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Khorne posted:I'd prefer something with no yearly fee because I don't spend all that much. Is there any interesting bonus% card I'm overlooking? I just closed my Chase Sapphire Reserve after burning the last of my points so I’m down to:
Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 16:13
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Why do people seem to be moving away from the CSR? My spending is mainly rent, restaurants and travel so I'll probably keep it, I'm just wondering if there's something I don't know.
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Sep 9, 2017 16:21
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I have a card that is over the limit and I can't use it. This has in turn hurt my credit because I can't use my credit card, even though I have been paying the statement balance every month. I'm wondering if its possible and recommended to get another credit card, use it to pay off a portion of the debt I owe, enough to allow me to use the card again, and then slowly chip away at both balances while using my cards for my purchases and to build my credit. And if so, which card would you recommend? I currently have a chase freedom card. I am slowly chipping away at my debt (about 5k) but won't be able to lay in some big payments for a while.
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Sep 9, 2017 16:53
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Not using your credit card isn't hurting your credit, it's having a credit card that's over the limit that is.
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Sep 9, 2017 16:57
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I posted this in another thread for Khorne, but if anyone else wants to get into Churning and doesn't know how to start: I've made a very simple step-by-step guide on how to start Churning and how to pace your cards. Note: This is focused on maximizing your Cashback in the first year. If you are only interested in flyer points or hotel points, then your cards might be different. I've updated it to remove the CSR after the changes - (Chase now only allows one card from the "Sapphire Family" per person + Reduced Sign-on Bonus) Let me know if anyone has any suggestions or notices any errors. -------------------------------------------- This past year, I’ve gotten about $3,150 cashback from credit cards bonuses and rewards alone. A nice bonus is that they are all tax-free because they are considered statement credits/rebates by the IRS (the tax benefit might be a smaller draw for most people, but still something to note). First thing: Don’t get the Citi Doublecash or Amazon Card as your first cards if you want to Churn. These are nice cards for long-term use, but getting them first will severely cut down on your ability to churn. Chase has some very lucrative card bonuses, but they have a rule called the “5/24 Rule” where if you are approved for more than 5 new credit cards in 24 months (by any issuer; not just Chase) they will automatically deny you no matter how great your credit score or income is. You want to make sure that your first 5 cards include the 2-3 lucrative Chase cards, but you don’t want your first card to be a Chase card. I’ll post a semi-quick and semi-dirty guide with steps below. This applies to anyone who wants to start Churning, but has been issued 2 or less credit cards in the last 24 months. Here’s a good “starter guide” for you and anyone else who wants to get into Churning but feels intimidated by the research/choices. The step-by-step guide is at the bottom. Beginner's Tips and Step-By-Step Guide For New Churners General Notes/Tips: 1) New inquiries and cards will lower your “average age of credit” a small bit. Churning will hurt your credit score in the short term by about 20 points or so. But it will actually greatly improve it over the long-term. The negative impacts will fade over 2-3 months. This means that Churning can be great for anyone, but if you are planning on getting a large auto loan, a large personal loan, or a mortgage in the next 3-6 months, then you shouldn’t do much churning in the 3-6 months before you plan on applying – just to be safe. 2) A hard inquiry that results in a denied account still counts as a hard inquiry. Some banks have rules where they won’t approve a card for anyone who has 3+ hard inquiries in the last month or two. That means you need to pace out applying for new cards. Shoot for one every 1.5 months (2 if you want to be really safe). Related to point #2: Some banks (Bank of America, AmEx, and Chase are the big ones) will let you combine inquiries. If a bank allows you to combine inquiries, then if you apply for 2 cards in the same day, it will only count as 1 inquiry on your report. 3) You can only ever have one (1) American Express Card from the “Blue Cash” family and you can only ever get a sign-on bonus from an American Express card ONCE PER LIFETIME. That means you should wait for a promotional bonus and apply then. Most cards have terms for their sign-up bonuses that say you are not entitled to a bonus "if you have received one in the last 24 months." That means that you can cancel your card and get the same sign-on bonus again 2 years later. American Express limits bonuses to once per lifetime. You can only ever get one. Amex Blue Cash has promotions 3 or 4 times a year with “$250 cashback after you spend $1,000 in 3 months + 10% cashback (up to $200) on some random category” for a total value of $450 for one card. Don’t apply for an Amex card for the bonus until one of those is available. What Cards Should I Get and In What Order? First Card: Discover IT  - No Annual Fee - 1% Cashback on all purchases and 5% cashback on a rotating category (2% Cashback on everything and 10% on categories in the first year) - Has “Discover Deals” available - Discover will DOUBLE ALL CASHBACK EARNED YOUR FIRST YEAR. (  )That last point will make this an insanely lucrative card. You can realistically end up with over $1,000 in bonuses from just this one card. There is no direct sign-up bonus; but if you sign up with a referral link (mine is below; but if you have a friend in real life that has a Discover IT you should use theirs to help them out) both people get $50 after you make your first purchase. This is DOUBLED with the first year bonus making it a $100 bonus for making just one purchase. You can ONLY get the $100 sign-on bonus if you sign up through a referral link, so don’t do it without one. https://refer.discover.com/s/6acdo Why This Card First? Because of the previously mentioned limits some issuers have on approving cards within a certain time-frame. You are going to want to have a “long-term” card to fill out gaps after you meet your minimum spend on other cards and are waiting 1-2 months to apply for the next card. Additionally, with the 10% Cashback on categories this card gets during your first year, you can get $750 in cashback JUST from category spend. You can get 5 quarters in your first year with a limit of $1,500 in bonus spending each quarter. Discover Deals Discover offers additional cash back when you spend at certain vendors with your Discover Card. These bonuses stack with the 10% bonus category AND are also doubled in the first year. Last quarter the bonus category was “Home Improvement Stores and Warehouse Stores.” Additionally, there was a Discover Deal for 5% (10%) extra cashback on purchases at Samsclub.com. Sam’s Club gift cards work at Wal-Mart stores and Wal-Mart’s website. I used the Discover Deal and maxed out the category spend to get $1,500 in Sam’s Club Gift Cards (to use at Wal-Mart and Walmart.com) and received $300 cash back for that purchase. 20% Cash back (10% from Deal + 10% from Category) on $1,500. Discover IT also has 15 months of 0% APR, so you can float some of the costs if you need to load up on a large category. You can have 2 Discover IT cards (Discover will not issue you any more cards once you have 2 form them). That means that after your 1-year bonus is up… you can apply for a second card and get ANOTHER one year of double cashback. Second Card: Chase Sapphire Preferred  - 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points ($500 Cashback or $625 if redeemed for travel) after spending $4,000 in 3 months. - No Annual Fee for the first year. Why This Card Second? Because of Chase’s 5/24 Rule, Chase cards with strong sign-on bonuses need to be gotten within your first 5 cards or you will have to wait 2 years to get them. The $500 cashback is one of the largest straight rewards available. There is nothing special or complicated about this card. Just get the bonus spend and collect the points. It’s not really worth keeping long-term unless you travel frequently. Once you get your bonus, then send chase a secure message in your account – before your first year is up – asking them to product change this card to a Chase Sapphire (regular). This is the same card, but it has no annual fee and lower spending bonuses. You won’t be using this card again after the bonus, so this way you never have to pay the annual fee. How Should I Apply? - If you have a friend with this card, get them to send you a referral link. You get nothing, but they get a bonus. - If you have a Chase Branch near you, then Chase has a promotion where they will increase the sign-on bonus to 70,000 points ($700 cashback) if you apply in branch. - If neither of these are an option, then just go to Chase’s website and apply normally. Third Card: Chase Freedom  - 1% CB on all Purchases and 5% CB on rotating categories - 0% APR for 12 months - $150 after spending $500 in 3 months. Why This Card Third? Chase’s 5/24 rule again… The 5% Categories can be useful and don’t always overlap with Discover IT. It’s good to hold long-term and you want to get it in under the 5/24 rule, so that way you don’t have to wait. Nothing complicated or fancy. Spend $500, get the bonus, and put it in a drawer until there is a good 5% category you want to use. Fourth Card: Chase Freedom Unlimited  - 1.5% Cashback on all purchases. - 0% APR for 12 months. - $150 after spending $500 in 3 months. Why This Card Fourth? Chase 5/24 rule. This card sucks and is only worth it for the easy bonus. Just get it out of the way to maximize your ability to collect rewards. Fifth Card: Whatever is the Best Deal for Your Current Situation! You’ve gotten the major ones out of the way. Pick a card that has a reward/fee structure/spend requirement that works for you. There are no major restrictions (besides the AmEx issues mentioned at the top) for other card issuers. Just do what you want and remember to wait about 2 months between applications to keep the flow going. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 17:20
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ohgodwhat posted:Why do people seem to be moving away from the CSR? It's still a $450 annual fee you have to eat before the travel credit kicks in. I'm probably keeping mine considering how often I travel, but it's something to keep in mind once you use up all your bonus points.
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Sep 9, 2017 17:34
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Awesome info Man, I wish I had known this when I first started applying for credit cards earlier this year. I was initially just focused on long term cards so I got the DoubleCash and Blue Cash Preferred, both of which have been great (my grocery bill is at least $500 a month). I did manage to get $200 from the restaurant cash back promotion for the BCP. I'm thinking about applying for the Chase Southwest RR Plus tomorrow whose sign up bonus is currently 60k ($2000 min spend). Rumor is that you actually get 115 days to get the sign up bonus, and 115 days from tomorrow is 1/3, which would give me a chance to get the companion pass with a further sign up bonus. So depending on the success of that, I might do the RapidRewards premier after that and then the CSP.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:21
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drainpipe posted:Man, I wish I had known this when I first started applying for credit cards earlier this year. I was initially just focused on long term cards so I got the DoubleCash and Blue Cash Preferred, both of which have been great (my grocery bill is at least $500 a month). I did manage to get $200 from the restaurant cash back promotion for the BCP. 1/3 would be cutting it a little tight since that's most likely the cutoff for the transactions' post date rather than transaction date.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:30
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Everyone I know who lives in NYC loves the everloving poo poo out of their CSR, but it's essentially useless for a suburban dad of a 14 month old (we use the Costco for gas, travel and restaurants) and 5% at Amazon (duh).
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Sep 9, 2017 19:14
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ohgodwhat posted:Why do people seem to be moving away from the CSR?
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Sep 9, 2017 20:07
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I fell under 5/24 so I had to upgrade my CSP to a CSR. My card anniversary was in February, but they only charged me the $450 as of July. I thought about cancelling it, but between the trip insurance that I regularly use and that I think I still fall under the old rules and get the $300 credit on the calendar year, I'm not cancelling but will definitely cancel the following year or at least downgrade to the CSP again. Pushing almost all my spend through new cards for bonuses, it's hard to justify the annual fee.
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Sep 9, 2017 21:22
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Whats a good card for putting utilities on? I have a Barclay's Commerce MC (was Sallie MaeMC) that gives me 2% for utilities such as electricity/cable/internet etc... is there a better choice out there?
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Sep 10, 2017 02:04
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Disco Salmon posted:Whats a good card for putting utilities on? Huntington Voice if you can get it, I think you have to be a Huntington customer. It is 3% on utilities, the only ones I pay with it are electric and internet because some utilities charge a fee if you use a CC.
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Sep 10, 2017 12:35
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Is the Amex lifetime restriction for individual Amex products, or all cards? In other words, if you collect the blue cash bonus, you can't get a bonus from any other Amex product, ever?
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Sep 10, 2017 14:24
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angryrobots posted:Is the Amex lifetime restriction for individual Amex products, or all cards? Per card. But AmEx also has other weird rules that can limit you from getting bonuses indirectly. You can only have one of the "Blue Cash Family" cards and you can only have 4 cards issued by Amex total. (Some exceptions where Amex co-branded cards that are not actually issued by AmEx, like certain Airline cards, don't count towards your 4.)
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Sep 10, 2017 14:32
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:Everyone I know who lives in NYC loves the everloving poo poo out of their CSR, but it's essentially useless for a suburban dad of a 14 month old (we use the Costco for gas, travel and restaurants) and 5% at Amazon (duh).  Sure, the CSR was great for a bit. Reward bonus + $300 travel credit basically paid for our 10 day Baby-moon trip around Baltic countries of eastern Europe... But now with a kiddo in suburban middle america, all my purchase are Costco, Amazon and Kroger. Eating out once a week doesn't pay for the CSR yearly fee.
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Sep 11, 2017 14:11
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The new rules from Chase only allowing new applicants to have one card from the "Sapphire family" and making the sign-on bonus the same as the Chase Sapphire Preferred is going to kill the CSR with a lot of people.
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Sep 11, 2017 14:37
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extravadanza posted:
I have the CSR, and I was looking for a reason to cancel it. Do you lose the cheaper exchange rate on points to travel if you just have the Freedom Unlimited card?
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Sep 11, 2017 15:12
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I'm the perfect user for it. Living in NYC, constantly traveling international airline pilot. Not counting the $2,415 (using TPG's valuation) in sign-in bonuses, I've net profited just over $950 this year from the CSR+Freedom Unlimited+Freedom as of Sept 11, should be around $1,300 by the end of the year with all the holiday travel, dining, and purchases. And then there is the Priority Lounge access which probably saves me around $50 a month in airport food and beverages.
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Sep 11, 2017 15:22
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I have to eat the $150 (after travel credit) to renew my CSR for another year because I haven't cashed in my 125K points yet. Sure, I could transfer them to my Freedom, but the 50% bonus on using them with the CSR is greater than the $150 annual fee. Since I signed my wife up for a CSR also, I get to collect $600 in credits in December, pay the annual fee on mine, and cancel her card before the renewal fee hits in February. So an easy net $0 for the year there.
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Sep 11, 2017 15:28
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Do you lose the cheaper exchange rate on points to travel if you just have the Freedom Unlimited card?
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Sep 11, 2017 15:35
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:I might look into that USAA 2.5% card now that I’m out of California, but I think it requires direct deposits to your USAA account and I’m not employed during grad school   But, if I'm reading this right all I have to do is set up a recurring monthly transfer from Ally to USAA and that'll count? Ally is an "external financial institution," after all. Maybe not worth the effort to go from Double Cash's 2% to the Limitless' 2.5%, but just curious right now.
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Sep 11, 2017 15:42
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Yes. The 50% bonus on travel redemption for UR points is a CSR feature. I have a Preferred, not a Reserve, so it's only 20%. Seems that this card isn't worth it for me. But wow, the Reserve has $450 annual fee, and it's not waived the first year, but the travel benefits are pretty good, I spend $300/month on the train/subway so it's almost worth it for the reimbursement. But I need to cancel my CSP for two years first right? I'm going to get the Discover IT. For 10% on Amazon it's worth it for this fall. I spend about $1000 a month on amazon (mostly groceries).
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Sep 11, 2017 16:13
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I have a Preferred, not a Reserve, so it's only 20%. Seems that this card isn't worth it for me. But wow, the Reserve has $450 annual fee, and it's not waived the first year, but the travel benefits are pretty good, I spend $300/month on the train/subway so it's almost worth it for the reimbursement. But I need to cancel my CSP for two years first right? You need to have not received a Sapphire card signup bonus in the last 24 months to be able to receive another. This is completely separate from opening or closing a card. Chase will let you sign up with a minimal wait regardless or you could upgrade or downgrade between cards.
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Sep 11, 2017 16:30
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asur posted:You need to have not received a Sapphire card signup bonus in the last 24 months to be able to receive another.
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Sep 11, 2017 16:43
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Wow, early adopters of the CSR really lucked out. I got to double-dip on the $300 travel credit in the first year, I received the CSR signup bonus (100,000) not long after doing the CSP signup bonus (50,000), and the CSR signup bonus was double the current 50,000 (can you still get 75,000 by going to a branch?). Yes they did. Doubly so if you signed up your spouse. 
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Sep 11, 2017 16:50
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:
Applied under you, thanks! Turns out they need a scan of my SS card, which is odd because I figure that everyone on earth already has that.
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Sep 11, 2017 16:50
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Applied under you, thanks! Turns out they need a scan of my SS card, which is odd because I figure that everyone on earth already has that. Thanks! The current 10% bonus quarter is Restaurants. It can be hard to max out, but any vendor that codes as fast food or dining will trigger the bonus. That means, if you want to max your quarterly bonus ($150) in the month that you have left (Amazon/Target starts Oct 1st.) , that you can float a substantial number of gift cards through a fast food or restaurant's website that you eat at regularly. Just make sure to buy them from the actual restaurant or their website. Alternately, sites like Grubhub, Eat24, and (I believe, but haven't done this one personally) restaurant.com all code as restaurants. You can load up on them (often at a discount) and use them over a few months. Obvious note of "Don't spend money you weren't planning to spend anyway," but I tend to get lunch at the same few places during the work week and just filled up whatever was left from my bonus category with a large gift card to those places to use over the next month or two.
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Sep 11, 2017 17:02
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Thanks! Eh, I need to spend $500 on my new Chase Freedom Unlimited to get the bonus, I'm planning on freezing that and switching to the Discover card for Q4 Amazon.
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Sep 11, 2017 17:07
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Eh, I need to spend $500 on my new Chase Freedom Unlimited to get the bonus, I'm planning on freezing that and switching to the Discover card for Q4 Amazon. That Discover IT Q4 category is crazy good. They currently have a Discover Deal for Target.com up that is likely to resurface next quarter. Make sure to check the Discover Deals to stack big purchases. If you ever make a purchase that qualifies for the deal, but didn't activate the deal before you made it, then you can send a message to Discover in your account and they will match the bonus as if you had. That is handy to know in case you miss a lucrative deal.
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Sep 11, 2017 17:10
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TraderStav posted:I have to eat the $150 (after travel credit) to renew my CSR for another year because I haven't cashed in my 125K points yet. Sure, I could transfer them to my Freedom, but the 50% bonus on using them with the CSR is greater than the $150 annual fee. I just took my remaining $800 in points as cash--would have been $1200 in travel. Somewhat wasteful, but I really don't want to pay that annual fee again.
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Sep 11, 2017 19:25
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Whoops I forgot to do the math and figure out if the csr is worth keeping. I do travel at least once a year and sometimes twice so I took it for granted that it was worth the fee. Haven't spent my chase balance yet anyway so I'm in for at least another year
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Sep 11, 2017 19:33
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Vox Nihili posted:I just took my remaining $800 in points as cash--would have been $1200 in travel. Somewhat wasteful, but I really don't want to pay that annual fee again. Yeah, you're making me review my options here. I could use the $1,500 to pay down some leftover debt. Have plenty of points with SPG (130K) and SWA (123K plus companion pass for my wife) that could get me some good travel in for 2018.
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Sep 11, 2017 19:52
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Oh hell, this was in the wrong thread. I signed up for the Chase Business Ink Preferred. Is it worth getting the Chase Freedom Unlimited too? G-Mawwwwwww fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Sep 11, 2017 |
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Sep 11, 2017 20:12
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Is it possible to transfer chase UR points to spouses? I've got some leftover and I'm cancelling my CSR. My wife just got a CSP and could make better use of my points with the bonus compared to no bonus on my Chase freedom.
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Sep 11, 2017 21:34
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extravadanza posted:Is it possible to transfer chase UR points to spouses? I've got some leftover and I'm cancelling my CSR. My wife just got a CSP and could make better use of my points with the bonus compared to no bonus on my Chase freedom. Yes it is, and it's very easy. Google up your request and there should be a Chase website that pops up. I did it from my wifes CSR to mine to consolidated all the points.
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Sep 11, 2017 21:44
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Most of my spending is done on my double cash, or Costco card (gas 4%, restaurants 3%, travel 3%). I have a discover it that I use when the 5% category is something useful. Thinking about opening the chase freedom to have another card with 5% rotating, and for the $150. Any harm in opening that and only using it when there is a compelling category? Might mean it's not used at all for a quarter or something. Credit score about 780, not planning on getting a car loan or mortgage soon.
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Sep 12, 2017 21:50
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Just an FYI if this is useful to anyone: The Barclay Arrival Card is no longer going to be offered to the general public starting next week. It will be publicly available again sometime soon, but with a different (reduced) sign-on bonus. Current bonus is no annual fee for the first year and $525 ($500 bonus and then a $25 bonus for the first time you redeem points) after spending $4,000 in 3 months. Very good bonus and only available for a few more days.
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Sep 13, 2017 15:46
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Any one else have a discover it, with the extra cash back, referral link? Tried using the one posted earlier but it just tells me I logged out?
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Sep 13, 2017 16:48
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CraigSlice posted:Any one else have a discover it, with the extra cash back, referral link? Tried using the one posted earlier but it just tells me I logged out? Let me know if this works. http://refer.discover.com/s/ouei3
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Sep 13, 2017 16:51
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