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Very helpful, thanks so much for sharing! This will really save me a lot in a time when I need it, wouldn't have known about the bonus spend except for your posts. Bravo!
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Jun 5, 2020 23:54
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Dalrain posted:Very helpful, thanks so much for sharing! This will really save me a lot in a time when I need it, wouldn't have known about the bonus spend except for your posts. Bravo! It's not just a new bonus, either - it goes back a couple of months. If you're thinking about cashing out, better to jump on it today and squeeze as much as you can out of old grocery bills.
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Jun 6, 2020 19:42
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I wonder if Chase is either already seeing or expecting to see a lot of cancellations of the CSR, because right now they're essentially giving 7.5% back in groceries that you can cash out immediately and there's no way that isn't costing them money. Though honestly this might end up making me more likely to cancel once my renewal comes due since I'm cashing out all of my points right now for said grocery refunds so there's no reason to keep it around for the 1.5% redemption. I already was on the fence when the effective fee went up to $250 and this might push me over.
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Jun 8, 2020 10:40
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Thoguh posted:I wonder if Chase is either already seeing or expecting to see a lot of cancellations of the CSR, because right now they're essentially giving 7.5% back in groceries that you can cash out immediately and there's no way that isn't costing them money. Though honestly this might end up making me more likely to cancel once my renewal comes due since I'm cashing out all of my points right now for said grocery refunds so there's no reason to keep it around for the 1.5% redemption. I already was on the fence when the effective fee went up to $250 and this might push me over. Thanks, had no idea this was a thing so will see if I want to dump lots/all my points on recent food purchases now.
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Jun 9, 2020 04:16
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Thoguh posted:I wonder if Chase is either already seeing or expecting to see a lot of cancellations of the CSR, because right now they're essentially giving 7.5% back in groceries that you can cash out immediately and there's no way that isn't costing them money. Though honestly this might end up making me more likely to cancel once my renewal comes due since I'm cashing out all of my points right now for said grocery refunds so there's no reason to keep it around for the 1.5% redemption. I already was on the fence when the effective fee went up to $250 and this might push me over. What’s this now?
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Jun 9, 2020 11:42
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Yo RE, do some searching for "Pay Yourself Back" with the Chase Sapphire, or go to the rewards portal hamburger menu and find the same. It looks to be a way to use points for a statement credit on grocery / restaurant purchases 90 days back. I'm thinking there is zero reason mathematically not to use this rather than continue to save points for future travel -- since it gives a 50% point bonus for the Reserve, same as travel. e: I missed it on the previous page too. So I have ~100k points now, I think if I redeemed everything eligible from 90 days back I'd be getting around a $1k statement credit, and foregoing around 60k points. Seems worth it? Inner Light fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jun 9, 2020 |
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Jun 9, 2020 16:32
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Inner Light posted:I'm thinking there is zero reason mathematically not to use this rather than continue to save points for future travel -- since it gives a 50% point bonus for the Reserve, same as travel. It depends on how you use your points, because certain transfers are worth a lot more then 1.5c. I’ve gotten as high as 3c for hotel redemption and 2.5c for flights. Given covid, it may not be worth it to hold points for travel you never go on. Buying Groceries at 5x points and then redeeming points against your statement at 1.5c is pretty good though.
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Jun 9, 2020 16:47
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Elysium posted:It depends on how you use your points, because certain transfers are worth a lot more then 1.5c. I’ve gotten as high as 3c for hotel redemption and 2.5c for flights. Given covid, it may not be worth it to hold points for travel you never go on. Yeah, the only situation where it doesn't make sense to cash out everything you can right now is if you think you'll be able to transfer to a hotel or airline that'll net you more than 1.5 cents/point since the grocery and restaurant cash out is currently just as good as what you could get for travel but you're converting it to straight up cash.
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Jun 9, 2020 18:39
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Residency Evil posted:What’s this now? Chase is letting customers liquidate their UR points at 1.5x by redeeming transaction credits for restaurants, groceries, and home improvement expenses. It’s nice. I have over $4,000 worth of UR which I’m converting to cash. At the current 5x points for groceries and the 1.5x point liquidation, the CSR is effectively a 7.5% cashback card for groceries and 4.5% for restaurants.
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Jun 9, 2020 19:16
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Sweet. Thanks for the heads up. I just cashed about $450 in UR credits I was otherwise not using for the foreseeable future.
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Jun 9, 2020 20:38
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Very glad I caught up with this thread. I saw that promo and somehow completely missed the fact it was for restaurant purchases as well, thought it was grocery only. Time to cash out!
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Jun 9, 2020 20:55
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Animal posted:Chase is letting customers liquidate their UR points at 1.5x by redeeming transaction credits for restaurants, groceries, and home improvement expenses. It’s nice. I have over $4,000 worth of UR which I’m converting to cash. At the current 5x points for groceries and the 1.5x point liquidation, the CSR is effectively a 7.5% cashback card for groceries and 4.5% for restaurants. Thanks for this heads up. I ended up cashing out some grocery trips/points, although haven't cashed everything out quite yet. Maybe travel will open back up at some point? 
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Jun 9, 2020 22:28
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Yeah, I had points all stockpiled for my Olympics trip (no cash was being spent on housing or travel) but here we are. Since it's still just postponed, I'm hesitant to cash out just yet but it's really tempting. 
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Jun 10, 2020 00:34
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Chaotic Flame posted:Yeah, I had points all stockpiled for my Olympics trip (no cash was being spent on housing or travel) but here we are. Since it's still just postponed, I'm hesitant to cash out just yet but it's really tempting. Are you planning on using the points to transfer to a hotel or airline partner or just for the 1.5 cent/point cash out? Because if it's the latter it's always better to have the cash, you can always just use it to book stuff later.
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Jun 10, 2020 01:55
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Thanks for the heads up, I finally looked into this! I dumped all my UR points from my non-CSR cards to the CSR, and cashed out over $1000 from restaurant purchases over the past few months. I've been using the CSR for all my Doordash purchases, which qualified for redemption. I also used the CSR for my big shopping trip today, where I threw in some gift cards I'll be using post-pandemic and am waiting for it all to post so I can cover it as well. Thanks goons! Before this deal I could not find a good way to use all the UR points I've been accumulating, I have hotel cards for lodging and usually pay for airfare with the CSR to get the travel insurance (and because the UR travel portal sucks). I never like pre-paying for rental cars with UR, and nothing else ever seemed worth the redemption. I almost forgive them for reinstating the increased annual fee on January 1 2021, when my annual fee comes up January 8th or something. Oh well, they've earned my business for another year.
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Jun 10, 2020 09:28
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Thoguh posted:Are you planning on using the points to transfer to a hotel or airline partner or just for the 1.5 cent/point cash out? Because if it's the latter it's always better to have the cash, you can always just use it to book stuff later. Definitely transferring. Had planned to stay at one of the nicer Hyatts in Tokyo
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Jun 10, 2020 14:22
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So maybe this is a dumb question but I applied for a card today (Citi Double Cash) and was declined (I think I was too optimistic about my score, I had thought a 713 was enough but looking around it seems like it needs to be higher). Can I try another application in the next few days or no? My understanding is the type of inquiry this generates can affect your score. Any recommendations would be welcomed, I'd prefer a cash back card if there's one I'd qualify for.
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Jun 16, 2020 14:21
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Mike Danger posted:So maybe this is a dumb question but I applied for a card today (Citi Double Cash) and was declined (I think I was too optimistic about my score, I had thought a 713 was enough but looking around it seems like it needs to be higher). Can I try another application in the next few days or no? My understanding is the type of inquiry this generates can affect your score. Any recommendations would be welcomed, I'd prefer a cash back card if there's one I'd qualify for. Citi and most credit card companies have reconsideration lines you can call and ask. You can often get manual approved if you were rejected by the automated process after answering some questions about employment or why you're opening the card. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-cards/credit-card-reconsideration-line-telephone-numbers/#Citibank_Credit_Card_Reconsideration
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Jun 16, 2020 14:29
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THF13 posted:Citi and most credit card companies have reconsideration lines you can call and ask. You can often get manual approved if you were rejected by the automated process after answering some questions about employment or why you're opening the card. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-cards/credit-card-reconsideration-line-telephone-numbers/#Citibank_Credit_Card_Reconsideration Interesting! I'll wait and see what other people say and maybe give them a call.
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Jun 16, 2020 14:32
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Mike Danger posted:So maybe this is a dumb question but I applied for a card today (Citi Double Cash) and was declined (I think I was too optimistic about my score, I had thought a 713 was enough but looking around it seems like it needs to be higher). Can I try another application in the next few days or no? My understanding is the type of inquiry this generates can affect your score. Any recommendations would be welcomed, I'd prefer a cash back card if there's one I'd qualify for. Was that 713 a real FICO score? Citi tends to be stricter with applications for its Double Cash. Since they rarely offer a good bonus on it, a lot of people end up signing up for another card with a better bonus and then product changing over after a year. Either way Citi slashed a lot of the benefits from that and if recon doesn't work out for you, you might be better served by one of the other 2% back cards out there like Fidelity Rewards Visa, Paypal Cashback Mastercard, etc.
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Jun 16, 2020 19:29
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Mike Danger posted:Interesting! I'll wait and see what other people say and maybe give them a call. I would call. You have nothing to lose.
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Jun 16, 2020 19:47
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I still don't have a rewards card yet (fairly new to credit), but I follow this thread, and am refinancing and just wanted to tell a story. I had the central heating and air unit go out on my house and was able to get a joint line of credit to replace the central unit with my live in long term gf 0% for 5 yeara. Credit utilization from it was depressing our score, like I said, I was hoping to refinance and was able to get a good rate via better.com so I had recently in the last year or so paid some extra on that line of credit to the tune of 2 grand or so beyond my payment plan. So what did they do? They cut my available credit by exactly 2k days before I got my refi locked in. Keep an eye out for that stuff goons.
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Jun 16, 2020 21:01
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Mike Danger posted:Interesting! I'll wait and see what other people say and maybe give them a call. You should 100% try the recon line. Worst case outcome is you don't get the card, but it can't hurt to try.
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Jun 16, 2020 21:34
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astral posted:Was that 713 a real FICO score? This is what credit karma reported and what equifax showed when I logged in to unfreeze my report, not sure what FICO means in this context. Going to call them tomorrow on my lunch break.
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Jun 17, 2020 05:02
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Mike Danger posted:This is what credit karma reported and what equifax showed when I logged in to unfreeze my report, not sure what FICO means in this context. Going to call them tomorrow on my lunch break. Credit Karma uses VantageScore, which is typically higher than your “real” (FICO) score. Lenders always use some version of a FICO score. VantageScore is really more of a novelty and only good for you to track trends over time.
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Jun 17, 2020 05:20
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gregday posted:Credit Karma uses VantageScore, which is typically higher than your “real” (FICO) score. Lenders always use some version of a FICO score. VantageScore is really more of a novelty and only good for you to track trends over time. I see. Is there a non-terrible place I can check the FICO score? I was under the impression this was what Credit Karma showed.
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Jun 17, 2020 15:55
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MyFICO.com is the only official reporting you can buy I think. They're usually $20 per and $60 for all 3 but there's always discount codes available. The free sites are perfectly fine for having a general idea of your scores.
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Jun 17, 2020 16:10
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Citi uses FICO Bankcard 8 for credit card approvals. Remember, there's no one "real" score, and although standard FICO comes close for home and auto loans, banks are free to use whatever they want as long as it's not blatantly discriminatory and has some correlation to risk. Plenty of banks use Vantage for credit card approvals, too. FICO Bankcard is an odd duck of a score that weighs recent history and revolving cards more heavily than standard FICO, where the model wants to see installment loans and long history. FICO Bankcard basically acts like Vantage in that regard. It also goes up to 900 rather than 850 like FICO 8 and Vantage do. Anecdotally, my FICO Bankcard 8 and Vantage scores track within a few points of each other; they're both about 20 points higher than my standard FICO 8 score. I've got a good history with credit cards, but not too many installment loans. As far as I know, the only easy place to get your FICO Bankcard 8 score for free is through a Citi-branded credit card. If you've been rejected, they legally have to provide you the basis for the rejection upon request, so you may also be able to get it that way. Call the reconsideration line. Space Gopher fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Jun 17, 2020 |
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Jun 17, 2020 16:28
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Mike Danger posted:I see. Is there a non-terrible place I can check the FICO score? I was under the impression this was what Credit Karma showed. Diva Cupcake posted:MyFICO.com is the only official reporting you can buy I think. They're usually $20 per and $60 for all 3 but there's always discount codes available. In general, plenty of banks give you a real-enough FICO score for free with their cards. Shouldn't have to pay money. Chase did remove that feature from their Slate card though. Amex also removed that benefit a year and a half ago. I believe it's still offered from BoA, Discover, and (though less useful in this situation) the Citi Double Cash. Discover offers a FICO score for free even if you aren't a cardholder: https://www.discover.com/free-credit-score/ As Space Gopher mentions, there are different credit scoring models even within the FICO branding, which makes things more fun. If/when you receive a rejection letter, it should include information on how to access a free copy of the credit information used to make the decision. Here's a link to DoC's tips for reconsideration, which are still good even though the article is a bit old: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/tips-for-reconsideration-phone-calls/
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Jun 17, 2020 18:02
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I called up Citi, unfortunately they weren't very helpful. The operator basically said there was nothing they could do to override the type of decline that was issued and that I'd get a letter in the mail with more information. I am a little concerned about the hard inquiry aspect of this, though. Should I wait before I apply for a different card? I'm considering maybe going with a local credit union instead of trying to get something from a big national bank - maybe my score is not as good as I had thought.
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Jun 17, 2020 18:58
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Now that I've bought a house and we're not going to buy another car for at least a year, is there any reason not to pick up 1 or 2 of the no annual fee cards to round out my credit options Right now putting about $4k/mo on an Amex platinum, but not getting much out of the rewards, only 1% I think since we're not traveling any more. I have a Citi plat(?) with 2% back but it's been topped out at 12k limit for 2 years now they seem to have no indication of increasing things Looks like there's at least one or two no annual fee cards with at least 1.5% back that doesn't require a usaa membership We only spend about $40/mo on gas, probably no extensive travel through next year, and not eating out either. Will probably continue to spend $800/mo on groceries for the foreseeable future. I think a couple of cards have good deals on groceries. We also spend a crap load with Amazon but their store card maxed out at $10k several years ago and it's not a real credit card. It does offer 5% back on Amazon which is better than their credit card which the op says is only 3%
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Jun 18, 2020 10:23
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Hadlock posted:Now that I've bought a house and we're not going to buy another car for at least a year, is there any reason not to pick up 1 or 2 of the no annual fee cards to round out my credit options Chase's Amazon Visa is also 5% back if you have Prime. The Chase Freedom is 5% on groceries the rest of this month (too late to get in on that), 5% at Amazon July-Sep. There are a few other solid 2% cards since Citi slashed the benefits on it, like the Paypal Cashback Mastercard or Fidelity Rewards Visa (if you have or don't mind making a fidelity account to go with it). You might get some good mileage out of Amex's Blue Cash Preferred on those groceries. There are also some temporary considerations with the Chase Sapphire Reserve giving some amazing point value towards groceries. Sorry for the abbreviated post; about to call it a night!
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Jun 18, 2020 10:34
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Are you just looking for more credit to have access to it, or when you say maxed and topped out are there balances on those other accounts? Because they're perfectly adequate to use and clearly your credit score is fine with no medium term need to increase it.
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Jun 18, 2020 14:54
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astral posted:You might get some good mileage out of Amex's Blue Cash Preferred on those groceries. This would be my suggestion. If you only want to open one card: It takes $263.88 a month in groceries to cover the annual fee ($95) with the extra 3% over the Blue Cash Everyday. You're more than covering that with your grocery bill. The Preferred would net you an additional $193 a year. So long as you're not getting groceries at Wal-Mart or a Krogers or something which code as either super or department strores. Would just check on your platinum how they code. If you have Prime, $193 / .03* comes to $6433.33. *Since you already have a 2% card, only calculating from the difference of the card you'd use instead. If you have Prime and are willing to pull twice for two cards, getting a Prime Store card or Amazon Visa is a solid choice along with the Blue Preferred. The Discover 5% and Chase 5% rotating category cards are good to have in a wallet, as well. If you want the Chase card, open it first. Girbot fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Jun 18, 2020 |
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Jun 18, 2020 15:23
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Hadlock posted:Now that I've bought a house and we're not going to buy another car for at least a year, is there any reason not to pick up 1 or 2 of the no annual fee cards to round out my credit options Try the goon ref page, lots of good sign up bonus in there. Jerk McJerkface posted:Goon Credit Card random referral page:
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Jun 18, 2020 15:28
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Surprised Chase put Amazon as the 5% Freedom category for the next quarter. If you can transfer the points to CSR, that is better than their own Amazon card.
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Jun 29, 2020 12:45
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smackfu posted:Surprised Chase put Amazon as the 5% Freedom category for the next quarter. If you can transfer the points to CSR, that is better than their own Amazon card. The Amazon Prime card is also a Chase card.
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Jun 29, 2020 13:28
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saintonan posted:The Amazon Prime card is also a Chase card. Yeah but all it does is incentivize you to move your spend from one Chase card to a different Chase card for an additional 2.5% off. You can tell everyone has stopped doing lots of things because so many cards are offering bonus to grocery and restaurant spending just to get you to use them. I even got an offer the other day for a no fee Verizon branded card that gives 4% back on groceries.
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Jun 29, 2020 14:28
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My Amex Blue Cash Everyday no-fee card lost its extended warranty and return protection: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/amex-announces-additions-cuts-for-side-perks-in-2020 I’d like to keep an Amex card for big ticket purchases since their extended warranty is great and MasterCard/Visa is a scam, but it looks like I’ll have to go with one of their fee options. At the moment, $95 would get me the Blue Cash Everyday which is 6% on groceries and 3% on transit including ride share (baseline is 2% from Citi Double Cash). Typically I spend more on bars and restaurants than groceries and would get 4% from my Capital One Savor, but who knows whether I’ll ever get back to that routine post-coronavirus. Are there other options I should be considering?
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Jun 29, 2020 14:45
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Josh Lyman posted:My Amex Blue Cash Everyday no-fee card lost its extended warranty and return protection: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/amex-announces-additions-cuts-for-side-perks-in-2020 The BCP is great for that and you should keep an eye out for an upgrade offer. They used to be quite frequent; can't speak about post-covid.
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Jun 29, 2020 18:04
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