmas flight from san jose to phoenix. Am I dumb and is it a bad card, or is this doable? Citi charges a small premium to use their site and they only have certain airlines. If it's the same airline it should be marginally higher than the airlines website, but if it's different then it could be drastically higher You are almost certainly going to have to use their travel portal to buy a ticket near Christmas instead of transferring to partners so you might have to take your chances. As a note the prestige card gets a better redemption rate against AA and US flights, but there is an annual fee that is potentially offset by travel credits. The comparison between Arrival+ and Citi Double Cash is ignoring the sign up bonus on the former which is a pretty big deal. You'd have to keep the cards for 5+ years before the Double Cash is better if you take that into account. Admittedly, you could just switch after the first year and pocket the difference as well. The Citi Double Cash along with the Fidelity Amex are the best cards if you want straight cash back with minimal effort.
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Jun 23, 2015 18:31
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| # ? May 14, 2024 10:45 |
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You also need to take into account how much you will spend on the card. The Chase Freedom and Capital One Quicksilver both have no annual fee and beat out the higher cashback rate on the Doublecash until you've spent $20,000 because of their sign up bonus. For the Freedom that is assuming you never take advantage of the 5% cash back categories.
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Jun 23, 2015 18:51
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