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I'm looking to apply for a Amex Blue Cash Preferred soon - currently I have 4 credit cards, 2 of which I have no use for. My total revolving credit limit exceeds my annual income, so I was looking to cancel 1 or 2 of the cards I have eventually anyways. Should I apply for the new card before or after cancelling one of the old ones? I'm worried if I don't cancel one first I'd get rejected since I have such a high credit limit compared to my income. Credit score is good though, ~800.
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Jul 3, 2018 20:07
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Seems like I was worried for nothing. They approved me, at a ridiculously high credit limit no less. Is there general advice for whether there is value in keeping unused accounts open? Should I just leave them open and not care until I get rejected on new applications? Or, close accounts that haven't been used in 12 months or something? The accounts I'd consider closing don't have an annual fee, so there's no direct financial incentive to close them.
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Jul 3, 2018 20:51
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Just got my first new credit card in a while. Among other benefits, they are giving me 0% interest for a year. I'm usually a pay off in full person, but given that it is easy to earn 5% or so on cash at the moment, any reason to not carry a balance at 0%? I realize there may be a small hit to my credit if my utilization increases, but my credit is excellent, and my total credit limit is high enough that I cant imagine utilization getting over 10% or so.
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Apr 8, 2023 17:21
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That custom cash seems like a super gimmicky card. If you min-max it, you can get pretty big %age cash back on some purchases, but make any mistakes with categories or spend too much and you are down to the lousy 1% rate. Might be useful as a gas-only card for people that drive a lot?
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Apr 21, 2023 22:08
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Splinter posted:Any thoughts on the AAA Daily Advantage Visa and Travel Advantage Visa? They seem like a great cash back cards. Daily is 5% on grocery stores (10k max spend), 3% on gas/wholesale clubs/streaming/pharmacy. Travel is 5% on gas ($7k max spend), 3% on grocery/restaurants/travel. Both have no annual fee (other than AAA membership?) and no foreign transaction fee. Seems like the Daily could replace the Blue Cash Everyday in my wallet for Grocery/Gas and I'd just keep the AMEX for online shopping purchases. Getting both the Daily and Travel also is appealing (e: sounds like having both cards might not be allowed). 5% on groceries up to with no AF sounds pretty good to me. The 3% categories are a nice to have if you dont have anything as good or better on another card. The only catch seems to be the high %age categories have a total cash back of $500/year, so if you spend a lot in the gas/wholesale clubs/streaming/pharmacy categories, you wont actually get 5% on groceries on $10k of spend. Its not clear to me AAA membership is actually required, but if so that is effectively an annual fee.
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May 4, 2023 21:02
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runawayturtles posted:They would just credit $5. It's just that you wouldn't earn cash back on that amount that was credited. So in that example, you would be earning cash back on $95 that statement instead of $100. That's why statement credits are slightly worse than cash back to an account. This sounds wrong, do you have any terms that say this? I have accounts that only offer cash back as statement credit but I see no evidence the credits work any differently than just paying from a checking account. The rewards are calculated at time of purchase, not at time of payment.
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May 30, 2023 23:31
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Yeah the few bp doesnt matter but it is interesting. My credit union card automatically deposits cash back to a linked account every month (no points or redemption process). I guess that is the most unambiguous way to do it.
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May 31, 2023 01:21
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As penance for making bad posts in the credit card thread, I read my Amex agreement which rather unhelpfully says:quote:When you will not earn reward dollars Is this what y'all are talking about?
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May 31, 2023 01:44
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Qtotonibudinibudet posted:any recs on a good visa or mastercard option for travel rewards? I'm actually pretty happy with the WF Autograph I recently got which is 3% cash back on travel, dining, gas, cell phone bills, and a few other things with zero annual fee. The categories are pretty broadly defined. Those high annual fee cards dont seem worth it until you are spending quite a bit (sign up bonuses aside)
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Jun 3, 2023 00:16
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pseudanonymous posted:Schwab doesn’t consider them contributions and doesn’t report them as such. Doesnt matter what Schwab thinks, they dont make tax rules. While I dont think the IRS is going to go after anyone who overcontributes by a few hundred dollars and doesnt report it, that doesnt make it legal. Consider an extreme example of a credit card with a $1M annual fee that gave you 100% cashback rewards on up to $999,000 per year of spending and deposited those rewards into a Roth. I think the IRS would care about that, and mechanically its not much different than what Schwab is doing.
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Jun 18, 2023 17:04
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pseudanonymous posted:I think it’s because it’s non taxable non income, essentially. Plenty of things are non taxable, such as inheritances and gifts (below certain large limits at least). That's not a magic trick to exceed personal IRA contribution limits.
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Jun 18, 2023 20:00
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Shroomie posted:There are people in private groups that I'm in earning tens of thousands of dollars a year doing it, if not more. Assuming "tens" means at least $20k, how is this possible? Married couple + a few fake "businesses"? Or is this also people valuing non-cash benefits at retail price like lounge benefits / uber credits / hotel nights etc? $20k+/year cash-in-bank is serious money.
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Jun 23, 2023 21:51
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Shroomie posted:It's against the T&C for sure and the RAT will shut you down for it, but it's not fraud and the FBI isn't kicking in your door. Opening up fake accounts with false names for non-existent employees to get cash bonus payments from the bank certainly sounds like textbook fraud to me
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Jun 24, 2023 19:18
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Atahualpa posted:I've recently been getting a lot of emails from my credit card companies encouraging me to request credit limit increases. Is there any reason not to do this? I figure it'll be good for my credit by decreasing utilization, give a bit more flexibility in the event of vacations or large purchases, and I'm frugal and pay off all my cards before they accrue interest so I'm not worried about spending beyond my means or anything like that. I'm mostly just suspicious of the companies' motives in pushing it so much since I can't really see the incentive for them given my spending habits. Thats seems a bit odd. I have many, many times had my credit limit increased, but its always just something the issuing bank has done without my involvement. I've never requested an increase or been solicited to request an increase. Are your credit limits super low?
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Aug 4, 2023 19:19
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litany of gulps posted:Anyway, it seems like maybe the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card might be ideal for my use case. Does that sound right? 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
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Aug 12, 2023 01:54
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Super-NintendoUser posted:6000*.06=360 - 95 = $265 BCP also has 3% on gas and transit, and 6% on streaming services. Value depends on your spend and what other cards you have that might have similar benefits.
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Aug 12, 2023 20:24
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Cacafuego posted:If Amex stopped giving active duty military annual fee waivers on the platinums you’d see a huge drop in centurion lounge visitors, but that’ll never happen, so we’ll see how the delta changes affect it. 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.
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Sep 15, 2023 17:40
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smackfu posted:Some interesting Amex Offers showed up for 20% off on large single purchases in France, Italy, or the UK. Wonder if there is a way to take advantage of I’m not actually in any of those countries. Are you talking about this? (and similar for other countries)  If so, its pretty heavily restricted: quote:PARTICIPATING MERCHANTS: Offer only valid at the following participating merchants: any participating merchant within Bicester Village, Charles Tyrwhitt, Hawes & Curtis, Guerlain, May Fair Kitchen, Whitcomb’s at The Londoner, Heathrow Express and Go City locations in UK. Even if it wasnt restricted to a handful of retailers, being limited to $20 back would mean at best it would cover the international shipping.
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Sep 17, 2023 22:01
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smackfu posted:Those were both over 2.5 cents per point compared to the going rate at the time. Also I’d be reluctant to spend that much on the NYC rooms in cash just on principle. This is one of the reasons why points are complicated. If you wouldnt have actually paid full cash price for the room, is the value really 2.5 cents pp? Seems like you came to the same conclusion if you switched to cash back cards recently.
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Sep 26, 2023 04:40
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Grumpwagon posted:1) Any red flags with the Autograph card, or is there a better card with similar categories? I've got an Autograph and quite like it, issuing bank aside. If your offer includes 0% APR for 12 months like mine did, that can be a big tailwind to the sign up bonus since cash is earning >5% these days. One thing on the cell phone bill cashback is that at least ATT / T-mobile only give you an autopay discount for paying with debit or ACH now. That discount is >10% for me, so I dont actually use that particular card benefit. drk fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Sep 26, 2023 |
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Sep 26, 2023 23:41
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TheWeedNumber posted:All I know is I plan to take my mother to Copenhagen for christmas as much as I can in the next few years/as finances permit. If some CC has travel benefits I could min/max that would help me get her there, I'm interested. But I know gently caress all about that sort of thing. I was just in Copenhagen last month and it is a wonderful city, but its not cheap. I would say its about as expensive as the large expensive cities in the US (SF, LA, NY). Even if you manage to get enough credit card points to fly for free and get a couple hotel nights comped, those bonuses arent going to be covering even half the total cost of a trip (especially for two people). Additionally, the biggest sign up bonuses will require excellent credit and thousands of dollars of spend that it sounds like you dont have (definitely pay existing debt first).
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Oct 4, 2023 18:03
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Sure, $39/year in isolation does not matter. But the attitude that small things don't matter in general is exactly how some people get into thousands of dollars of high interest credit card debt. Forget about your hypothetical credit score and focus on your overall debt and spending.
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Oct 4, 2023 21:13
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pointlesspart posted:https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-your-taxes-by-debit-or-credit-card This page says it is a little under 2%. So there is a little bit of wiggle room. I need to find cards with a good SUB, a low annual fee (or an annual fee and coupons for things I was going to buy anyway), and 4-8k in spending requirements. They exist, Chase Ink and Capital One Venture come to mind, but my question is mostly about how much time/bookkeeping goes into paying taxes in estimated quarterly payments, as opposed to payroll deductions. The form is here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf It doesnt look *that* complicated, but you do have to remember to actually make the payments and keep records of all of it. If I read the rules correctly, so long as you pay at least as much tax as you owed in the previous year, you wont be penalized for underpayment. So, if you are lazy, you can just skip the calculation worksheet and use last years tax return to calculate your quarterly payments (this is obviously not tax advice and you should almost certainly take the time to do the calculation). If you can find a decent SUB and/or a 0% APR for 12 months deal, it could certainly be worth it.
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Nov 8, 2023 18:19
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pseudanonymous posted:Any merchant is going to eat fees by accepting credit cards, it’s a cost of accepting that payment method. Some processors like PayPal will charge us lower fees if we go through a certification process. Anecdotal, but as a someone who does purchasing as part of my job, I would say at least in the B2B world credit card surcharges are becoming increasingly common. Pretty rare to see them as a consumer though.
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Nov 9, 2023 03:37
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Chase Freedom Unlimited is doing double cash back for a year for new sign ups via this link: https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedom-unlimited/affiliates2023matchtest This makes it 3% on everything, 6% on dining and 10% on travel (via the chase portal only). 15 months of 0% APR too. Im not personally looking to open another card at the moment, but this is a really strong offer for a no annual fee card.
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Nov 12, 2023 07:19
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For groceries, AAA Daily Advantage has 5% cash back for up to $10k (max $500 cash back per year). $0 annual fee. There are also some 3% categories, which might or might not be useful to you (gas, streaming, warehouse clubs). I'm not aware of a better card for cash back on groceries. I dont think you have to be a AAA member though I dont actually have this card.
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Nov 26, 2023 18:47
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saintonan posted:If your annual grocery costs are more than ~ $65/wk and less than $115/wk, consider the Amex Blue Cash Preferred. There's an annual fee, but you get 6% back on groceries up to a $6k cap every year. You also get 6% (uncapped) on streaming services. If you spend more than the $65/wk at grocery stores, then the 6% cb gets you enough additional rewards to offset the annual fee. I've got this card and I like it, but the annual fee does reduce the utility. If you use it only for groceries, its effectively a 0% card on your first $1583 of spend per year, then 6% on the next $4417. This is a net cash back rate of ~4.4% if you spend exactly $6000 per year on groceries with the card. Any more or less reduces the effective rate. If you have a lot of streaming subscriptions, youll get a better value. 3% on gas is also nice, but a pretty common category on other cards with no annual fee.
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Nov 26, 2023 19:23
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disaster pastor posted:Note that I have heard from multiple people that Citi won't PC to a Custom Cash anymore if you already have one. I'll probably be trying this week. Honestly, this makes sense as the Custom Cash probably has a higher than average number of money losing customers on the product due to its flexibility. Multiple cards to the same household makes them even better for the consumer since you effectively get two categories per month @5%, which is really quite good and could fill holes in a lot of cash back plans (at Citi's expense). As someone who enjoys a bank losing money on my account, I should probably get one too
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Nov 26, 2023 21:59
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Medullah posted:Are there any cards with really good roadside assistance benefits? My battery died inconveniently last week and I thought I had roadside through one of my cards but couldn't figure out which one. All Visa Signature cards include 24/7 roadside assistance for a fixed service fee: https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/roadside-dispatch-card-benefit.pdf Its a similar level of benefit to a basic AAA membership, but with a fixed per-service fee instead of an annual fee.
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Nov 27, 2023 17:08
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Valicious posted:My partner and I plan on going on international trip (US-based) twice/year, but we don’t want to be locked to a specific airline to be in a rewards program. Is there a good card for travel like this that lets you redeem points with basically any airline? (Most of our trips will be to Japan, just in case that matters) A bit of a snarky answer, but: a good set of cash rewards rewards cards? Points-based travel cards are good for accruing sign up bonuses that can be redeemed for travel, but the reward points you get for normal spending aren't necessarily better than just earning cash. I think the exception here might be people who want to use points for upgrades to business or first class and value those upgrades at the cash price.
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Dec 23, 2023 18:13
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TITTIEKISSER69 posted:Discover it Miles is a simple, easy choice. This seems strictly worse than a 2% cash card because the rewards are just 1.5x "miles", but the "miles" are defined as 1 mile = 1 cent cash value (you cant transfer them to airline partners where they might be worth more than 1cpp). Its basically just a 1.5% cash back card that they are marketing as a travel card. Discover also has pretty limited acceptance internationally.
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Dec 23, 2023 18:58
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drhankmccoyphd posted:Whoa that is pretty awesome. I don’t suppose if I called and asked they would apply that deal to my unlimited card this year 😬 Pretty sure a poster in this thread successfully changed their unlimited to a diff chase card, then applied for a new unlimited card a month later or so and got the bonus
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Dec 23, 2023 19:59
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astral posted:Strangely, that's on the Blue Cash Everyday but not the Blue Cash Preferred. Amex does this with their other cards too. For example, the Amex Green gives 3X points on hotels, Amex Gold has no bonus for hotels.
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Dec 31, 2023 01:24
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Nur_Neerg posted:Any suggestions for decent signup bonuses at the moment? The reddit churning chart was just updated and is a good, if a bit opinionated resource: https://m16p-churning.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/Card+Recommendation+Flowchart+Latest.html
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Mar 13, 2024 22:28
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Technically a monthly fee is not an annual fee Also, lol: rh posted:if you refer 10 friends who sign up to Robinhood Gold, you’ll earn the solid gold Robinhood Gold Card – weighing 36g and made from real 10 karat gold Jokes aside, this has to be a money loser for them right? Loss leader to bring in new customers to gamble on options or crypto or something?
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Mar 27, 2024 02:39
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Its not entirely unusual for credit cards to hand out ~$100 referral bonuses, so $1100 for ten isnt that weird. But still, who wants to carry around a thousand dollars of gold in their wallet. Even if you manage to never lose it or have it stolen, what are you supposed to do with it when it expires? Melt it down?
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Mar 28, 2024 15:10
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Boris Galerkin posted:I'm seriously considering throwing my direct deposit into RH when they roll that 1% deposit bonus out in May. Even if it's prorated over 24 months, my quick spreadsheet math says that I'd come out on top and all I'd have to do is change a routing number on ADP? Its basically a $150 ($210-$60) account opening bonus if you max your IRA with them this year? And its paid out over 2 years? Doesnt seem that compelling. If you're willing to open new accounts and move a direct deposit around, you could make a lot more churning bank account sign up bonuses.
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Mar 28, 2024 15:57
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THF13 posted:"Gaming" the system probably mostly refers to artificial spend, like the people who bought hundreds of thousands of dollar coins from the mint at 1:1 pricing, deposited those coins right into a bank, and got to keep the points and other rewards. This is absolutely going to be a magnet for round trip fraud. Any moron can get a credit card processing account that charges less than 3%. I have seen these accounts used before to to fraudulently "build credit", but now round tripping money through these is actually directly profitable. Yeah, they will get shut down and this is almost certainly illegal. But, I wouldnt at all be surprised if it becomes a problem for Robinhood.
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Mar 30, 2024 17:24
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Arrgytehpirate posted:I’m going to get a Discover It secured card and start building my credit. I know I need to pay the entire balance every month. Does it matter if I just put my electric bill on it or should I fully utilize it? Does your starting limit matter? I was thinking of a $600 line of credit so it’s impossible to overspend but I could go up to $1,000 if it would help build my credit better. The amount you put on the card is less important than establishing a history of on time payments.
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Apr 1, 2024 17:30
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Girbot posted:You need to pay the statement balance to avoid interest. You don't need to pay off anything you've added to the card past the statement closing date until the next cycle. This is true and generally good advice, but with a credit limit potentially as low as $600, its not crazy to just pay the whole balance every month anyways. Its probably only a small difference in payment, but even $50 is a huge percentage of the available credit in this case.
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Apr 1, 2024 21:03
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