Credit Card Rewards and Recommendations

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Credit Card Rewards and Recommendations

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Break even on the anual fee amex is $2,500 ($75 fee divided by 3% better than free vrsion)

# ¿ Mar 29, 2017 06:02

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 18:58

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Are fast food places considered restaurants per whatever reporting codes credit cards use?

# ¿ Oct 26, 2017 14:44

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

https://refer.discover.com/s/4li4u

edit: bah, couldn't get the page to load on my phone.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2018 20:00

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

What category do amusement parks fall into and is there a better than 2% rewards card for them? Looking to spend 3k at universal studios.

# ¿ May 11, 2019 16:25

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Motronic posted:

I don't know what they can do for you in your situation, but my 17 year old daughter has a 26 year old credit history because they let me add her as an authorized user when she turned 16.

They seem pretty permissive if you're in their good graces.

Anyone know if this is real or not? My credit report shows a 45 year history when I�m only 32 thanks to a Shell card my parents put me as an authorized user on. I always figured that banks filtered that out somehow.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2020 12:32

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

spatula posted:

My parents added me as an authorized user to their card when I was very young. Eventually I was removed for inactivity and i saw my Credit Karma score drop hugely along with my average age of accounts.

I got my parents to add me back and my score went back up accordingly, so this is very much a thing. It works as long as your parents are good with credit

Yeah it affects the score as seen on credit karma and mint, I just always assumed the real score the banks used knew better.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2020 18:37

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

I just bought a new house, and now that the loan is closed, I wanted to get some new CCs since I haven't been able to open in a while (both signup churn and a permanent IKEA card for utilities).

Turns out if you just give them your new address they will decline you since you have no history with that address yet.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2020 00:00

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Whats the best use of a large prepaid Visa debit card? I get them at work sometimes for $50-100, and generally just dump them into my Steam or Amazon balance so I don't have to keep track of them. I just got a $1000 one though, which is quite a bit more than is useful at those places. I'd love to be able to just put it in a bank account, but that doesn't seem possible without hoops and losing several %.

edit: Its website specifies that it has no ATM access and does not do bank transfers.

Xenoborg fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Nov 15, 2020

# ¿ Nov 15, 2020 17:39

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

im on the net me boys posted:

Is there a better card than the Amex for groceries? I spend the most money on groceries and I know it gets 6% back. The Cash App debit card has a 10% on groceries sometimes so I�ll use that often but it�s a limit of up to $7.50 back.
Also my Fico is usually around 721 or so, is this good enough for the Amex or should I go for like a Discover instead?

Its the best I've seen and FYI on the type, the breakeven for getting the Amex preferred for $75 to get 6% cashback or regular for free and 3% cash back is $2,500 spent. $75/(6%-3%).

# ¿ Jan 5, 2021 02:37

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Unsinkabear posted:

Does that include things like Venmo and Cashapp?

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-cash-like-definition/

quote:

The definition of cash-like transactions is being updated to include person-to-person money transfers and account-funding transactions that transfer currency (i.e. PayPal, Venmo, Square Cash, etc.). Cash-like transactions are not applied to all PayPal transactions such as goods and services; it will be applied to person-to-person money transfers using a credit card. These transactions are identified and flagged by VISA / Mastercard and will be posted as a cash advance and charged the cash advance fee

# ¿ Apr 20, 2021 04:14

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

im on the net me boys posted:

Reminder for anyone who hasn�t to activate their new bonus category for Discover! This month is restaurants and PayPal

Thanks! I tend to miss out on the discover bonus because the activate email comes out a month before and I never think of it until the next one.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2021 16:58

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Cross post from the Long Term thread. Its from HYSA recomendation HM Bradley

Xenoborg posted:

Speaking of HM Bradley, I guess I was never asked what my income is, so when I click to their credit card offer I see this:

What an astounding deal.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2021 19:57

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Thoguh posted:

Do you think the Citi Custom Cash will finally force Amex to change up the Blue Cash preferred? I can't think of any justification for anyone to pay $95/year for a 6% card when there's a free 5% copycat out there.

Wondering that too, for now I have a note to check back in Nov before the fee hits and probably change over.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2021 16:36

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Unsinkabear posted:

Even (or especially) if you're just in it for cash, the sign-up bonus on the Premier is significant.

Iirc the reason people go Premier -> Custom Cash -> Rewards+ is that the Premier and + have mutually exclusive signup bonuses.

So get the 80,000 points from the Premier first, then apply for the Custom Cash. Get your 20,000 from that. Then, if you want, grab the Rewards+. You won't get a sign-up bonus but it will add 10% to the value of your previous two cards, so it's effectively with $100/10,000 + 10% ofwhatever points you have from actual spending.

Then right after the Premier renews next year, downgrade it to a second Custom Cash and get that second annual fee refunded. Enjoy having 5.5% back in the top two spending categories of your choice each month for no annual fee (which is important, because it means you can also neglect these categories without penalty if you need that spending to grab another bonus later).

Credit to pseudoanonymous for pointing this combo out to me over in the churning thread. It's one of those rare best-of-both-worlds sweet spots that gives you both up-front value and long term usefulness.

Thanks for this, going to try it out once I finish this US Bank Altitude startup bonus.

Will it mess anything up that I already have a Citi Double Cash (8+ years old)?

# ¿ Mar 22, 2023 01:16

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Be double extra sure you pay it off on time though or they will backdate the full 2X% interest for the whole year.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2023 18:49

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Unsinkabear posted:

Cross-posting this in case any non-churners know the answer

Seconding this, currently making the spend requirements on premier and plan to get rewards + in a few months.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2023 22:04

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Citi�s double cash is 2% and becomes 2.2% when paired with a rewards+ card, both no fee.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2023 12:53

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

How is the Citi Rewards+ 10% extra point value supposed to work? As far as I can tell I have 4 separate ThankYou Rewards accounts with 4 separate balances, and bonus is only applying to the Rewards+ one. There is a combine account button, but when in each account, I can only see the one I'm in. Am I missing something or is their website just borked?

# ¿ Jul 28, 2023 02:24

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Unsinkabear posted:

Even (or especially) if you're just in it for cash, the sign-up bonus on the Premier is significant.

Iirc the reason people go Premier -> Custom Cash -> Rewards+ is that the Premier and + have mutually exclusive signup bonuses.

So get the 80,000 points from the Premier first, then apply for the Custom Cash. Get your 20,000 from that. Then, if you want, grab the Rewards+. You won't get a sign-up bonus but it will add 10% to the value of your previous two cards, so it's effectively with $100/10,000 + 10% ofwhatever points you have from actual spending.

Then right after the Premier renews next year, downgrade it to a second Custom Cash and get that second annual fee refunded. Enjoy having 5.5% back in the top two spending categories of your choice each month for no annual fee (which is important, because it means you can also neglect these categories without penalty if you need that spending to grab another bonus later).

Credit to pseudoanonymous for pointing this combo out to me over in the churning thread. It's one of those rare best-of-both-worlds sweet spots that gives you both up-front value and long term usefulness.

Trip report on finally completing this. It all worked as described, and I even got the sign up rewards for all 3 ($750, $200, $200 respectively), so maybe them being exclusive has changed

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 14:59

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Always have a flat high % card. There�s plenty of stuff that is costly and won�t hit any categories. Car insurance and home repairs for example. That $10k hvac replacement system sucks but it�s a nice psychological boost to get $250 in points on it.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2024 14:21

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

Boris Galerkin posted:

I just noticed this quote and an online calculator says 36g of 10 karat gold is about $1000 worth of gold. Are they really giving people a credit card that literally worth $1000? lol. For needing 10 people to sign up and stayed signed up this is obviously targeted for fintok bros cause I can't imagine how a normal person has 10 people they can refer.

Also if I sat on a 10karat pure gold card will I break it? I thought gold was very malleable.

Note: I know nothing about gold and jewelry. I just see Olympic winners biting their gold medals etc.

I imagine its 0.1g of plating on top of some cheaper metal.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2024 14:16

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 18:58

Xenoborg: Mar 10, 2007

I was going to close my Citi Premier since I really only got it for the churn, but they let me product change it into a second Custom Cash. I though I read they discontinued doing that, so maybe it will go away in a bit.

quote:

5% eligible categories: Restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, live entertainment.

Looking at the categories though, nothing really jumps out as being useful other than a 2nd grocery (We usually spend about 600) a month.

# ¿ May 4, 2024 03:44

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Credit Card Rewards and Recommendations