damn and I thought my 810 was high lol. I use amex delta to buy everything. I have racked up more than a few free flights back home since I got it. I would say I have flown about 8-10x on points in the last 10 years. I have enough right now for 2 more trips. the last trip was on points, then I took a bump for 600 credit and am flying this time for 200 out of pocket.
I'm sure I'll get slack for this - but no credit card is good. Use a debit card. Same protection, and you'll never pay a cent of interest. I get 2% cash back on my debit card, too...
Paypal just started giving 1% on all purchases made with their paypal debit card. The 1% is given back to you directly on your account each month.
AMEX Blue Cash Rewards. I chose it since it has no annual fee and the cash back %'s are pretty good once you spend a certain amount on it each year. It doesn't take long for me to get there. I use it for pretty much everything and rack up a decent amount of cash back pretty quickly. I just save the reward cash for Christmas gifts fundage and that's my budget (more or less). I can carry a balance if I had to, but the rate is stupid high. Better to pay it off each month, which is true for any credit card of course.
While I generally agree with you, using credit has become a necessity. I've never used credit except for auto loans. When I went to buy a house my credit score was mediocre because I didn't use credit.
I don't know.....we bought a Subaru Outback wagon with our American Express reward points and still had some leftover....guess it depends on how much you spend.
I generally agree and when I use cash I ask for a 2% cash discount. If they balk I whip out the plastic.
I haven't bought anything with cash since I bought some lottery tickets about 4 ~ 5 months ago. Why should I? I don't get rewards points for doing it?
Nothing wrong with using a cc if you're spending what you can afford. Although a lot of people fail at that part.
I look at it this way; most programs that have some sort of purchase system reward offers gift cards for points. Home Depot gift cards always have a face value gift card when redeemed with points (although Amex adds 10% for some reason) Most places (like Chase) value 10,000 points for a $100 Home Depot card. So that 50,000 point bonus is technically worth $500 to me. Airline millage has so many variables, that it's tough to do apples vs. apples. Where you fly, which airlines, when you fly, etc. Hotel points are even worse, and not getting better. Sometime you can get lucky with redeeming points for travel. We just flew to Grand Rapids CO from Newark for 25,000 United points each. That flight should have cost $924! On the other hand, I've flown to Quebec on 25,000 points, and that flight was only valued at $385. Hotel points have their biggest value during prime peak season. Mainly because most hotel companies don't increase the point value of a hotel when they're busy, even though the price may double. Case in point, A typical Courtyard/Springhill Marriot in lower Manhattan is worth 35,000 points. On busy weeks (big trade show or holiday time), that room will sell for $450+/night, making the points well worth it. But on an odd Friday or Sunday, that room will go for $250/night, even though paying for points will still be 35,000 No matter which credit card you use for points, the value goes in the toilet if you carry a balance.
Find a mortgage lender who does manual (real) underwriting and you'll have no trouble getting a home loan. I just had good rental history, good history of paying my power bill on time, etc, and a solid down payment. I haven't looked, but I hope my fico score is 0. (although it's probably not b/c I still am paying on the house, which contributes to my score) and for those who are talking about rewards... I've never met anyone who got rich off of cc rewards. My mom just tried to give my wife and I plane tix for Christmas with her rewards - with all the "gotchas" and fees, it was around $700. I bought tickets for $750 on expedia... I know, I know - some of you pay your cards off every month and you like the rewards/miles/etc - but if you ALWAYS pay it off every month you are less than 1 in 10 who do. The rest of you, something comes up, you forget, it's one day late, you just have to have that extra set of tires, whatever. Then you carry a balance. Screw that. If I don't have the money in my account, I can't afford it. And cash really is KING. Stores will still deal if you have cash in hand, especially on bigger ticket items. I had to really negotiate, but I got my wife's engagement ring MUCH cheaper by having a handful of benjamins.
That is the trick, to use it as cash or debit card. Don't spend more than you can cover with cash. Just little discipline In my case I use it for business and it gets paid off every month. It is nice to collect good amount of points, fly coast to coast few times a year for free. Or use it for whatever else.
Yep. I always roll with cash...in fact I love a big ass pocketful of hundreds but that's a grown-up allowance. When I can borrow money for a new truck, etc.. for 36 months at under 1% why would I want to not take free money??? If I can get XXX same as cash I always take it. Bonnie and I were very careful about leveraging ourselves in business but sometimes its the smart move.
The banks and lending institutions have leverage and lobbyist on the credit laws/regulations so you have to pay to play. They make ( or at least influence) the rule books so you are either in or out by deciding how you use CC's.
Forget the airline miles. forget the gift cards. My chase card runs the same value on cash 10,000= $100 check. Sometimes I cash out and pay my mortgage that month. Where do you think I am going
Just got an AMEX business cash card. No annual fee, $300 credit as soon as you spend $1000, then 1-5% on various spend items. I like that they automatically apply the rebate to your balance as a credit so you don't have to fool with "redeeming" anything.
