|
mcsuede posted:Any particular reason you just closed your other accounts? Wanted to tank your credit score, or...?
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2010 02:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 12:03 |
|
|
Sounds reasonable, glad to hear you thought through the ramifications.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2010 02:22
|
|
|
The phone reps really tried to hammer that point when I did call to cancel a few accounts. I tried to explain my situation to them, but they made it out like the sky would fall if I dare cancel their credit line.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2010 02:25
|
|
|
dangerous.hotdog posted:The phone reps really tried to hammer that point when I did call to cancel a few accounts. I tried to explain my situation to them, but they made it out like the sky would fall if I dare cancel their credit line. With the new credit rules going into effect most of the credit bureaus will likely (speculation) be jacking up their minimum transaction limits in order to keep a card "active". Plus they want you to have that thing around tempting you, or in case you fall on rough times they want to be the firm to suck your blood while you're wounded. I'm an advocate of leaving established credit lines open, but you made an informed decision and that's more than 99% of people do. There's also value in simplifying your life, and I absolutely see that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2010 02:30
|
|
|
I'm in the camp of looking for my next credit card, the only problem is I want a good credit line. I have a citicard dividend platinum select mastercard with an $11,200 limit that, over years of negotiation each time I paid down the balance, managed to get down to 8.4%, and of course mid last year they informed me they were jacking up the rate again so I said f that and the card will close in February of 2011 when it expires. SO, I have pretty good credit, but from reading this thread it seems like the penfed card doesn't offer nearly as large of a credit line (I like having access to a large credit line in case I really need it); can anyone advise me on this? I'm like the OP in that I want good rewards and all, but I also want a large credit line ($10k minimum, ideally, unless there's a good reason not to have one so big?)
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 11:18
|
|
|
Pen Fed's underwriters as a rule are pretty tightassed about credit cards.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 11:58
|
|
|
sublyme posted:I'm in the camp of looking for my next credit card, the only problem is I want a good credit line. I have a citicard dividend platinum select mastercard with an $11,200 limit that, over years of negotiation each time I paid down the balance, managed to get down to 8.4%, and of course mid last year they informed me they were jacking up the rate again so I said f that and the card will close in February of 2011 when it expires. If you're in a habit of carrying a balance (or care about your rate in any way) you don't want a reward card, period.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 14:23
|
|
|
Princess Putout posted:Pen Fed's underwriters as a rule are pretty tightassed about credit cards. Limits too? And I know closing big cards you've had a while hurts the credit score a bit, but would that likely result in Pen Fed giving me a higher limit? I ask because I have a $40K limit on my main Citi card. I never carry a balance. PenFed approved me for just $11K. That's more than plenty for my use, but there's something comforting about knowing I have a $40K credit line available if poo poo really hits the fan, so I'm hesitant to get rid of it unless there's a decent chance someone else will give it to me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 15:00
|
|
|
There should never be such a situation. You need to have savings and proper insurance to protect you against those magnitudes of issues. If you wind up falling back on 40k or credit you are going to be pretty hosed.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 15:15
|
|
|
Cards with that much credit are pretty much things of the past too now, unless you're pulling in high 6 figures.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 15:36
|
|
|
Undeclared Eggplant posted:Limits too? And I know closing big cards you've had a while hurts the credit score a bit, but would that likely result in Pen Fed giving me a higher limit? So get the PenFed and keep the Citi open. Closing the Citi for no reason would impact your credit score significantly as you'd have $40k available credit less on your credit "ceiling", which is a huge part of the score.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 19:32
|
|
|
mcsuede posted:So get the PenFed and keep the Citi open. Closing the Citi for no reason would impact your credit score significantly as you'd have $40k available credit less on your credit "ceiling", which is a huge part of the score. Opting to decline a change in terms (in this case jacking the interest rate up) will result in them closing your card. This doesn't make any sort of difference if you don't carry a balance, but if you do then it can be fairly significant to jump rates now versus closing the card and continuing to pay it off gradually over the old rates. And being concerned about available credit for an emergency or whatnot shows a fundamental problem in the way you view credit to begin with. I maintain that if you have any concern about rates whatsoever, you should not be in the market for a rewards card, because your priorities are trebly hosed up. Rewards cards have worse rates - to subsidize the rewards, so if you can't commit 110% to paying it off in full every time, better to look for something with a reasonable rate or (better) relearn how to use credit as a tool.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2010 20:23
|
|
|
mcsuede posted:With the new credit rules going into effect most of the credit bureaus will likely (speculation) be jacking up their minimum transaction limits in order to keep a card "active". Yes, Citi has started this. $60 fee per year, refunded after you spend $2400 on it. Only seems to be applying to some accounts they have decided are inactive, but I'm sure it will be the trend going forward.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2010 17:20
|
|
|
I can use this thread for my question rather than making a new one. I am a big costco user nowadays since my decision to get healthy. I am trying to decide which amex card to get. I have very good credit, never been late on anything and just request an increase of $4000 in my credit card limit (I never go anywhere near that, I just know it's better to get a higher credit limit) and was approved. The amex blue bonus edition is tempting me but I don't really know if I should pay a $30 annual fee. Are annual fee's always useless? Should I always try to get a card with no annual fee? My credit card right now is a citibank visa with very little rewards.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2010 16:31
|
|
|
sonic bed head posted:I can use this thread for my question rather than making a new one. Have you looked into the Costco Amex? No annual fee as long as you're a Costco member and pretty decent rewards.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2010 17:37
|
|
|
sonic bed head posted:I can use this thread for my question rather than making a new one. No question about it, Amex's Costco card is one of the best. +1 year Amex warranty on purchases, roadside assistance, concierge service, decent cash back, and no annual fee with a Costco membership. It's pretty much the standard card services you get with all the other Amex cards, but at a lower membership fee rate. Edit- Did my bi-annual credit line increase inquiry and I was shocked when PenFed upped my limit from 3k to 17k. What the hell am I going to need 17k @ 14% for? Edit 2- And if you want the best reward card (IMO), PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards is it. Though their reduction from 1.25% cashback on everything to 1.00% kind of sucks. 5% gas & 2% groceries is great and the Amex Costco offers 3% at restaurants. That pretty much covers all my major expenses and I get a healthy chunk of cashback each month (about $20/mo from PenFed). dangerous.hotdog fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Mar 22, 2010 |
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 20:25
|
|
|
I am sick of PenFed's poo poo. The online system is two weeks behind everything so I can't see recent transactions to check anything, the automated system can't deal with paying the statement balance every month correctly even AFTER I had to mail in their stupid forms. The loving account balance online makes you click on it to give you the most recent balance. Like, here's the old balance, I'm sure you really want to see this, you'll have to click on the balance link to get you an up to date balance. On my last statement I called to check $54 in "finance charges" and after 40 minutes on hold they just told me "whoops, it shouldn't say that there, that was actually a grocery purchase". I'm convinced that their entire online system was coded by marmosets. I think I'm just going to say gently caress it, put only gas and groceries on there and use my Amazon card for everything else. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 23:03
|
|
|
Awesome. Glad I have something to look forward to. I had noticed the slow updating, but that doesn't grieve me any. If the autopay doesn't work I'm gonna open a can of fire with them though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 00:23
|
|
|
moana posted:I am sick of PenFed's poo poo. The online system is two weeks behind everything so I can't see recent transactions to check anything, the automated system can't deal with paying the statement balance every month correctly even AFTER I had to mail in their stupid forms. The loving account balance online makes you click on it to give you the most recent balance. Like, here's the old balance, I'm sure you really want to see this, you'll have to click on the balance link to get you an up to date balance. On my last statement I called to check $54 in "finance charges" and after 40 minutes on hold they just told me "whoops, it shouldn't say that there, that was actually a grocery purchase". I'm convinced that their entire online system was coded by marmosets. While not doubting your experience, I've had none of those problems in the year+ I've had the card.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 11:15
|
|
|
Grumpwagon posted:While not doubting your experience, I've had none of those problems in the year+ I've had the card. Is there any reason I would have a negative balance if I just have it set up to automatically pay off my statement balance each month? That doesn't make sense to me, how could I possibly overpay? If they had all my recent transactions online I could just check it manually, ugh.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 17:29
|
|
|
Maybe if the reward amount was credited after the payment was made?
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 18:04
|
|
|
In case anyone still cares, I ended up going with my own credit union's reward system. I toyed with the idea of a Costco AmEx (but AmEx isn't accepted as many places as Visa), and also toyed with the idea of a PenFed Visa (but didn't want to buy my way into membership only to be potentially declined for a credit card).
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 19:16
|
|
|
syphon posted:In case anyone still cares, I ended up going with my own credit union's reward system. I toyed with the idea of a Costco AmEx (but AmEx isn't accepted as many places as Visa), and also toyed with the idea of a PenFed Visa (but didn't want to buy my way into membership only to be potentially declined for a credit card). Out of curiosity, do you have anything against getting the Costco Amex as well? I use mine as my Costco card, gas card, and for airfare. They send out a reward voucher annually in February rather than making you hit a certain limit, and I shop there around 2x a month so cashing it is pretty prompt.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 19:29
|
|
|
No real reason not to... I guess I want to keep the number of credit cards I have to a minimum, even though I can't think of a rational reason to do so!
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 21:07
|
|
|
I've found that I can't rely on an Amex as an everyday card. I have exactly 2 cards I use: Visa for everyday, Amex for big ticket purchases where I might need the warranty (and Costco).
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 22:13
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:Maybe if the reward amount was credited after the payment was made?  Also got them to transfer my credit increase application to a higher authority so hopefully it'll go through okay this time in spite of their dumbbutt "wait a year until you get to ask for a credit increase" rule.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 00:25
|
|
|
Haha. I just asked them how to tell what automatic payment is scheduled for my account and got this info:PenFed posted:Our records indicate your credit card is currently set up for an automatic payment. Unfortunately since our credit cards are housed in a third party database, we are unable to display this information online. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. So if it ever doesn't go through correctly I'm going to bend their ears pretty good. Hope you enjoy your free hundred dollars! I have actually gotten about that much in rewards in a few months of using the card, without having to do any bullshit to get it - so I'm liking it ok so far. Let me know how the credit line increase goes - I might try that too, since I lowballed it on the application the exact same way.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 00:45
|
|
|
moana posted:Nah, it turned out that I had scheduled a payment online for the account balance, then sent in the papers to set up the automated payment but they didn't see the pending transfer and accidentally made me pay last month's balance twice. The lady on the phone was very optimistic and told me that next month, "it's like the first hundred dollars of things you buy is free because you have a negative balance!" I would love to increase my credit line. It's at $500 but I've had the card for less than a year so it got denied when I tried to increase it a few months ago. Please post what happens!
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 00:46
|
|
|
oye como va posted:I would love to increase my credit line. It's at $500 but I've had the card for less than a year so it got denied when I tried to increase it a few months ago. Please post what happens! If you're gutsy and don't care, you can ask them to close your entire account and when they ask why just say "I want a higher credit limit and you won't give it to me." Worked for me in the past at BofA, to my surpise.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 01:25
|
|
|
Definitely not gutsy enough to tell them that I would leave. I'll try giving them a call tomorrow. I do have an auto loan with them. Not sure if that hurts or helps my case though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 03:59
|
|
|
Here's a question for all my fellow point whores: I'm changing employers, and my corporate Amex card which has 60k points on it will need to be retired. I'm trying to figure out the best bang for my buck when I redeem the points. Here are the options I was considering: 1. Transfer to my Continental FF account - it's a 1:1 conversion ratio. 2. Transfer to my Starwood account - it's a 1,000 MP : 333 SPG conversion ration 3. Redeem for Amex gift cards - Redemption value is 10,000 MP's for every $50 card. I'd net $300 "cash" out of this 4. Comedy "donate to charity" option Any suggestions or pointers?
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 16:03
|
|
|
I requested a credit line increase via PenFed's online application. I didn't have to speak with anyone, my approval was instant, and my limit was increased in 2 business days.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 17:36
|
|
|
dangerous.hotdog posted:I requested a credit line increase via PenFed's online application. I didn't have to speak with anyone, my approval was instant, and my limit was increased in 2 business days. Yeah, I tried that. What they told me is that they won't approve these until you've had the card for a year, but I just got it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 17:40
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:Yeah, I tried that. What they told me is that they won't approve these until you've had the card for a year, but I just got it. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 17:58
|
|
|
I'm going to say that the Chase United Visa sucks because you'll need to spend about $50k+ for about $300 worth of rewards or $10k on deals they send from their partners for 3x mileage multipliers. And they've upped the required miles for most flights so much that you'll need to spend that much for maybe $700 worth of free flights or so. I was lucky to get a flight that was going to cost $1800 for 80k miles, but I've spent about $40k on the card over 5 years. In contrast, my Costco Amex with a lot less has gotten me back about $500 in cash over 5 years for spending maybe $15k total. I'll be cancelling the United Visa card shortly after 5 years of no reward redemption. The annual fee sucks unless you find that really obscure link on the MileagePlus page to pay for your annual fee with your miles (5k I think), and you can only do this after you've already had it charged to your account and only within 6 months of that charge. Mint.com doesn't alert you when you get hit with this charge as a fee BTW either. I just got a Southwest RapidRewards (also through Chase) card partly because I don't fly United anymore and because the rewards program is better for free flights.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 20:46
|
|
|
sink the biz posted:Here's a question for all my fellow point whores: Check out the below link. You pick what rewards you have and what you want to end up with and it gives you the best way to convert them. I would personally go with *wood points, but I'm trying to save those up for a vacation so I may be a little biased. http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2010 18:12
|
|
|
sink the biz posted:Here's a question for all my fellow point whores: When I was in the same position, I converted mine to gift cards to stores I shop at already rather than Amex cash cards, because you get way more real money per point out of the gift cards ($100 = 10,000 MP's looks to be a common deal). But then again, I bought a house and knew I was going to spend a ridiculous amount of money at Home Depot and burn that gift card right away.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2010 15:06
|
|
|
I'm personally pleased as punch with the Charles Schwab Visa (this thing). Has a decent website, it updates regularly, I get 2% on everything, and the cash just dumps monthly into an interest bearing account that I can transfer from whenever I care to. Or not, since it usually just ends up slightly reducing that particular month's expenses, but same difference. If I cared to, I suppose I could juggle other cards for 3% on restaurants or 5% on gas, but neither of those is exactly high on my expense list, so eh. Besides, I like having all my expenses on one card; it makes budget tracking easier.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2010 22:09
|
|
|
Shalinor posted:I'm personally pleased as punch with the Charles Schwab Visa (this thing). Has a decent website, it updates regularly, I get 2% on everything, and the cash just dumps monthly into an interest bearing account that I can transfer from whenever I care to. Or not, since it usually just ends up slightly reducing that particular month's expenses, but same difference. It is a good card -- the best out there for general purchases. It is also not going to be offered any more starting tomorrow. So if anybody really wants this card they better hurry the hell up. It also raises the question of what will happen to the rewards program for existing cardholders. I'm hoping that they will keep it as it is forever, but that seems unlikely. My guess is that they keep it at 2% for a year, maybe two, then forcibly "upgrade" everybody to a worse system.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2010 22:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 12:03 |
|
|
If you have a Chase Freedom, go to https://www.chase.com/freedom and register your card for their promotion. 5% cash back in rotating categories (changes every quarter and you have to register again each time). Plus, and I didn't know this until a few days ago, but for any Chase rewards card with their Ultimate Rewards program you can go to the rewards website and get extra points for shopping through them. And it isn't just merchandise on their site, it's a whole bunch of real retailers. Some examples (1 point = 1% cashback): 3pts per dollar at Apple 2pts per dollar at Dell 5pts per dollar at Footlocker 2pts per dollar at NewEgg 1500pts for a new Netflix account 5pts per dollar at the Starbucks online store 4pts per dollar at Stubhub 10pts per dollar for Sirius radio And they have hundreds more. MLB, NBA, NFL, Airlines, Electronics, Clothes, Travel.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2010 22:58
|
|
