Cash Back Credit Cards?

[kaneohe]

........................

As for Discover Card- yes- you can ask for cash back when you go grocery shopping or dept. store shopping (like at Walmart) and no interest accrues if you pay your credit card balance in full for that next statement.

.........but do you earn rewards on that cash back......like 5% when in season?

 

[N02L84ER]

Pls confirm........you are saying you don't get 5% cash rewards on cash from a grocery store when "real" purchases do and at some point (when?) it would start accruing interest? This sounds different from what "OP" said and what
reps at both Discover and Chase told me. Now I'm confused........


As for Discover Card- yes- you can ask for cash back when you go grocery shopping or dept. store shopping (like at Walmart) and no interest accrues if you pay your credit card balance in full for that next statement.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. If you always pay your Discover balance in full, no interest will accrue on the "cash advance" and you do not get the 5% award on the "cash advance". With a true cash advance, interest would accrue starting from the day of the cash advance. HTH

 

[kaneohe]

......................................... Right now the Discover card features a 5% rebate on grocery purchases. Of course I often hit the $60 "cashback" key at checkout. What a great ATM alternative, getting a $3 rebate instead of getting hit with a $3 surcharge.

Apparently this is not true.......no rewards on cash back. Do you agree or not?

https://www.cardratings.com/can-i-get-cash-back-when-i-buy-something-with-a-credit-card.html

An exception to the rule: Discover cards offer cash back at the register A comment from a reader sent us digging into another option for cash back at the register. It turns out that Discover cardholders CAN receive cash back, up to $120 in a 24-hour period (local retailers might have a lower limit) at a select group of about 75 retailers. This "cash over your purchases" amount is subject to the same APR as your regular purchases (not the higher APR that many cash advances are subject to). If you make sure and pay off your credit card statement balance each month, this essentially means that you're making a cash withdrawal for free. It is convenient, for sure, but make sure you don't treat it like "free money." You will pay interest on the amount you get back if you don't pay off your statement balance each billing cycle. One more thing, you won't earn rewards on the cash-over amount.

Read more at: https://www.cardratings.com/can-i-get-cash-back-when-i-buy-something-with-a-credit-card.html
Copyright © CardRatings.com

 

[sengsational]

I was always skeert to take the Discover cash at the register since forever, cash against credit card meant no grace period. We all on this board simply do not pay interest to the credit card company. Not saying that Discover cash at the register gets no grace period, just that I am too shy to have tried it.

 

[Bongleur]

WRT buying gift cards. Never done this. So if I use the CC to buy Amazon card online at Amazon, that gift card (GC) is electronic, right? So anyone hacking my account would use it. So I would keep it small -- can you add money to an electronic GC? Then I would add the money just before any purchase.

 

[Sunset]

There has been stories now and then in the news about gift cards being bought at a store, or given as a gift, and when the person goes to use them, they are worthless.

Turns out, a bad person only needs to read the numbers off blank cards, then when someone buys the card, the cashier puts the $$$ onto the card.

So the bad person, just has to check all the numbers copied down, every couple of days, and when they see one get a balance, go spend it.

 

[audreyh1]

WRT buying gift cards. Never done this. So if I use the CC to buy Amazon card online at Amazon, that gift card (GC) is electronic, right? So anyone hacking my account would use it. So I would keep it small -- can you add money to an electronic GC? Then I would add the money just before any purchase.

There is some protection for the gift card. I believe they require some credit card verification when you add a new shipping address.

 

[audreyh1]

There has been stories now and then in the news about gift cards being bought at a store, or given as a gift, and when the person goes to use them, they are worthless.

Turns out, a bad person only needs to read the numbers off blank cards, then when someone buys the card, the cashier puts the $$$ onto the card.

So the bad person, just has to check all the numbers copied down, every couple of days, and when they see one get a balance, go spend it.

Yes, you don’t want to buy gift cards unless they are packaged such that the numbers aren’t visible. And the package hasn’t been tampered with. The gift cards I see in stores nowadays hide those numbers. In fact even inside the package they are covered with something that has to be pulled off.

 

[Sunset]

I was pretty keen to get a new CC today.
It's United Airways , with 60K miles and no fee the first year.
However, it turns out the 60K is actually 40K by spending 2K in 3 months, (easy) and the other 20K is spending a total of 8K in the first 6 months.

8K is pushing it pretty hard for me at this time, so I'm passing on it.

 

[Sojourner]

Knowing there are many other even simpler ways of buying, then returning something make me think the CC companies are less likely to just "let it go". I've still got some time, so I could use that card for more purchases, just so we have the flexibility of turning in that early return ticket without worry.

Thanks, all, for the "manufactured spend" ideas:

I was thinking about this again today, since I'm trying to meet a large spending threshold for a new card with a big sign-up bonus. As we discussed earlier in the thread, your idea about buying a full-fare, refundable airline ticket and then canceling it well after receiving the sign-up bonus might work, or it might not. But I thought of something that would be quite similar in spirit, yet virtually guaranteed to work. Here are the steps as I see them:

1. Buy an expensive ticket to somewhere on Southwest airlines using your rewards credit card.
2. Cancel the reservation a few days after you purchase the ticket.
3. Southwest will issue a refund in the form of "reusable travel funds", which are deposited in your Southwest account and can be applied to one or more one-way or round-trip Southwest fares within the following 12 months.
4. Since the original ticket purchase does not get refunded to your card when you cancel, it fully and permanently counts towards your sign-up bonus spend, and you can use the residual travel funds at your discretion.

The only downside to this that I see is that you would need to make sure you use up all the residual travel funds on Southwest flights that you would have taken anyway over the 12 months following your cancellation. This would be pretty easy to do with some proper planning, I think. I may end up trying this if I find myself more than, say, $500 short of my spending threshold as the deadline approaches for my current rewards card.

 

[Sunset]

Besides pre-paying some bills another way I increase my spending to meet a threshold is to stock up on stuff we use.
Example I'll buy $200 worth of toilet paper it keeps for a long time, and means I won't need to buy anymore for many months.
Plus all sorts of other food that keeps, example canned food (check the expire date first) by the case.

The great thing is this won't end up wasted , saves me the trouble of buying it later, meets my threshold , and I can always claim to be a Prepper

 

[sengsational]

Activation Timing

For those who've studied this more than I...

Can you fudge the 90-day clock (for the signup bonus) by activating the card after "waiting a while" (some weeks or months)?

If that does alter the start date, then the next question is, how long can you wait before activating before something happens?

And then, what is that "something"? IOW, what do the card companies do if you don't activate your card in a timely fashion? Also, do you still owe the annual fee if you never activate it?

 

[easysurfer]

Besides pre-paying some bills another way I increase my spending to meet a threshold is to stock up on stuff we use.
Example I'll buy $200 worth of toilet paper it keeps for a long time, and means I won't need to buy anymore for many months.
Plus all sorts of other food that keeps, example canned food (check the expire date first) by the case.

The great thing is this won't end up wasted , saves me the trouble of buying it later, meets my threshold , and I can always claim to be a Prepper

A few years back, I stocked up on stuff from Amazon before Amazon collected sales tax on sales in my state. I still have lots of boxes of rubber gloves from that purchase. Good to know I don't need to purchase gloves for housecleaning for many years still .

 

[Sojourner]

For those who've studied this more than I...

Can you fudge the 90-day clock (for the signup bonus) by activating the card after "waiting a while" (some weeks or months)?

No, I don't think so. The 90 day clock starts on the day your account is opened, not on the day you activate your card. I asked about this once when I had to call in due to a problem with the website I was using to apply for a particular card (AmEx, IIRC).

 

[kgtest]

For those who've studied this more than I...

Can you fudge the 90-day clock (for the signup bonus) by activating the card after "waiting a while" (some weeks or months)?

If that does alter the start date, then the next question is, how long can you wait before activating before something happens?

And then, what is that "something"? IOW, what do the card companies do if you don't activate your card in a timely fashion? Also, do you still owe the annual fee if you never activate it?

No. The categories are something you "opt in" to each quarter. So just like a business cycle going Q1 to Q2, the card companies rewards categories cycle along with the quarter. If you don't opt-in you don't get the feature of the reward. I've opted in after a quarter starts before with no issue.

 

[Sojourner]

A few years back, I stocked up on stuff from Amazon before Amazon collected sales tax on sales in my state. I still have lots of boxes of rubber gloves from that purchase. Good to know I don't need to purchase gloves for housecleaning for many years still .

This reminds me of yet another way to "hack" the initial spend requirement for sign-up bonuses. When you buy an item from Amazon and then return it, you can choose how they refund your money: to your credit card, or to your Amazon gift card balance. So, if you find yourself struggling to meet a minimum spend requirement and your deadline is approaching, just buy something expensive from Amazon, return it as soon as possible, and have the refund applied to your Amazon gift card balance. Just to be safe, make sure that Amazon is the seller and that the item falls under the "Free Return" policy.

 

[kaneohe]

No, I don't think so. The 90 day clock starts on the day your account is opened, not on the day you activate your card. I asked about this once when I had to call in due to a problem with the website I was using to apply for a particular card (AmEx, IIRC).

my experience too........just have to hope the bonus offer and your big bills come together in this 90 day window.

 

[sengsational]

More Wisdom Needed on Non-Activation

Can you fudge the 90-day clock (for the signup bonus) by activating the card after "waiting a while" (some weeks or months)?

No, I don't think so. The 90 day clock starts on the day your account is opened, not on the day you activate your card.

my experience too........just have to hope the bonus offer and your big bills come together in this 90 day window.

Thanks for that wisdom on the 90-day clock for the signup bonus. That would have been "too easy".

I'll let you in on my self-inflicted problem. I thought that one of my applications was denied when it wasn't. So now I have really too much signup spend money to get to the targets. So the following question is still open for additional wisdom, if anyone has any experience:

...what do the card companies do if you don't activate your card in a timely fashion? Also, do you still owe the annual fee if you never activate it?

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks for that wisdom on the 90-day clock for the signup bonus. That would have been "too easy".

I'll let you in on my self-inflicted problem. I thought that one of my applications was denied when it wasn't. So now I have really too much signup spend money to get to the targets. So the following question is still open for additional wisdom, if anyone has any experience:

Originally Posted by sengsational View Post
...what do the card companies do if you don't activate your card in a timely fashion? Also, do you still owe the annual fee if you never activate it?

Probably best to call them to find out for sure. My impression was that if you don't activate within x wks ,they might think it's lost and cancel it. Could be
wrong tho. Re: self inflicted problem.....best to focus on one and get it done first as you seem to be doing . If you snap at 2 at the same time, you may
satisfy neither................that's why baitfish stay in schools..to confuse the predator.

 

[Sunset]

T...
I'll let you in on my self-inflicted problem. I thought that one of my applications was denied when it wasn't. So now I have really too much signup spend money to get to the targets. So the following question is still open for additional wisdom, if anyone has any experience:

Too much of a good thing

It may still be worth it to pay a small 2% fee to spend the few thousand needed to qualify. If nothing else, perhaps you could pay towards your income taxes for next year.
It is money you will spend anyhow.

 

[calmloki]

I've prepaid local utility water bills and garbage bills to meet a spend amount before. Plunk a year or so down. Also pay property and car insurance on an annual basis if allowed.

 

[kgtest]

I've prepaid local utility water bills and garbage bills to meet a spend amount before. Plunk a year or so down. Also pay property and car insurance on an annual basis if allowed.

+1

Usually at the end of the quarter when the category expires I'll prepay if the categry is utilities if it's gas and the nezt quarter we don't have a card that will activate gas ( this is rare but usually happens once a quarter) I will snag some gas gift cards to get us through that dead qiarter. I know we spend $300 a month for gas so I can buy $900 ofngift cards to get through the next quatter.

 

[OldConch]

I've prepaid local utility water bills and garbage bills to meet a spend amount before. Plunk a year or so down. Also pay property and car insurance on an annual basis if allowed.

+1 Monthly Kaiser ACA premiums are our largest budget item by far and Kaiser allows us to pre-pay. Avista electric/gas can be pre-payed. Xfinity can be pre-payed. Paying for a Cricket (cell phone) gift card earns 4x fuel points at Kroger stores and can be used to pre-pay Cricket.

If we're going to spend the money anyways why not bunch spending together to meet minimum spending requirements to score awesome sign up bonuses.

 

[sengsational]

KG, you buy gas gift cards at the grocery store? I haven't ever looked at gas gift cards, are they good at the named gas stations like Shell and Exxon or what?



Also, I didn't know how my utility would respond to paying my winter natural gas bill in August, but I don't suppose they'd mind. But if my CC had a positive balance, they send me a check (with my asking).

 

[Dtail]

KG, you buy gas gift cards at the grocery store? I haven't ever looked at gas gift cards, are they good at the named gas stations like Shell and Exxon or what?



Also, I didn't know how my utility would respond to paying my winter natural gas bill in August, but I don't suppose they'd mind. But if my CC had a positive balance, they send me a check (with my asking).

Another perspective.
I use one of my BOA cards to receive the gas 5.25% discount. When another BOA card runs over the 2500 quarterly limit for 5.25% dining, I switch it to the gas card and instead buy gas gift cards for Shell at the grocery store which gives 3.5% discounts.
Works just like a CC.