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Xandu posted:That's a nice card, but even with admiral's club and EQM (though 10k for $40k spend isn't that amazing), it doesn't seem worth it compared to amex or similarly priced cards. The Amex Platinum is a nice card, but it offers little in the way of travel insurance and no bonus categories. Something like the Citi Prestige or Chase Ritz Carlton are better in that regard.
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Jul 6, 2015 04:47
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Bisty Q. posted:No, it isn't, unless you buy a shitload of airfare (3X MR). Also, they're nerfing the avios conversion and making it 5:4 instead of 1:1 later this year. Gross. I know that the airfare gives you more of course but that avios reduction sucks. Small White Dragon posted:The Amex Platinum is a nice card, but it offers little in the way of travel insurance and no bonus categories. Something like the Citi Prestige or Chase Ritz Carlton are better in that regard. For $450 a year the Prestige seems better overall than the AAE, but I kept getting mixed signals about how good the ThankYou points are. The airlines that the points transfer to are, at least to me, pretty poor only because I couldn't see myself using more than a couple of them at the moment. Booking hotels seems to require going through a company whose website looks like it's from 2002. The $100 reimbursement for the Global Entry application is cool but a minor factor, so the main thing is the $250 they give you for flight expenses. The Premier has the $95 fee which going past the waived year is much easier to swallow but it doesn't really have any of the Prestige's benefits.
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Jul 6, 2015 05:37
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Keep in mind that global entry also gives you TSA Precheck. Nice perk, especially if you wanted to get it anyways (you do if you travel more than a handful of times/year).
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Jul 6, 2015 12:33
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Sucks that the Citi AA Executive doesn't waive the AF the first year, but it's still probably worth picking up, provided you can meet the minimum spend and paying the AF won't be too much of a burden. 75k miles will get you a RT ticket to just about anywhere in coach and isn't far off from a RT to most destinations in the premium cabin. Not a bad way to spend $450 and the other perks are gravy.
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Jul 6, 2015 14:18
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Residency Evil posted:Keep in mind that global entry also gives you TSA Precheck. Nice perk, especially if you wanted to get it anyways (you do if you travel more than a handful of times/year). This is true. Also, if you have any type of arrest or conviction on your record, you will get denied admission this service.
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Jul 6, 2015 17:06
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I apologize if this is a repost which I'm sure it is but I'm on my phone at work and cant do a thorough search. I read the OP and know keeping a balance is dumb, does anyone have any links or information so I can show them to someone who's insisting that a balance is key to good credit?
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Jul 6, 2015 21:17
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big mean giraffe posted:I apologize if this is a repost which I'm sure it is but I'm on my phone at work and cant do a thorough search. I read the OP and know keeping a balance is dumb, does anyone have any links or information so I can show them to someone who's insisting that a balance is key to good credit? quote:How many accounts have balances?
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Jul 6, 2015 21:41
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big mean giraffe posted:I apologize if this is a repost which I'm sure it is but I'm on my phone at work and cant do a thorough search. I read the OP and know keeping a balance is dumb, does anyone have any links or information so I can show them to someone who's insisting that a balance is key to good credit?
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Jul 6, 2015 21:48
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big mean giraffe posted:I apologize if this is a repost which I'm sure it is but I'm on my phone at work and cant do a thorough search. I read the OP and know keeping a balance is dumb, does anyone have any links or information so I can show them to someone who's insisting that a balance is key to good credit? It sounds like they're confused about CC utilization and think it means they need to carry a balance to build credit, not just have a reported balance that they pay off by the due date. I think https://www.creditkarma.com/article/credit-card-utilization is good, specifically: quote:Other Tips:
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Jul 6, 2015 21:54
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A lot of advice given about credit cards is summed up as "you have to use it to help your credit score" but some people have interpreted it as "you have to have debt to improve your credit score." And then the immediate followup is "but don't carry a balance." Most people miss that last part. From what I understand it is BAD to not use your credit. And it's bad to use too much credit (more than a quarter of what you have available).
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Jul 6, 2015 22:15
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The credit score system is designed so that normal and responsible use of a credit card will result in good credit. The only real important thing is to make payments on time, all the time. You do not need to do any weird tricks to get a good credit score. The credit bureaus do not know or care how much of a balance you are carrying over from the previous month. If you pull your own credit report you can see that the balance reported is just going to be whatever the balance was on your credit card statement. It does not tell the credit bureaus if you pay it off in full every month, only pay the minimum, or intentionally leave a few dollars on it.
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Jul 6, 2015 22:24
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THF13 posted:It does not tell the credit bureaus if you pay it off in full every month, only pay the minimum, or intentionally leave a few dollars on it.
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Jul 7, 2015 00:35
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triple sulk posted:Gross. I know that the airfare gives you more of course but that avios reduction sucks. Anyway, this fun little chart shows all the partners:  With all that said, with the Prestige, you can redeem points at 1.33 cents/pt towards airfare and specifically 1.6 cents/pt towards airfare on AA or US, including codeshares. If you fly either of those airlines or some of their partners, this can be lucrative.
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Jul 7, 2015 00:44
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Small White Dragon posted:With all that said, with the Prestige, you can redeem points at 1.33 cents/pt towards airfare and specifically 1.6 cents/pt towards airfare on AA or US, including codeshares. If you fly either of those airlines or some of their partners, this can be lucrative.
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Jul 7, 2015 03:20
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One thing I did not know about until today is that you can link the Fidelity Amex with a dummy twitter account to qualify for some offers, and this can be done separate from any other Amex you have. I only got this card recently and I wish I'd known about this a month ago. There was a deal that let you get $25 back on $50 purchases three times ($75 back total) at a nearby grocery store that just ended at the end of last month. Not all amex offers are nearly as good, or easy to use, and not all amex offers are available for third party cards, but it costs nothing. If you're willing to check those offers once a month or so it puts the FIA Amex ahead of the double cash, but it is more hassle for uncertain gains.
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Jul 7, 2015 03:34
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I'm looking to get a visa or MasterCard with a chip for going to Canada (currently have discover (poor acceptance) and Sallie Mae (no chip) cards. Discover if my current main card, Sallie Mae used for 5% cash back categories. I've been looking at double cash or quicksilver cards - and I can't decide which. Quicksilver with no ftf would be nice, but on the other hand the extra .5% rewards of the double cash for general use may be good. I don't plan on spending a whole lot while in Canada, so the 3% ftf may be okay for the one trip I have planned to Canada. 2% cb/3% ftf or 1.5% cb/0% ftf Anything else I should consider or that I have overlooked? I have gotten mail offers for each of the cards. Credit score around 720 and I've never missed a payment, only carried a balance once.
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Jul 7, 2015 14:00
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Massasoit posted:I'm looking to get a visa or MasterCard with a chip for going to Canada (currently have discover (poor acceptance) and Sallie Mae (no chip) cards. Discover if my current main card, Sallie Mae used for 5% cash back categories. Get both. One for domestic, one for travel.
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Jul 7, 2015 14:12
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I haven't applied yet because I'm unsure if applying for the card signifies activating/signing a contract, so I don't know if I'll be approved, but any thoughts on a Wells Fargo Cash Back Visa? I currently bank with them (checking/savings combo with some sort of UC employee account), have 0 credit history (as in reports simply return 'Thin File') but would rather get a regular card than a secured if I can help it. I would be paying in full every cycle, most likely just setting some of my bills to go trhough it and auto-debit payments. Not worth the convenience compared to other cashbacks or what?
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Jul 18, 2015 17:07
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365 Nog Hogger posted:I haven't applied yet because I'm unsure if applying for the card signifies activating/signing a contract, so I don't know if I'll be approved, but any thoughts on a Wells Fargo Cash Back Visa? I currently bank with them (checking/savings combo with some sort of UC employee account), have 0 credit history (as in reports simply return 'Thin File') but would rather get a regular card than a secured if I can help it. I would be paying in full every cycle, most likely just setting some of my bills to go trhough it and auto-debit payments. It seems like a fine entry-level card if you literally cannot get any other card.
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Jul 18, 2015 17:10
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ETB posted:It seems like a fine entry-level card if you literally cannot get any other card. I have literally never applied for one so I don't know if I couldn't! 
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Jul 18, 2015 17:16
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If your credit history is really sparse like that I say go for it. Six months of on time payments and you'll probably be able to pick up a second card that better fits your needs (more cash back, travel rewards, whatever). Also it's unclear from your first post what exactly your spending plan is with the card but don't just make it a bill only card, at least for the first six months. During that period you should be doing all your gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases there to get your 5%. pig slut lisa fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Jul 18, 2015 |
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Jul 18, 2015 18:44
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365 Nog Hogger posted:any thoughts on a Wells Fargo Cash Back Visa? I've since stopped using it as much now that I have both an AmEx Blue Cash Preferred and Citi Double Cash to try to get better reward rates. I still keep the Wells Fargo around to have access to a Visa with decent spending power ($25,000 limit now, I think) should AmEx or Mastercard not be usable for whatever reason. Now I think I run my Hulu and Netflix subscriptions through there on auto-pay every month and that's about it. I also don't want to close it since it's the oldest account on my credit report. Lastly, I never had to request those limit increases: they would just send me a letter every ~6 months or so with a bump. Although those stopped a few years ago. For your situation, I'd say it's absolutely a fine first card. It's what I primarily used to build my initial credit history. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jul 18, 2015 |
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Jul 18, 2015 19:38
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Thanks for the advice all, applied for it.pig slut lisa posted:Also it's unclear from your first post what exactly your spending plan is with the card but don't just make it a bill only card, at least for the first six months. During that period you should be doing all your gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases there to get your 5%. I was planning on using it for my groceries and bills depending on limit.
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Jul 18, 2015 21:44
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Not surr if you guys can help here but im a uk goon and our cards generally suck in comparison. Hopefully someone here is uk based or can answer in generalities. If someone has an annual cc spend of £60,000 ($90,000) does it change any of the advice in the op? Is there any way of leveraging that high spend into better rewards?
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Jul 20, 2015 05:40
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Finally got my Citi Double Cash approval. The hold up was they asked for a paystub and were reading my work address off of it instead of my home address. I quickly did the math and this should be about $400 back to me a year, which is okay. The big thing here is having the Mastercard instead of the Amex, so I can run all my money through it with the exception of my mortgage. Yay not having to use a debit card for anything again. Also, the price matching thingy seems pretty nice.
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Jul 24, 2015 15:29
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No Butt Stuff posted:Finally got my Citi Double Cash approval. The hold up was they asked for a paystub and were reading my work address off of it instead of my home address. Mind if I ask what your credit score was when you applied? I've been thinking of getting this card to use for general purchases.
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Jul 24, 2015 15:35
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Can I ask anyone with a Amex how rough it actually is day to day? 'm looking at the Wells Fargo Propel, because the WF loyalty bonuses are sweet and I'm with them anyway, and am just wondering if it'll be accepted often enough, particularly in western Europe, that between it and a debit card I'll be covered?
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Jul 24, 2015 16:22
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JohnCompany posted:Can I ask anyone with a Amex how rough it actually is day to day? 'm looking at the Wells Fargo Propel, because the WF loyalty bonuses are sweet and I'm with them anyway, and am just wondering if it'll be accepted often enough, particularly in western Europe, that between it and a debit card I'll be covered?
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Jul 24, 2015 16:26
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JohnCompany posted:Can I ask anyone with a Amex how rough it actually is day to day? 'm looking at the Wells Fargo Propel, because the WF loyalty bonuses are sweet and I'm with them anyway, and am just wondering if it'll be accepted often enough, particularly in western Europe, that between it and a debit card I'll be covered? In the US, I pay with my AmEx pretty much everywhere. Every so often I'll get the "we don't take AmEx" when I pull it out, but that's really maybe once a month or so. In Europe, my experience was that it was accepted at the bigger places, but not at smaller shops. Big restaurant in Vienna? Good to go. Smaller shop in Prague? Forget it.
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Jul 24, 2015 16:45
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becoming posted:In the US, I pay with my AmEx pretty much everywhere. Every so often I'll get the "we don't take AmEx" when I pull it out, but that's really maybe once a month or so. That's been my experience too, not even that frequently, maybe three or four times ever. I usually just don't go back because of the hassle to be honest.
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Jul 24, 2015 16:47
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JohnCompany posted:Can I ask anyone with a Amex how rough it actually is day to day? 'm looking at the Wells Fargo Propel, because the WF loyalty bonuses are sweet and I'm with them anyway, and am just wondering if it'll be accepted often enough, particularly in western Europe, that between it and a debit card I'll be covered? I constantly use Amex and have the WF propel. Like said above, maybe 1/10 they don't accept Amex, but almost never a problem. The $100 travel statement credit is reimbursed very quickly. Chip/pin, no FTF. The AF is $175, so I may not keep it, but it's very good. Rewards points take 1 month to post and the loyalty bonuses are calculated quarterly, but only given 12 months later. I don't have experience with it overseas though
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Jul 24, 2015 17:09
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Its the small mom'n'pop businesses that don't take amex because they can't swallow the extra cost amex hits them with. I like going to hole-in-the-wall restaurants, so always gotta carry a visa along with my main amex.
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Jul 24, 2015 19:45
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There was a big dustup here in Minnesota when Delta bought Northwest and people converted whatever the Norhtwest rewards card was to the Delta Amex, and all these local businesses had to scramble to start accepting Amex or lose business from people that REALLY LOVE AIRLINE MILES I guess. Anyway it's funny that Amex does all the marketing to get people to support local small business, but they're more expensive than other cards to the merchant so the small holes in the wall won't accept them.
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Jul 24, 2015 19:53
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FISHMANPET posted:There was a big dustup here in Minnesota when Delta bought Northwest and people converted whatever the Norhtwest rewards card was to the Delta Amex, and all these local businesses had to scramble to start accepting Amex or lose business from people that REALLY LOVE AIRLINE MILES I guess. I've read that AmEx is willing to work with small businesses to make the merchant fees more palatable for them. I don't run a small business that accepts credit card payments, so I've never really dug into this, but multiple sources have reported that.
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Jul 24, 2015 20:11
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Massasoit posted:Mind if I ask what your credit score was when you applied? I've been thinking of getting this card to use for general purchases. Depends on what agency is asking. But pretty much between 720 and 750.
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Jul 24, 2015 20:35
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No Butt Stuff posted:Depends on what agency is asking. But pretty much between 720 and 750. Awesome, thanks. I'm right in that range. I'll see if they want me.
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Jul 24, 2015 20:41
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FISHMANPET posted:There was a big dustup here in Minnesota when Delta bought Northwest and people converted whatever the Norhtwest rewards card was to the Delta Amex, and all these local businesses had to scramble to start accepting Amex or lose business from people that REALLY LOVE AIRLINE MILES I guess. Don't underestimate how big the air miles following is. Whichever deal is the best will have a lot of people spending on the cards. My experience with Amex in NZ and Australia is that it is accepted in a lot of major places but you still need a visa/mastercard as backup. As I have an Amex Platinum Edge card I get bonus points in supermarkets and petrol stations. Given that NZ is mostly a cashless society I'd always carry 3 cards with a debit card for personal, business and a visa. Adding a fourth card was not a big deal when I got the Amex last year. I don't find it difficult to use. I have taken thepointsguy approach to clocking up as many points or air miles as possible on my existing spending.
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Jul 24, 2015 21:04
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Can someone recommend me a card with a large upfront promo cashback and a high limit? I'm going to be making some large purchases soon so I may as well save some money doing it. I have 730ish credit.
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Aug 3, 2015 11:37
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Why did both citibank (platinum select aadvantage mc) and barclaycard (red aviator mc?) send me new cards all of a sudden? I signed up for both for the 50k x2 promotion and just checked my actual mail. The citibank card is literally the same card, same 3 digit code, same expiration date. I guess the design on the back looks different but thats literally it. I'm guessing the one from barclaybank is just the same card as before but rebranded. Also, I logged onto my aa.com account which I created before i ever signed up for either of these cards, like years ago. How does the system know these two cards belong to me because my 100k bonus miles are shown here. I thought I was gonna have to call customer service for both cards and get them to manually transfer them to my AA account. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Aug 3, 2015 |
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Aug 3, 2015 13:57
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Gamesguy posted:Can someone recommend me a card with a large upfront promo cashback and a high limit? I'm going to be making some large purchases soon so I may as well save some money doing it. Depends on what you're buying/where you're buying it, and sometimes when. Do you just want straight cash back, or are you interested in travel? You really haven't told us enough to make a good recommendation, but I'm going to go ahead and recommend the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card. The annual fee is waived for the first year, there's no pre-set spending limit, and if you check out Card Match (google it) you might get a targeted offer for 50k points on sign up, which is basically $500 or, if you are traveling, can be turned into much more. MR points are pretty versatile and American Express customer service is very good. Boris Galerkin posted:Why did both citibank (platinum select aadvantage mc) and barclaycard (red aviator mc?) send me new cards all of a sudden? I signed up for both for the 50k x2 promotion and just checked my actual mail. The citibank card is literally the same card, same 3 digit code, same expiration date. I guess the design on the back looks different but thats literally it. I'm guessing the one from barclaybank is just the same card as before but rebranded. New Citi card is a World Elite instead of World. New Barclaycard is the pretty obvious re-brand from US Airways to AA. Same thing happened to me with the miles, I guess they are just super smart/try to cross-reference address & name or somesuch.
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Aug 3, 2015 14:04
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