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Jerk McJerkface posted:It looks like the last one I can't exchange into cash, can I? I don't care about travel, I want straight up cash money yo. Right, AA isn't for cash. Enjoy the Premier! As mentioned you'd get $400 in straight cash, or if you redeem for gift cards you can get $500 worth. List of gift cards at: https://rewards.thankyou.com/b2r/Landing.htm?type=GIFT_CARD&cmp=nav&lid=sub-nav%7Cgift-cards%7Csee-all&src=TYUSENG ('continue as visitor') If it's your first Citi card, you'll want to look into Citi Price Rewind: register (non-grocery) purchases you make and if it automatically finds a lower price (or if you find a lower price and submit a screenshot/pdf-print of the website) they'll pay you the difference as a check or statement credit. List of exclusions at their website if not in the benefits guide they'll send you. Citi also has a cool virtual account number feature where you can generate a one-time-use (or recurring use) CC# for online purchases/payments at a single merchant. Dollar limit and expiration date are configurable. astral fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Apr 28, 2018 |
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Apr 28, 2018 04:34
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I dunno we've done it both ways and TJ is way cheaper. My wife buys almost no snacks or frozen food and only fresh meats and produce. TJ is way cheaper for those kids of things than Whole Foods. Fresh meats are very overpriced at Trader Joe's relative to pretty much anywhere else in the entire world with the possible exception of Whole Food. I dunno why someone is recommending Whole Food as an option for saving money, but instead of that try pretty much anywhere else, standard grocery stores, Costco, etc.
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Apr 28, 2018 04:56
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I am a penny-pinching, miles & point hoarding goon with a family of 6 and who handles the grocery & household items buying, and the bulk of our buying is at Ralphs. We love clearance stuff, even meat since we eat it within a day or so of buying it. I hit up Food 4 Less once a week for super cheap milk, meat, etc. Household goods are usually bought on sale at CVS, then at Target as a last resort. Amazon subscribe & save for whatever random deals I find on Slickdeals. I would estimate we spend $800/month on groceries, maybe another $200 on dry goods and random Amazon stuff. I could be underestimating it, but I highly doubt it's over $1000/month for groceries. I probably should be tracking it better, since my Amex pays back 6% up to $6000 in purchases. And I know I'm pretty far from it so far this year. I only hit Trader Joes for the occasional splurge on frozen meals or hummus & cheese. I end up spending way too much for very little, it makes my wallet hurt so I avoid it as much as possible. I haven't been in a Whole Foods or Bristol Farms in years.
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Apr 28, 2018 07:37
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I think it's regionally specific. Our TJ's competes with Costco on price on certain meats we typically eat. Their produce is generally more expensive than dedicated produce markets and certainly more expensive than Costco (assuming you can consume the XL pack before it goes bad).
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Apr 28, 2018 15:41
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So I have great credit and no debt but my utilization makes my credit score drop a few points every now and then. I have 3 cards all at Capital One, (1 Quicksilver and 2 Spark Business Cards). I can't seem to get any higher increases from them because I think they treat all 3 as some combined credit limit for the company. Is there a recommended card to apply for that I will never actually use but just increase my available credit? Would just having that card help my utilization even if I never use it?
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May 2, 2018 11:52
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FateFree posted:So I have great credit and no debt but my utilization makes my credit score drop a few points every now and then. I have 3 cards all at Capital One, (1 Quicksilver and 2 Spark Business Cards). I can't seem to get any higher increases from them because I think they treat all 3 as some combined credit limit for the company. Are you looking to buy a house or something? It won't matter if your credit score fluctuates slightly based upon your utilization for 99.99% of scenarios. If you're looking to apply for a mortgage, just pay off your balances before the statement gets posted and it'll get reported that you have 0 utilization for that month. Get another card if there's one that you'd like to have - but I wouldn't bother if it's just to make your utilization look better.
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May 2, 2018 12:25
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In a few years maybe but I probably should have an extra card anyway in case of some kind of emergency. Are there cards out there that the bank won't close due to inactivity?
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May 2, 2018 13:09
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Have a large purchase coming up and I can either refer my gf chase sapphire or put it on something new for the point pop. I want to gear all the rewards toward travel, what's the current hotness? Going to use it to travel as well
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May 2, 2018 13:25
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Nobody gives a poo poo about grocery bill virtue signaling in this thread of all places.
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May 2, 2018 14:04
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Waroduce posted:Have a large purchase coming up and I can either refer my gf chase sapphire or put it on something new for the point pop. I want to gear all the rewards toward travel, what's the current hotness? AmEx Plat Card is the absolute most value you can get for traveling in one year with the sign-up bonus + annual credits. It has a hefty annual fee, so make sure that you are planning to take the trip within a year. Chase Sapphire Reserve is still vey good for traveling, but they cut the bonus down recently. Still has an annual credit and strong bonus, though.
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May 2, 2018 14:23
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Does getting married change my/my fiancee's eligibility for credit card bonuses/etc? She uses an Amex Platinum right now, I use a Chase Sapphire Reserve. Should she or I sign up for cards while we're single?
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May 2, 2018 14:41
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Thoguh posted:Nobody gives a poo poo about grocery bill virtue signaling in this thread of all places. Thanks for saying this, we used to have a frugality humble brag thread but then it ran off to the MMM forums and left those of us too fat and rich to care about our spending behind.
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May 2, 2018 21:04
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What the hell do grocery store virtue signals have to do with credit cards?
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May 2, 2018 22:53
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Insane Totoro posted:What the hell do grocery store virtue signals have to do with credit cards? Its a law of the internet that if someone posts their grocery budget someone else will reply and act shocked that anyone could ever spend that much. Doesn't matter where the post is made or what the amount is.
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May 2, 2018 23:43
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Is that some post 2007 poo poo or something?
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May 2, 2018 23:51
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I don't know what's going on here, but I'm confiscating everyone's rewards points
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May 3, 2018 00:30
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Moneyball posted:I don't know what's going on here, but I'm confiscating everyone's rewards points As of today right? Because my 120k southwest points post next month
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May 3, 2018 03:03
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Does Barclays have any non poo poo cards I could change my old Sallie Mae to something else? I just got an email that it is now an even new card but it is still poo poo for rewards. I have a double cash for normal spending, Costco visa for gas/restaurants/travel expenses... I pay Hulu on the Barclays card and that's it
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May 9, 2018 15:11
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^^ I just got the Uber card, it seems good. 4% on dining, 3 on travel, no fee, other stuff
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May 9, 2018 15:29
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Just wanted to share my ridiculous experience today with Barclays. I had the Barlcay Arrival Plus Mastercard for almost 3 years and it was my primary card for most of that time with about $50k spending a year. In August of last year I had a fraudulent charge and they charged me $50 to send me a new card. I complained about this and had to talk to multiple people who claimed the charge was an error, but still made it very difficult to get the charge removed. It was unpleasant and the annual fee was coming up due so I cancelled the card. Today I got an email that my bill is due soon. I log into the website which says "ACCOUNT IS CLOSED, LIMITED FUNCTIONALITY" all over the screen, and yet they allowed a $25 random subscription charge go through 9 months after the account was closed. I called customer service and was told that it's in the disclosures that this can happen and no, they will not reverse the charge. So apparently I have to monitor this account for the rest of my life because they're not capable of preventing 100% of charges from going through on a closed account. 
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May 9, 2018 18:15
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That's insane. Did the charge go through on the original card, or on the new one (the one you received before cancelling the card)? Just wondering if you can avoid new charges by reporting the card lost before cancelling the account.
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May 9, 2018 18:53
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Barclays is poo poo
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May 9, 2018 19:00
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:That's insane. I'm pretty certain I've had this happen with both Amex and Citi for cards that were lost or stolen.
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May 9, 2018 19:13
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The moral of the story is to make sure that if you cancel a card, you change the billing info for every subscription you have and preferably also any online stores you shop at.Ur Getting Fatter posted:That's insane. This could help if you're worried about fraud after closing. astral fucked around with this message at 19:27 on May 9, 2018 |
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May 9, 2018 19:23
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asur posted:I'm pretty certain I've had this happen with both Amex and Citi for cards that were lost or stolen.
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May 9, 2018 20:26
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So I'm about to get my 50000 in ThankYou points, but I noticed that I can't really cash them out for straight up cash or statement credits without a substantial loss in value. What's the best way to use them? I think GC is 1 to 1 (vs cash which 1 to .5, statement credit 1 to .75). I'm a little deflated, I didn't realize I couldn't just cash them out. They are worth the most as a travel reward but I'm not traveling anytime soon.
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May 17, 2018 22:28
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Jerk McJerkface posted:So I'm about to get my 50000 in ThankYou points, but I noticed that I can't really cash them out for straight up cash or statement credits without a substantial loss in value. What's the best way to use them? I think GC is 1 to 1 (vs cash which 1 to .5, statement credit 1 to .75). I'm a little deflated, I didn't realize I couldn't just cash them out. They are worth the most as a travel reward but I'm not traveling anytime soon. Yeah, cashing it out can be a little rough with the 'simple' options: transaction credit for 0.75 cents a point, pay on Amazon gets you 0.8 cents per point. I've heard that if you redeem the thankyou points against a recent utility transaction (gas, electric, water, etc) you can get 1c/pt, but I have not tried it. It should tell you the point cost if you go to the redeem against recent transactions page. Otherwise you can get GCs to places you like to go for that missing 20% of the value. Yet another option is to use them to pay a mortgage or student loan at 1c/pt (search 'mortgage' or 'loan' from the main thankyou page). astral fucked around with this message at 23:04 on May 17, 2018 |
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May 17, 2018 22:53
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In the past a few years ago when I had the Citi Forward I would do the student loan payment for 1 cent per point. It was a kind of involved process where you had to call them to redeem the points, and then they would mail you a check made out to a bank, and then you are supposed to write in the memo line your account info and then deposit it to the bank.
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May 17, 2018 23:18
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Jerk McJerkface posted:They are worth the most as a travel reward but I'm not traveling anytime soon. Even considering the time value of money, if you're planning any travelling even within the next decade (and the rewards don't lose value), it can be more valuable to use them this way because you can easily double your 1:1 cash value that way.
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May 18, 2018 01:30
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Awesome LL Bean card is switching from Barclays to Citibank. I loving hate Barclays. I set up text alerts for purchases with Barclays and it doesnt text you until the transaction clears (after 2-3 days...)
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May 18, 2018 14:02
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baquerd posted:Even considering the time value of money, if you're planning any travelling even within the next decade (and the rewards don't lose value), it can be more valuable to use them this way because you can easily double your 1:1 cash value that way. The problem I have with this is that I have a family of four, and every time I try to split up a large flight between points and tickets, the fees end up eating up a lot of the value. At this point, I'm not planning any vacations that require flights or hotels for a while, so I'm just going to do the mortgage payment, since it's 1:1. I've opened up a support ticket with my mortgage servicer to ask how that works.
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May 18, 2018 16:26
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baquerd posted:Even considering the time value of money, if you're planning any travelling even within the next decade (and the rewards don't lose value), it can be more valuable to use them this way because you can easily double your 1:1 cash value that way. This usually only works out if you value high-end amenities at close to their cash value, and are willing to either pay a significant chunk of that cash value on upgradeable bookings or spend huge point balances to book the high-end stuff outright. In other words, points booking doesn't do much better than cash for most economy flights and midrange hotels. That's why Chase's travel portal is often a pretty good deal. The big value numbers for point redemption tend to come from something like, "I spent just $500 worth of points to upgrade my $3,500 transpacific business class ticket to a $7,500 first class seat! That means I got eight times the cash value, what an amazing deal." If you really want occasional insane-luxury splurges that make your Instagram followers jealous, maybe that's worth it. But it's a niche hobby when a lot of people would rather take an economy seat and a pile of cash.
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May 19, 2018 02:46
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So my CU offered me a card with $200 bonus after spending $2k in the first 60 days, which I decided to sign up for. It's only 1% after that, and I'll probably just throw it in a drawer after getting the bonus, but after I was approved the email said I'd get my card in 10-14 business days. I'm kind of annoyed because I know that 60 days starts right when I get approved, and I was banking on using the card to pay some big bills that come due at the end of May. I'm hoping I get the card in time, because otherwise I doubt I'll be spending that much in the 40-45 days I'll have left. Also, for some reason they approved me for a $15,000 limit, lol.
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May 19, 2018 13:34
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Space Gopher posted:This usually only works out if you value high-end amenities at close to their cash value, and are willing to either pay a significant chunk of that cash value on upgradeable bookings or spend huge point balances to book the high-end stuff outright. The other thing is that I'm going to have about 60k points. If I turn that into cash now, it's $450. If I wait a year or two for a flight the annual fee will eat up $95 a year, so I lose the value if I wait. I have other cards that are just as good and better for my normal spend, so there's no reason to keep this card after I get the sign on bonus.
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May 19, 2018 13:41
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Space Gopher posted:This usually only works out if you value high-end amenities at close to their cash value, and are willing to either pay a significant chunk of that cash value on upgradeable bookings or spend huge point balances to book the high-end stuff outright. Yeah, travel options will be restrictive to maximize value, but thinks like international flights come out of the gate pretty quickly if you book far enough in advance. I got international flights in economy ORD->LHR for $300 worth of cash value points each and maybe $50 in fees, upgraded to economy plus for $145. That would typically be more like $900+ if paid directly.
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May 19, 2018 23:43
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Anyone have a Blue Cash Every Day Preferred referral offer? I'm about to hit the 4k for the my Citi ThankYou card, and I need my next sign up bonus to churn. Note before you check my post history and say "How did you spend $4k in a month?" I'd like to inform you that 1) it's besides the point, and 2) I paid for a shared family vacation with it that pretty much maxed the 4k in one go which I've already been paid back by everyone for it so don't worry about it.
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May 21, 2018 16:49
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No one here cares how you spent $4k in a month.
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May 21, 2018 17:04
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Animal posted:No one here cares how you spent $4k in a month. The previous virtue signaling in the thread says otherwise. But back on topic, is there a referal thing for that, so I can help out a goon?
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May 21, 2018 17:06
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Pm sent. E: wait, I don't have Preferred. Just BC Every Day.
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May 21, 2018 17:12
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Sent one by PM. BCP's one of my favorite cards.
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May 21, 2018 17:29
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