Another CC card offer I actually went for

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Wow, and here I thought I had joined the "cool kids club" because my resolve finally crumbled and I got an Amazon Visa card in 2014, my very first CC after my 1998 divorce. I'll bet all the cool retirees have at least two cards! And me, I am barely used to having one.

We have one of those Amazon cards too. So now in addition we have:
1) The BofA card for 1.5% on general purchases and automatic payment plans
2) The Chase Sapphire for travel and restaurants at 2% (might cancel because of annual fee)
3) Another BofA Visa for 2% on groceries
4) A Mastercard debit to get a reasonable savings rate on the first 10k at our credit union

Might have a few more that I forgot about. This doesn't hurt our credit score. One thing I forgot to mention is that BofA actually gave us the credit score from Transunion free. When I've inquired before about credit scores other outfits say it is not available to me. Maybe a new law? The score was better then I've seen in quite awhile (above 800). Guess they finally figured we are a good risk.

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 We are up to 11 credit cards now....... (counting the various Amazon cards).

You win. Beat me by a country mile.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover I have a MC which is also serves as my Costco ID, and an Amazon Visa simply because it got me $20 off of a purchase. Both give cashback on purchases and both have no annual fee. I don't need both, but see no reason to cancel one of them as they cost me nothing to own.

Are you sure you have a Costco MC? Costco hasn't switched to VISA yet*, and they don't accept MasterCard. Is it an American Express?

And your Amazon Visa gives points that can used towards Amazon purchases, including 3% for Amazon.com purchases, which is a pretty nice discount.

*Latest scuttlebutt on Costco switchover is June of 2016. I haven't found the actual Costco press release on this. It was planned for April 1, 2016 (OMG - I can just see customers at the register thinking it's an April Fool's joke!), but has now been delayed....

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Can a 1.5% card be better than the Citi Master Card that gives you 1% on purchases and another 1% when you pay for them? That is 2% on everything. Now and then, I'll go for a card that offers several hundred dollars in return for spending a certain amount. But they usually only give 1% cash back, so eventually I stop using them. Amethyst

I think it depends on whether you need to use it overseas and what the foreign transaction fee is on the card.

Some Citibank MasterCards charge 3% for foreign transactions.

Edited to add: Looks like the Citibank Double Cash card is one of those. If you travel overseas and charge stuff you might want to find a no transaction fee card for that, otherwise your 2% back becomes a 1% fee overseas.

[Another Reader]

I'm up to twelve, including one store card - Lowes. Five Chases, three B of A, Costco AMEX, Discover, a legacy Wells Fargo Visa and Lowes. One of the B if A cards is also a legacy card (older than 15 years). Several are not in my wallet, and I may cancel one or two, although the strongest cancellation candidates are the oldest cards. Don't want to mess up that darn credit score by cancelling old cards. Lowes comes in handy for emergency refrigerator purchases, although the Home Depot appliance purchase and delivery process is much better.

Oddly, AMEX was stingiest with the credit limit. Unless they have something better to offer when they cut ties with Costco, that will be the end of AMEX.

[Another Reader]

*Latest scuttlebutt on Costco switchover is June of 2016. I haven't found the actual Costco press release on this. It was planned for April 1, 2016 (OMG - I can just see customers at the register thinking it's an April Fool's joke!), but has now been delayed....

I was wondering where the letter from Citi was....

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal You win. Beat me by a country mile.

We carry only 5 in our wallet. The remainder are locked away. One is used for monthly automatic recurring charges, and no where else. Others we only take out for travel (the United Mileage cards). The Amazon cards just remain put away as we only use them at Amazon. Only a couple have an annual fee.

Our main card is the Fidelity AMEX with 2% rewards on everything. We use this one as much as possible. Fidelity will be switching this to a VISA sometime in 2016.

Some, like the Costco AMEX, we have to carry because it's our ID as well as the 3% for gas buying at the pump.

We carry the PenFed card for 5% off gas at non-Costco pumps. This is also taken overseas because it's my only true Chip and PIN card and has no foreign transaction fees. I don't usually use it overseas because it doesn't pay any rewards, but it is really handy when I need a Chip card with PIN, and it also serves as a backup credit card in case something goes wrong with my primary.

I carry a couple of BofA VISA cards - one gives me 2.2% off groceries, so I only use it for that in the US and don't take it overseas. The other, the BofA Travel Rewards, is my main overseas card, plus I use at non-grocery places that don't accept American Express.

The United cards are only used for air travel purchases at United to get the free checked luggage, and for car rentals since they offer primary car rental insurance. I take one overseas as a backup credit card since it has no foreign transaction fee.

It's those dang rewards.....

(And don't get me started on the various Debit/ATM cards.)

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Reader *Latest scuttlebutt on Costco switchover is June of 2016. I haven't found the actual Costco press release on this. It was planned for April 1, 2016 (OMG - I can just see customers at the register thinking it's an April Fool's joke!), but has now been delayed.... I was wondering where the letter from Citi was....

Best I could find: Costco delays credit-card switch | The Seattle Times

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2017ish This [travel rewards] card gets really nice if you put a lump of money in an ETF or two with BoA's "Merrill Edge" brokerage--which is a DIY, no broker deal. If you have 100K with BoA/Merrill total for three months, you get a .75 multiplier on the card purchases, so 2.625%. You may need a checking account at BoA too, which counts toward the 100K. (Every so often, including now, BoA runs a "bonus" where you can get 500 or 600 for transferring an IRA over.) There is a long standing thread over at Bogleheads on this--it may be under "BoA Preferred rewards," or the like. I've been happy with the platinum preferred program. In addition to the multiplier and other things you noted, it gives us no-cost ATM anywhere in US--even at music festivals. Of course, I fully understand that a lot of people have been burnt by BoA in the past. :-) Edited to add the brackets....

I've noticed this nice boost in rewards, but I haven't been willing to hand any money over to any crappy BofA investments or CDs to get this larger reward benefit.

[Another Reader]

I keep some cash at B of A as an emergency fund back up to the main bank. That gets gets me the basic gold level preferred rewards. I can't see hitting the $50k or $100k in cash with no interest paid to meet the Platinum or Platinum preferred levels. I prefer the real money to be with Fido or one of the other investment houses and extra cash to be at the interest-paying on-line banks. I also don't want banking mixed up with investing. I especially don't want a mortgage serviced by the current iteration of Countrywide in the same hands as a lot of investment dollars.

[calmloki]

Twixt the two of us we have eighteen cards. Fidelity Amex was our go-to card, but we now each have 2% back CapOne Spark Visa cards. Insurance companies and utility companies refuse the Amex but take the Visa, so even with the $50 or so annual fee we make out better. Then there was the $500 bonus.... Lord knows I'm a sucker for a good bonus offer, which explains our eighteen cards and our 815 credit scores.

[Senator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB Does it make sense to carry both a Visa and a MC? Realistically, is there any difference between that and carrying to Visa cards?

MC and Visa are accepted most all places. I have never seen a place that only took MC, or Visa, and not the other, except Sam's Club.

I carry my Sam's Club MC and my Fidelity Visa. I also have a US Bank Cash rewards that I carry, it's 5% back on fast food now.

Sams Club gives 5% back on gas, 3% on travel (hotels, etc.)

I keep my Amazon cards in my desk drawer. I use them exclusively for Amazon purchases.

While Sams has an extra 1% on travel items, I generally use my Fidelity card. Cash back in my account, or statement credit, is better than 3% on a check that is mailed and could get lost.

[Chuckanut]

I've got a Barclay's card that give 2% in points for travel and dining out expenses. When used to pay travel expenses on the statement, it also gives a 10% bonus on the points used - so 2.2% back for travel expenses.

My favorite is still the Fidelity 2% cash card though. Nothing like cold, hard cash which I can spend anywhere at anytime and they can't devalue at a later date.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I've got a Barclay's card that give 2% in points for travel and dining out expenses. When used to pay travel expenses on the statement, it also gives a 10% bonus on the points used - so 2.2% back for travel expenses. My favorite is still the Fidelity 2% cash card though. Nothing like cold, hard cash which I can spend anywhere at anytime and they can't devalue at a later date.

I added stuff to the end of this post to update on the new Fidelity 2% VISA. http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ml#post1705300

[Fedup]

I have about 14 cards, I opened a slew of them to get the reward points. I figured it was my last chance to use my income and screw up my credit score. Just closed 6 Amex cards. I have the Sapphire cards for travel overseas and PenFed. But I plan to close the rest of the cards soon. Too many miles from so many airlines. It was kind of fun to play the game but now I need to use the mileages. Some will expire in 2017. Luckily I can give some to my kids .


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[pb4uski]

For the last 5 years our main card has been Escape by Discover because it pays 2% on everything as long as you use the rebate to offset travel charges (airfare, hotels, car rentals, etc) and using the rebate has been no issue for us. However the card has a $60 annual fee which was fine when no better alternatives were available.

But now Citi Double Cash card pays the same 2% (1% when the charge is made and 1% when the charge is paid but we are on auto-pay) with no annual fee.

My Discover Card renews later this month. So I call Discover and ask them to waive the $60 fee and they refuse but try to pitch me all sorts of "better' cards with no annual fee but only 1 1/2% rebate. So I'm now going to cancel it and go with Citi.

[powerplay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 *Latest scuttlebutt on Costco switchover is June of 2016. I haven't found the actual Costco press release on this. It was planned for April 1, 2016 (OMG - I can just see customers at the register thinking it's an April Fool's joke!), but has now been delayed....

Take a look at a recent Costco Am Ex statement. There is a service advisory at the top of page 3 that says after mid-2016 you won't be able to use the Am Ex card. That's the closest to official from Costco I've seen.

[fritz]

We always used our Credit Union's credit cards, but they got very restrictive with the rewards. We put them away (didn't close them) as they are our oldest cards and will affect our credit history if we close them.

Went for the Capital One Quicksilver with the 1 1/2% cash back (offered $100.00 bonus with minimum purchases within 3mos), and the Citi Double cash (no bonus). Capital One Quicksilver has no foreign transaction fees - Citi does. Citi offers 1% buy and 1% pay cash back. Both Capital One and Citi Cards work very nice, but Citi has a few extra features worth mentioning. Citi has text alerts for every charge (Capital One dropped this feature, but will email the alerts). Citi charges pretty much ding on my phone as we completing the transaction. They also offer virtual account numbers (VAN) for doing online/phone purchases. Options allow you to set the amount and the time active (minimum 2 mos). You can download this program and pull VAN while you are online shopping, or doing a purchase on the phone. Don't have to shut down your Citi card if fraud happens with an online/phone VAN purchase. Capital one doesn't offer this feature. Capital One issued non-chipped cards with separate numbers for me and my wife. Citi issued chipped cards with the same account number for both of us, but it recognizes each of our transactions separately on their website. No annual fees on either.

[Sarah in SC]

One thing to mention about the Alaska Airlines card is that you can use their points to fly other airlines.

I just recommended it to two friends who are going with DH to Morocco. I got him a flight to Madrid using 20k Alaska miles on American Airlines. The card has a 25k bonus for only $1000 in spending.

I cannot honestly remember how many I have open right now, but the stack of unused cards in my safe is 3 or 4 inches high. I might have 20 right now if I had to guess.

The Chase Sapphire is the only card with an annual fee that I've kept. It is a great card for foreign travel and the ultimate rewards program is amazing. I also have the Freedom card that I use for the rotating categories and transfer points to the sapphire.

[Fedup]

I closed all my credit cards that I don't use since I'm not borrowing any more. I don't care about my credit score. But I closed some of my husband cards and his FICO score went down from 845 to 805. I'm sure that's still a very good score.
I used my IPad to capture all front and back of the credit cards and the one I'm done harvesting the rewards, I cut them off. I'm waiting for the one year to cancel them. Honestly, I have been paying cash two years before I planned to retire, I don't really need any credit card. I mean I can do without any card.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum