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Unsinkabear posted:The CSP is a better deal, but I'm honestly not sure that one is worth getting right now either. Almost all premium category cards are in real bad shape right now. In general, they're only worth it for SUBs and never actual use, unless you have some crazy unique circumstance (which you technically do, but it's one that's still best exploited by lazy churning or a no-AF card that pays a simple 2%/2.5% on everything). I can only think of one exception, and it doesn't fit your use case because it's an Amex. Shroomie posted:Pretty sure Plastiq just declared bankruptcy so idk how much longer that's gonna be viable for anything. basically my reason for not churning is ADHD-ish executive dysfunction and the prospect of needing to manage different accounts being an anxiety driver lol. i recognize im not optimizing my ability to take advantage of my credit score and ability to hit SUB spend requirements without issue. it's an admittedly stupid thing where limiting the number of things i need to pay attention to outweighs the card perks; the latter is just gravy that i may as well skim off if available for little effort. [ask] me about keeping the delta premium card around way past its useful lifespan because it was simply a known quantity. putting as much as possible on the amex and keeping my no-frills bank visa for stuff that doesn't take amex was simple enough, and i figured it was fine enough to game the system since i don't carry a balance on either it was nice burning down a pile of miles for a combination of emergencies and one free business class trans-pacific vacation flight (mid lingering pandemic-era card spend bumping me into platinum medallion briefly) but overall less than useful between a combination of other airlines usually being a better option (Delta out of SF is crap at the best of times) or a necessity (IDK how the gently caress SkyTeam is supposed to work but it seems like it's either Delta codeshare or worthless--my youthful thinking that it having Aeroflot would be useful for my niche wanting to fly throughout the former USSR was very wrong then, and extremely wrong now), so time to burn it down for one last Christmas flight redeem before killing it. shame Plastiq is on its last legs before probably finally dying. that'd make churning much more viable if i were to power through the planning stress to munch Visa SUBs. my landlord doesn't accept it or anything else directly--the reason i was using it was because i rent from dinosaurs that will only accept checks until the sun explodes air travel-wise having cards that build status was nice if not necessarily financially expedient but difficult to juggle because my travel needs are a combination of smaller airports (lol nobody flies out of OAK and i hate it because it's so much easier to get to) and destinations that lack US carrier service (you can technically fly to central asia or the caucasus on US carriers but you're paying a $1k premium over Turkish Airlines so gently caress it) eh, will try with CSP and churn the SUB if Plastiq dies in a fire. either i get over my hangups and go full churning or don't and switch to Gilt as a kinda unknown but probably better given the lack of fees for cutting rent checks.
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Jun 3, 2023 18:32
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If you don't want to churn a 2% card for "everything" isn't a bad compromise.
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Jun 3, 2023 18:45
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saintonan posted:Sort of. Grubhub and Uber Eats both increase prices in their app significantly (over what you'd pay if you call the restaurant directly), so you won't get $10/mo value from either of the benefits. Fair, folks should definitely watch out for that. But often (depends on the restaurant but I've always been able to find at least a few to choose between) this markup is built into the delivery price specifically, and if you order pickup instead, you get the same price as if you'd called the restaurant. So as long as you're fine driving over there, you get to save a buck without paying the markup. Or if you're someone who likes/needs delivery and already uses it in spite of the markups, then obviously yes, you are getting the full $20/month off of the money you'd otherwise have been spending anyway. It falls under "this only counts if you would already be spending money in that area without it," but you can't count that as a strike against it, because so should literally every other perk on any card. If you feel like that caveat only applies to the gold then there's a decent chance you might be overvaluing perks elsewhere. R. Guyovich posted:the magic number for the reserve vs the preferred is $7,750. if you spend that amount or more on travel every year then the extra points earning makes the reserve a better value proposition assuming a value of two cents per point. i can generally improve on that with hyatt transfers but two per is a decent enough baseline to work from. Thank you for reminding me that I need to call Amex and bug them to reclassify the bar I drink at as a restaurant (they have a license and serve food, so I'm not being a complete rear end) and get me those sweet sweet x4 points. I think the last time I checked it was coding as something like a cafe, which makes even less sense. Also cool to know the magic number for the Reserve! When you get 2+ cents per point from Hyatt, is that by taking a fancy stay somewhere, or just average hotel rooms? Qtotonibudinibudet posted:churning worries If it helps reassure you any, I have crippling ADHD and still manage just fine. It is something that interests me so my brain works for me and not against me for once, so I guess the usual ADHD coin toss applies in that regard. But assuming you also find it interesting, I think you'll be just fine. It's actually pretty hard to gently caress up, as long as you only get cards you can naturally hit the spending requirements on, and don't fall into the trap of spending more to hit a SUB. And it's especially hard to gently caress up if you're posting your questions in the churning thread. My worst sin so far is letting Chase get me on a second round of annual fees for the two Southwest cards because I didn't cancel them in time, and even then I still made a tidy profit between the companion pass and the pile of points. Now I just have a tab in my very amateurish budget spreadsheet that tracks the key details on the cards I have, like their less-used perks, when their due dates are coming up, and what small recurring bill I have on each of the fee-free ones I'm keeping indefinitely. I don't want to peer pressure you into it because you do need to be objective, so if you feel like it's something that would always be uncomfortable then it's not a good idea. But if it's one of those things where the anxiety would fade once you ripped off the bandaid, I do think you could do it.  CubicalSucrose posted:If you don't want to churn a 2% card for "everything" isn't a bad compromise. Fake edit: Also this. 
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Jun 3, 2023 18:58
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Unsinkabear posted:It falls under "this only counts if you would already be spending money in that area without it," but you can't count that as a strike against it, because so should literally every other perk on any card. If you feel like that caveat only applies to the gold then there's a decent chance you might be overvaluing perks elsewhere. Yeah, that's not true. I have a 5% gas card, but I don't buy any more or less gas because I have the card. I have a grocery card, but I don't buy any more or less at the store because of that card. I have a 2.5% cb card, but I don't buy more things because I have the card. If, as you say, you would normally get pickup or delivery (yes, the inflated prices apply to pickup as well), then using the Amex Gold for that may feel like full use savings, but it's really not. This is BFC, so I encourage everyone to look at the menus of their favorite place compared to how it looks in any of GrubHub/UE/Doordash/Postmates and note the difference. Full stop, using delivery apps will cost you more than calling the restaurant directly. You will come out slightly ahead by using the $10 monthly credit, but it won't be $10 ahead.
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Jun 3, 2023 19:38
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saintonan posted:Yeah, that's not true. I have a 5% gas card, but I don't buy any more or less gas because I have the card. I have a grocery card, but I don't buy any more or less at the store because of that card. I have a 2.5% cb card, but I don't buy more things because I have the card. When I said overvaluing other perks, I meant poo poo like rental insurance or longue access. No one is comparing the utility of fringe perks to what percentage you get on your unavoidable category spending. And you can get up on your BFC soapbox about using delivery if you want, but subtracting $20/month from existing expenses is quite literally saving $20/month, whether you approve of those expenses or not. Re: delivery apps, I'm talking about instances where I have personally checked the restaurant's independently listed price, and it matches the app's pickup price. In rare cases I've even seen it match the delivery price, and the app is only making money off their ludicrous checkout fees that they try to hide in the taxes section. I don't use every app, but so far the pricing seems to generally be at the restaurants' discretion. Why the gently caress would I make that up? Maybe it's different regionally (edit: or by app, since I haven't tried them all), but it's definitely not "always more expensive full stop" Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Jun 3, 2023 |
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Jun 3, 2023 20:14
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Unsinkabear posted:Thank you for reminding me that I need to call Amex and bug them to reclassify the bar I drink at as a restaurant (they have a license and serve food, so I'm not being a complete rear end) and get me those sweet sweet x4 points. I think the last time I checked it was coding as something like a cafe, which makes even less sense. both, though the hit rate tends to go up at the fancier places. if i'm planning a trip i check the ratios for all the hyatt options and if i can get above two cents, i'll book with points. if not i'll use cash obviously there are other benefits to the reserve (if your home airport is boston you now have a special branded lounge, for instance) but on a strict points earning basis it still works well for me. especially since amex cards are little more than a wallet-portable paperweight in my part of the world
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Jun 3, 2023 22:52
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Does anyone know if the Chase Sapphire Preferred $95 AF goes toward the spend requirement for the signup bonus?
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Jun 7, 2023 19:05
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Josh Lyman posted:Does anyone know if the Chase Sapphire Preferred $95 AF goes toward the spend requirement for the signup bonus? No. Fees, interest charges, or transfers don't count. It has to be actual purchases.
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Jun 7, 2023 20:04
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Any recommendations for a business card? Preferably no annual fee unless there are significant upsides. My wife is starting her own business and wants to get a separate CC for expenses. Expected expenses are nothing crazy atm ~5-8k.
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Jun 8, 2023 15:01
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Rakeris posted:Any recommendations for a business card? Preferably no annual fee unless there are significant upsides. My wife is starting her own business and wants to get a separate CC for expenses. Expected expenses are nothing crazy atm ~5-8k. I'm on lovely airport WiFi so I can't pull up DoC to double-check what they are currently, but the Chase Ink cards are no-AF, decent categories, usually have great sign up bonuses, and I've heard you can open more than one.
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Jun 8, 2023 17:02
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I’ve done multiple Chase Ink cards. I just churned them for the SUB which are really nice. The Ink Unlimited has no AF and a $750 on $6k spend in 3 months. 1.5% cb on all purchases. The Ink Preferred SUB doesn’t seem worth it right now unless you hit the spend. $1,000 for spending $15k. Has a $95 AF, 3% back on shipping, advertising, internet, and travel. 1% on everything else. If you apply, make sure you put your expected business expenses amount above what you want the credit limit to be. I put a small amount of revenue on one application and got a 3k limit which made it a little more cumbersome to hit the $6k spend when I already had the purchase planned out. Higher expected revenue on my next one got me a higher limit.
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Jun 8, 2023 18:55
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Thanks, we'll check those out!
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Jun 9, 2023 15:35
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I was wondering if there is a web app that tracks potential CC rewards. For instance I have 4 credit cards that i keep $0 monthly balance. I enter all 4 CC types and it lists what bonus rewards they provide. My chase freedom has new reward bonuses a quarter, so I never remember what it can do for me. I was about to buy some concert tickets, but I'm not sure which card might give the best points for this. So it got me thinking. My google-fu is failing. Nerdwallet must have the data for this.
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Jun 9, 2023 19:56
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TPG to Go - Free MaxRewards - Paid
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Jun 10, 2023 01:41
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Girbot posted:TPG to Go - Free Thanks!
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Jun 10, 2023 02:54
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So annoyed that I’m in stupid Amex pop up jail for the green card. I just want something from Amex that gives decent restaurant rewards. But not badly enough that I will foregoing the sign up bonus obviously.
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Jun 11, 2023 18:57
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smackfu posted:So annoyed that I’m in stupid Amex pop up jail for the green card. Try a referral link, or try from incognito/vpn. If you poke at it from different ways you might sneak one past without a popup.
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Jun 11, 2023 22:01
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Anything wrong with the USAA 1.5% Cashback card? I would use it to replace a CapOne Quicksilver.
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Jun 14, 2023 14:25
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Magic City Monday posted:Anything wrong with the USAA 1.5% Cashback card? I would use it to replace a CapOne Quicksilver. Don't know much about that one, but it's not 2%, which is gettable from a number of different cards (Fidelity 2% is one).
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Jun 14, 2023 14:38
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Magic City Monday posted:Anything wrong with the USAA 1.5% Cashback card? I would use it to replace a CapOne Quicksilver. There are too many easily obtainable 2% cards to ever consider a 1.5% card.
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Jun 14, 2023 14:57
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Magic City Monday posted:Anything wrong with the USAA 1.5% Cashback card? I would use it to replace a CapOne Quicksilver. If you bank with USAA you might find convenience compelling. 500$ on 100k spend is not that much difference. There are lots of 2% and even 2.5% cards.
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Jun 14, 2023 16:20
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saintonan posted:There are too many easily obtainable 2% cards to ever consider a 1.5% card.
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Jun 14, 2023 17:55
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Plus, on its own the Freedom Unlimited gets 3% back at restaurants and drugstores and 5% in the Chase travel portal (as does the Freedom Flex).
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Jun 14, 2023 18:14
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Josh Lyman posted:Isn’t the exception the Chase Freedom Unlimited which, if you transfer the points to a Sapphire account, you get 2.25% effective? The Chase Sapphire Reserve would be 2.25% effective, the Chase Sapphire Preferred would be 1.875%. Note that both those Sapphire cards have annual fees.
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Jun 14, 2023 18:19
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saintonan posted:The Chase Sapphire Reserve would be 2.25% effective, the Chase Sapphire Preferred would be 1.875%. This. CFU is a good card in its own right, but is only worth using for general spending if you are confining yourself to the Chase trifecta and keeping a Sapphire Reserve (not a Preferred) open on its own merits, not for this purpose. Yes, the bonus sounds nice, but even after you add that multiplier to either Freedom card, you can still easily get similar value for each of their categories elsewhere, for no annual fee. The only exception is the rotating quarterly bonus on the Freedom Flex or old Freedom, which is capped (and sometimes difficult to even max out said cap), so imo that's not worth paying an AF to increase either. You'll end up in the red. Basically unless you have unusually high travel spending and specifically prefer those flexible Chase points, keeping either Sapphire open is a rough option right now. And without one of those boosting the CFU, OP is better off with a regular 2% or 2.5% card for their general daily spending. Space Fish posted:Plus, on its own the Freedom Unlimited gets 3% back at restaurants and drugstores and 5% in the Chase travel portal (as does the Freedom Flex). I think for most people the Freedom Flex is the only one worth keeping at this point. It's the best of both worlds for no AF. If I was starting out, I would probably get one of the Sapphires (once their bonus comes back up) and then downgrade it into a Flex in a year and keep indefinitely. Pair that with the Fidelity 2% or the Alliant 2.5% and you've covered almost all your bases. Edit: or just do the 2.5% for everything and call it done. 
Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Jun 14, 2023 |
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Jun 14, 2023 20:14
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Citi’s double cash is 2% and becomes 2.2% when paired with a rewards+ card, both no fee.
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Jun 15, 2023 12:53
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saintonan posted:The Chase Sapphire Reserve would be 2.25% effective, the Chase Sapphire Preferred would be 1.875%. It seems like the only reason to buy through the portal is if you want a flight that's not on JetBlue/Southwest/United (their domestic airline partners) or hotel that's not Marriott/Hyatt/IHG.
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Jun 16, 2023 10:18
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Just switched to my final Amex Plat, the Chuck Schwab version. The sign up bonus was only 80k, but my renewal was coming up and it didn't feel like waiting an extra year for an extra 20k points was worth it, since you get a discount on the Schwab version AF if you have some assets with them. I'll finally have a place to use all of my Amex points I can't figure out what to do with! Am I the only one that has found it a PITA to actually use Amex points? I tend not to use them on flights since my wife and I aren't travel bloggers who fly on a random Tuesday at 2pm. We'd use them on hotels, but the Marriott options seem to offer terrible value.
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Jun 16, 2023 17:30
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I've posted several similar complaints over the year. Best I've come up with without doing the Schwab cash back thing is to use them for buying other people travel on delta points. Or you can get a 1% value on the travel portal I think with pay with points.
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Jun 16, 2023 18:04
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Apparently you can go over the Roth IRA contribution limit with amex points using the Schwab card. Because no one values them as actual cash. https://www.drmcfrugal.com/roth-ira-loophole-schwab-amex/ I am not a tax accountant,.please verify with your own, etc. But this would make them worth considerably more than just cash. Worth more than any other redemption to me.
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Jun 16, 2023 18:19
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Baddog posted:Apparently you can go over the Roth IRA contribution limit with amex points using the Schwab card. Because no one values them as actual cash. Be aware that there is a penalty for over contributing to an IRA. I would not recommend doing this.
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Jun 18, 2023 06:13
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This scheme doesn’t make much sense to me. if you had two Roth IRAs at two different institutions, they would also easily let you overcontribute but that wouldn’t do you any good when the forms get sent to the IRS.
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Jun 18, 2023 15:40
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smackfu posted:This scheme doesn’t make much sense to me. if you had two Roth IRAs at two different institutions, they would also easily let you overcontribute but that wouldn’t do you any good when the forms get sent to the IRS. Schwab doesn’t consider them contributions and doesn’t report them as such.
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Jun 18, 2023 16:48
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pseudanonymous posted:Schwab doesn’t consider them contributions and doesn’t report them as such. Doesnt matter what Schwab thinks, they dont make tax rules. While I dont think the IRS is going to go after anyone who overcontributes by a few hundred dollars and doesnt report it, that doesnt make it legal. Consider an extreme example of a credit card with a $1M annual fee that gave you 100% cashback rewards on up to $999,000 per year of spending and deposited those rewards into a Roth. I think the IRS would care about that, and mechanically its not much different than what Schwab is doing.
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Jun 18, 2023 17:04
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pseudanonymous posted:Schwab doesn’t consider them contributions and doesn’t report them as such. Wow. I agree this isn’t something I would want to involved myself in, it seems like the kind of loophole they close and then send corrected tax forms.
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Jun 18, 2023 17:31
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I did one of those "move X amount to a new IRA and get $500" type bonuses last year and that extra $500 deposited into my Roth IRA didn't count against the limit. That ruling seems to be because it is treated as interest income, and therefore earned inside the IRA. I'm not too sure about the Amex points redemption though. Normally credit card bonuses and point redemptions aren't taxable because they are considered rebates/reimbursements (another loophole I think nobody cares enough to address). So being able to take a rebate/reimbursement from a non-IRA purchase and put it into an IRA doesn't seem to have any justification for not counting towards the contribution limit.
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Jun 18, 2023 18:48
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THF13 posted:I did one of those "move X amount to a new IRA and get $500" type bonuses last year and that extra $500 deposited into my Roth IRA didn't count against the limit. That ruling seems to be because it is treated as interest income, and therefore earned inside the IRA. I'm not too sure about the Amex points redemption though. Normally credit card bonuses and point redemptions aren't taxable because they are considered rebates/reimbursements (another loophole I think nobody cares enough to address). So being able to take a rebate/reimbursement from a non-IRA purchase and put it into an IRA doesn't seem to have any justification for not counting towards the contribution limit. I think it’s because it’s non taxable non income, essentially.
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Jun 18, 2023 19:46
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pseudanonymous posted:I think it’s because it’s non taxable non income, essentially. Plenty of things are non taxable, such as inheritances and gifts (below certain large limits at least). That's not a magic trick to exceed personal IRA contribution limits.
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Jun 18, 2023 20:00
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drk posted:Plenty of things are non taxable, such as inheritances and gifts (below certain large limits at least). That's not a magic trick to exceed personal IRA contribution limits. You think the tax code is not full of magic tricks to do things? Absolutely don’t do it if you don’t want to. It obviously offers risks.
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Jun 18, 2023 20:48
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Someone's gotta be playing the manufactured spending game and/or figured out a way to buy pudding to fund their Roth for millions.
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Jun 18, 2023 22:54
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