Another CC card offer I actually went for

[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]

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]

*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]

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]

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]

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/forums/f28/costco-amex-replacement-card-77031-2.html#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 .


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[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]

*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.


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[Lsbcal]

....
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.

That is a new one. Measuring your credit card stack with a ruler!

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.

What do you get with the ultimate rewards? I haven't taken advantage of it.

 

[fritz]

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.


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We only have three no-fee credit cards open since retiring over 6 years ago (corporate issued card I carried went away). Two of the three credit cards were acquired within the last year or so - Citi Double Cash and Capital One Quicksilver (mentioned in my earlier post) along with our old Credit Union cards. FYI - Our Credit Union credit cards have to be closed if we close our accounts. Had to open a separate savings account to get an individual Credit Union CC way back when. That CC was my business travel back-up card for the American Express/Diners Club corporate cards I carried over the years (weren't accepted everywhere). We keep wife's Credit Union accounts open for local cash access/check depositing (use Ally online banking). Her checking/savings accounts have been open 17 years with Credit and Debit cards. Credit Union issued a separate card number to me against her account's CC when I closed my accounts (was not requested).

Our reasons for maintaining available credit - since retiring, the hardest thing with our finances is available cash (having to go to the Credit Union or no-fee ATM when we travel/snowbird). Really difficult to travel without credit cards (airfares, hotel reservations, car rentals, etc). We took $200.00 cash with us for Jan/Feb snowbirding and returned with about $80.00. We pay for just about everything with credit cards. Aldi accepting credit cards now will cut down on our debit card exposure (only use it for ATM cash withdrawals other than Aldi exception). Our last car purchase deal was sweetened with the offer of a $500.00 Veteran's discount when approved for financing with the Car Mfr. Paid it off with first payment.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I feel like a credit card reward lightweight compared to some of the folks out there, honestly.

But for the Ultimate Rewards, I check the rental car rates as they are cheaper than Costco on some (but I got a surprise the other day when it was actually cheaper to use the SW portal to book one in Phoenix). I also transfer points 1:1 from them to United, and booked my ticket to Denver with them. It is my go-to card when I'm not working on a spending requirement for another card, along with the Freedom rotating categories. You can use points and dollars for redemptions, which is nice, as well.

I also have been pleased with the IHG (Holiday Inn) card, it has a huge bonus and it is easy for me to find low (15k) point redemptions. I booked 5 nights of hotels for the upcoming Denver/Phoenix trip I'm taking with my niece all on points. The little promotion they ran Dec-Feb was fun too--you had to mail in cards with your info to their prize folks, and got to play a "pick a number" game online. I did it for mine and DH's accounts, and "won" 42k points on his account and 43k on mine. Not bad.

 

[2017ish]

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

What we did was put 100K into the "merrill edge" brokerage and bought Vanguard ETFs that fit into our asset allocation. No transaction fees/commissions and counts for the rewards membership level. So far, in two years, I've never been contacted by any "helpful" financial advisor, but reports by others on bogleheads indicate that a couple of perfunctory attempts may be made.

 

[Fedup]

I'm glad I used these miles and reward points to book for travel, travel plan might have to change. At least with British airways, no charge for changing flight. Same with reward points, at least I didn't lose anything if I have to change my travel plans. My husband just got a call out of the blue for high paying consulting work. If they pay what they paid before its maybe worth his while. At least he doesn't have to commute.


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[audreyh1]

What we did was put 100K into the "merrill edge" brokerage and bought Vanguard ETFs that fit into our asset allocation. No transaction fees/commissions and counts for the rewards membership level. So far, in two years, I've never been contacted by any "helpful" financial advisor, but reports by others on bogleheads indicate that a couple of perfunctory attempts may be made.

So there is no account management fee?

 

[Another Reader]

Apparently not. Merrill Edge is not the mainline Merrill Lynch, but their attempt to compete with Schwab, Ameritrade. E-trade and similar low cost brokers. At that account level, you get 30 free trades a month, so the ETF purchases are free. At one time there was a charge for dividend reinvestment, but that appears to have disappeared.

Brokerage and mutual fund accounts are like the credit cards - I am accumulating too many. I'm selling a rental, so I'm tempted to deposit the proceeds to get the bonus and juice the rewards. Not yet convinced it's worth the hassle.

 

[nwsteve]

Seeing the number of folks using Fidelity 2% Visa, I checked it out today. We have been pretty happy with Chase Sapphire Preferred especially for international travel.
Am I missing something, the Fido card does not appear to offer no fee foreign exchange purchases. Correct
Nwsteve

 

[audreyh1]

Seeing the number of folks using Fidelity 2% Visa, I checked it out today. We have been pretty happy with Chase Sapphire Preferred especially for international travel.
Am I missing something, the Fido card does not appear to offer no fee foreign exchange purchases. Correct
Nwsteve

Right - the foreign transaction fee is 1%, which basically means your reward drops to 1% when used overseas.

That's why I use the BofA Travel Rewards card which gives me 1.5% (1.65%) rewards (statement credit) and no foreign transaction fee when I travel overseas.

I use the Fidelity 2% AMEX card for most of my USD purchases.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Guess I'm in the minority here regarding BOA. We have used BOA/Merrill Edge for decades with no problems. Until yesterday however we never used BOA for credit cards. The other exception is with our stashed savings where we chase yield, but we always set up on line transfers so no biggie. So we have been enrolled in the Platinum Preferred Rewards program in order to take advantage of the freebies such as account maintenance fee waiver and free trades. I never paid attention to the 75% reward increase for CC's so thanks to the OP for starting this thread. dde0d We will now get 2.65% rewards and no annual fee and no FTF. Bye bye Capitol One. Can't beat that. And I set up an additional Rollover IRA yesterday and will transfer $200,000 from my TRowe Price Solo 401K into it today for the $1,000 bonus in 6 months. I'll then merge that account with my old BOA IRA after 6 months and was told I could easily do that by phone. I'll do the same thing next year and the year after for a total of $3,000 in bonus'. A win win.

As regards the universal bad reputation of BOA for customer service, we've never experienced this. We pay them zero in fees every year, love their on line platform which shows all accounts including both BOA and Merrill Edge accounts as well as my business accounts. I love the bill pay platform, free intuit payroll service including free generation of W-2's and all federal and state filing of employer forms and also like the Merrill Edge Research tools and online trading platform. I am one rare happy customer.