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I logged into Citi to maybe request a replacement and saw this:quote:Effective September 22, 2019, Worldwide Car Rental Insurance, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, Worldwide Travel Accident Insurance, Citi® Price Rewind, 90 Day Return Protection, Damage & Theft Purchase Protection, and Extended Warranty will be discontinued and will no longer be provided for purchases made on or after that date. Coverage for purchases made before that date will continue to be available, and you may continue to file for benefits in accordance with the current benefit terms. The Extended Warranty benefits was one of the reasons I got this card. 
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Sep 1, 2019 00:35
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Sub Rosa posted:I logged into Citi to maybe request a replacement and saw this: Yeah, Citi is shredding most of their benefits; it's quite sad. The Costco card is still keeping a lot of them (probably because of their agreement w/ Costco), but none of them afaik will keep price protection (price rewind). If you want good Extended Warranty coverage I'd look next at Amex; they match MFG warranty up to an extra 2 years (vs. Citi's add-two-years-outright) as long as the MFG warranty is 5 years or less. Reports have always been that Amex is one of, if not the best to deal with for claims. edit: amex warranty details astral fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Sep 1, 2019 |
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Sep 1, 2019 00:50
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Citi slashing the benefits really changes the value proposition on 2% cash back cards. Fidelity's 2% cashback visa still has:
Paypal's has:
Alliant has a 2% visa for members of their credit union, too. It has a 2% FTF and it also has secondary CDW. Couldn't find a convenient benefits PDF with a quick search there either; if anyone has this card and can snag the current benefits link that'd be helpful!
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Sep 1, 2019 01:08
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astral posted:If you want good Extended Warranty coverage I'd look next at Amex; they match MFG warranty up to an extra 2 years (vs. Citi's add-two-years-outright). Doesn't go above 5 years total though if I recall correctly. I do have an Amex EveryDay, but, as you seem to know, there were certain cases where Citi's Extended Warranty would be better depending on how long the original warranty was. I do also have the Fidelity 2% card. Guess it's time to throw the Citi DoubleCash in the sock drawer.
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Sep 1, 2019 01:33
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Sub Rosa posted:I do have an Amex EveryDay, but, as you seem to know, there were certain cases where Citi's Extended Warranty would be better depending on how long the original warranty was. Yep! An excellent time to vote with your wallet, as they say. Or at least with what's in it.  The only other one I can think of at the moment that adds time rather than doubles is Wells Fargo's Visa Signature, which adds a year outright.
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Sep 1, 2019 01:43
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astral posted:Alliant has a 2% visa for members of their credit union, too. It has a 2% FTF and it also has secondary CDW. Couldn't find a convenient benefits PDF with a quick search there either; if anyone has this card and can snag the current benefits link that'd be helpful! Alliant actually has two cards, a 2% no annual fee card and a 2.5%, $99 annual fee card.
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Sep 1, 2019 02:44
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saintonan posted:Alliant actually has two cards, a 2% no annual fee card and a 2.5%, $99 annual fee card. Those are rates/fees/legal things unfortunately but thanks anyway!
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Sep 1, 2019 02:48
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I believe Alliant just points to https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/card-benefits.html for those sorts of benefits.
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Sep 1, 2019 03:00
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Is there a thread specifically for discussion of maximizing credit card points, hotel points, and airline miles for travel? Or is is it just this thread for rewards overall? I ask because I'm thinking of switching my credit card strategy from a cash back focus to a travel rewards focus. When I first was looking to get in the credit card rewards game a couple years ago, I decided to focus on cash back because I wasn't able to travel very often at the time, and also because all the travel focused websites seemed to be speaking another language that I didn't have the time or inclination to learn (stuff like "Transfer your CSR UR points or Amex MR points to BA Avios or KrisFlyer AsiaMiles at a 1:1 rate and get a 20% bonus!). But circumstances have changed, and I will likely be able to travel more in the future, so I was thinking of picking up a few travel cards. I've been reading a lot of sites like ThePointsGuy and MillionMileSecrets, but sometimes it's difficult to tell on those sites when a credit card is actually a good choice vs. when they are just writing an article that makes a card sound good so they'll get more signup referrals. Assuming this is the right thread - does anyone have any insight on cash back cards vs. travel points cards?
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Sep 4, 2019 19:45
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OldSenileGuy posted:Assuming this is the right thread - does anyone have any insight on cash back cards vs. travel points cards? Travel cards are generally speaking more lucrative than cash back cards. They tend to have extremely good bonuses, and most have annual fees, which means if you want to min/max rewards, you'll want to "churn" cards rapidly (sign-up, make some minimum spend to get a bonus, then optionally close the card to avoid subsequent annual fees) to get as many signup bonuses as possible. Along those lines, the churning subreddit has a lot of background information, and daily question threads filled with people who min/max this more than you'd ever thought possible. You might also want to check out the FlyerTalk forums, as they're populated by people who travel for a living, and can give qualified advice on what travel rewards programs are good or bad relative to each other. Sites like ThePointsGuy, DoctorofCredit, nerdwallet, etc. do get income from referrals, but their advice overall seems sound. Like anything else, getting and confirming information from multiple sources will increase your confidence in the advice you get.
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Sep 4, 2019 20:04
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OldSenileGuy posted:I've been reading a lot of sites like ThePointsGuy and MillionMileSecrets, but sometimes it's difficult to tell on those sites when a credit card is actually a good choice vs. when they are just writing an article that makes a card sound good so they'll get more signup referrals. Generally assume it's the latter, especially with TPG. There are a lot of good deals to be had from credit card rewards, particularly from signup bonuses. If you have an idea of where you want to go, you can use that to figure out the best points currency or currencies to use to get there. That'll decide which credit cards/bonuses you'd want to shoot for. Typically you'd want to start with Chase cards just because of their restrictive rules - you can't open a chase card if you've opened 5 or more cards in the last 24 months. Most recommended single Chase card will likely be the Chase Sapphire Reserve if you plan to do a lot of travel - the lounge access is great, the $300 travel credit offsets most of the annual fee, and earning 3 UR points per dollar on dining and travel is not bad at all. The signup bonus for spending $4000 in the first 3 months is also nothing to sneeze at. Chase offers other cards that earn 1.5 UR points on everything, or a rotating category card that earns 5 UR points on that quarter's categories; UR points themselves are worth 1.5c each on the Chase travel portal when you have the Sapphire Reserve (or potentially even more with their transfer partners). astral fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Sep 4, 2019 |
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Sep 4, 2019 20:49
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Some sign up bonuses can be found here:Jerk McJerkface posted:
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Sep 4, 2019 20:49
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Doctorofcredit is VERY upfront about bonuses he gets and goes out of his way to discourage deals he finds aren't in the best interest of the reader, he's genuinely one of the best faith people on the net (to the extent you can say that about a churner) and finds more value in providing a site with great community driven data points. Thepointsguy needs to be taken with a mountain of salt, especially the poo poo that ends up on their Facebook feed.
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Sep 5, 2019 01:25
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astral posted:Chase Sapphire Reserve if you plan to do a lot of travel - the lounge access is great The lounge access sucks. They are poo poo tier priority pass and often "full" or "closed". It's nearly entirely useless domestically.
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Sep 5, 2019 01:28
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Motronic posted:The lounge access sucks. They are poo poo tier priority pass and often "full" or "closed". It's nearly entirely useless domestically. Yup. I don't even bother with them.
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Sep 5, 2019 01:45
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It's not that bad, but I definitely prefer American or delta
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Sep 5, 2019 02:47
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Motronic posted:The lounge access sucks. They are poo poo tier priority pass and often "full" or "closed". It's nearly entirely useless domestically. Residency Evil posted:Yup. I don't even bother with them. Sorry to hear you guys have had bad experiences, but I wouldn't call it 'nearly entirely useless' domestically. As usual, things like that depend among other things on where you're flying out of and what time of day it is; you can check the supported lounges and restaurant offerings on their website: https://www.prioritypass.com/en/ as they have been adding and removing a lot of restaurant options recently. When you're wanting to use a lounge or restaurant, do make sure to check any hours/restrictions ahead of time. I don't disagree that the international lounges are generally much better than the domestic ones.
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Sep 5, 2019 03:08
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OldSenileGuy posted:Is there a thread specifically for discussion of maximizing credit card points, hotel points, and airline miles for travel? Or is is it just this thread for rewards overall? The churning subreddit mentioned already is where I get my info from. There's actually a flowchart that tells you the "optimal" strategy. Like the other poster mentioned you're going to want to stay in the Chase ecosystem while under 5/24. Chase card I recommend the most would be the Chase Ink preferred. I currently have two of them for a 80,000 UR bonus, planning on getting a 3rd one as well.
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Sep 5, 2019 05:20
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astral posted:When you're wanting to use a lounge or restaurant, do make sure to check any hours/restrictions ahead of time. Thank you, sage traveler, for helping me - the guy who travels the world for work - navigate such an issue. It's great that you're having good luck at whatever handful of airports you visit, but it's pretty well established this "benefit" sucks anywhere most people need to be. It's not about checking schedules. It's about random signs on the PP lounge in Seattle with "lol, sorry, closed to PP members today!" which happens to be up 90% of the time and other very, very similar shenanigans all over the US and abroad. Even if you get in, the PP lounges in most places are little better than the rest of the airport and in no way compare to a high tier frequent flyer lounge or a Centurion lounge. If you've never been to a lounge before you might really like it for the novelty.
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Sep 5, 2019 05:41
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Motronic posted:Thank you, sage traveler, for helping me - the guy who travels the world for work - navigate such an issue. Sorry for getting your world-traveling panties in a bunch by floating the surprisingly difficult-to-grasp idea that your mileage might vary depending on where and when you're flying! --- Anyway, to elaborate a bit more for the OP I had originally responded to, for the priority pass lounge access benefit to be 'great' it just has to be worth at least some part of the ~$50 net annual fee difference between the CSP and CSR. If your trips take you through places with Priority Pass lounges, it's pretty easily met in the space of an entire year with even just a couple of restaurant visits @ $28 off the bill per visit (+ another $28 for each guest up to whatever imposed limit). How often, where, and when (time of day + days of the week) you travel will affect the value you can get out of it, as will your level of indignation at seeing a "Sorry, we're full/expecting to be full!" sign. astral fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 07:06
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One other thing to work into your calculations is that you can get PP access from a number of different cards. I have mine through my Amex Hilton Surpass, for example. In general, if you see a perk that's valuable to you, there may be ways to get that on an ongoing basis with a lower annual fee.
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Sep 5, 2019 12:41
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Priority pass through Amex doesn’t get you access to the restaurants in their system anymore though. And if you’re mostly domestic, that’s a huge part of having Priority Pass - every time you eat at a PP restaurant they’ll knock off $28 from the bill or $56 if you’re with another person.
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Sep 5, 2019 16:50
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I guess that's just another thing to factor in. I never felt like the restaurants were a very good value anyway, so that wasn't a factor for me, but others may put (much) more value on that part. Having a relatively quiet space to just relax away from the chaos of boarding gates is what makes PP worthwhile to me.
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Sep 5, 2019 17:19
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I've been unable to use a PP lounge once ever, and since I don't travel enough with one airline to get lounge access that way, maintaining priority pass access through CSR is still important to me. It's much better than sitting by the gate.
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Sep 5, 2019 17:45
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What's this I hear about transferring United miles to Hyatt 1:1??? Edit. Dumbass friend meant converting UA to Bonvoy. Insane Totoro fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 17:50
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Priority Pass is either feast or famine. A lot of the lounges can be ignored as they either suck or are always full. But if you frequently go through airports with the restaurant credit you’ll easily get back your credit card’s annual fee and then some. DEN and JFK have great restaurants in the network. I wanna get the AMEX Plat just for the Centurion and Delta lounges but I haven’t gotten a compelling sign-in bonus offer yet, and the cards other perks don’t seem to be competitive with the Saphire Reserve.
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Sep 5, 2019 18:49
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I want to get TSA Precheck, are there any no annual fee cards that will cover the cost for me? Preferably with a sweet signup bonus I know Chase Sapph Reserve does that - is that card still a good deal even with the massive AF? I'm not sure where I'm at with 5/24 but it's been quite some time since I opened a chase card so maybe. I think I have enough United miles sitting around for this deal which I will probably do if there aren't any good signup bonuses - https://securityfees.mileageplus.com/ (edit: after some research I don't think this is a particularly good deal as I think I'd get a better value for my united miles by buying plane tickets. seems like they average 1.5c per mile so 10k miles is about $150 of flight credit and TSAPre is only $85. but I just want free poo poo ugh lol) spatula fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 20:18
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spatula posted:I want to get TSA Precheck, are there any no annual fee cards that will cover the cost for me? Preferably with a sweet signup bonus Penfed Pathfinder: https://www.penfed.org/credit-cards/pathfinder-rewards-american-express The FNBO TravElite also did/does, but if I remember correctly they closed that to new applications a long time ago.
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Sep 5, 2019 20:53
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The CSR has a 50k bonus when you sign up - worth $500 if you cash it out, or $750 if you redeem it for travel through their portal, or potentially more if you transfer points to United or Hyatt. Plus the $100 reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA precheck. Plus the $300 in travel credit. You’ll get this one every year too. Plus whatever priority pass is worth to you. So you end up getting at least $900 of value for the price of the $450 annual fee. Whether it’s worth it in year 2 mostly depends on you. But you’ve got a full year to figure that out. Initio fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 21:15
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Initio posted:The CSR has a 50k bonus when you sign up - worth $500 if you cash it out, or $750 if you redeem it for travel through their portal, or potentially more if you transfer points to United or Hyatt. The annual fee isn't waived the first year, though right? I need to know if my transit passes count, since that'd make it incredibly worth it for me... Hmmm: quote:Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains. Super-NintendoUser fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 21:23
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Jerk McJerkface posted:The annual fee isn't waived the first year, though right? Annual fee is not waived the first year and my metro passes counted.
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Sep 5, 2019 21:34
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Thanks yall. That PenFed Pathfinder thing looked good, but then I saw I have to be a PenFed credit union member and that's way too much work for a bonus. I had a traumatic experience opening a checking account for a Citi bonus where I ended up having to write to CFPB twice about it before they gave me my gd points. CSR does not waive the first year fee. But I guess it still looks pretty good if I cancel it before the 2nd annual fee hits. Did the bonus use to be better or something? I had some vague idea that I "missed the boat" on this card which is why I haven't considered it too deeply. Also - I've had a Chase Sapphire Preferred and currently a Chase Sapphire after I product changed it to stop the annual fees. Will Chase give a poo poo about this if I try to get a Reserve? I seem to be well under the 5/24 Chase rule according to my Credit Karma data (which surprised me. When they instituted that rule I was like 12/24 lol. I'm slowing down!)
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Sep 5, 2019 21:38
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Yeah it was 100k points when it first came out. Honestly since the first $300 you spend on travel gets waived it's functionally a $150 fee. Signing up for TSA Precheck makes up $85 more, so you're out $65 more than you already budgeted to spend right? So the bonus points easily wipe that.
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Sep 5, 2019 22:11
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Diva Cupcake posted:Annual fee is not waived the first year and my metro passes counted. I already have the CSP so I'd just cancel that and switch over to that guy. The Annual fee is only $50 more and it's already worth it. I'm up against the 5/24 rule, so I have to wait until next Spring, but I'll keep my eye on it. Thanks!
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Sep 5, 2019 22:27
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spatula posted:Thanks yall. That PenFed Pathfinder thing looked good, but then I saw I have to be a PenFed credit union member and that's way too much work for a bonus. I had a traumatic experience opening a checking account for a Citi bonus where I ended up having to write to CFPB twice about it before they gave me my gd points. Citi's one of the worst as far as anything IT related goes, especially when it comes to checking accounts; your experience with PenFed would likely be much better. quote:CSR does not waive the first year fee. But I guess it still looks pretty good if I cancel it before the 2nd annual fee hits. Did the bonus use to be better or something? I had some vague idea that I "missed the boat" on this card which is why I haven't considered it too deeply. If you opened/received a signup bonus for any Sapphire card in the last 4 years you're ineligible to receive any Sapphire signup bonus during that period. Jerk McJerkface posted:I already have the CSP so I'd just cancel that and switch over to that guy. The Annual fee is only $50 more and it's already worth it. I'm up against the 5/24 rule, so I have to wait until next Spring, but I'll keep my eye on it. See above. You might consider a product change, though.
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Sep 5, 2019 22:39
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astral posted:Citi's one of the worst as far as anything IT related goes, especially when it comes to checking accounts; your experience with PenFed would likely be much better. I believe that! I don't think anything could be worse than the Citi experience I had. One time I logged into my checking account and was literally looking at someone else's information. Christ. Citibank, never again. I just recently opened a Discover Savings account for a $200 bonus and don't want to juggle any more bank accounts. They're just harder to close than credit cards and seem more difficult. Maybe Citi just traumatized me that much though. And THANK YOU for that info on the Sapphire bonus - I just called Chase and they told me I received my CSP bonus in June 2015 so I'm actually eligible for a bonus on the Reserve now. But I wouldn't have known to check if I wasn't. I'll probably apply for the Reserve today. While I'm here, here's my current credit card stack to max my cashback - Discover IT + Chase Freedom - rotating 5% categories Amazon Prime Visa - 5% on amazon and 2% at drugstores Uber Visa - 4% restaurants and 2% online purchases (but a lot of my online purchases aren't counted under this, grrrrr) Amex Blue Cash Everyday - 3% grocery stores Chase Freedom Unlimited - 1.5% everything I guess I'm lacking a good travel card now (cancelled many of them to avoid AFs), so the Reserve will fit in nicely. It probably won't be worth it for me after the first year especially when I put so much other spend on other cards, but I'll get my TSA Precheck and take the bonus and run. And maybe hang out in an airport lounge for the novel experience.
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Sep 5, 2019 23:40
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astral posted:Citi's one of the worst as far as anything IT related goes, especially when it comes to checking accounts; your experience with PenFed would likely be much better. Well, I have the US Bank with 5% CB on Transit, so that's 260/m * 12 *.05 = $156 in yearly cash back w/ no annual fee, so I'm not so far off on value. I'd like to get that signup bonus, maybe I can have my wife sign up, I'll sleep on it.
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Sep 6, 2019 01:37
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Motronic posted:Thank you, sage traveler, for helping me - the guy who travels the world for work - navigate such an issue. This is the most Flyertalk loving post I've ever read outside of Flyertalk.
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Sep 6, 2019 18:35
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Ugh, this lounge calls their sparkling wine "champagne" when it isn't even from France I might as well be in the terminal with the poors.
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Sep 6, 2019 18:37
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Thoguh posted:Ugh, this lounge calls their sparkling wine "champagne" when it isn't even from France I might as well be in the terminal with the poors. Yes, my synopsis of PP lounge availability and the fact that they are often so little better than the terminal that I choose to just stay in the terminal is clearly exactly this.
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Sep 6, 2019 18:50
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