I use Citi Master Card 2% on everything No annual fee. I have my electric, cable, cell phone etc. automatically debited from it
Some general advice. Always carry at lest two credit cards if you're traveling. Sometimes one will be rejected for potential fraud reasons. Sometimes that's easy to remedy (they send you an email/text immediately if they reject and ask you to confirm or not). But other times it's not.
Just applied for the Amazon 5% signature card.
If you use the Citi 2% card for monthly bill paying (utilities, cell, internet, etc) do you get cash back for that? I guess they aren't really purchases.
Given that, how about using it to pay your monthly mortgage payment?
Are you a Bank of America customer? BofA has a terrific suite of no-fee credit cards. If you have $100,000 in Merrill Edge account, you can supercharge the amount you get in cash back on the credit cards. I have over $100,000 with Merrill Edge in Vanguard ETFs. That gets me 75 per cent bonus on all cash back. For example, I get back 5.25 per cent on all gas purchases, 3.5 per cent on all groceries (including any purchases at Walmart!) and 2.625 per cent on everything else. I get this through the Cash Rewards and Travel Rewards cards. So with two cards, I get back at least 2.625 per cent on everything. And the Travel Rewards card has no foreign transaction fee, so it's great for travel. I have other credit cards as well, but these two are a great two card solution if you can park money in a Merrill Edge account.
I have those two cards. Maybe it’s worth moving $100K over.Are you a Bank of America customer? BofA has a terrific suite of no-fee credit cards. If you have $100,000 in Merrill Edge account, you can supercharge the amount you get in cash back on the credit cards. I have over $100,000 with Merrill Edge in Vanguard ETFs. That gets me 75 per cent bonus on all cash back. For example, I get back 5.25 per cent on all gas purchases, 3.5 per cent on all groceries (including any purchases at Walmart!) and 2.625 per cent on everything else. I get this through the Cash Rewards and Travel Rewards cards. So with two cards, I get back at least 2.625 per cent on everything. And the Travel Rewards card has no foreign transaction fee, so it's great for travel. I have other credit cards as well, but these two are a great two card solution if you can park money in a Merrill Edge account.
This is a very good way to get cash back on all your bills, and not worry about late fees or writing checks.
One caution: if some business where you used your card gets hacked, they'll re-issue your card with a new number. If it's the card you use for automatic payments, this can be a nightmare. Trust me, happened to me twice!
I finally smartened up and now use one card ONLY for automatic payments, and a different card for routine purchases. This way if one of those random businesses I use my card at is hacked, my automatic payments continue.
GREAT idea to use one card for auto payments only. I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks!
Hmmm ... I just got a cash rewards CC offer in the mail from BoA. It looke good at first ...
3% cash back on car fuel
2% cash back on groceries
1% back on everything else
The APR was 14%. The one hook was that if there was one late payment, the APR doubled to ~28% indefinitely! You have to be very disciplined about paying off the balance each pay period. There were also late payment fees in there as well.
Read the fine prints!
The APR was 14%. The one hook was that if there was one late payment, the APR doubled to ~28% indefinitely!
FWIW, I once got nicked with a late payment fee that was easilyh 4x more than the interest.
I ended up setting up my bill-pay at the bank to automatically make the usual minimum payment amount every month. I might still pay interest, but not that darn late fee.
Just applied for the Amazon 5% signature card.
If you use the Citi 2% card for monthly bill paying (utilities, cell, internet, etc) do you get cash back for that? I guess they aren't really purchases.
Given that, how about using it to pay your monthly mortgage payment?
I have those two cards. Maybe it’s worth moving $100K over.
I used to pay my sons tuition with the card, but the school started charging a fee, making it not worthwhile. I also pay my Insurance polices with the card.
Looked at that yesterday and don't find the (BofA card point bump offer) anymore. Which could be lack of skill, but was hoping our Merrill cards would work.
Were you looking for this:
https://www.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/details/