|
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 That looks pretty good, I'm getting married in a month and combining our finances will have me jumping off my Bofa starter credit card, was looking for a new primary credit card and the preferred looks pretty solid. If I am doing my math right, the annual fee will be paying itself after about 4-5 months of grocery shopping, give or take. Does Costco count as a "U.S supermarket?"
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 21:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 00:00 |
|
|
Moonshine Rhyme posted:Does Costco count as a "U.S supermarket?" No, but also Costco (US) only takes Visa cards. What cards do you currently have?
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 21:44
|
|
|
astral posted:No, but also Costco (US) only takes Visa cards. Good to know! Will most likely be doing most of our grocery shopping at a Walmart neighborhood market anyway. I have a Bofa cash rewards Visa that I am dropping and a Shell fuel reward Mastercard. We aren't big on traveling (yet) so I figure I only really need a card with decent cashback percentages, certainly open to suggestions though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 21:56
|
|
|
Moonshine Rhyme posted:Good to know! Will most likely be doing most of our grocery shopping at a Walmart neighborhood market anyway. I have a Bofa cash rewards Visa that I am dropping and a Shell fuel reward Mastercard. We aren't big on traveling (yet) so I figure I only really need a card with decent cashback percentages, certainly open to suggestions though. Walmart Neighborhood Markets usually code as grocery on Amex, which is nice. If I may ask, why drop the BofA Cash Rewards Visa? With that one you'd still be able to get 2% back at Costco (or more, depending on your BofA assets). It also lets you pick your own 3% category. I might suggest the US Bank Cash+ as well for good ongoing cash back - you pick your own 5% categories (and 2%, but those are less important). I personally recommend "Home Utilities" (things like natural gas, electricity, water, trash service) and "TV/Internet/Streaming services". Here's their calculator that shows off the options: https://cashplus.usbank.com/calculator astral fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jun 29, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 22:14
|
|
|
astral posted:Walmart Neighborhood Markets usually code as grocery on Amex, which is nice. To be honest, I had assumed it was tied to my banking account and that I would either lose it/benefits on it would change, hadn't really looked into it. I'll look into that, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 22:29
|
|
|
Nah, it's usually credit unions which require banking accounts for their credit cards. I only have BofA accounts while churning sign-up bonuses and my card remains open.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 23:01
|
|
|
astral posted: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. I actually bought $1200 in furniture last week with my Citi Double Cash but the furniture doesn’t have a warranty per se and I don’t think Amex would cover it anyway. sigh:
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 23:22
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:Would the upgrade offer typically come via email or snail mail? I guess I could wait until the next big purchase I’d want warranty coverage for and if I don’t have the offer by then, I’ll just ask for the product change. From what I understand (and this was my experience as well), it's normally just login on their website and there might be a notification banner and/or an amex offer.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 23:32
|
|
|
Moonshine Rhyme posted:my Bofa starter credit card Moonshine Rhyme posted:I have a Bofa cash rewards Visa After you get married, you can upgrade your Bofa card to a Ligma plan.
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 02:19
|
|
|
https://www.chase.com/mybonus If you have a Chase Freedom/Freedom Unlimited/Sapphire of some sort, see if you're targeted for promotional bill-paying bonuses starting tomorrow! Some of the options available (there are many, but you may not be targeted for any): quote:Earn a total of 5x total bonus points on up to $2,000 in combined spend made with your Chase Sapphire card in select categories: Utilities, Insurance, Phone Service, Cable, Internet from July 1 - September 30, 2020.* quote:Activate by September 30, 2020, and you can get 5X total cash back rewards on up to $2,000 in combined spend made in any of these categories: Utilities, Insurance, Phone Service, Cable, Internet with your Chase Freedom card from July 1 - September 30, 2020.* quote:Activate by September 30, 2020, and you can earn a total of 5% Cash Back on up to $2,000 in purchases when you pay select bills like Internet, Phone Service, Cable, Utilities, and Insurance with your Chase Freedom Unlimited® credit card between April 1 and September 30, 2020.* quote:Earn 3,000 bonus points when you pay any four select bills like Utilities, Insurance, Phone Service, Cable, Internet with your Chase Freedom Unlimited card between July 1 - September 30, 2020.* astral fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Jun 30, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 04:27
|
|
|
TITTIEKISSER69 posted:After you get married, you can upgrade your Bofa card to a Ligma plan.  Can't believe I didn't see that
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 07:22
|
|
|
astral posted:From what I understand (and this was my experience as well), it's normally just login on their website and there might be a notification banner and/or an amex offer. Bad news: With my $1200 furniture purchase out of the way, I'm not sure I'll even spend $1,000 over the next 3 months. Pre-corona I could knock that out in 2-3 weeks. I guess I better start buying accessorizing my living room. 
Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Jun 30, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 08:26
|
|
|
I heard someone mention getting a Verizon card offer. I got the same one (I’m assuming it’s not exclusive to “good” customers or anything. Just mentioning I got the email too) and am curious about it.
I have a CSP so I’m not looking to swap it out for my daily card BUT I don’t think it’d be a bad idea to just get the card and only charge my phone bill to it. $14.16 off per month of my bill is basically the only thing I’d “get” out of it but that’s probably worth it. Am I wrong in this and it’s not worth the pull hit?
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 09:07
|
|
|
This is my current card inventory: Amex Blue Cash Preferred (groceries, high priced electronics/extended warranty items) Amex Delta Skymiles Blue (don't use) Bank of America Better Balance Rewards (don't use) Bank of America Cash Rewards (don't use) Barclays Uber Visa (don't use) Capital One Savor (lower than intended use due to coronavirus) Chase Freedom (don't use) Chase Amazon Prime (Costco, non-electronics Amazon purchases) Chase Slate Visa (don't use) Citi Double Cash (rarely use for random purchases) Discover It (don't use) 1) I don't travel much and use minimal gas. Are there any obvious gaps? The only thing that jumps out to me is maybe getting a Chase Freedom Unlimited just for the sake of having it, but there's no reason to use it vs the Double Cash. 2) The Marie Kondo part of me wants to consolidate some of the cards, but does that mean that whenever I get a new card, it'll have a greater effect on my credit score average account age since I have fewer accounts in the calculation? I don't need things to be super optimized--I only carry 3 cards in my wallet which are currently Blue Cash Preferred (6% groceries, 3% transportation), Savor (4% bars & restaurants), and Double Cash (2% everything else). Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 10:05 on Jun 30, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 09:15
|
|
|
You could grab the US Bank Cash+ for home utilities as another card you wouldn't need to carry in your wallet. Assuming you don't buy your clothes off Amazon, clothing might be good for the second category. Or depending on which bill is higher TV/Internet or Cell Phone* would be a good choice for truly being able to keep it in a drawer. *Consider if you have/want cell phone insurance from another card. Take a look at the spend summary on Citi's site and find out what you put most on your double cash and see if it's a category that's covered by a 5% category from Cash+ or BofA's 3% (I personally use Online Shopping and link it to my PayPal for none Amazon purchases). I used to use it for Drug Stores, which I may go back to as I often spend more at Walgreen's than random online stores.
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 15:29
|
|
|
TITTIEKISSER69 posted:After you get married, you can upgrade your Bofa card to a Ligma plan. I missed this offer when I got married. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 15:50
|
|
|
Care to share what a Ligma plan is? Googling has proven futile.
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 15:56
|
|
|
Hahahahahah
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 16:43
|
|
|
Quaint Quail Quilt posted:Care to share what a Ligma plan is? Googling has proven futile. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/ligma
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 17:09
|
|
|
Inner Light posted:Hahahahahah lol booo
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 17:27
|
|
|
tranten posted:I heard someone mention getting a Verizon card offer. I got the same one (I’m assuming it’s not exclusive to “good” customers or anything. Just mentioning I got the email too) and am curious about it. Does it offer a cell phone insurance benefit? If not, it probably not worth it over a card that does. Josh Lyman posted:This is my current card inventory: 1) Like Girbot mentions, US Bank Cash+ would be a good grab. Pick Utilities + TV/Internet/Streaming 5% categories. You won't have to carry it in your wallet! They have a calculator I linked a little earlier on the page that you can punch numbers into and see which categories would work the best for you. 2a) You could product change that Slate into a Freedom Unlimited for 1.5X back on everything and extra promotion eligibility (like the promotions I posted about a little while ago!). 2b) Have you looked into the BoA Cash Rewards' 3% categories? As Girbot also mentioned, one of them is "Online Purchases" which, if you get a feel for what counts and what doesn't, can give you some extra points on some purchases if you're less worried about the warranty. 2c) How is the Uber card's cell phone protection benefit doing these days? You might consider swapping your cell phone bill to this if you don't have a card with better cell phone insurance.
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 19:10
|
|
|
More temporary CSR benefits:quote:Earn 5x total points on all Instacart deliveries and pick-ups—groceries, household items, pharmacy and more—on up to $3,000 in purchases from July 1 to September 30, 2020. No activation required, just use your Sapphire card and you’ll earn points automatically.2 Footnote https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-cards/sapphire-reserve-benefits edit: CSP is 3x instead of 5x on gas stations/instacart and 5x instead of 10x on streaming https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-cards/sapphire-preferred-benefits P.S. Don't forget to check for the targeted bonuses for bill payments! https://www.chase.com/mybonus astral fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Jun 30, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2020 23:06
|
|
|
They really don’t want people to cancel their CSR’s.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 02:40
|
|
|
Animal posted:They really don’t want people to cancel their CSR’s. It's such an amazing value right now, even as a non-travel card. The travel credits still apply to groceries+gas through the end of the year; 'Pay yourself back' lets you use up points at a 1.5cent value each on grocery, dining, and home improvement purchases through the end of September. Ending today, groceries also get 5X. If eligible, that targeted 5X bonus on Utilities, Insurance, Phone Service, Cable, Internet puts it way ahead of the Cash+. We've even got these new 5x categories for Q3.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 03:00
|
|
|
Yeah I’ve always loved the card for travel and had over $4,000 worth of points which I’m burning through at a rapid pace with Pay Yourself Back. I’m deciding whether I should keep about 100,000 points for later travel redemptions.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 03:06
|
|
|
Instacart is terrible though, right? I remember a strike by its workers at the beginning of the pandemic.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 05:10
|
|
|
We had an instacart delivery that was missing all the meats, about $50 worth of them. They refused to refund our credit card and insisted on issuing their own credit for future orders. We called AMEX to dispute they charge and they said they get calls about this all the time and approved the dispute right there without bothering to investigate.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 05:15
|
|
|
Instacart support is a lottery; you get a different agent every time you contact them. Many of them are terrible. Their account credits are extra-terrible - if you want to use a promo code on an order, it doesn't stack with your refund credits. Always push for the CC refund (that experience really sucks, Animal). My last Instacart order was very bad, but I won't go into that here. I would hope it's usually decent, but expect some missing items for sure.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 05:31
|
|
|
Is this new? If so the Uber card is likely sockdrawered except for maybe the phone bill for the insurance and obviously Uber, whenever I end up using them again. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2020 16:06
|
|
|
yeah they stopped giving cash and changed to uber credit earlier this year
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2020 16:28
|
|
|
Really hoping that this new EU ban on Americans traveling this summer allows me to use my CSR travel protections to get a full refund of cash and UR points rather than a 2 year voucher. Already spoke to a rep on the UR side and not budging off the credit right now. Going to call the CSR line soon. Anyone have any data points about this?
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2020 16:31
|
|
|
So I booked a vacation rental on VRBO and Chase categorized it as ‘Professional Services’, resulting in only 1 point/dollar rather than 2; which it should be for Travel. If I had known that I would have put it on my CFU rather than my CSP. Is there an appeals process through customer service or are these categories set by the merchant?
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2020 11:59
|
|
|
Sock The Great posted:So I booked a vacation rental on VRBO and Chase categorized it as ‘Professional Services’, resulting in only 1 point/dollar rather than 2; which it should be for Travel. If I had known that I would have put it on my CFU rather than my CSP. Set by merchant. I've had some weird categorizations before and they told me they couldn't do anything about it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 00:14
|
|
|
Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Set by merchant. I've had some weird categorizations before and they told me they couldn't do anything about it. This was not accurate for me. I had a bad categorization, a cafe was set to 'shopping' or something, I called and they gave me the correct amount of points. The time spent making the call was definitely worth more than the points I got, but get every cent from the banks that you can.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 00:40
|
|
|
Inner Light posted:This was not accurate for me. I had a bad categorization, a cafe was set to 'shopping' or something, I called and they gave me the correct amount of points. The time spent making the call was definitely worth more than the points I got, but get every cent from the banks that you can. Maybe I got a bad CSR or they don't make exceptions for Freedom users. I also did it via online chat/secure message, so maybe they just blow those off. I even argued about it for a bit and Chase told me it was set by the merchant and they can't do anything.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 00:44
|
|
|
Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Set by merchant. I've had some weird categorizations before and they told me they couldn't do anything about it. Yeah it's only 800 points, which would be like $12 - 16 depending on how much effort I put in when using them. I sent them Chase a DM on Twitter, which they responded that it's set by the merchant, bah, blah blah. I am unwilling to sit through a potential 30 - 45 minute phone call for less than $20.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 14:08
|
|
|
Amex is doing their shop small promotion again - went away for a couple years but it’s back and actually quite good $5 off at any qualifying local business up to 10x, and in my experience basically everywhere that’s not a major chain qualifies You do have to enroll your card in the promotion to get the $50 though: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/merchant/shop-small.html
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2020 04:44
|
|
|
Squinky v2.0 posted:Amex is doing their shop small promotion again - went away for a couple years but it’s back and actually quite good
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2020 04:57
|
|
|
Additional card members also qualify so between me and my wife we got 20x, easy to use it all in NYC
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2020 10:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 00:00 |
|
|
Do have a quick question that isn't fully addressed in the OP that i'd like some clarity on. Looking into getting a credit card to start building up good, uh, credit to be used in the future. Things like applying for loans, buying vehicles, applying for mortgage/etc. Based on that nerdwallet site it seems my best option would be to apply for a 'Discover it Secured' card. However, the OP also says that it's extremely recommended to pay off the full amount of anything you purchase before the end of the following month due to high interest rates, which yeah, does make sense. Correct me if i'm wrong here, but isn't the main way of building solid credit primarily done via paying off things over a period of time instead of just one-shotting the expense? Family members have told me that if all you do is buy something using a CC and pay off the expense the next month it won't really end building up much credit at all, or at least nowhere near enough to get you approved for the big ticket items like loans or a mortgage. Also, while I am mainly interested in building solid credit, I wouldn't mind pursuing a different one if the rewards are solid enough. The only thing that nerdwallet recommended was that particular Discover card and an OpenSky Visa card (which seems to have a very high APR fee attached). On a side note, my younger sister has had some negative experiences using Discover, as she seems to be paying off her final balance and cancelling her card so there's also that. Still very new to this, just seem to be getting mixed messages with thread recommendations and personal family experience onces
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2020 19:23
|
|
