Cash Back Credit Cards?

[gwraigty]

Not many posters mention the minimum spending requirements to get the huge signup bonuses, nor their total yearly spending. Some of the multiple card strategies must require a huge amount of spending to work.

Having things like utilities set up to automatically charge your credit card seems like a good trick to boost credit card spending. Then just pay the card electronically from your bank account.

Agree with your second paragraph. My gas company and property taxes are the only bills I can't pay via a credit card. All credit card balances are paid in full.

Define a huge amount of spending.

Multiple card strategies, for me, only require me to know which card to use, depending on quarterly 5% categories, or another factor.

For example, I do most of my grocery shopping at a Super Walmart one mile from my house. Walmart (along with other stores/categories) is specifically excluded from this quarter's Discover 5% grocery category. However, I have a Huntington Voice MC that pays 3% on groceries and it does include Super Walmarts (even if you're not buying a grocery item). That is usually my go-to credit card for Super Walmart.

When I'm shopping sales at regular grocery stores, I'll check first to see if I have an applicable 5% grocery category card. For this quarter, that's Discover. If not, my Fidelity VISA that pays 2% cash back is my go-to card.

I have a couple of store cards that give 5% off at the register. I don't shop at them that often, but when I do, it's nice to get that discount.

Our spending last year for a household of 4 was around $38,000. Some of that included a few thousand or so in medical expenses (not usual expenses for us), which went on the 2% cash back card. To simplify matters, pretend it all went on a 2% cash back card. That's $760 cash back over the year, just for using a credit card vs. a debit card/cash/checkbook.

 

[audreyh1]

Not many posters mention the minimum spending requirements to get the huge signup bonuses, nor their total yearly spending. Some of the multiple card strategies must require a huge amount of spending to work.

Having things like utilities set up to automatically charge your credit card seems like a good trick to boost credit card spending. Then just pay the card electronically from your bank account.

Yes, many times I’ve ignored a CC bonus because I wasn’t willing to spend the amount required in the short time required as it didn’t match my plans.

And I’m not interested in the whole manufactured spend business although I suppose I had opportunities to pay various taxes via credit cards which in spite of the hefty fees still would have come out ahead. A little. I tended to go for things that matched what was planning to spend anyway.

I’m not looking to add more credit cards anymore.

 

[Done]

I saw this and just had to chime in. I have a pretty extensive "miles and points" plan
...
Now the "big guns".
Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP)
Chase Ultimate Rewards (CUR)

Thanks for sharing your points plan. I keep seeing the CSP discussed on other forums but the math still isn't convincing. Would you mind running through an example?

Let's say I spend $30k/yr on cards, a third of which is dining/travel.

With a free Fido or Citi 2% card, I'd get $600 back.

With the Alliant 3% card, I'd get $900 the first year or net $691 in later years (when it reverts to 2.5% cash - $59 fee).

With CSP, I'd get 10k*3 + 20k = 50k points which could give $500 back or $750 towards travel. The $450 annual fee gives me another $300 in travel so I get $750+300-450 = $600 net benefit.

In either case, I could add a card which gives 5% in certain categories. With CUR, these points could be transferred to CSP for travel, so their value becomes 7.5%.

With $5k spending in bonus categories,
Alliant 2.5% + 5% bonus nets $816;
CUR/CSP nets $900.

Although I see you can earn an extra $84 (~10% cashback), it involves managing cards, transferring points and using a travel portal. Maybe the specifics of the example make a big difference, especially since you spend >4x this amount. Or maybe the one-time sign-up bonus is the real kicker, but for this example I'd be too lazy to manage points for a small potential ongoing benefit.

 

[Sojourner]

Get a new Chase Rapid Rewards Southwest Priority Credit Card, pay an upfront $69 annual fee, charge $4,000 to the card within the first three months and then get a Companion Pass for the rest of 2019.

...

A Companion Pass is worth a LOT more than $69. A single minimum fare one way trip for the cardholder and the Companion pays for that. We take three or four roundtrips a year on Southwest, so that Companion Pass makes this the best bonus deal around for us. Easily worth more than $1000. for us. And you also get 30,000 Rapid Reward points, which certainly helps with the first flights.

This does look like an excellent deal for anyone who lives near a Southwest hub and is likely to take a few SW flights with a companion later this year. The biggest downside I see is the $4,000 minimum spend over 3 months, followed by up to an 8 week wait for the companion pass to show up in your SW Rapid Rewards account. Worst case scenario is that you wouldn't be able to start using the companion pass until early June, leaving you with only about 7 months remaining in 2019. If you can easily meet the $4,000 spend very quickly, though--say, within the first month--without buying extra stuff you wouldn't have otherwise, then this wouldn't be as much of a drawback.

 

[Sunset]

I only get a new credit card when I know I'm going to be spending a pile of cash in the future.

For example: Every year we use our timeshare and then hop on a cruise ship since we are already in the area, which saves a trip just to take a cruise later.
So with the new card I just got, I paid out around $2,500 for the timeshare fee, plus the cruise booking. That means I only need to spend another $500 to qualify for the $600 signup bonus.
Easy Peasy.

 

[Bongleur]

>Define a huge amount of spending.
Back on pg 1, IIRC there was an example of a $500 cash bonus but you had to put some thousands on the card within a time period.

And the biggest such deals seem to require a business account.

I suppose we could put $30k on a credit card in a year. Plus groceries, which I have not added up yet.

 

[bada bing]

I looked at that card but for my situation it did not work out that well. First, I get 4% back on the Costco Visa card for gasoline. The 6% cash back on groceries is nice, but is partly neutralized by the 5% cash back I get on groceries using my Discover card for three months out of the year. (Note: I spend far less than $6000 on groceries per year at supermarkets.) Add in the yearly fee and most of the benefit is neutralized. However, those are my spending patterns. For some crazy reason, not everybody seeks to duplicate my patterns.

I use an Amex Blue Cash Preferred as one of my cards, and like you, I spend less than
$6000 per year on actual groceries. A trick that allows getting full value from the Blue Cash
- or other cards with a limited amount of high cash back - is to buy gift cards. I buy Amazon,
Ebay and AM/PM gas cards (a preferred low cost gas station in my area). I use my Blue
cash every year for the full $6000 allotment of 6% cash back.

I'm not urging anyone else to use this strategy, just pointing out there are work-arounds
for cash back categories. I also use the same strategy to get full value from my Chase
Freedom card for the yearly quarter when groceries are the bonus category.

 

[gwraigty]

>Define a huge amount of spending.
Back on pg 1, IIRC there was an example of a $500 cash bonus but you had to put some thousands on the card within a time period.

And the biggest such deals seem to require a business account.

I suppose we could put $30k on a credit card in a year. Plus groceries, which I have not added up yet.

I haven't played the chasing down bonuses game either. But here is one that I did take advantage of awhile back:

https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/credit_cards

"Earn a $100 Card Statement Credit after spending $1,000 in purchases on your Schwab Investor Card® from American Express in the first three months of Card Membership.†"

I like that card as a back up.

It pays to see how much you're spending. I've found that there's very little you can't put on a credit card.

 

[audreyh1]

$1000 credit card spend in 3 months is not too hard. It’s the $3000 plus I would find challenging unless I have a trip planned.

 

[pb4uski]

$1000 credit card spend in 3 months is not too hard. It’s the $3000 plus I would find challenging unless I have a trip planned.

Heck, for DW $1,000 in credit card spend in 3 weeks is not too hard.

 

[tapahelp]

Heck, for DW $1,000 in credit card spend in 3 weeks is not too hard.

Most cards give you up to three months or 90 days from opening to get your spend, which varies from $1000 to $4,000, for the signup bonus.

 

[hotwired]

I would concur that psychologically, it's easy to spend more than you otherwise would if you were spending cash. This is why I hate "gift cards" because I have an urge to "get rid of it" because it's one more card hanging around.

And so, you have to do some introspection. For me, I have about 200K of business expenses to run through. For the average person who has a choice of using CC and gaining points OR using whatever cash is in his wallet, he's probably going to do better using the cash. It's a built in nagging system. HOWEVER, the signup bonuses tilt toward the cc' method's favor. Barring completely irresponsible, unconscious spending, getting $500 - $1,000 bucks just for using a credit card for 3-4 months wins without much argument.

I would DISAGREE however that there's necessarily "better ways to gain a little money chasing points." My hourly rate for money earned via points is upward of $1,000.

 

[hotwired]

Hmmm....my wife handles the BOA card so I did NOT know that. I'll check in with her, thank you!

 

[hotwired]

With the signup on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, here's how it worked out. (by the way, for $95 instead of $450 you can get the Chse Sapphire PREFERRED which gives you 1.2 cents per mile vs. the 1.5). So here's a back of the envelope: Let's say we spend 5K on vacation per year (hotel, car, etc.)

FEE: $450 for chase sapphire reserve, $0 for chase ultimate rewards.

Annual credit of $300 toward any travel related expenses wipes out all but $150 of that fee.
Every 5 years we get $100 reimbursement for Global TSA ($20 per year value)
We get 3 cents for every mile of meals, travel and entertainment which then buys us 1.5 cents via the portal, (or 1.6 if we transfer the points instead to SW Air). So ...

$100,000 per year spending (conservative) = with $10,000 being travel, meals and entertainment which get 3% vs. 1%. Also, let's say $1,000 per quarter qualifies for the 5% bonus. Also, we got (first year only) 100K signup bonus for spending 5K in 3 months. This buys us $1,500-$1,600 in airline tickets depending on above. So ...

Year 1: (All increased to reflect value for travel which is ALL we use our points for)
Signup $1,500
Travel credt $ 300
TSA credit $ 20
1% points $1,290 ($86,000 x .01 x 1.5)
3% points $ 450 ($10,000 x .03 x 1.5)
5% points $ 300 ($4,000 x .05 x 1.5)
TOTAL FIRST YEAR EARNINGS $3,860
TOTAL EACH YEAR THEREAFTER $2,360

Then 1-2 times each year we'll do a signup where we get $500-$1,000 signup bonuses for other cards. Some chase, some not.

And using the portal is just like using any other online travel portal. It's not special. It has literally every flight travelocity or any other website has. We spend about 90 seconds per year transferring points.

I would concur with the gentleman that reminded another gentleman that we as a subset of the population can't necessarily be compared with the average person, who would get themselves in a position of not being able to pay off their card or would spend a ton more simply because they were using a card vs. cash. That being said .. I DO think even the best of us might benefit from having the downward pressure of using cash or a checking account balance to keep us "in line", haha!

Probably once every other year I screw up, forget to pay on time, go overlimit, etc. and EVERY TIME 100% they've waived the fee by my reminding them what a bad ass customer I am!

 

[kaneohe]

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

We signed up for the Capital One 1.5% cash back with a $250 bonus last year - I'm really curious to see if I get a 1099 from them for the bonus - does anyone know if this is the case?

just in case this hasn't been answered............no 1099 for cc bonuses.
Do get a 1099 for bank account bonuses.

 

[Drake3287]

just in case this hasn't been answered............no 1099 for cc bonuses.
Do get a 1099 for bank account bonuses.

At some point a certain political party will go after these credit card rebates. Just a matter of time before they figure it out.

 

[gwraigty]

At some point a certain political party will go after these credit card rebates. Just a matter of time before they figure it out.

It's no secret that the IRS has ruled that credit card rebates and bonuses are generally not taxable.

https://creditcards.usnews.com/articles/are-credit-card-rewards-taxable

 

[audreyh1]

At some point a certain political party will go after these credit card rebates. Just a matter of time before they figure it out.

These are discounts credited against purchases made, not income. Just like discounts and sales in a store. IRS has clarified.

Bank account bonuses on the other hand are pure income and not tied to any purchase activity.

 

[sengsational]

Verified by Visa Participation (or not)

After fiddling around for a while trying to buy an airline ticket today, I discovered that the card (that I need to spend $3K in the first 3 months to get $500 bonus) doesn't participate in the "Verified by Visa" scheme, and the airline I want to buy the ticket from just rejects the transaction because of that.

At first, I though I could register the card (CapitalOne Venture of the Visa Signature flavor) with VerifiedByVisa, but the card issuer must allow this linkage, and Capital One does not.

Then I started reading some reviews and discovered that unless you're presenting the card in person, many merchants in Europe will simply not allow you to use the CapitalOne Venture card. So if you wanted to buy a train ticket or something, you couldn't log on from your hotel and buy it because if this lack of enrollment in Verified by Visa.

So "I'll just call". They said "We'll send you a form in your email", which I never got. I got other emails from the booking, just not the one with the form. Besides, I'm leery of sending my credit card information over email. My original intent was just to read my credit card number over the phone, but the rep said the form was the way to do it...something about web vs phone booking being a different cost or something.

This post probably should go in a thread more along the lines of travel credit cards, but this was the one I've been poking around on lately. If someone has a reference to a better thread where I could [-] rant [/-] share my experience so others won't get bind-sided, please advise.

 

[braumeister]

Sometimes they will let you fax it in.

 

[sengsational]

Chase Sapphire Preferred Now $95

It looks like the Chase Sapphire no longer is offering a $0 annual fee for the first year


This card gives you $600 worth of sign-up bonus if you spend $4K in the first 3 months. I put in an application a month ago, and it got snagged because I didn't unfreeze Equifax (I unfroze the other two). I ignored the application for a couple of weeks, then finally I unfroze Equifax (manually on the phone), and called Chase (quick 2 minute call). But then Chase sends me a letter from their fraud department saying they think someone else is trying to get credit in my name, and so doesn't approve the application .



So I figured I'd just send a snail mail application today, but I'm annoyed that they no longer give you the first year for free. Of course it's still good money (if I jump through the hoops [$600-$95=$505]).


On the plus side, I've applied the $500 sign-up bonus from the recently acquired CapitalOne Venture card to an airline ticket already!

 

[Sunset]

It looks like the Chase Sapphire no longer is offering a $0 annual fee for the first year


This card gives you $600 worth of sign-up bonus if you spend $4K in the first 3 months. I put in an application a month ago, and it got snagged because I didn't unfreeze Equifax (I unfroze the other two). I ignored the application for a couple of weeks, then finally I unfroze Equifax (manually on the phone), and called Chase (quick 2 minute call). But then Chase sends me a letter from their fraud department saying they think someone else is trying to get credit in my name, and so doesn't approve the application .



So I figured I'd just send a snail mail application today, but I'm annoyed that they no longer give you the first year for free. Of course it's still good money (if I jump through the hoops [$600-$95=$505]).
....!

Chase has a rule for Sapphire Preferred that you don't get the bonus if you have had the card in the past 4 years.

So I cannot apply for it or the reserve one for a few more years

"
Chase Sapphire Preferred®
60,000 Bonus Points
The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months. If you are an existing Sapphire customer and would like this product, please call the number on the back of your card to see if you are eligible for a product change. You will not receive the new cardmember bonus if you change products."

 

[Sojourner]

It looks like the Chase Sapphire no longer is offering a $0 annual fee for the first year

This card gives you $600 worth of sign-up bonus if you spend $4K in the first 3 months.

There is an excellent alternative to the Chase Sapphire, which I'd highly recommend to anyone looking for a travel rewards card. It's the Barclaycard Arrival+ Mastercard, and it has no annual fee for the first year ($89 thereafter) plus you get 70,000 bonus points—worth $700 in travel credits—if you spend $5,000 in the first three months. This is currently the #1 rated card at doctorofcredit.com, which is my go-to site for credit card recommendations.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/barclay-arrival-70000-point-sign-up-bonus-with-annual-fee-wavied/

 

[sengsational]

It's the Barclaycard Arrival+ Mastercard

Thanks for the link to that credit card selector.

I got a Barclay Arrival card (not Arrival+) in November 2014, so like 4+ years ago. I doubt they'd let me get the sign-up bonus, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

EDIT: Unfroze all 3 and did the online application. Unfortunately, it wasn't instantly approved.

We appreciate your interest in the Barclaycard Arrival Plus Mastercard.
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with an immediate decision on the application you just submitted.
Your application requires further review, which can take up to 10 days.
We will notify you in writing in no more than 30 days (and often sooner) about the status of your application.

Now I've got to wait. I'd rather just undo it and apply for another card, but such is the game being played. I don't want to have two bonus cards, I'd never spend that much money, hehe!

 

[sengsational]

I got a Barclay Arrival card (not Arrival+) in November 2014, so like 4+ years ago. I doubt they'd let me get the sign-up bonus, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

I ran the Arrival+ application and was turned-down in the online process without a pull on the credit report.

They sent a letter. "...you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."

So I called just now and it sounded like the "no" would stick, but I asked "what if I cancelled the old Arrival card?" At that point, the rep offered to move some of my available credit over from the existing cards (I already had two Barclaycards with a total of $25K credit) to the new Arrival+ card.

So this confirms the idea discussed in various threads, including the available credit percent poll, concerning how one company doesn't want to get too exposed, but each company doesn't care about the others seems to hold.

Anyway, I had them split the credit 6K, 6K, on the two old cards and 13K on the new card. It looks like I should get the card soon and will be able to book the trans-Atlantic business flights pretty soon! And then collect the sign-up bonus.