Credit Card Rewards and Recommendations

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

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Baddog: May 12, 2001

Josh Lyman posted:

Thanks for the heads up. Under the assumption the promo would last at least until the end of the month (today), I walked over to my local Chase branch and opened a CSP.

I don't feel great about it because the rewards only exceed my current setup if I transfer them to a partner for flights, but the sign-up bonus is worth at least $900 cash so that covers the annual fee for a decade.

I'm eyeballing using them for really nice Hyatt hotels. (transfer to hyatt, then redeem).

# ¿ May 31, 2023 20:48

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 20:25

Baddog: May 12, 2001

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.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2023 18:19

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Used the chase travel platform for the first time to book a hotel. Got there tonight, and the hotel said it was cancelled (and they were full up). Called chase, they took forever to call the front desk and confirm that I was somehow hosed. Gave me 7500 points, but uhh I'm still kinda screwed. Found my own room luckily down the street, but it was still massively inconvenient, and we're in a much worse place.

Does this just happen sometimes with chase? Hotel said it came through hotelroomsditect.com or something, so chase is apparently farming bookings out. Did I just get massively unlucky? Stick to flights?

# ¿ Jul 15, 2023 05:52

Baddog: May 12, 2001

drk posted:

This is a great grocery card for food cookers like you and I. Just remember the 6% is only on up to $6k/year, and its 1% after that. Still strictly better than a flat 1% card though.

edit: actually you and your wife may be able to get $6k each

Even if you don't buy 6k of groceries in a year, I buy Amazon gift cards to top it off. And then use the fuel points for a buck off gas.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2023 02:09

Baddog: May 12, 2001

drk posted:

Wow, thats nice. Does it include all of the various credits that come with the platinum? If so, that could easily cost Amex hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Unless of course you also need still to have excellent credit and high income, which would probably disqualify most active duty military.

Yes it does, it is the same credit card, and the fee gets waived. When I suggested loading up on all the premium cards (it isn't just amex, I think most of the big issuers* waive the fees), my active duty buddy was all "oh no that's taking advantage of them, I'm not gonna do that". So its not like everyone in the service is grabbing platinum cards.

But man, they are trying to take advantage of *you* and rolling themselves in the flag while doing it. Get those miles, credits, lounge access and room upgrades. I'm pretty sure they are still coming out way ahead by "giving" these folks credit cards.

* https://militarymoneymanual.com/credit-cards-waive-annual-fees-military/

# ¿ Sep 15, 2023 19:08

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Josh Lyman posted:

Yeah I booked a hotel with Chase points for the first time and the reservation number is different than Marriott's, but the reservation is showing in my Marriott profile so I assume I'm okay?

I would guess so, but maybe call the hotel to double check.

I booked a hotel using chase for the first time a few months ago, and no reservation when I showed up to a full hotel. Chase and the hotel pointed fingers at each other, I ended up with a few more points as compensation and had to scramble to get just about the last room available in town that night. Dunno if I'm doing that again. Might gamble on flights, because you get a *ticket* with those right? Should be safer?

# ¿ Sep 25, 2023 20:39

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Space Fish posted:

Fidelity 2% cash back card now has no foreign transaction fee.

A good card just got better!

Nice!

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 01:22

Baddog: May 12, 2001

This is what you have debt on right now?

https://www.carecredit.com/YourTerms/

I'm not getting this card at all, no cash back or rewards as far as I can tell, and a pretty high rate.

What's the capital one card you have?

Maybe try to balance transfer to something with a 0% intro rate and a lower APR if you can't pay it off. I don't think the Amazon card has either (although it is a great no fee card for amazon spending, I have one). But I don't think anyone wants to tell you to run out and get *another* card right now, if you can just pay these off in 5 months.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2023 18:00

Baddog: May 12, 2001

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/carecredit-card

quote:

"If you haven�t paid the balance in full by the end of the promo, you�ll owe interest on the entire original borrowed amount, not just the remaining balance."

ooooof fuuuuuck

and laughing about how they phrase this

quote:

The CareCredit Card is certainly an option....

an option

Weednumber, did this card come in the enlistee package along with the camaro? Only half joking, it is extra hosed up if they push this on service members. What a loving predatory rear end world.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2023 19:29

Baddog: May 12, 2001

TheWeedNumber posted:

Ok. Then the credit cards get locked in a box for 2-3 years and as far as I'm concerned, the problem is solved. And/or use them appropriately (leaning toward "not at all" though). I will not be canceling them but I appreciate why you feel that way. Concur on this is definitely outside of the scope of the thread. Appreciate it.

Maybe check that last statement on the care credit card, lets see if you've been paying 30% on the entire original balance for your Lasik for the past decade? Or if its just the balance. Maybe the terms changed at some point.

Still sucks to be paying 1500/year on ~5K, but hopefully you aren't paying 3-4K+/year on the entire original bill.

If its the latter, I'm gonna go against the conventional wisdom and let's look for something you can get away from that asap.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2023 20:35

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Anniversary time on the chase sapphire reserve, think I want to get rid of it. Wife signed up for a preferred last year, so can still transfer points to hyatt at 1:1 - think I need to try to get the points transferred to her account *before* cancelling though.

Anything else I'm missing? Saw something about trying to take advantage of the 300 travel credit and *then* cancel, I dunno about that tho.

What should I downgrade to? Saw something about the old chase freedom? Not sure what to ask for though, or why?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2023 18:35

Baddog: May 12, 2001

extravadanza posted:

Not sure if anything has changed, but I was able to downgrade to either of the freedom cards. You should be able to transfer points from your CSP to freedom or freedom unlimited and then to your wife's account, if you want.

Maybe considering checking for some signup bonus on the freedom unlimited or freedom instead of 'downgrading', so you can get a signup bonus and transfer your points to the new card?

Pretty small signup bonuses (200 bucks) for either. I was thinking I wouldn't get hit with the 5 cards in 2 years limit if I downgraded (quick search *seems* to confirm that...)

# ¿ Oct 18, 2023 19:15

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Think hyatt may be the best value for chase point transfers? Especially if you like using em on some of those "aspirational" redemptions.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2023 06:02

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Josh Lyman posted:

It's been 14 days since I called to PC my CFU to a CFF and 7 days since I received the CFF in the mail and activated it. Just applied for a new CFU with the double cash bonus and it went through.

The interesting thing is that when you click through the link that drk provided and then click on "Sign in to apply", it's a single application page that doesn't mention anything about the double cash bonus, nor the standard $200 SUB. There's only one Reddit post about this from October 19, saying nobody at Chase really knows what's happening since it's a newer promo. However, there WAS fine print saying you wouldn't be eligible if you received a SUB in the last 24 months, so I think it'll be okay?

The hiccup is that you don't get the double cash back until after 12 months, so there needs to be some way to check along the way that you're getting the bonus. I guess I can call Chase after a receive and activate the new card to confirm. Hopefully their people know what's going on by then.

If it doesn't work out, all it cost me was a hard pull and missing out on the SUB for a CFF, which I probably wouldn't have applied for anyway. The hard pull shouldn't be an issue since the only card I'm thinking about getting anytime soon is the Citi Custom Cash, but I still need to figure out whether it will be substantially additive to my setup.

I grabbed one of these as well (applied 2 weeks ago, had to call today and move some credit limit around, too many chase cards). Let me know what you find out, I've got a week or more to wait to get the card.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2023 20:38

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Definitely get the Hyatt, especially if you have chase points since they are the best transfer partners. They've become my preferred hotel, the problem is there often is no Hyatt in the places I want to go to.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2024 20:40

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Wait, if I move my IRAs/convert 401ks to robinhood, they will give me 3%? That's really drat tempting, even though the risk of robinhood loving something up is non-zero.

Or is it just on new deposits?

# ¿ Apr 2, 2024 05:50

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Man it is so tempting.

And then I think about all the ways they could gently caress it up. Is that really worth 3%?

It has to settle by april 30th too, gotta make a decision pretty soon here.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2024 04:48

Baddog: May 12, 2001

Squashy Nipples posted:

My American Express card ditched the Priority Pass perk, which is pretty much the last feature I was using. It's a Hilton Honors Amex, and I used to travel for a living.

Amex tried to talk me into applying for a platinum card, which is $695 a year!!!
That can't be worth it, right?

Plus, I can't upgrade, I have to keep the Hilton Amex separate, and apply anew for the Platinum card.

Ehhh, I think it used to be better, now the credits are all for stuff I mostly don't use. Except for the 200 in airline fee credit, that ones easy. I think you can even get a giftcard and get credit.

But I can see some people might get value, if you already use some of this stuff

$200 credit for uber
$240 credit for disney+/hulu/espn/NYT/WSJ (meh)
$155 credit for a walmart+ sub (weird, is this the amazon prime equivalent?)
$189 for clear, if your airport has it - and denver it seems like the lines for clear are worse than precheck now
$200 hotel (if you book through amex, gently caress that tho)

Signing up for the miles is worth it though if you can get good value out of maybe one of these. To justify it on a recurring basis..... eh.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:33

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 20:25

Baddog: May 12, 2001

I think different issuers have different standards for "business". I definitely got brow beat a bit by Barclays, even though I have an actual business that has been in existence for decades, I pay taxes on, etc. I dunno how people supposedly get through by just saying "I sell poo poo on eBay".

# ¿ May 16, 2024 14:24

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

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