Credit Card Questions

[audreyh1]

It is a game for us to maximize our rewards on cards. We put the money we get into what we call our slush fund(a checking account at Fidelity) and spend on things we normally would not. Last year we went to see Paul McCartney in concert (little over $500 for a pair of 16th row seats, worth every penney to see my wife smile all 2 1/2 hrs). Also got an Good digital camera, a S7 phone for me and a S6 for wife. And we still had money left over from the $3000 we got for free(just a little work). That was our highest year to date, and we normally "only" get $1000 to $1500 per year.

We're usually at least $2000 cash/credit back, but that simply reduces our annual spending as we already have a padded slush fund.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Everyone can find an example of a bad shopper.
I have certainly seen where the purchaser paying in cash, hands over some bills, oops not enough, so then fishes for the change, counting out the coins to the penny. Then hands them over.
The clerk then has to count out the coins as well, and uh oh, too many coins, so the clerk hands back a coin or two, (or says they need 4 more cents), both of which take another passing interaction.

And I didn't even mention the cases where, they don't have enough cash, so have to pick something to NOT buy, the clerk has to fish it out, and subtract it, then see if the total is low enough, and if not repeat, or add that back in and take out something else.

Me, I always have my card ready, stick it in and 2 seconds later it beeps to take out and I'm done, no worries about the total.

True, just the bad shoppers seem to always be in front of me.

 

[Chuckanut]

We all know that vacation money is not the same as "real" money.

I didn't know that. I kind of wondered why they kind of "push" the cash back at the grocery stores when you use a debit card to pay.

When i worked I retail, on busy days, we often had 'cash pickups' when the register drawer was getting overstuffed with cash. That involved a sales clerk closing the register, counting the cash to be picked up, and bagging it. Then a clerk from the 'hidden' offices came by, counted the cash again, both signed a slip, and the cash went to a safe place.

At the end of the day, cash had to be counted, bagged and taken downstairs to be stored, counted again by somebody else..... You get the picture.

So, yes, there is a cost to handling cash. How it compares to CC fees, I don't know.

 

[Koolau]

When i worked I retail, on busy days, we often had 'cash pickups' when the register drawer was getting overstuffed with cash. That involved a sales clerk closing the register, counting the cash to be picked up, and bagging it. Then a clerk from the 'hidden' offices came by, counted the cash again, both signed a slip, and the cash went to a safe place.

At the end of the day, cash had to be counted, bagged and taken downstairs to be stored, counted again by somebody else..... You get the picture.

So, yes, there is a cost to handling cash. How it compares to CC fees, I don't know.

In lots of small business, counting cash is handled by the "manager" who is on salary. If s/he has to stay over to do the final counting (and accounting) it's at "no extra cost" to the business. DW was that manager for the small family business for a long time. She had always put in the extra time needed for "free."

For many years (well before DW took over) the small business had "house charges." DW slowly phased that out and demanded all new customers have a CC on file for phone charges. Old house charge accounts were grandfathered until the people died. Amazingly, DWs "problem" house accounts were very small - way less than 0.5%. Once or twice a year, she would get on the phone and call her few dead beats to come in to pay or to at least begin to pay something. Eventually, that all went away as the last house charges were phased out. She stated that CCs were way cheaper than house charges because of statement prep, mailing, the few dead beats, and processing payments. Still some folks relied on their house charge for 50 or even 60 years. Amazing. YMMV

 

[ownyourfuture]

Cancelling a credit card WILL adversely affect your score.

Thanks for that.
I'm going to keep the AMEX & use it for groceries only, as it's 3.00% cash back on those.

 

[kcowan]

True, just the bad shoppers seem to always be in front of me.

I get the cashiers at Costco switching just after dealing with the customer in front of me. They have to reconcile all their cash and credit transactions. Seems to take 5 minutes. I am usually there in the early afternoon so I suppose it is their late lunch break.

 

[kcowan]

So, yes, there is a cost to handling cash. How it compares to CC fees, I don't know.

3% but it is considered a fixed costs as part of the salary budget whereas the CC rewards are 3% variable affecting their revenue.

 

[ownyourfuture]

I'm the OP & I'm absolutely shocked that this thread is already 5 pages long!
Great stuff!

There's one thing I forgot to add to my original post. As I stated, up until about 2 years ago, I was one of those people that used cash for everything except my recurring monthly bills, & large bills like a major auto repair, appliances, etc.

Looking back, I think that maybe, on a subconscious level, at least part of the reason I started using cash back CC’s, was because of the minuscule amount of interest I was getting in my checking account, which is my cash-flow pipeline. My average monthly balance was approximately $3700.00 in 2016, & I received a grand total of $2.41 in interest.

So I look at it this way. If my total monthly cash flow is $3000.00, & I use my card for $2000.00 of that, I get 4000 points, or $40.00 ‘back’
per month. Just ‘slightly better’ than the $0.20 the bank is paying me. So unless something changes, I’ll continue to use plastic.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I'm the OP & I'm absolutely shocked that this thread is already 5 pages long!
Great stuff!

There's one thing I forgot to add to my original post. As I stated, up until about 2 years ago, I was one of those people that used cash for everything except my recurring monthly bills, & large bills like a major auto repair, appliances, etc.

Looking back, I think that maybe, on a subconscious level, at least part of the reason I started using cash back CC’s, was because of the minuscule amount of interest I was getting in my checking account, which is my cash-flow pipeline. My average monthly balance was approximately $3700.00 in 2016, & I received a grand total of $2.41 in interest.

So I look at it this way. If my total monthly cash flow is $3000.00, & I use my card for $2000.00 of that, I get 4000 points, or $40.00 ‘back’
per month. Just ‘slightly better’ than the $0.20 the bank is paying me. So unless something changes, I’ll continue to use plastic.

As long as you dont over spend by 2 % you are ahead of the game. I would be over spending

 

[TrophyWife]

I haven't paid for a flight since 2011 except for a small amount of taxes. I have flown so much that I can't even count all the trips. I now fly with my husband (who is still working) for free suing the companion pass at Southwest. I earned all this with credit card sign up bonus' and spends.

 

[TrophyWife]

And We keep our AMEX platinum because of the Medical Assistance while traveling. (And the lounges are nice too) https://www.americanexpress.com/lacidc/en/laccards/assistancetravel.shtml

 

[kcowan]

We keep our Amex because one restaurant in PV only accepts it.

Also we can order online and get stuff delivered to MX without hassle. Most Visa/MC want the delivery address to line up with the one on file.

 

[CoolRich59]

And We keep our AMEX platinum because of the Medical Assistance while traveling. (And the lounges are nice too) https://www.americanexpress.com/lacidc/en/laccards/assistancetravel.shtml

Apologies if I am hijacking this thread, but I am looking to vent re Amex.

As others have described, I am a modest card churning "hobbyist". I do 2-4 cards a year. I have been an Amex gold card holder for 5+ years and kept it for some of the benefits.

A couple of months ago, I got an offer to "upgrade" to platinum for 50k Amex points. I thought the $550 fee was pretty steep, but figured that, between the points and the benefits it would be worth it.

What I didn't realize was how much Amex's benefits and services seem to have seriously declined.

Last month, for the first time, my card was hacked. To their credit, Amex caught it right away and said they'd send me a new card. The last time they'd had to send me a new card (can't remember why), it was overnighted to me; I got it the next day. This time, despite being a "platinum member", they dropped it in the snail mail and I didn't get it for 10 days. Not a big deal, but ...

Last night, however, was a different story. I had purchased a plane ticket for my son to fly in for a visit this weekend. He belatedly realized yesterday that he had to work and I had to cancel the flight.

His fault I know. And, of course, the change fee from the airline was more than the cost of the flight. But, I thought a call to Amex might result in them working some magic with the airline and get a refund or credit or something.

Nope. After being put on hold for 30 minutes due to *high call volume* (at 10:30pm? yeah, right), I finally connected with Amex only to be told "there's nothing we can do".

So much for the *experience* of Amex Platinum.