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xie posted:How is 100k miles not enough for a R/T ticket to Europe? I think you misread my post. US is offering 50k that convert to American at the end of the year. American is also offering 50k. Oh OK yeah that makes more sense, 100K total. Your post was reading to me like you were talking about getting one card or the other. So my other points still stand - no guarantee you'll find award availability at the 100K level for where/when you want to go, and I don't think US Airways and AA miles are going to be merged until the second quarter of 2015, so you're not going to have much time to book that award. So fundamentally you've got everything right, the timing just might not work out for you. This IS your best bet, however, to get your trip using miles. I would go forward with your plan but assume you're going to have to book tickets with cash.
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# ? Dec 21, 2014 19:18 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 14:58 |
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Brian Fellows posted:I don't think US Airways and AA miles are going to be merged until the second quarter of 2015, so you're not going to have much time to book that award. Aww crap, that blows. Wanted to fly in June, even right now the outbound leg options (for economy) are already drying up. Got 20k with AA and need 70k, was thinking that US Airways thing would work out for me.
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# ? Dec 21, 2014 23:28 |
Has anyone had any luck getting annual fees comped by calling the credit card company. I ask because I currently use a BoA starter card (I had no credit history prior to 2013,) which offers no rewards and has a $39 dollar annual fee. There is literally no reason I should be paying that much just for the "right" to use BoA's credit card service with no incentives. I pay off my bill in full each month, and think I've built up enough credit over the last 10 months to move onto my next card.
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# ? Dec 23, 2014 15:40 |
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Lelorox posted:Has anyone had any luck getting annual fees comped by calling the credit card company. Probably you can get it waived, but just call and ask for a 'product change' to a no-AF, rewards card, like their Travel Rewards card. That will help maintain your average account age, as well, instead of stopping it now.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 02:08 |
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Has anyone had any luck with getting American Express to give you your credit card number before actually receiving the card? Long story short, I've got a large purchase I'd like to put on the card before the end of the year and both Amex and Citi are telling me that, best case scenario it's going to take 7-10 days to receive a card. Amex won't overnight a card on a new account (despite me having two other Amex cards), but I'm wondering if anyone's had any luck getting the number (or a working, temporary number) before getting the card in their hands.
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 20:09 |
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Hmm, you could ask. Does the card show up online?
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 20:14 |
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Xandu posted:Hmm, you could ask. Does the card show up online? Amex gave me a number to call and ask, but it's closed for Christmas. Figured someone here might have experience. I haven't actually applied for the card yet, but the person I talked to said they'd be able to answer regardless.
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 20:18 |
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As far as I can tell Amex doesn't show the entire card number online. You may have better luck with Citi as they have an online option for a temporary card number for use for online transactions.
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 21:10 |
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Shrimpy posted:Has anyone had any luck with getting American Express to give you your credit card number before actually receiving the card? When I applied online for Amex Platinum, I received the number immediately online and was able to use it for online purchases several days before physically receiving the card.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 01:18 |
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I'm looking for a good airline/travel rewards card. I recently went on a US Air flight and they were pushing their US Air mastercard pretty hard. I really like the free first bag (I would take advantage of this) and the 50,000 upfront miles. I don't necessarily like the $89 annual fee, but that'd be essentially cancelled if I took 2 round trip flights with a bag per year, which I will probably do ($25/bag each way). Reviews I'm reading aren't very good for this card though. I already have a Pentagon Federal credit union platinum signature visa with the chip/pin and no foreign transaction fees, so I'm really only interested in this other one for perks and airline mileage. I have a Wells Fargo platinum visa that I never use ($0 balance) and the pen fed card that I use for grocery/gas purchases and pretty much everything else I buy (paid off in full every month, $0 balance). When I applied for a car loan, I got the lowest rate and they told me my credit score was excellent at 784. I feel confident I could get whichever card I want, it's just knowing which one is best. Creditkarma.com is recommending the Chase Sapphire Preferred (I don't like the $95 annual fee) and the Barclaycard Arrival World master card. It mentions 20,000 miles after $1,000 in purchases within 90 days, but are these usable with any airline?
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# ? Jan 1, 2015 19:15 |
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Cacafuego posted:I'm looking for a good airline/travel rewards card. I recently went on a US Air flight and they were pushing their US Air mastercard pretty hard. I really like the free first bag (I would take advantage of this) and the 50,000 upfront miles. I don't necessarily like the $89 annual fee, but that'd be essentially cancelled if I took 2 round trip flights with a bag per year, which I will probably do ($25/bag each way). Reviews I'm reading aren't very good for this card though. That said, Barclays customer service is often bad. Cacafuego posted:Creditkarma.com is recommending the Chase Sapphire Preferred (I don't like the $95 annual fee) and the Barclaycard Arrival World master card. It mentions 20,000 miles after $1,000 in purchases within 90 days, but are these usable with any airline? The Chase Sapphire Preferred gives 2x miles and dining and travel, and those points can be redeemed towards airfare (at a fixed rate of 1.25 cents per mile) or transferred (in 1000 mile increments) to several hotel and airline programs. The Barclay Arrival "miles" are actually not traditional airline miles, but rather you can use them for statement credits towards travel expenses. Each Arrival "mile" is worth 1 cent towards a travel expense (minimum of 2500), plus you get 10% back. Anyway, this guy has some detailed reviews of each card: http://www.drcreditcard.net/barclays-us-airways.html http://www.drcreditcard.net/chase-sapphire-preferred.html http://www.drcreditcard.net/barclays-arrival.html It's hard to say what might work best for you without knowing some specifics, but I'm familiar with all three of these cards if you have any questions.
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# ? Jan 1, 2015 20:54 |
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How do merchants report cash-like portions of a purchase? Is it split out? Say I have a 2% groceries cash back reward and at the local grocery store I get $100 in groceries and a $100 Amazon gift card all on one receipt. I'd only earn $2 in rewards points and not $4, correct?
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# ? Jan 1, 2015 22:15 |
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SpelledBackwards posted:How do merchants report cash-like portions of a purchase? Is it split out? I'm no expert, but I'd guess you'd get $4. From what I've seen, it seems to be handled on the merchant level. That's why bookstore cards give you cash back from amazon, regardless of what you bought there.
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# ? Jan 1, 2015 22:49 |
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SpelledBackwards posted:How do merchants report cash-like portions of a purchase? Is it split out? You earn $4. Merchants don't report what is in the transaction.
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# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:31 |
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asur posted:You earn $4. Merchants don't report what is in the transaction. Well, some do. Google "Level 3 data". Office supply stores and airlines, especially, report this. But yeah, for the posed question, you're fine. Buy all the gift cards you want, just try not to make purchases of exactly gift card amounts excessively or risk some fun questioning from your credit card. Cacafuego posted:I'm looking for a good airline/travel rewards card. Using your miles for domestic travel generally does not make a miles-earning card worthwhile. You probably want a straight cashback card that you can then spend the points on other stuff. The Citi Double Cash is probably the best choice for that; 2% on all your purchases which you can then use to buy whatever you want, including your flights. If you plan on international travel, then miles cards may become more worthwhile for the signup bonuses, but if not, especially American/US's domestic award charts are not worth getting the miles card given the cheap prices of domestic flights, IMO. Bisty Q. fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Jan 2, 2015 |
# ? Jan 2, 2015 16:00 |
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Bisty Q. posted:Well, some do. Google "Level 3 data". Office supply stores and airlines, especially, report this. But yeah, for the posed question, you're fine. Buy all the gift cards you want, just try not to make purchases of exactly gift card amounts excessively or risk some fun questioning from your credit card. It seems too easy to game then that it really surprises me if they don't split it out. My Chase Freedom did 5% Amazon in Q4 last year and is doing grocery stores now, so that's an opportunity to stock up (up to $1500 quarterly max spending) vs. my 3% Amazon Visa. On the subject of reward points, do consumers really ever shop for merchandise in those dumb "Rewards Mall" storefronts using points to purchase actual stuff vs. statement credits, cash back, gift cards, travel, and charity? Those items all seem so hilariously overpriced that I can't believe these companies spend time and money keeping them posted.
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# ? Jan 2, 2015 16:25 |
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People definitely use those and get terrible value for their points, it might be the most "profitable" point redemption for the card issuer.
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# ? Jan 2, 2015 17:35 |
Bisty Q. posted:Probably you can get it waived, but just call and ask for a 'product change' to a no-AF, rewards card, like their Travel Rewards card. That will help maintain your average account age, as well, instead of stopping it now. Ah thanks for this advice. I was wondering how this works.
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# ? Jan 2, 2015 18:00 |
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SpelledBackwards posted:It seems too easy to game then that it really surprises me if they don't split it out. My Chase Freedom did 5% Amazon in Q4 last year and is doing grocery stores now, so that's an opportunity to stock up (up to $1500 quarterly max spending) vs. my 3% Amazon Visa. It's one of the reasons why they have the spending limits.
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# ? Jan 2, 2015 18:50 |
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SpelledBackwards posted:It seems too easy to game then that it really surprises me if they don't split it out. My Chase Freedom did 5% Amazon in Q4 last year and is doing grocery stores now, so that's an opportunity to stock up (up to $1500 quarterly max spending) vs. my 3% Amazon Visa. You can game them for $75 in a quarter, and they get some of that back with merchant fees. ~$25 a month is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what they make charging interest to folks who carry a balance. Also, if you do find something that looks like a way to bust the system wide open, retailers will cut you off from gift card purchases when you buy a lot of them. Screwing around with near-cash products on a scale that's worth a bank's notice looks a lot like money laundering.
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# ? Jan 3, 2015 08:19 |
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SpelledBackwards posted:It seems too easy to game then that it really surprises me if they don't split it out. My Chase Freedom did 5% Amazon in Q4 last year and is doing grocery stores now, so that's an opportunity to stock up (up to $1500 quarterly max spending) vs. my 3% Amazon Visa.
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# ? Jan 3, 2015 14:19 |
Lelorox posted:Ah thanks for this advice. I was wondering how this works. Well that was fairly simple. Called BoA this morning and maybe was on the phone for half an hour. Got switched over to cash rewards and increased my limit without any hassle except for the rep trying to tell me that I would still have a 39 dollar fee which I insisted wasn't the case. So he waived the fee and got me my new card. Thanks for the advice.
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# ? Jan 3, 2015 23:45 |
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Is it super duper bad for your credit rating to run a 0 balance on a card you aren't using? I got a Freedom last year but hardly used it, since my amex BCP and Sapphire Preferred do everything I need them to. If it is, should I close it or just make 1 purchase a month on it or something?
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# ? Jan 4, 2015 21:19 |
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Bragon posted:Is it super duper bad for your credit rating to run a 0 balance on a card you aren't using? I got a Freedom last year but hardly used it, since my amex BCP and Sapphire Preferred do everything I need them to. If it is, should I close it or just make 1 purchase a month on it or something? Not at all - it's slightly better to keep an unused card open, to help your utilization. If you're still trying to establish credit, it's slightly better to have a "paid on time" note for each month than nothing, but that effect is close to microscopic if you've got other cards you're paying regularly.
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# ? Jan 4, 2015 21:28 |
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Shrimpy posted:Has anyone had any luck with getting American Express to give you your credit card number before actually receiving the card? In case anybody runs into this problem in the future, you have to have pop-ups and ad blocks disabled when you apply. They only show you the number once online-- at the very end of the application, and it's not in the email-- until you get your card, and I had those enabled so I didn't get to see the number. Had to wait until the card came in, as they would not provide me the number over the phone.
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# ? Jan 5, 2015 08:55 |
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Looks like there's an offer available for the Discover It credit card that includes $150 cashback after $750 spent in three months. I have never seen a sign-up bonus available for this card before. The offer doesn't appear to be available on the main page, so I think you need to use that link to get to it. It appeared to work for me today, and the sign-up bonus showed up in the contract information and such when I applied. Edit: Deal no longer available. Vox Nihili fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Feb 9, 2015 |
# ? Jan 5, 2015 13:37 |
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Argh I just got a Discover It a couple days ago.
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# ? Jan 5, 2015 15:26 |
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Argh I just got a Discover It a couple days ago. The offer has been going for at least the last month and is open to anyone so you should be able to get the bonus. Call/chat/send a message to discover and say you meant to sign up for the $175 bonus. The worse that can happen is they say no.
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# ? Jan 5, 2015 16:35 |
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THF13 posted:The offer has been going for at least the last month and is open to anyone so you should be able to get the bonus. Call/chat/send a message to discover and say you meant to sign up for the $175 bonus. The worse that can happen is they say no. Yeah they said no. Oh well, it can't be helped.
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# ? Jan 5, 2015 20:19 |
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Bisty Q. posted:Delta is pretty much the worst one. The 'pro' thing to do is to transfer them to British Airways when there's a transfer bonus in effect, then use those Avios to book trips on American. If you mostly take short-hauls (to the midwest or shorter), you'll come out way ahead this way, since Avios redemptions start at 7500 miles each way (yep, you read that right) and you book on regular American flights. Is the British Airways 40% promo the best its going to get? Have there been any other promos?
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# ? Jan 5, 2015 22:27 |
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Those transfer bonuses used to be frequent, not so much anymore.
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# ? Jan 5, 2015 22:53 |
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I picked up the Barclaycard World Plus for the 40k mile bonus since I was planning an expensive ski trip. I just activated the bonus (plus earned miles) for $450 off my flight plus another 4500 miles for redeeming. Pretty nice. Also it seems that you can get a bunch of free miles just posting in their stupid travel forum (which seems to only exist to harvest travel data... no one is actually browsing it for travel ideas). 500 miles for signing up and 150 miles every time you post a trip (50 words and a picture) and 10 miles for every "like" you get. I'll probably downgrade it after my free year is up, but thanks for the $500+ barclaycard!
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# ? Jan 6, 2015 21:23 |
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Citi double cash is going to be about as good as it gets for a general usage card, right? amazon / random-shopping / gas are my biggest categories. Don't carry a balance, not worried about miles, just cash back.
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# ? Jan 8, 2015 06:37 |
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ilkhan posted:Citi double cash is going to be about as good as it gets for a general usage card, right? That plus a chase freedom card. Freedom card is 5% on groceries right now, 3rd quarter is 5% on gas, and 4th quarter is 5% on amazon. But general straight up no hassle the citi card is pretty good.
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# ? Jan 8, 2015 06:40 |
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Just for the sheer lack of hassle, the Citi card wins.
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# ? Jan 8, 2015 07:15 |
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How does the Sallie Mae mastercard work with Amazon, do you get 5% back on any Amazon purchase or just books?
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# ? Jan 8, 2015 15:22 |
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Well, apparently my credit sucks enough that I can't get any cash back cards. Guess I'm stuck with this super low ceiling one. Sigh...
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# ? Jan 8, 2015 15:51 |
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I was just approved for a US Airways Dividend Miles World MC, which should work out nicely when AA and US Airways merge their frequent flyer miles (already have ~24k in an AA account) later this year. I've also got an AAdvantage Mastercard I received almost a year ago (going to cancel it soon, before the annual fee hits). Is it worth my time to apply for another AAdvantage card soon after (or just before), or are they likely to reject me? FWIW my credit score is a bit over 800, although the weakest area was having too few accounts. Also, if anyone has recommendations on a VISA or Mastercard with high-ish minimum spends (up to ~$8-9k) that has good mileage rewards, do tell. I can pay my university tuition with them at no additional fee (assuming the card has no foreign transaction fees, most of the travel-oriented ones seem not to), figured I ought to leverage that rather than paying with straight up cash.
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# ? Jan 8, 2015 15:53 |
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Doghouse posted:How does the Sallie Mae mastercard work with Amazon, do you get 5% back on any Amazon purchase or just books? Anything that is billed as "amazon". Amazon is a bookstore according to them. They don't see any sort of itemized purchase.
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# ? Jan 9, 2015 00:12 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 14:58 |
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If Visa Signature is meant to compete with mid-level Amex on a product level, it failed the first test. Delta Amex deposited bonus miles as soon as I hit my spending threshold. Southwest Visa Signature waits until the billing cycle, then 4-6 weeks. It's like, you get every piece of financial data on me instantly, can respond within minutes of any suspicious purchase like a Jack in the Box meal buy 40 miles from my home, and you have all the control of my financial future with a credit score-- but you need over a month to process and apply a few hundred dollars worth of airline miles? What do you think my scam to get HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS from a financial institution is, and how will one month delay stop it?
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# ? Jan 10, 2015 02:36 |