Good Credit Card, anyone?

[calmloki]

I believe while not outright admitted, this is a well used tactic by credit card companies to make up fees on all us crappy customers who pay our bill in full each month.

In a triumph of NewSpeak, those who pay in full each month are known as "deadbeats" to the card industry. Bad customer! bad! Bad!
WikiAnswers - If you use a credit card to pay off an 800 dollar bill can you pay it off over a few months by paying either the minimum payment or more or do you have to pay it all off the following month

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I checked out the PenFed cc. For the 2% cash back on the supermarket choices they say: "Visa USA determines which stores are categorized as a supermarket."

Anyone who has this card know if they count SuperWalmarts as a supermarket? I couldn't find anything more specific on their website.

I think Justin said they did. For my old citibank amex and mastercard, they did.

On another note, I recently noticed our other cc (mastercard) has yet AGAIN changed it's due date. They did this once before (moved it up 2 days), and I didn't realize it and ended up having to pay a late fee. Really p*ssed me off since we pay our cc's in full every month. I swear they move the due date around on purpose just to catch some of us with those late fees.

Another benefit to the automatic last minute autopay penfed and citibank have.

I've had a couple of instances of a bank not taking their payment on autopay on time and charging me a late fee. Many amusing discussions trying to lead Bob in India through the process of "I have autopay. You take the payment automatically. If you take it too late, its your problem, not mine".

The last time I had to tell him what to write in the exception field to explain why he gave me a credit. Mphh.

 

[Texas Proud]

I used to have the Citi card that gave 5% on gas, groceries and drug store... but they changed it and I cut it up..

Got one from Chase about the same time and it is still going strong, but expect them to cut it eventually... you have to ask to get your money..

Also got the Chase 'Perfect' card (got it before the two above)... it is 3% on gas and 1% on everything else... paid on the next statement...

I then got the Chase Freedom card, but found out that it is not as good as you think... the bigger rebates are on some categories I do not use... so basically it is a 1% cash back... but I use it for the ones it give more back...

I do have the Capital One for when I go overseas.... I have gotten a number of mailings to 'pick my rewards'.... but I have not looked into it.... Does anyone know what you can get back If it is good, maybe I will go to it...

 

[simple girl]

Another benefit to the automatic last minute autopay penfed and citibank have.

Yes, this feature definitely caught my attention!

 

[Rambler]

That's an oxymoron...

BTW, we dumped Capitol One a long time ago...too many hassles. My current card has been sold to different companies 3 times (IIRC) in the past 10 years. They give me a high credit limit, but sometimes when I am overseas, they think my card is stolen and they put a stop on it. Since I only carry two cards (one is private and one is megacorp's), this can get very embarrasing very quickly, and is a real hassle for someone who travels to as many different countries as often as I do.

R

 

[kaneohe]

Chase Freedom : 3% on your 3 highest categories of spending each month(selected automatically from 6? or 7groups like utilities, telecommunications, etc), 1% on everything else. If you let the rewards accumulate to $200, you then get a bonus $50 which makes your effective rates 3.75%/1.25%. Cap of $600/mo in these special categories. Rewards expire if not claimed in 3 yrs.

Discover More Card: 5% on selected categories like travel, gas, home improvement, etc which changes quarterly. Very low (0.25-0.5%) rewards on other charges until you exceed $3K, then becomes 1%. Low cap of $400-1000 (varies by quarter) of
eligible spending on 5% categories. Have to sign up every quarter to be eligible for
5%.......if enough people complained about this charade, it might be changed.
Often w/ signup bonus of $75 if you spend $500 within 3 mos (must weigh vs
very low rewards in lowest tier of spending).

Associated Bank: 5% (gas, markets, drugstores)/1% everything else.......very similar to the old Citi and Chase cards. This is actually a Citicard branded as Associated Bank.
Using it as backup for the day that Chase Rewards loses these features. Sorry couldn't immediately find the fatwallet.com thread but if you do enough searching , you should find it with some effort. Might have an annual reward limit.

 

[Urchina]

FWIW, I have been using my Capital One card as my primary card for years and have never had a problem with it.

We've used the card for years as well and have only run into problems when using online bill pay. We'll pay, and then their system won't show the payment as pending, and then we'll pay again, and BOTH payments will go through, but they won't give us the other payment back. Or, we'll pay twice in a month (say, the 4th and the 25th, intending the payment on the 25th to be for the following month's due date (the 5th)) and both payments will be credited to one month's account, and suddenly -- hey, we've got a late fee (or worse, a "missed payment") and a jacked up interest rate.

So then it's a long, hassle-filled phone call to get them to properly credit the account, remove the late fee, reduce the interest rate back to our original rate, and refigure the finance charge.

We don't have these problems when we pay by check, once a month, but we like the flexibility and accessibility of online bill pay, especially when we travel.

 

[OAG]

I am a Cap 1 Customer (CD's and MMA). Today I received a 10 minute survey regarding On-Line Bill Pay, Credit Cards (with rebates), Interest paying Checking etc. These were all questions about some "future changes" they planned to make to the Web Site. Maybe they are going to do some revisions that will remove some of the current problems they have had in the past.

 

[JB]

I've also had good experience w/ Penfed. The only issues is the hassle of auto-payment, and the basic card doesn't extend the warranty on purchases

So for large purchases where I want to extend the manufacturers warranty by one year I use the costco Amex card.

 

[ChrisC]

Marriott Rewards Visa Signature, if you're a marriott points junkie. The annual fee is $65 dollars but you get a free night stay every year at a category 5 Marriott hotel or inn. I've amassed a lot of points over the years for travel in retirement. Of course, the points can get devalued by changes in the program, but they can also become inflated by currency exchange differences if you use the points at European hotels -- the savings are incredible if you're able to book European marriott hotels using marriott reward points these days.

 

[mn54]

That's an oxymoron...

BTW, we dumped Capitol One a long time ago...too many hassles. My current card has been sold to different companies 3 times (IIRC) in the past 10 years. They give me a high credit limit, but sometimes when I am overseas, they think my card is stolen and they put a stop on it. Since I only carry two cards (one is private and one is megacorp's), this can get very embarrasing very quickly, and is a real hassle for someone who travels to as many different countries as often as I do.

R

I had this happen to me a few years back when I was in New York. Wouldn't accept my visa card. My backup card was a mastercard and it was accepted. Since then, whenever I am traveling I call the cc co. ahead of time to let them know I will be out of town. Haven't had this happen to me since.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats the other thing I like about the penfed card...no limit on the rebates. I used to have to keep track with my two citi cards and stop using one by around june and flip to the other. I didnt have much trouble with it but my wife was forever asking me "what card am I supposed to be using now?"

 

[jazz4cash]

On another note, I recently noticed our other cc (mastercard) has yet AGAIN changed it's due date. They did this once before (moved it up 2 days), and I didn't realize it and ended up having to pay a late fee. Really p*ssed me off since we pay our cc's in full every month. I swear they move the due date around on purpose just to catch some of us with those late fees.

I am very suspicious (sp) of this practice. Also it seems many bills fall due on Saturday, Sunday, other non-bank days. I finally decided to set my BofA online billpay to automatically send a generous payment keyed to the billing period close date rather than the payment due date. Its a bit confusing because by the time I get my statement in the mail, a payment has already been made, but I can make an additional payment if necessary and dont have to worry (so much) about missing or being late

 

[DangerMouse]

That's an oxymoron...

BTW, we dumped Capitol One a long time ago...too many hassles. My current card has been sold to different companies 3 times (IIRC) in the past 10 years. They give me a high credit limit, but sometimes when I am overseas, they think my card is stolen and they put a stop on it. Since I only carry two cards (one is private and one is megacorp's), this can get very embarrasing very quickly, and is a real hassle for someone who travels to as many different countries as often as I do.

R

Cards getting stopped when overseas seems to be normal these days. Before we travel we call our credit card providers and tell them when we are going, when we are coming back and what countries we will be visiting. It prevents any potential embarassment, however it is annoying and takes some time to do.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Cards getting stopped when overseas seems to be normal these days. Before we travel we call our credit card providers and tell them when we are going, when we are coming back and what countries we will be visiting. It prevents any potential embarassment, however it is annoying and takes some time to do.

I did the same, calling the 2 companies (I finally got it down to 2 ) before we went overseas worked like a charm. No hassles so to speak.