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Seconding Uber Visa. US Bank Cash+ for Utilities and another category of your choice Ducks Unlimited for Gas If you shop at Safeway/Albertsons, they have gift cards on Amazon.
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Aug 16, 2019 02:10
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Or use this: Can you add a Drop App tab? Figure a lot of people in this thread would be interested in some extra "cashback" in the form of gift cards. $5 for referrer/ee https://b.ewd.io/code?c=cpqiy
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Aug 16, 2019 02:27
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carry on then posted:So I can still only spend $150 per month on this thing if I want to keep my credit score climbing. Make an extra payment prior to your statement closing. carry on then posted:What should my next move be? What category do you spend the most in? No Annual Fees: Citi Double Cash - Everyday spending (2%) Ducks Unlimited - Gas/Sporting Goods (5%) AMEX Blue Cash Everyday - Groceries (3%) Uber Visa - Dining (4%) / Hotel/AirBnB/Airfare (3%) / Online (2%) Chase Freedom - Rotating Categories (5%) US Bank Cash+ - 2 Categories (5%) Bank of America Cash Rewards - 1 Category (3%) Amazon Rewards Visa - Amazon.com/Whole Foods (5% - with Prime / 3% without Prime) Discover IT Cash Back* - Rotating Categories (5% - Matched after first year) *Assuming your Secured Card graduated to the Gas & Restaurant variety which shares the same categories as the Secured IT. I would start with getting category specific cards like those above, but once you're set there you can look into setting up a high-interest checking/savings account and then you can move on to cards which may not have rewards but instead offer sign-up bonuses with large 0% APR intro periods. Setting up auto-payments for the monthly minimum to draw from this account and just keeping the account above your balance as you spend, essentially treating it as a debit card. Keeping in mind that as you near your APR deadline, the "APY-cashback" from more recent purchases decreases as that cash won't have been sitting in the account as long. You could however, look for a 0% APR/$0-fee Balance Transfer promotion ~45 days prior to this deadline to extend your interest gains on the balance you've accrued minus minimum payments for another year+. But as I said, this is better done later in your credit journey after you've gotten all the rewards cards you've wanted and your credit score isn't something you care about as much apart from lowering your insurance premiums. Later in the game one will have enough lines of credit that the utilization score won't be impacted as hard with a single card increasingly nearing its limit. Girbot fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Aug 18, 2019 |
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Aug 18, 2019 00:13
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My previous reply to essentially the same question.Girbot posted:What category do you spend the most in? Keep in mind that grocery stores and Amazon sell gift cards for other merchants, as well. If you shop at Safeway/Albertsons, even without Amazon Prime, the 3% would be equal to what you'd get with the Blue Cash using gift cards bought on Amazon. It's also a Visa as opposed to AMEX so might be accepted in more places. I don't use it anymore aside from the rare purchase to keep it from being closed, but Capital One's Quicksilver earns 1.5% everywhere and has great approval odds for a first card. If you're looking for a Travel Card, I'll defer to others. Jerk McJerkface posted:Goon Credit Card random referral page: Girbot fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Aug 29, 2019 |
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Aug 29, 2019 06:52
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Doctorofcredit is VERY upfront about bonuses he gets and goes out of his way to discourage deals he finds aren't in the best interest of the reader, he's genuinely one of the best faith people on the net (to the extent you can say that about a churner) and finds more value in providing a site with great community driven data points. Thepointsguy needs to be taken with a mountain of salt, especially the poo poo that ends up on their Facebook feed.
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Sep 5, 2019 01:25
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Sounds like you should get a new card and try to get a huge sign up bonus, plus maybe 0% APR for a while. $500 Bonus for $4500 in spend, No AF, 15-Month 0% APR.
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Sep 6, 2019 22:26
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Figured I make a post about Cashback Apps in here instead of starting a new thread as they work off linking debit/credit cards and most in this thread are interested in maximizing rewards anyway. There are four apps I use to stack even more cashback onto my purchases: Drop, Dosh, Bumped, and Pei. Spent was another but has since been discontinued. Drop let's you choose 5 merchants to passively gain cashback when you use a linked card at those merchants. There are additional offers if you shop through the app much like ebates (now Rakuten) but I don't really ever bother with those. The five merchants I use are Walmart, Trader Joes, Target, Safeway, and Walgreens. They have a giftcard store which you use to buy giftcards with the points you accrue. https://www.earnwithdrop.com/ Personal referral link - https://b.ewd.io/code?c=cpqiy ($5 in points for each of us) Dosh works the same way and has a lot of Hotels and smaller local shops they partner with and allows you to deposit your rewards directly into a bank account, Paypal, or Venmo instead of needing to purchase giftcards. https://www.dosh.cash/ Personal referral link - https://link.dosh.cash/BENT42 ($5 for me, unfortunately no mentioned of any bonus for the referred) Bumped is unique in that you chose a merchant for each of 15 categories (you can switch them I think once a month, haven't done it personally) and instead of getting points or cashback, you get partial shares purchased for you into a portfolio which you set up through the app based on a percentage of the transactions which are made on linked cards, ranging from 0.5% for Uber/Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile to 5% at Domino's. I recently got dividends from my stock in Walgreens, so that works out, too. Obviously your rewards could gain or lose additional value based on the market and how long you keep them just sitting in your portfolio, but I consider it free money anyway so I don't consider it a risk to just keep it sitting there personally. https://bumped.com/ Personal referral link - https://bumped.com/?ref=1c86a90c (No mention of any bonus for either of us, but there's still a wait-list mentioned on their site, so this link may bypass it, don't know. I was only on the wait-list for a few weeks a while back if you want to go that route.) Pei I just signed up for a few days ago but works the same way, link cards, carry on with life and collect rewards passively as either cash, bitcoin, or giftcards. Certain actions earn you boost points which once you reach 20 you can activate a 48 hour period of an extra 1% cashback on all purchases (not sure if this means all vendors even those not in the app). Actions which earn boost points are linking cards, referrals, using points for giftcards, shopping at the same merchant 5 times, and shopping at preferred merchants. https://getpei.com/ Personal referral link - https://getpei.com/?ref=iv4sm ($5 for each of us) These are the ones I use, there are more but many of them require activation each time you make a purchase or using a shopping portal which is too much hassle for me personally. But if you're interested, here's a DoC page on some more: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/complete-list-card-linked-store-reward-programs/ Using Jack in the Box as an example because I see it a lot when browsing these apps but don't eat there myself, but were I to I'd be able to save: 4% - Uber Visa 10% - Pei 5% - Dosh 3% - Bumped 22% cashback isn't too bad, imo (Unfortunately the food still is). For me the most consistent cashback I get is from Walgreens for an additional 2.8% combined through the apps on top the 3% from my BofA card. If the good goon Jerk McJerkface wants to add tabs for these on the referral page, I assume there'd be continued interest in these and I won't hoard the referral bonuses. Girbot fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Sep 11, 2019 |
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Sep 11, 2019 20:31
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The Big Jesus posted:2) Is there anything I seem to be missing? Any good tips? I’m currently booking hotels directly through Marriott’s website and snagging some cashback via Rakuten. Take a quick browse through the Dosh app next time you're looking to book a stay. I'm not sure how it compares to Rakuten/eBates or if needing to book through the app is a non-starter for how your cards' points system works, but they have some insane deals listed on the app (like 40% off). Here's a referral link that'll snag us each $5, but obviously, do a little browsing to find what stacks best for you: https://link.dosh.cash/BENT42
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Sep 18, 2019 00:23
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waloo posted:What's a decent one off signup to go for if I expect to be able to hit 4-5k spend in the near future? https://www.doctorofcredit.com/spreadsheet-current-recent-credit-card-signup-bonuses-major-issuers/
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Sep 21, 2019 12:59
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Yeah, BofA sends me out 0% APR checks all the time but the fee makes them deal breakers.
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Oct 5, 2019 18:50
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Another solid option that would be mostly* set it and forget it would be US Bank Cash+ and have her put your utilities and cell phones on the card with autopay set up. * You'd just need to remember to select the 5% categories each quarter. Unfortunately it doesn't keep the same categories selected by default, but it's an otherwise painless process if you just set yourself a reminder.
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Oct 6, 2019 18:19
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Yeah, best method would be to add up 3 months of utility bills, subtract the total from $2000, and pick the category that gets closest to what remains.
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Oct 6, 2019 19:46
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I get the hassle dealing with travel rewards and the appeal of a single card, but min/maxing cashback isn't a problem once you recognize which cards go with which merchants, or swapping an everyday card during a 0% APR period to farm checking/savings APY (then BT 0% period for the balance you've accrued), or a card for online merchants like Amazon which you don't even need to carry in your wallet. Collecting cards literally makes life cheaper with minimal effort but mileage will vary person to person, if you'll excuse the pun. Churning especially isn't for everyone but some consider it to even be a hobby like min/maxing in video games. To each their own and 2% plus is better than a lot of people even bother with.
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Oct 7, 2019 22:26
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Someone on Reddit created a lounge map: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/dehwqq/discussion_thread_october_07_2019/f2vcs2c/ Also, gently caress AA.
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Oct 9, 2019 16:52
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Can you transfer them to a personal card?
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Oct 25, 2019 02:05
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Magic City Monday posted:So what would be the next best no-fee all rounder? Capital One Quicksilver? (Double Cash is no good because I need no foreign transaction fees). First Tech Federal Credit Union has a 2x points card with no foreign transaction fees but for cash back points are only worth $0.008 so it comes out to 1.6% only slightly better than the Quicksilver. Redemption rates for gift cards are slightly better. The $10k minimum credit limit is nice for a utilization buffer, though. Girbot fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 00:05
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Bank of the West has a 3% restaurant (and gas / groceries) card which I was using before I got my Uber card which I'll be going back to again once I reach $25.
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Oct 30, 2019 20:54
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Not pulling the trigger on this myself because it's supposedly 2 hard pulls (1 for CU account, another for the card) and because most of the categories in the past year don't interest me, but there's another 5% category card. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/langley-federal-credit-union-5-signature-cashback-visa-card-100-limit-changes-monthly/ Figured some people who don't necessarily churn and aren't trying to keep their number of pulls down might be interested in this card even if it spends most of its time in a drawer. I may grab it if it's still around in a few years and have gotten all the other cards I'm interested in.
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Nov 10, 2019 23:11
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TraderStav posted:It sucks there isn't a point option for AirBnB but man is it worth it. The Uber Visa works for 3% at AirBnB but unfortunately starting February it's only good for Uber credit.
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Jan 5, 2020 19:20
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TraderStav posted:Family of 5 here, we're at that point when we travel to Europe to be comfortable we'll need two hotel rooms. Discover IT is currently 5% groceries.
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Jan 6, 2020 20:07
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DorianGravy posted:I'm interested in getting a new credit card. I already have an account at Alliant, so I was looking at their 2.5% cash back card. The cash back looks pretty nice and it's low maintenance, since I don't have to worry about points or anything. However, I'm also interested in some of the hotel credit cards. For example, it seems like the 100,000 points bonus with the Marriott Bonvoy card would be good for ~3-10 free hotel nights. Is that right? I don't really like dealing with points, but traveling more might be fun. Any opinions on hotel credit cards? There's a $99 annual fee on that card after the first year and with the $10,000 cap on cashback ($250 cashback) you'd only get halfway to covering the annual fee from the addition 0.5% vs a non-fee card like Citi's Double Cash of the Fidelity visa which gets 2%. EDIT: Nevermind, I guess the cap is monthly, not annually. So if you plan to put over $20,000 on it a year it may actually be worth it. I personally would still look at category specific cards which may earn you more for regular spending and see if you still would cover $20,000 afterward for non-category purchases. Or if you don't want to deal with multiple cards then this may be a good choice for thin wallet types. Girbot fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Jan 25, 2020 |
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Jan 25, 2020 10:21
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You're generally not eligible for sign up bonuses with product changes. Also keep in mind after the first year you'll need to spend $9500 on dining and entertainment to make up for the $95 annual fee vs the SavorOne 3% back. I'm personally going to use my Bank of the West 3% (Dining, Gas, Groceries) for restaurant spend for the quarters Discover IT isn't on 5% restaurant now that Uber is dead. BofA is another option for 3% but I using that for drug stores since that's the best option that isn't covered year round elsewhere for me (currently 5% with Discover, though). If you're going to cover that $9500 in spend after the first year, or you want to take your free year and product change again after, yeah, just give them a call. You could also just open the Savor fresh, keeping the Quicksilver, if you're going to meet the $3000 spend in 3 months and consider the bonus to cover the annual fee through the first 4 years. If you don't have a Bank of America Cash Rewards card and don't think you'll get better value on getting 3% on gas, online shopping, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings and opt for 3% on dining, they have a $200 bonus on $1000 spend in 90 days. The 3% is only good up to $2500/quarter, but if you're spending that much the Savor becomes better regardless of annual fee as you're breaking the $9500/year needed to cover it from the extra 1%. Girbot fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Feb 9, 2020 |
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Feb 9, 2020 02:18
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They added Walgreens and CVS to Q1, Wholesale to Q2, PayPal to Q3, and target.com and walmart.com to Q4, though.
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Feb 9, 2020 03:01
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https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-400-600-personal-checking-savings-bonus-available-nationwide-direct-deposit-not-required/ According to this there's no early termination fee so I'd double check your fee schedule and just close the account if you don't need it. Also take a look at the extra $100 for direct deposits mentioned in the post. Make sure that this is the same offer you signed up for, obviously. I don't see any language about needing to maintain the account for a year or your bonus is forfeit. There are people in the comments which closed their account immediately. Here's a list of what qualified as DD with Citi: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/list-methods-banks-count-direct-deposits/#Citibank Per what counts as an eligible linked account, best bet would be to call them up or open a chat and ask to make certain. Girbot fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Feb 19, 2020 |
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Feb 19, 2020 04:42
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That hasn't been my case (re: accounts closed or limits reduced) in fact I tend to still get limit increases approved or automated. Also, unless both cards close their billing cycles and report around the same time there's a chance that your utilization does double the amount you transferred until the card you transferred from reports the balance as paid. i routinely open balance transfer cards and transfer as much as possible onto them and haven't had issues, last one I opened I immediately took to 90%. Score drops a bit and slowly climbs again until I'm ready to open a new card and start the process over again. Your score will rebound and unless you need it soon there's nothing to worry about. 20 points isn't much and shouldn't affect anything like insurance rates.
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Mar 13, 2020 23:58
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Unless you have some other reward scheme or they've changed it recently, you should be having the miles you've earned from the first year doubled and rewarded to you on your anniversary, and they don't expire so it shouldn't matter if you don't travel year two, they'll still be there in 2021.
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Apr 12, 2020 04:22
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I was under the impression that 3 failed attempts at using the chip would allow a card to be swiped, but maybe that's reader/store specific and not a property of the card. If you do take Jerk's advice (why not?), even though it's a Visa, I would suggest going with a Chase Freedom first because of their 5/24 rule, then Discover IT, Cash+, Ducks Unlimited (if you drive), and an Amazon card if you have prime to get the 5% cards out of the way. Blue Cash Everyday is my grocery card when Discover IT isn't on groceries, but your particular Target may not code as groceries. If you spend a lot at Target the Red Card is a good choice, I think. 5% off is slightly better than 5% cashback, in my opinion. Double Cash is a good card for everything you don't have covered elsewhere.
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Apr 13, 2020 10:11
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drat, that's too bad. I had the NRA card and they switched us to PenFed Platinum which is 5x points @ $.0085/point redemption value. Was going to get Ducks Unlimited sometime in the future but I guess this will end up being my gas card, after all. Turns out the decision of FNBO to drop the NRA card was more than just the backlash last year.
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Apr 13, 2020 18:24
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 That explains the odd correction suggestions.
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Apr 13, 2020 19:32
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effika posted:Oh, the terminal says to swipe, but it has never worked once per the cashier (or my experience) after it can't read the chip. I have the Synchrony Amazon card because I used to shop a lot on Amazon, I may be canceling my Prime membership because the cost went up past the point that I find it valuable, but the card will continue to get me 3% which is better than the 2% I'd get from the Double Cash or my 2% Fidelity card, so there will still be value there. I don't have much experience with customer service on most cards. Although, just today I had to call Citi because I cancelled my autopay on the day it was going to process and there was lag between my balance going to 0 and the payment showing up. Getting to a human through their auto-labyrinth was a headache and eventually was told that the wait time is too long because of COVID and told me to call back and hung up on me. I used the online chat and waited around for a couple hours hitting the "I'm still here" button multiple times to prevent the login from timing out but was eventually assured that my auto-payment will process today by 5pm because I cancelled it too late (which is fine, just wanted to be sure it will be paid on time by some method). If you do ever need to call anyone though - https://www.dialahuman.com/ I called Discover about 2 years into my account asking if they had any offers for existing members and was given the option of lowering my APR (useless for me), 0% APR period for purchases, or a 0% APR/$0 fee period for Balance Transfers, which I made use of by pooling the balances on all my cards and making some money in a high-yield checking account and auto-paying the minimum balance for the 12-month term of the deal. So that was a nice perk for a quick phone call. Discover IT and Chase Freedom are often suggested because 5% cashback is very nice little bundle of savings and the two rarely have the same categories overlapping. Discover IT also matches the cashback after the first year effectively making it 10%. Discover IT/Amazon often have a promotion where using even a single point from your card will save you $10 - $20 on your purchase. I believe there are other cards with similar promotions, but I don't know specifically which. I don't do much banking on my phone but the few times I have the apps from every card I have served their purpose, but maybe others have some better input here. One note about the Double Cash is that you're not eligible for the second half until after your statement closing, so don't pay down your balance until then or you'll only earn 1%. (This may have changed, I haven't tried for a long time) As for which to get. Take a look at your spending and get the card which will net you the most. Or get multiple cards, if your score is healthy and you don't have a lot of inquiries already. I'll reiterate though, that if you do plan to min/max your wallet to start with Chase because of their 5/24 rule (5 cards opened within a 24 month period = auto-denial). Additionally you can take a look at the Girbot fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Apr 13, 2020 |
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Apr 13, 2020 21:39
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astral posted:You can pay it whenever and it's fine. Cool. Noted for the future. RE: Apps Just to add to this, every card mentioned so far integrates with Personal Capital. Only issue I have is with my Synchrony, Bank of the West, and First Tech cards not showing up on the Bills page, but they're all on auto-pay anyway. Capital One is super finicky with their MFA and will ask for a code more often than other cards. I don't have a Target Red card, but I checked under "Add Card" and it's listed there, as well. If your main use for the apps would be keeping an eye on your transactions/balances I can't recommend Personal Capital enough.
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Apr 13, 2020 22:40
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Josh Lyman posted:I know Amex extended their promotional minimum spend period but it doesn't look like anyone else did. I missed my Capital One Savor $3,000/3 month spend by a full $1,000. 4% at bars and restaurants isn't super usable during quarantine. Chase did for cards opened Q1.
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Apr 15, 2020 13:10
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Not sure if CSRs have the ability to do this, but if you're paranoid enough you could ask if they have the ability to send a secure message through the bank's platform stating that they are on a call with you atm. : P
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May 21, 2020 01:14
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Be careful with those, though. The interest accrues for the full balance the entire time and is owed if not paid in full before the term ends.
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Jun 4, 2020 02:08
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astral posted:You might get some good mileage out of Amex's Blue Cash Preferred on those groceries. This would be my suggestion. If you only want to open one card: It takes $263.88 a month in groceries to cover the annual fee ($95) with the extra 3% over the Blue Cash Everyday. You're more than covering that with your grocery bill. The Preferred would net you an additional $193 a year. So long as you're not getting groceries at Wal-Mart or a Krogers or something which code as either super or department strores. Would just check on your platinum how they code. If you have Prime, $193 / .03* comes to $6433.33. *Since you already have a 2% card, only calculating from the difference of the card you'd use instead. If you have Prime and are willing to pull twice for two cards, getting a Prime Store card or Amazon Visa is a solid choice along with the Blue Preferred. The Discover 5% and Chase 5% rotating category cards are good to have in a wallet, as well. If you want the Chase card, open it first. Girbot fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Jun 18, 2020 |
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Jun 18, 2020 15:23
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Nah, it's usually credit unions which require banking accounts for their credit cards. I only have BofA accounts while churning sign-up bonuses and my card remains open.
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Jun 29, 2020 23:01
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You could grab the US Bank Cash+ for home utilities as another card you wouldn't need to carry in your wallet. Assuming you don't buy your clothes off Amazon, clothing might be good for the second category. Or depending on which bill is higher TV/Internet or Cell Phone* would be a good choice for truly being able to keep it in a drawer. *Consider if you have/want cell phone insurance from another card. Take a look at the spend summary on Citi's site and find out what you put most on your double cash and see if it's a category that's covered by a 5% category from Cash+ or BofA's 3% (I personally use Online Shopping and link it to my PayPal for none Amazon purchases). I used to use it for Drug Stores, which I may go back to as I often spend more at Walgreen's than random online stores.
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Jun 30, 2020 15:29
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:Care to share what a Ligma plan is? Googling has proven futile. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/ligma
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Jun 30, 2020 17:09
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Just a note on utilization. It doesn't have a "memory" so if you don't have a use for your credit score in the near future and want to get rewards on a large purchase there's no permanent mark on your record/score for having a high utilization for a month or two. If a card you gets has an introductory 0% APR period and you have a high interest checking or savings account, putting money into that account to cover your purchases and setting up autopay for the minimum payment on your card for the introductory period to draw from that account is a good way to get a little extra back and have your money continue to work for you. Treat credit cards like a debit card, only spend what you have, setup autopay, and monitor your accounts via statements/personal capital and over time your score will grow nicely.
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Jul 14, 2020 01:46
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You could just try to open the regular Discover IT card. Discover was the first card I got myself when I didn't have any credit history.
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Jul 17, 2020 20:48
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