Credit Card Rewards and Recommendations

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SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

spatula posted:

Other than it occasionally not being accepted in some places, I feel like my Discover card has been really amazing. I also love that I can link it to Amazon and apply my cashback points to any purchases there right away. They match all the 5% cashback categories that Chase Freedom does, and are currently doing a promotion (invite only, but luckily I'm in) for an extra $300 cashback after 5 months when I put $2000 on the card every month.

Good customer service too. The Chase Freedom customer service were assholes compared to Discover when my wallet got stolen and I was freaking out. But that guy could have just been having a really bad day.

spwrozek posted:

FWIW my experience has been the complete opposite with the Target and Home Depot breaches and the 2 times I had unauthorized charges. Super responsive and never had any issues.

Same here, Chase text first and then called me about my CC being used across the country. Super simple. Under 10min of my time in total, and new cards were in my mailbox by the time I got home from work the following day.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2014 22:29

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 00:17

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

johnny sack posted:

I have a pretty good size credit limit on 2 of my credit cards. I recently did the "increase my limit" thing online and was instantly approved. I then wish I had asked to increase it by more.

I have since checked my credit score and found it to be an 804. Does requesting an increase, whether they grant it or not, have any impact on credit score? I ask because I have a low limit on another card and also to consider whether to further try to increase my main cards.

Worst case, it won't impact it by much or for long. Stop playing the high score game (unless you're about to buy a house, close your loan first and then ask for an increase), and just request it.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 03:25

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Pompous Rhombus posted:

I'm thinking of applying for the US Airways Barclay Mastercard (gonna think on it for a couple days), if so, anyone have a referral code they'd like me to use?

If I go with it, do let me know if you'd like a referral code from me, nets you 5 or 10k miles for each one (max 50k)

IIRC, the regular Barclay Arrival card may be better for you, depending on what you need from the card. It gets 2pts/1$ spent for non-airline purchases, if points are redeemed for travel.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2014 01:01

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Last year I averaged 2.12% cash back over a card from each Chase Freedom, Amazon, and Amex Blue. But now I want a travel card (in large part for sign up points), and it's looking like the best deal is a Barclaycard Arrival Plus at 2.2% redemption value for statement credits against travel. I do not travel much at all, but it would be nice to maximize points, and I have some tickets to buy this and next year to go visit family members graduating from college. If I get the BAP and buy my tickets as soon as I receive it, and then spend for other stuff to hit the $3k in 3mo for the 40k points (no issue there), can I redeem the 40k points against the prior ticket purchase? I am guessing yes, but I've never dealt with a non-cashback card.

Also, I do not have an airline preference and I live in the PNW and fly to SoCal and New England areas. This is why I was leaning towards the BAP vs an airline card. Am I making the right decision?

Thanks!

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 04:00

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Bisty Q. posted:

You have 180 days after the travel purchase to redeem against it, but you can only redeem against each purchase one time. You also can't spend your 10% back immediately; you have to redeem it on a subsequent redemption.

PNW to SoCal might be worth using Avios, depending on where specifically for each of those.

PDX but it looks like BA doesn't do PDX. Too bad. I was approved for an Arrival+, I will utilize that. Perhaps get one in my gf's name also, we could buy both of our tickets for this summer for free... Thanks for prior and current input, thread!

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 08:22

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Pompous Rhombus posted:

I may have misunderstood the way the Barclay Arrival Plus points works, but it seemed like kind of a lovely deal compared to getting straight miles. True, it gives you the most freedom in booking, but 40,000 points is $400 in statement credit. For 37.5k miles on American, I'm flying (one way, granted) from Florida to... Australia. The equivalent cash tickets I was looking at were all around $1k+.

Speaking of Avios, went to sign up for that Economist deal I mentioned yesterday and it had dropped to the standard 4,000 Avios on the Economist site (Iberian was still claiming the original 12,000). I called up the Economist's customer support and they said I'd have to take it up with Iberian. Almost did, but as I was Googling around looking for the original link I found another sign-up link that put me through to the Economist website and said it was good for 12k, so did that. Offer ends tomorrow, so get on it if you're interested.

From my minimal research last month, it looks like airline cards are better for international while Barclay/Chase cards are better for domestic. I will revisit this in the future when I can afford to go internally on my own.

And I surely could be wrong, and am more than happy to be corrected. $500 in points via A+ is $25k in spending which will buy me a domestic round trip, looks like the CitiAA card would take 37.5k in spending buy would result in round trip domestically or internationally. The most expensive coach round trip domestic tickets that I've seen for cross country are around 500, +/-. I'm looking at spending $430-450 for my trip this summer, so Barclay will be paying for one of our tickets as we will run about 7k through the card in the next 90 days. That was my goal really. And then it would cover 2-3 PDX-SoCal flights based on our avg spending in the future. My gf's family lives down there and she goes every 3-6mo at least.

SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Jan 30, 2015

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 15:35

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Fantastic! Thanks for the info guys and/or gals! Hopefully I have good enough credit to get another card so soon, we'll find out tomorrow! I'm not going to be getting a mortgage anytime soon so idgaf about another hard pull.

Which is the best card to get for an Avios signup? I think Credit Karma said Chase Sapphire had a 50k signup bonus now. Their site won't work on my phone and I'm not home so I can't verify that now though.

SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Jan 31, 2015

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 07:14

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

asur posted:

Sign up for the British Airways card. Id save Chase Sapphire for later as Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to a lot of places.

Done. Approved for over 2x of my next highest card with Chase, wow. Chase wants me to hang myself

Question, there is no way to have Avios credit points back after the fact, is there? Eg buy tickets now, fulfill $2k bonus spending next month, and have it credited back like Barclay does? I'm guessing not. Also, how long (roughly) does it take for the bonus points to be credited to the account after hitting $2k? We should hit $2k during the first billing cycle.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 22:59

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

hitachi posted:

Would Arrival Plus be the best bet if I want to get 2x tickets to Thailand in about a year? I already have Amex Blue Cash, Discover It and the Chase Sapphire that I used for regular rewards poo poo but I have never gotten into airline points before so I know jack poo poo about how it works.

Arrival Plus does a cash statement credit. I think for International, a miles based card is better, check out the British Airways card, plus Chase Sapphire. You can export points from Chase Sapphire to BA, so if you spend $2+4k in 90 days, you'll receive a 50k+40k sign up bonus, plus points earned by spending.

I'm new to travel cards but this is what I learned last weekend due to suggestions from the thread and research I did.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2015 15:40

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

hitachi posted:

Using there calculator thing online it looks like this

50000 $ 0.00 + taxes, fees and carrier charges
40000 $ 135.00 + taxes, fees and carrier charges

I think that is one way so it looks like I could get one ticket for $135ish and the 90k points from the 2 signup bonuses? No idea if that is a good deal or not.

Would I be able to purchase a second ticket alongside redeeming a reward seat or is that a pain in the rear end?

Asur makes a good point regarding the distance thing for BA points.

I can't really speak to if its a good deal ('the best deal'), but when I looked at Alaska Airlines for domestic flights using BA points, I could order extra tickets at the same time. I hope I saw that correctly and am not misleading you, but that's what Alaska seemed to show.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2015 20:17

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Smoking_Dragon posted:

Thanks, I was hoping that was the case but didn't see the Visa logo on the card anywhere!

The Amazon card definitely has the VISA logo on the lower-right.
https://www.chase.com/credit-cards/amazon

I think it may vary with the Freedom - I have seen pics of a MC online. Mine has a Visa logo just like my CU debit cards, and other Visa's.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2015 04:51

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Cacafuego posted:

For the purposes of meeting the spending limits to get rewards, do you have to make actual purchases, or can it be balance transfers as well? Same question for getting points, ie does a balance transfer of $1,000 equate to a purchase of $1,000 to earn points?

e: read the fine print at least on the chase sapphire preferred and no, balance transfer =/= purchase

Iirc that's how it is on all Chase, Barclay, and AmEx cards, at the least. (No points for balance transfer)

# ¿ Feb 7, 2015 17:52

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Dancing Peasant posted:

Anyone (like me) carrying the Costco AmEx card? If so, it's about to be useless in a year or so:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/american-express-to-lose-costco-exclusivity-1423746408

Though they will continue to take Visa/MC debit cards, but I don't like carrying debit cards personally, so this kinda blows.

I carry the AmEx blue card just for Costco. I too was disappointed when I read that news yesterday. I haven't used my debit card for a single purchase in 8mo, since I got the AmEx for Costco. Before they, the ONLY thing I used it for was Costco! I do carry it tho, as it accesses cash in case I buy something off CL or similar.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2015 17:23

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Dengraz posted:

I think this is still a bit up in the air, from what I've seen about it. It seems likely that Costco would establish a new exclusivity deal with one of the other networks or issuers (I heard they went with CapitalOne MC in Canada).

I'm hoping they do something like this in the States too.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2015 02:36

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

I wish I could find Red Card Prepaid's, I checked a couple stores in Northern WA today and no dice. I'm going to check in OR this week.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 06:19

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Doghouse posted:

So what do I do with it, just keep it open and use it minimally?

I put my smallest cc-payable bills (Netflix, Internet, trash, etc) on each of my 'inactive' credit cards and let them autopay. A lot of cards will close after ~12 months of inactivity, but it varies. I also continue to leave these in Quicken (of course) so I can see if there is activity without logging into the banks website.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2015 23:27

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Q: How long has it taken you guys to get BA Avios points posted after meeting the BA Chase card signup promo? FAQ says 6-8wks, is that realistic?

# ¿ Mar 2, 2015 06:54

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Pompous Rhombus posted:

I got my card in late January and according to the Chase site they've posted to my account. Unfortunately can't confirm since BA ain't letting me log in, nor is it sending me the emails I need to change my password, sigh.

Sweet. Hopefully mine posts soon too. My first billing cycle ended yesterday, received card first week of Feb.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2015 15:37

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Cacafuego posted:

I got the 50k bonus from the Barclays usair MC, the 50k bonus from the citi aadvantage will be complete this month after I complete the $2000 spend. Now that I'll have flights, I want to get a hotel rewards card. Is there anything stopping me from essentially double dipping on rewards and getting both Hilton cards (citi and Amex) for the bonuses (pending acceptance of course)?

I ordered an Amex serve card, but unfortunately I'm not in a target red card market, so I'm going to have to look elsewhere to manufacture spending. A valid SSN is all that's needed for additional serve cards right? What's to stop me from getting one for each of my family members (with their permission) and maxing out new CC app bonuses by charging $1000/month on each one? Do the CC companies ever wise up to this stuff? It seems like no, as there are many blogs about it, but I don't know.

I'm not associated with this, but, you may do this: http://www.redbirds.me/

I am having my friends mom send me/gf RedCards from a target market.

Serve made me call to verify my ID/card with them, I could see you needing to do that for every card signed up for. I have no idea though, maybe I was a special case. I will have spent 2k via Serve as of the 5th!

# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 06:38

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Pompous Rhombus posted:

I got my card in late January and according to the Chase site they've posted to my account. Unfortunately can't confirm since BA ain't letting me log in, nor is it sending me the emails I need to change my password, sigh.

Follow up for the Threads Knowledge: I signed up for my card the last weekend in January, and received it in early Feb. Bill cycle is the first of the month. $2k was spent within the first 3 weeks. Bonus will be transferred to Avios with my next billing statement on 4/1/15. Pft, but whatever.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 07:56

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Cacafuego posted:

e: Is anyone familiar with Amex Serve? Is the monthly online load limit refreshed on the beginning of the calendar month?

I started using it last month. It's refreshed on the first of the calendar month. I use it to pay my power bill now, if I could load over a grand I'd pay rent too...

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 21:55

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Cacafuego posted:

MS it! It's not difficult

How do I load over 1k/mo onto a Serve card? Do tell!! I already transferred the rest of the money back to my checking account and then paid my cc off. But id love to do a few grand vs one

SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Mar 13, 2015

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 22:24

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Bisty Q. posted:

You better hurry, Serve is shutting down CC loads online for non-Amex cards on 4/1.

Most Amex cards don't earn any points when used for Serve, though some third-party Amex cards (FIA 2% Amex, etc.) apparently do.

Disappointing, but it sounds like 4/16/15 from your quote, which is better than 4/1/15. I can load another grand in the first week of April. I need to get on the RedCard Prepaid bandwagon (aka harass my friend to have his mom send me one.. Its been a month since she said she would!)

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 23:52

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Will Rice posted:

I just applied and was approved for the citibank thank you preferred card, but on the approval page, they noted that my lack of ongoing loan payments was a mark against my credit card. Is it really the case that having no loan payments is slightly harmful to your credit score?

Wouldn't surprise me based on how many bankers (low level, teller level) think you have to have a loan always to have a good score. Don't go get a loan because of that.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 07:22

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

smackfu posted:

Paying back a loan reliably seems like it is something that should be in a credit score. To be honest.

Yes, but you shouldn't need an ongoing payment, I'd take the reduced score for not having to pay interest personally... FICO is trying to keep us in debt. That is what they make money on though, isn't it.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 18:22

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

FISHMANPET posted:

I think they've always had a store card as a separate product from the Chase Amazon card.

This is correct. I haven't received notice about any changes for my Amazon Chase card.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 17:08

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Dead Pressed posted:

Just got my Barclay's card. Like the card itself and the benefits, but gently caress the website is janky looking. Much prefer my Discover IT setup.

Yeah, it's a little clunky. If you get a card reissued I would call to activate it. The site kept saying mine (2, gf and I) were activated but they weren't.

Phone customer service has been A+ though!

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 22:04

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

100 HOGS AGREE posted:

Yeah I've had an account with them for like nine months, purely for that 1% interest rate on savings accounts. Their website is pretty hot garbage, it looks like it was designed years and years ago.

I haven't had any actual issues with it though, all of my transfers and autopays have never had any problems. They do seem to take a day or so longer than my credit union does to clear funds though.

GE Capital doesn't hook up to Quicken, or didn't at the first of this year. Game-stopper for me!

# ¿ Mar 31, 2015 00:22

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Uranium 235 posted:

Okay thanks. I had read something about deduplication of credit inquiries for mortgage and car loans, and mistakenly thought that the same concept applied for credit card loans. I just read more about it and now I understand why that's not the case. I'll try to find out the typical range of credit scores that are approved for the cards I'm interest in to help narrow down which one I'll apply for.

Look at the Barclay Arrival+ and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards for sign up bonuses and travel rewards. I was approved for the A+ with around your score, somewhere just over 700 (715 IIRC). That said I haven't been denied any card in the last 2 years, and my score was around ~690 originally 2yrs ago.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2015 15:22

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

I did that in 2010, and again in 2013. As soon a I started using credit in 2013, the offers started pouring in and haven't stopped since. I get 1+ a week from Cap1, Discover, etc.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2015 15:24

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

BULBASAUR posted:

I tend to fly domestic using Alaska. My own family uses the Alaska Airline's Visa... am I once again stuck with BofA?

Avios points redeem on Alaska tickets at a good rate, too.

# ¿ May 7, 2015 07:12

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Hashtag Banterzone posted:

I consider my ebay and amazon.com sales as a side business.

This link might be helpful to you

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2011/06/09/3-ways-you-may-qualify-for-a-business-credit-card/

Do you resell things for a profit, or sell your old stuff at market value - often less than what you paid for them? Just curious how far people push this. I sell plenty of stuff on eBay and some on Amazon, but it's all my old used stuff, sold at a loss. I don't have to report this to the IRS, and I don't consider it to be business activity but perhaps Chase would...

# ¿ Jun 9, 2015 20:48

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

nickutz posted:

Regarding "gaming" the cashback system: I've only ever used my Discover It for 5% categories, over an entire quarter I may not ever swipe it. But I don't do any manufactured spending; if your buddy was finding ways to max out the categories every quarter they might find issue with that. Keep in mind the $1,500 max is the spend you can earn 5% cashback on, not the max cashback you can earn.

This is what I've done with my Chase Freedom card for 1.5yrs now. Chase hasn't complained, I've made a couple hundred, and paid $0 in interest. I don't M$ it though, I keep that for new card signup bonuses.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2015 19:52

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

redreader posted:

We got the amex blue cash preferred now, and chase freedom, and a citi card, all opened in the last week. They have limits over 10k each. We already have the costco amex. The costco amex is one of our longest-running credit cards that we have: I have a CC with my credit union, even longer i.e. about 5-6 years ago but the credit limit is smaller (like 6k vs amex of maybe 10k, amex opened 4 years ago?) and those are the two longest running ones that we have. My question is: will it be bad for our/my credit to get rid of the costco amex? I can't remember if the costco amex even costs anything... I have the basic version. It seems to not be worth using except maybe in costco.

I think I would have converted the Costco Amex to BCP. I believe I read that recently AmEx stopped back dating cards, so your BCP will be opened 6/2015 vs whatever your Costco card was opened. If this is true, you'll see a minor change in your score due to age of accounts. Maybe. My age of accounts has gone down due to new CC's vs only one 10yo CC, and my score has gone up a bunch according to BarclayCard FICO...

# ¿ Jun 18, 2015 18:32

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Cacafuego posted:

Makes sense. I don't doubt they're good, I just didn't know why those were the 2 that are suggested everywhere. Perhaps because I churn and really only MS for the min spends, I think of things in terms of best bonus and not what is actually spent on the card. Like, I can clearly see how the ink is superior, I just wasn't thinking about it in terms of normal spending on a card like CSP or arrival.

I think the Arrival+ is a pretty solid card for travel rewards points. I used both the CSP and A+ signup bonuses + points redemptions to pay for my/gf's last trip to Boston from Portland, OR.

What do you do MS wise these days? I miss easy MS'ing.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2015 04:43

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

fyallm posted:

One more question, what do you mean by you can only redeem against it once?

If you have a $400 expense and you only have 30k points, and redeem 30k points, you cannot redeem against that expense again.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2015 23:29

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

becoming posted:

If you have opened five or more cards in the past twenty-four months, they absolutely will not approve you for an Ultimate Rewards-earning card, and some reports are that they won't approve you for branded (United, BA, etc) cards either. I have not heard of a single person getting around this. I first found out when I got denied for a card; called recon and was very politely informed that I could go gently caress myself; wrote a letter and was very curtly informed that I could indeed commence on the self-loving. Do not waste a hard pull if you have five or more new cards in the last twenty-four months. (Bolded for anyone that might just be scrolling past this, because that's something that I wish I knew before I applied.)

I discovered this when I went to sign up for an Ink. I read mixed posts elsewhere on the Internet. It's not mixed, they just won't approve you. Don't waste a hard pull!

# ¿ Sep 3, 2015 16:03

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

pig slut lisa posted:

The Chase 5/24 rule only applies to Chase-branded cards offering UR points. It doesn't apply to partner cards like Hyatt, Southwest, etc.

I've read mixed reviews of that fact. I'm not sure what to believe. What I am sure of is that if you're applying for a UR card, and have opened 5 new credit accounts in the last 24 months, you're definitely SOL.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 18:52

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

The real upside of the CSP is that it is metal and feels badass. (And it has a good signup bonus and international travel features, too.)

# ¿ Oct 6, 2015 15:39

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 00:17

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Pompous Rhombus posted:

Haha, gotcha! At first glance it kinda read like a SloMo type situation.

It still does, just replace Costco with Farmers Market lol.

Desuwa posted:

Also if you're like me - spending a lot on Amazon but not always consistently - you can buy Amazon gift cards for yourself, on Amazon, whenever the Amazon category comes up on a Discover/Chase Freedom. It took me a while to realize I could just do this. I'm planning some large purchases for next year and getting 10% back on $1500 and 7500 UR points from another $1500 is a lot better than I'd expect to get from investing the same money for 6-8 months. Of course it helps that I have enough slack in my budget to do this.

Not a bad idea, I should give that a shot next quarter. I probably spend $1500 a year (lol way more than that, who am I kidding...) at Amazon.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2015 04:36

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

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