If you like to travel internationally, check out the Amex platinum - they used to have a buy one, get one for international plane tickets. Nice way to soar into Europe in first class at half price!
Let's talk credit, credit cards, and rewards!
- Thread starter jasonatjl
- Start date
I'm on the go right now, but I'll write a little more when I get a moment. If you're looking for flex points, look up the Chase Trifecta - Sapphire Reserve / Ink Business / Freedom.I used to chase miles/points but got burned out... want to get back to doing it. Alaska Airlines is great for Seattle based people so I buy EVERYTHING using my Alaska card and pay it off every month. When I chased points a bit, it's amazing what you can get. For opening a Sun Trust bank account with multiple debit cards, I got 150,000 miles which got me a Business Class ticket to Dublin/London when I went a few years ago. Opening credit cards can get you a couple free flights, etc. I'm leaning towards getting a card where you can transfer points into any airline but haven't taken the time to figure out the best one yet. The best deal I got when I was on travel forums, was kind of a glitch on Expedia. It was meant to offer Canadians $300 credit when booking a trip to Vegas. It worked for Americans so I got a free flight and hotel to Vegas simply for booking. But you need to check those sites daily for deals like that. I don't take the time anymore...
Oh, and I realize good cash back cards are the smart play sometimes, but I never use that cash for "bonuses" and I never treat myself. With airline miles, I'm "forced" to use it for pleasure.
And that's probably the only reason I have such great credit scores is because I pay off my bills for the cards every month.
It was great when I got my truck 5 years ago and they ran my credit, shocked that I had such a high score for being so young. And even now my scores are decent.
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Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
Here is a link for a site that gives pointers for hotels, points, programs, etc. http://www.flyertalk.com/
Click on the FORUM icon for info and there is the icon for Hotel Reviews.
There are also 3rd party services for paying your mortgage(s) so you can apply that to your points program. I use my highest Credit Card Program to pay my house payment....some mortgages you can't use a card but they will accept payment through 3rd parties and that's what I do. I end up with a yearly accrual of 24,000 extra points and the same goes for a rental we have in San Diego...that's another 24,000 points. Being disciplined is the key....use your best card for everything you buy but pay it off. As I said before there are cards that will give you 21 months of FREE interest which I do and when that program ends I get another program of free interest. I cancel that card and then opt in for the NEW card that has 0% interest...beat the banks at their own game.
Click on the FORUM icon for info and there is the icon for Hotel Reviews.
There are also 3rd party services for paying your mortgage(s) so you can apply that to your points program. I use my highest Credit Card Program to pay my house payment....some mortgages you can't use a card but they will accept payment through 3rd parties and that's what I do. I end up with a yearly accrual of 24,000 extra points and the same goes for a rental we have in San Diego...that's another 24,000 points. Being disciplined is the key....use your best card for everything you buy but pay it off. As I said before there are cards that will give you 21 months of FREE interest which I do and when that program ends I get another program of free interest. I cancel that card and then opt in for the NEW card that has 0% interest...beat the banks at their own game.
Paying on mortgage and car payments would be awesome.
I am great friends with @jasonatjl so I am up to date with his use.
I personally pay everything with my Chase Reserve and pay every bill in full.
For everyone who mentioned they pay their bill every two weeks or similar that is actually unnecessary. As long as you pay your bill in full on the due date you will pay zero interest not matter what your current credit card rate is. So essentially, you can buy something day 1 of the current bill cycle and have the entire month (30 days) plus the roughly two weeks after that cycle ends (grace period) to make that money and pay the bill in full. You will still pay zero interest. Obviously if you buy something day 30 your balance must be paid in full roughly 2 weeks later to not pay interest.
I only use my cards for items I could afford to pay with cash but use this system to leverage my cash for myself and not for the banks. I personally have not paid a penny of interest for quite a few years and have used rewards programs for my advantage.
Just my opinion.
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I personally pay everything with my Chase Reserve and pay every bill in full.
For everyone who mentioned they pay their bill every two weeks or similar that is actually unnecessary. As long as you pay your bill in full on the due date you will pay zero interest not matter what your current credit card rate is. So essentially, you can buy something day 1 of the current bill cycle and have the entire month (30 days) plus the roughly two weeks after that cycle ends (grace period) to make that money and pay the bill in full. You will still pay zero interest. Obviously if you buy something day 30 your balance must be paid in full roughly 2 weeks later to not pay interest.
I only use my cards for items I could afford to pay with cash but use this system to leverage my cash for myself and not for the banks. I personally have not paid a penny of interest for quite a few years and have used rewards programs for my advantage.
Just my opinion.
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Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
Do a search for 3rd party Services that will mediate and pay your bills like mortgages, car payments but understand that it comes with a price of anywhere from 1 - 3% but depending on the mortgage amount you pay and the reward points you get it pays off in the end. I pay 1% because I caught a deal early on about 6 years ago when this business was taking off so they got a ton of business from new members....I pay probably in the area of 2 mortgages of around $4k....the fee is $40 a month but in a years time I get 48,000 points that translates to one week of free hotels...that's a vacation where the avg. nice hotel like a Hilton or Marriott is $150 a night.....that's a savings of $1000 and at $40 a month for a year ...the real savings is I save $500. My other bills like gas, electric, groceries, etc. add up to at least $2000 a month and those are free points because I don't pay a fee.
I'd like to tell you the name of some of the businesses but I'm not going to schil on here for them...it's easy enough to Google them. At the end of the day if you're a points "whoooore" what you get is a considerable amount of savings for a limited investment. Yes, it does take some accounting but once you've developed the plan the reward points have let me and my wife travel the world...hotels, A/F, cars, cruises for almost next to nothing and we still get to roll over our points. Right now I probably have 250,000 points that we have available to use anyway we want and as we continue to accrue points we barely have to use any of those accumulated 250K points.
Absolutely. The only thing you end up paying is the transfer fee, but you can roll from one card to another with varying terms of 12-21 months 0% introductory APR.
Why pay a credit card company 9.99-29.99% interest if you don't have to?!
There's multiple reasons you have a good credit score, the majority of it coming from your good payment history, followed by the amount of debt you have (balances to total amount owed), and your time on the bureau.
Take pride, getting north of 750+ on a bureau is hard work!
@AlohaStyle
To expand a little more - some of those transferable points have sweet spots depending on where you want to fly / which airline you want to fly with.
I've amassed over 400K points in the last 12-18 months, essentially enough to fly around the world in first class on one of the swankiest carriers on the planet (Singapore Airlines). I'm talking lie down suites with flight attendants bringing you Moët and lobster!
I just recently opened a BOA - Alaska Airlines card because they're offering 30K points plus a bonus of a buy one, get one companion fare. Easy free RT ticket to somewhere and 1/2 off a second with a companion. Only thing I don't like is their earning structure - 1:1 per dollar spent. Better off using a 2:1 or 3:1 card and transferring points over.
Ohh yeah. And I even try to pay off as soon as I get the bill e-mailed to me.
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Dominican56
CRA #99997657
I use a Norwegian cruise lines credit card for everything I can. I pay off the last billing cycle so I don't have to pay interest.
People tend to really like their Costco cards. Some of the bonus categories make spending for cash back really attractive but I never go for cash back, I always want the points that I can convert to travel currency, but if you spend enough at Costco it really adds up.
andysc83
Hack the Gibson!
The cash back is really great and I think since we started using the card in late January, we have around $600 in cash rewards. Yeah since we have a kid, I'm going to Costco 3-4 times a month. I also buy most of our wine there.
It’s been a little while since anyone has posted on here but my wife and I are probably going to need a travel credit card for our honeymoon( no foreign transaction fees) and currently I’m torn between the capital one venture card and chase sapphire preferred. I’m leaning towards the capital one card though because it’s got a lower required spending to get the bonus and 2x miles on everything which could replace my current chase freedom unlimited card as my everyday spending card. Oh and it’s a metal card which is sweet. with the exception of the higher bonus is there any other reason anyone would suggest the sapphire ?
The biggest reward Visa offers is IMHO, something called [/i]"buyer protection"[/i]. It is like an extended warranty for many items. So you buy a washing machine that is two years part & labor, automatically you have a FREE Extra year warranty.
Catch is you must pay for repair, send in receipt, copy of proof of purchase, and term of factory warranty.
Cigars are not Cover after you smoke them, if you think of getting FREE CIGARS.
Catch is you must pay for repair, send in receipt, copy of proof of purchase, and term of factory warranty.
Cigars are not Cover after you smoke them, if you think of getting FREE CIGARS.
PMing you bro.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2018
- Messages
- 49
I really like Chase Ultimate Reward Points. The redemption rates are great and the transfer options even better. Where are you traveling for your honeymoon and how far in the future is the trip? Southwest flies to a handful of central American and Caribbean destinations now. I don't currently have a SWA card, but it's possible to get their companion pass by getting two of their cards during the 50K+ point promotions. I do have the companion pass and it's worth a ton.