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OldSenileGuy posted:This sounds great, but US Bank has the WORST app, website, and points accrual/redemption tracking features, and it’s not even close. runawayturtles posted:I have all three (well, the Reserve, but switching to the Preferred soon), and I think the Flex is worth having. I really only use it half the year, for groceries and PayPal, but it's easy to get a lot of value out of both categories. Keep in mind that the Preferred increases your rewards redemption by 25%, so it's effectively 6.25% back. In any case, it's a free card... even if you just get the signup bonus and stick it in a drawer you've already come out ahead. I had an old Chase Slate that I never used and PC’d to Freedom Unlimited last fall bc I had the Slate for 8 yrs and didn’t want to hurt average account age, but my 800 credit score spread across 10 CCs probably would’ve been fine? I was also trying not to have too many cards, but ironically if I had more cards then adding a new one would hurt less. I also told myself I didn’t care that much about the $150 signup bonus.  (I still never use the Unlimited bc of my Citi Double Cash)
Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Jan 21, 2022 |
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Jan 21, 2022 10:01
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OldSenileGuy posted:This sounds great, but US Bank has the WORST app, website, and points accrual/redemption tracking features, and it’s not even close. I have that too. It's my oldest card so I'll keep it forever. I only use for maxing out some 5% promos and I don't even have the app.
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Jan 21, 2022 17:16
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Josh Lyman posted:On a related note, should I PC my og Freedom to Freedom Flex? My understanding is the main difference is going from Visa to MC. I’d get 3% on food but I have 4% Altitude Go, also 3% on drugstores but I never shop at CVS. If I make the switch, it seems like I should do a new account for the signup bonus. Speaking of which… I still have my original Freedom in addition to the Flex. If you really want to go wild with the quarterly bonuses, you can use both to double the rewards cap. Realistically, I don't use the Freedom anymore, but the Flex signup bonus was pretty good so I didn't want to PC. I did the same thing for the Freedom Unlimited actually, I PC'd a very old basic card because I didn't feel like opening another for the bonus. It's not optimal, but not the biggest deal either way. I still use the Unlimited daily because the Reserve bonus makes it better than 2%, but after I downgrade to the Preferred it will become worse.
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Jan 21, 2022 18:45
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If you already have a Freedom Unlimited, you already have all the extra bonuses on the Flex vs the traditional freedom. Just carry the Preferred, Freedom Unlimited and maybe the Visa Freedom (depending on quarterly bonus) in your wallet so you have all of the above options and cover most bases without making things too complicated. Yes, that will mean you don't have a 2% on hand, but if you have a Sapphire Preferred then your Unlimited is effectively a 1.875% card already (and if you have a Reserve it's 2.25%). Stressing that extra 0.125% on just your purchases that are both in-person and not in a special category is completely and utterly not worth your time, especially if you care about simplicity. By all means keep your 2% card in your digital wallet to min/max online payments, though. The only difference it will make for you to change over to the Mastercard version is that you'll lose the ability to use it at Costco when warehouse stores rolls around as a category again. Although given that we're in another COVID spike that may be a moot point, because Instacart codes as grocery even if you use it to order Costco. And idk about you, but I'm not eager to go into any major store right now. Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Jan 21, 2022 |
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Jan 21, 2022 19:01
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Going back to yesterday, people who have a CitiBank 2%. Is switching to Thank You Points a bad sign? good sign? I don't know the history of TYP and whether or not CitiBank dilutes their value. I may just end up with the 2% from Fidelity but wondering if the CitiBank one would be better if they went with TYP.
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Jan 21, 2022 20:03
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Citi does not have a great reputation in general, what goodwill they do have was almost entirely due to a price rollback feature they have now removed. There are a lot of players in the 2% game now, but if for some reason your only two options are Citi or Fidelity, I would pick Fidelity in a heartbeat and never look back.
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Jan 21, 2022 21:30
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Strong Sauce posted:Going back to yesterday, people who have a CitiBank 2%. Is switching to Thank You Points a bad sign? good sign? I don't know the history of TYP and whether or not CitiBank dilutes their value. I may just end up with the 2% from Fidelity but wondering if the CitiBank one would be better if they went with TYP. If you have a Citi Rewards Plus, it's a slight benefit, since you get a 10% bonus on the first 100,000 TY points per year you cash out with that card. If you don't have Rewards+, it's at best a wash, with the potential for a devaluation loss.
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Jan 21, 2022 22:56
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Unsinkabear posted:Citi does not have a great reputation in general, what goodwill they do have was almost entirely due to a price rollback feature they have now removed. There are a lot of players in the 2% game now, but if for some reason your only two options are Citi or Fidelity, I would pick Fidelity in a heartbeat and never look back. I posted earlier about it in the thread last year (looking back you also replied back about the ones I was looking at) but basically I have a Fidelity account and they at least give you the cash equivalent into the account without much hassle. All the other 2% cards seem to do 1% + 1% when you pay or some other method. I think Citi2% had a CB cap so if Citi Rewards offered discounts off their TYP and had a higher that may have been worth it to me but if they also dilute their points a lot then that's probably not a card I'd want. saintonan posted:If you have a Citi Rewards Plus, it's a slight benefit, since you get a 10% bonus on the first 100,000 TY points per year you cash out with that card. If you don't have Rewards+, it's at best a wash, with the potential for a devaluation loss. OK yeah I have no accounts with Citi so I'm gonna keep with my plan to signup for the Fidelity card soon.
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Jan 21, 2022 23:00
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Strong Sauce posted:I posted earlier about it in the thread last year (looking back you also replied back about the ones I was looking at) but basically I have a Fidelity account and they at least give you the cash equivalent into the account without much hassle. All the other 2% cards seem to do 1% + 1% when you pay or some other method. I think Citi2% had a CB cap so if Citi Rewards offered discounts off their TYP and had a higher that may have been worth it to me but if they also dilute their points a lot then that's probably not a card I'd want. Ah, sorry. If something happened more than 48 hours ago the odds of me remembering it are not good. There are options that don't do the annoying 1+1% thing, but they're almost all credit unions (which I probably already posted about as well) and often come with some other hurdle. The only downside to the Fidelity account at all (afaik) is that you have to deposit it into Fidelity, so if you're already banking there that definitely seems like the easiest option. Sounds like you've already got a handle on things, though! 
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Jan 22, 2022 04:50
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Strong Sauce posted:does anyone know the reasoning for this change? is it to stay competitive or are they taking away something while presenting it as a customer benefit? from what i recall chase has not changed their reward points in a while if they ever have. My guess is that they get a better deal on the gift cards that reduces their cost enough below the equivalent of 2% and split it with you in a way that makes it appealing. It might be that rare situation where all 3 players benefit.
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Jan 22, 2022 05:27
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Does anyone know if the time between Sapphire Reserve Global Entry credits ("every four years") is measured by the day/month/year? I last got the credit on 10/26/2018, but am wondering if it's possible to get it again now (before I downgrade) just because it's 2022.
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Jan 26, 2022 20:45
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runawayturtles posted:Does anyone know if the time between Sapphire Reserve Global Entry credits ("every four years") is measured by the day/month/year? I last got the credit on 10/26/2018, but am wondering if it's possible to get it again now (before I downgrade) just because it's 2022. I just re-did mine last year and I'm pretty sure it was down to the day. If not that, it would it likely would be 48 months by number of completed statements. There's definitely no way you'll be able to do it almost a year early (aka right now).
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Jan 26, 2022 21:07
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I got a letter today from Barclays that they’re going to close one of my cards that I don’t use anymore unless I use it in 30 days. I don’t use this card anymore so I don’t mind them closing it, but I’m also planning on starting house-hunting in a couple months and hoping to buy this summer. Should I use the card once to keep it open just to make sure I don’t rock the boat, credit-score-wise? Or does closing a line of credit not have as much of an effect as opening a new one?
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Jan 30, 2022 21:58
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It all depends on the average age of your line(s) of credit and how it would be affected by closing the Barclays one. If you have other cards that are the same age or older, then don't sweat it.
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Jan 30, 2022 22:12
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I think it may be better if you use it to keep it alive, and then close it yourself in a month or two. Not sure how big of a difference it makes, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading that information about which side closes a line of credit is tracked. Maybe someone else knows more?
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Jan 31, 2022 00:53
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Avg age of accounts will take a hit (or maybe actually be positive for you depending on your other lines). Total available credit will definitely take a hit, and utilization will probably take a hit (though you should be ensuring $0 balances everywhere BEFORE statements close as you prep to shop for rates). Mortgage rates are maybe the single biggest thing that a credit score will impact in your lifetime, so I'd probably buy a stick of gum with the card to keep it open for probably another year at least (unless there's also some annual fee that's going to hit soon).
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Jan 31, 2022 04:27
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I've got a Citi AAdvantage Gold card that I'm tired of paying the annual fee on. Are there any other Citi cards I should be looking at PCing into? I already have Double Cash, Thank You Preferred and Dividend cards. I suppose I could PC into the Custom Cash card (Not getting the $200 bonus offer won't kill me) or the Simplicity, otherwise maybe I'll just close the card outright.
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Feb 2, 2022 03:13
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McPimpenheimer posted:I've got a Citi AAdvantage Gold card that I'm tired of paying the annual fee on. Are there any other Citi cards I should be looking at PCing into? I already have Double Cash, Thank You Preferred and Dividend cards. I suppose I could PC into the Custom Cash card (Not getting the $200 bonus offer won't kill me) or the Simplicity, otherwise maybe I'll just close the card outright. The Costco card is free if you're already paying for a Costco membership. In terms of actually using it it's nothing special except for 4% on gas. It also gives 3% on travel and restaurants but you can find equal or higher numbers for those pretty easily.
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Feb 2, 2022 03:18
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McPimpenheimer posted:I've got a Citi AAdvantage Gold card that I'm tired of paying the annual fee on. Are there any other Citi cards I should be looking at PCing into? I already have Double Cash, Thank You Preferred and Dividend cards. I suppose I could PC into the Custom Cash card (Not getting the $200 bonus offer won't kill me) or the Simplicity, otherwise maybe I'll just close the card outright. The Rewards+ is good for small purchases (thanks to the point round-up feature) and the 10% point redemption rebate if you're into or interested in the ThankYou point ecosystem, or the Custom Cash as mentioned is a solid option, as well. There's a better signup bonus on the Custom Cash, though, so the Rewards+ might make more sense as a product change. The Rewards+ still has Citi's good extended warranty benefit. Costco is also a pretty strong option since it, too, has the extended warranty benefit. It's an easy way to get 2% back at Costco if e.g. your only 2% back everywhere card is a Mastercard. The Costco card doesn't really get a reasonable signup bonus (while a rotisserie chicken is good, that's only $5). It also has no FTF, which can be useful if you don't have another no-FTF card.
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Feb 2, 2022 03:31
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Shear Modulus posted:The Costco card is free if you're already paying for a Costco membership. In terms of actually using it it's nothing special except for 4% on gas. It also gives 3% on travel and restaurants but you can find equal or higher numbers for those pretty easily. Getting 3%/4% on gas, travel, and restaurants on one free card is pretty solid. I use mine all the time. Most travel cards have annual fees and the like that I prefer not to deal with.
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Feb 3, 2022 00:25
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Vox Nihili posted:Getting 3%/4% on gas, travel, and restaurants on one free card is pretty solid. I use mine all the time. Personally my expenditure on all of those categories has been quite low lately lmao I always read people saying one of the specialty travel cards are generally worth the money but yeah the number of people for whom the annual fee is worth it is probably a lot lower these days. Shear Modulus fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Feb 3, 2022 |
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Feb 3, 2022 00:41
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I did the high fee sign up bonus travel card shameless churning poo poo and it was fun but I definitely don't travel enough to merit paying any sort of fee for a card outside of that scenario.
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Feb 3, 2022 01:42
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There is zero reason to get the MasterCard black unless you absolutely don't know the Amex platinum exists, right Seems like similar benefits/cost, but no centurion lounge access
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Feb 3, 2022 05:11
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OldSenileGuy posted:I got a letter today from Barclays that they’re going to close one of my cards that I don’t use anymore unless I use it in 30 days. I'm in a similar situation except I'm the one thinking about cancelling. I never use my oldest card (by about 5-6 years) anymore and it has an annual fee. I've kept it open due to the aforementioned reasons (age of credit line, utilization, etc). I'm just annoyed at having to pay the annual fee. There's no other perks for this card. It was baby's first credit card. Should I close it?
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Feb 3, 2022 17:59
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Yes, unless you're also going to start house/car/loan hunting in a couple months. This forum is big on keeping your first credit card to maintain a long credit history which is reasonable, but closing a card you never use won't ding your credit that badly, and if you have other cards you continue to use and pay off your credit will be back up in no time. I closed my first card years ago because I switched banks and didn't want to keep track of another card/online account, and it made basically no difference.
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Feb 3, 2022 18:17
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Etuni posted:This forum is big on keeping your There are good reasons for this. The thing about closing cards is that even if it doesn't hurt you in the short term, it does nothing to help you either. But keeping them open does help you in the long term, by increasing your total credit available and by extending your average age of accounts (it's not just your oldest account that matters). So giving that up without a specific reason for doing so is still hurting yourself. If you keep everything you have right now open (this is easy, just put it on something small and monthly like a Patreon you already would have backed, or schedule a quarterly recurring donation of $1 to the charity of your choice) your average age of accounts becomes a lot stronger for it in a few years. Multiple established cards (even/especially low usage ones) help approval odds and make your score more resilient in general. Also the higher average age and total credit will probably add a couple points, which never hurts. Sure, the guy with Barclays cards and house money is probably fine regardless, but I still don't see a compelling reason to not do the above. 
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Feb 3, 2022 18:39
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Would probably be better to Product Change into something with no fee.
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Feb 3, 2022 18:55
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Unsinkabear posted:There are good reasons for this. The thing about closing cards is that even if it doesn't hurt you in the short term, it does nothing to help you either. But keeping them open does help you in the long term, by increasing your total credit available and by extending your average age of accounts (it's not just your oldest account that matters). So giving that up without a specific reason for doing so is still hurting yourself. Sure, but the goal of maintaining that available credit and a long average age is a high credit score in the end, right? Which you can still have (relatively quickly, in my experience) even if you do close your oldest card. Unsinkabear posted:If you keep everything you have right now open (this is easy, just put it on something small and monthly like a Patreon you already would have backed, or schedule a quarterly recurring donation of $1 to the charity of your choice) your average age of accounts becomes a lot stronger for it in a few years. Multiple established cards (even/especially low usage ones) help approval odds and make your score more resilient in general. Also the higher average age and total credit will probably add a couple points, which never hurts. Personally, this is more overhead than I would want to bother with (switching out the card info when it expires, snail mail from yet another bank account, keeping tabs on a separate account in Mint, forgoing rewards points for the monthly purchase on my main credit card...) It wouldn't be a huge deal to do this and it sounds like most here do, but I've successfully avoided those annoyances and maintained a high credit score only from credit card use, so it seems like the amount you're "hurting yourself" is a bit overblown.
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Feb 3, 2022 18:56
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I believe that. Use cases vary and so does impact, but the work required to min/max it just in case is essentially zero. Almost all financial institutions in the US (at least the ones I've dealt with) have an option for fully paperless documentation at this point. Personal Capital (I don't use Mint because Intuit is cartoonishly evil, gently caress them) tracks all my transactions in one feed for me no matter how many cards there are. The rewards loss on your main card is miniscule if you set the dormant ones up on an very small transactions like I mentioned above. And I have a tab on my budget spreadsheet that lists my cards and whatever bills are currently repeating on them. Once every 3 years when a card renews I go touch that website. Same for the rare occasions when a billing situation changes or I close a card I can't downgrade. That's it. I get wanting to balance work for reward; that's why I feel obligated to throw it out there that it's not nearly as much work as it sounds
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Feb 3, 2022 19:37
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FWIW, I have a couple old credit cards that I keep in a drawer. I only use them once a year and have had no issues. And I only get one (emailed) statement per year because non-use means no statement. I have a calendar reminder in December to use them, and I just put a lunch or something on each. They're even marked inactive in Mint because they're so inconsequential. Closing them would be fine too, but it's been so easy to keep them open that I haven't bothered.
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Feb 3, 2022 21:00
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Ok. I'll have to give it some thought. Thanks for the advice.
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Feb 3, 2022 23:45
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If you've got some trash Credit One card that charges you an annual fee and offers no benefits, but you're hanging on to it because it's babby's first credit card and you don't want to lost the history, you can definitely cancel it and everything will be fine. In a decade when it falls off you should have several other cards that are now a decade+ old. If it's from a non-predatory bank and you can product change to something with no fee, then by all means do that and throw it in your cumsock drawer and set a calendar reminder to buy an Amazon gift card every Christmas.
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Feb 4, 2022 22:09
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Applied for the Fidelity card ~3 days ago on Tuesday night and no word at all from Fidelity or Elan since then. I wouldn't even know if it went through if I didn't get an email from Credit Karma saying my Credit was checked... Honestly confused about what's going on. Did I get Approved? Denied? I've only applied to like 2 cards in the last ~5-6 years and I've always been approved. Just TELL MEEEEEEE
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Feb 5, 2022 06:37
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Strong Sauce posted:Applied for the Fidelity card ~3 days ago on Tuesday night and no word at all from Fidelity or Elan since then. I wouldn't even know if it went through if I didn't get an email from Credit Karma saying my Credit was checked... Honestly confused about what's going on. Did I get Approved? Denied? I've only applied to like 2 cards in the last ~5-6 years and I've always been approved. Just TELL MEEEEEEE When this happens just call them. Most credit card providers have a specific reconsideration line you can call. I don't think Fidelity has one, I'd just call their regular support. Most of the time there's something pretty simple preventing an immediate automatic approval. Something like having too much credit from that issuer already, some extra information they want, some information they need verification/documentation for, or you accidently had one of the credit bureaus frozen.
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Feb 5, 2022 07:37
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In terms of old card that you don’t use, is there any problem with waiting until the bank threatens to close the card, buying a pizza with it, and then putting it back in the drawer again? In other words, don’t even bother with a recurring charge? Or is it the case that once a bank threatens to cancel a card, they’re more likely to do so again?
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Feb 5, 2022 10:20
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Josh Lyman posted:In terms of old card that you don’t use, is there any problem with waiting until the bank threatens to close the card, buying a pizza with it, and then putting it back in the drawer again? In other words, don’t even bother with a recurring charge? Or is it the case that once a bank threatens to cancel a card, they’re more likely to do so again? Not all providers will send a letter, some will just auto-close.
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Feb 5, 2022 15:59
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Etuni posted:It wouldn't be a huge deal to do this and it sounds like most here do, but I've successfully avoided those annoyances and maintained a high credit score only from credit card use, so it seems like the amount you're "hurting yourself" is a bit overblown. Good luck, I've been called out in this thread for similar logic. Ultimately, banks want to extend credit to people who pay it back. If you're going to min/max your cards to get the most rewards then you probably need to min/max your credit score as well. If you're out of the game I think you're safe just keeping a reasonable mix and not churning too often on new cards. So long as you continue to pay them properly your score will be fine too. Biggest hit to my credit so far this last year was selling my house. Took 3 whole months to fix itself.
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Feb 5, 2022 18:41
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CubicalSucrose posted:Not all providers will send a letter, some will just auto-close. I believe at least some states require they send a letter.
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Feb 5, 2022 19:46
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So I just got an email from CitiBank saying my Double Cash card will now give me ThankYou (TM) points instead. They said it cans till be redeemed for cash the exchange rate will be the same, but I seriously doubt that will last. What are some other options for actual cash back cards? I have a Discover card that does 2% on gas/restaurants + 1% everything else, but it doesn't give as much payout.
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Feb 6, 2022 23:33
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I've finally emptied my chase point balance right in time for my CSR renewal so I think I'll cancel it for the time being. Once pleasure/business travel ramps up again I'm thinking about doing the amex plat bonus through schwab or maybe one of the sapphires again since it's been a while since I got any bonuses through chase. Anything else I should be considering? Citi prestige popped up on my radar too but it looks like it's closed to new apps. In the mean time I'm going to use my citi doublecash for everything. Also any advice on what I should product change my CSR too? I already have a freedom and a FU so not sure if it matters.
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Feb 6, 2022 23:43
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