Category Archives: credit card

Why I Love Reward Credit Cards

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I admit, I love my reward credit cards, and I run everything through them as much as possible.

When I go to some store (like Target), I even buy a pack of $1 gum with my credit cards!  So you might be wondering why I love to own credit cards such as the American Express Blue Cash Card and the Chase Freedom cards?

Credit Cards

Credit Cards

Well basically, it’s because I like the discount that the cards gives me on all of my purchases!  Why would I want to pay with cash if it’s cheaper to pay with a credit cards via reward points?  It’s kind of ironic if you think about it.  I’m getting a discount in the form of reward points, but when I use such reward credit cards, the store that I’m using the credit cards at, pays the credit card companies extra fees.  You’d think they would do the opposite and charge less for cash and more money for the credit cards. But they don’t!

Perhaps someday they will, but until that time I’m going to continue to get my discount on items bought at such stores and vendors.

I Love Money Hacks

Another thing I love about credit cards is the potential to discover money hacks to maximize the benefit of using reward credit cards.  Often with me and others it’s a game to find a way to maximized the benefit of using the credit cards.  In my case, I only pursue legal money hacks!

An example of a common money hack today is when you have a reward credit card, and then guy gift certificates at a grocery store like Giant Eagle.  You see in this example you get a higher reward rate because you are using the card at a grocery store, but you are also getting the fuel perks from Giant Eagle to make a purchase there.  So basically you are getting a double benefit for what would cost you much more if you were paying cash for the gift certification at Giant Eagle.

If you look around for such deals, they are possible to find!  You don’t hear about them much because after a while the loophole becomes know and the store that has such a loophole closed it eventually.

Controlling Credit Cards

The thing about credit cards is that they are just a tool.  You much control the tool and not have the tool control you.  So that said, if you carry a credit card balance more than a few months, the rewards credit cards lose their advantages and you are better off going for the lowest interest rate credit cards you can find.  The reward credit cards carry a slightly higher interest rate than non-reward credit cards.

In my particular case, I don’t carry a balance, so the reward points is all true savings for me.

What do you think?  Are you a fan of reward credit cards too?  If not, then why, especially if you don’t carry a balance?

Regards,

MR

Why I Got An American Express Blue Cash Card

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I’ve decided that the American Express Blue Cash Card is the ultimate rewards credit card for me!  That is why this is the first credit card that I went out and signed up for online.

After going out to the American Express web site, I came to the conclusion that choosing the card isn’t as simple as I expected!

American Express Blue Cash Card really comes in many different shapes and sizes.  Okay…, not really, they all look like a credit card, but they do have quite an array of plans in the Blue Cash Card program!  It seems the have an option for all types of different consumers, and while this sounds confusing, it’s actually great!  It’s great because you get to optimize your reward plan payout based on the card type that fits you the best.

So after a quick look, the following American Express Blue Cards were the best options for me:

 

American Express Blue Card

American Express Blue Card

American Express
Blue Cash Everyday:

  • Earn 3% cash back on groceries, 2% at gas stations and department stores, and 1% on all other eligible purchases
  • No rotating categories or enrollment requirements for cash back and no limit on the cash rewards you can earn
  • No annual fee
  • And lastly, Get a $25 Referral Bonus for each friend or family member who is approved for the card

This particular card is nice because it has some great cash back rewards on normal living expenses without the hassle of remembering to activate bonus rewards options every quarter.  I want my credit card to serve me, not me serve my credit card.

Another reason I got an American Express Blue Cash Card, to be quite honest, is that I like the looks of this card!

So now my American Express Blue Cash Card  is now my primary card and both my wife and I have use the same card.  We plan on using it as much as possible to take advantage of the great rewards program!

I think if you look into the American Express Blue Cash benefits, you’ll find that this card is one of the best deals out there too!

MR

Chase Freedom Credit Card Review – My Personal Take

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After reading some of the information about the Chase Freedom Credit Card (from an endless stream of mail from Chase), I decided to take the plunge and sign up for one.

Today, I’m going to give you an objective review, and my personal perspective on my findings on the Chase Freedom credit card.

What got me to sign up for the Chase Freedom Credit Card:

Well, basically it’s partially because it’s a rewards card with up to 5% off on some purchases during certain quarters of the year.  But another huge reason was that it offered an instant $300 cash reward just for making any purchase after receiving the card.  So to test that out, I bought a latte from McDonald’s and waited a month to see if I would still get my $300 cash reward points with such a small purchase.  Low and behold, once my statement came, at the bottom of page one and under the heading “CHASE FREEDOM:  ULTIMATE REWARDS SUMMARY“, there was my $300 dollars (in the format of 30,002 points).  The 2 in 30,002 was from the latte that I bought…

Chase Freedom Credit Card Details:

Let me say that this card is a bit different than any rewards card that I have ever dealt with before. First you get a flat 1% on all purchases!  But you can get a bonus 4% (making the total 5%, instead of just 1%) on certain certain purchases!

In many ways it makes you work a little for the bonus 5%reward percentage gains.  With my previous reward credit cards, I just used them and the reward percentage was a fixed number, no thinking or work  involved.  But with this card to get the 5% off, I have to activate that bonus feature each quarter (via the phone or website), and buy at those particular types of stores or purchase those particular activities that they offer.  In some ways this is a slight pain, but for bonus 5% off it’s worth it.

The Chase Freedom Credit Card materials do not explicitly say the deals will be offered quarterly, but it appears that is what they are basically doing.

The 5% bonus categories for 2011 is:

  • January thru March:           Grocery stores, Drugstores
  • April thru June:                    Home improvement stores, Lawn & garden stores, Home furnishings stores
  • July thru September:         Gas, Hotels, Airlines
  • October thru December:   Movie theaters, Dining, Department stores, Charitable organizations

Each quarter, once you have have spend $1,500  you then revert back to the 1% reward rate, including the bonus categories.  So according to the information sent out by Chase, if you only spent $1,500 in the bonus categories each quarter, at the end of the year you would get $300 back in cash.  Of course that number isn’t including any other spending per the year.  We calculate that with the amount of spending that we charge to the credit card (remember we pay our balance in full each month), we should get at least $600 per year from this card if we use the bonus feature!

Activation of the bonus points is easy, just click Activate now at the Chase site, all you need is the last for digit of your credit card.  Again, pretty easy, especially if you schedule it in a calender problem such as the Google Calendar App., Microsoft Outlook, or whatever calendar problem you prefer.  Then again, you could sign up for text messages from the same Chase Freedom website!

Testing the Chase Freedom Credit Card:

Now that I have my card, I decided to test out the customer service telephony service.  When I dialed in, mostly it was a string of voice menu options after voice menu options.  The navigation of the voice menu was simple though and the voice was pleasant and clear (I’m not sure how important that is, but it’s nice to know).

I was able to retrieve my current balance and my most recent transactions.  I was pleased, so I decided to experiment and make a payment online.  Surprisingly, I was able to do this entire transaction without talking to a customer representative.  This might be the first time that I’ve ever done a financial transaction over the phone that involved my checking account numbers without talking to someone on the other end.  It was so simple, that I got worried and stayed in the system until I found a place to talk to a customer rep.

I was worried about identity theft, especially since I was able to call into my account without a pin, and make a payment with my checking account number.  After I got hold of a representative (fairly quickly, it was 6pm on a Sunday), he said that only authorized phone numbers can make such transactions and since I registered the cards using the phone that I was one, it was authorized to do such transaction.  Whew, wish I known that upfront.  I’m sure it’s in the document somewhere, it’s just that I didn’t read it.

Well, that’s my personal experience with my new Chase Freedom credit card.

I hope you found this article interesting!

MR

Making Your Credit Cards Work For You Instead Of Against You

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Chase Freedom Credit Card

Chase Freedom Credit Card

Making Your Credit Cards Work For YOU!

Okay, let me start by saying that I’m the master of my credit cards and they work for me not against me!

I use my credit cards for everything that I possible can!  I use them for the typical stuff (clothes, groceries, gas, etc), and even non-typical things such as fast food, taxes, car insurance and really anything that I can charge with them!  I’ve even tried to buy a new car with my rewards credit card (the dealer wouldn’t bite on that one though)!

So why do I charge so much with credit cards?  CREDIT CARD REWARD POINTS

Yes, I love credit card reward points that I get for using credit cards!  I’ve use my points to buy computers, camcorders, jewelry, clothes and other such items.  But my favorite thing to buy with reward points (other than getting cash back) is gift cards.

I’ve found that if you buy $100 denominations of gift cards, you get a better point to value ratio!  So I almost always go for these types of rewards today.

The trick with reward credit cards is that you must pay your balance in full each and every month.  If you don’t do this, it greatly diminishes the benefits of the reward points provided by such credit cards because the interest on carrying a balance on such cards is usually much higher than the bargain non-reward credit cards.  So please don’t use reward cards if historically you have carried a balance!

Present Day Purchases

My last three purchase (from oldest to newest) has been Nintendo DS, Sony Camcorder and a ASUS Computer (it was only $700!).

Although I’ve bought TVs in the past, I’m going to buy a LED or LCD Big Screen TVs and then take a different direction with future purchases using reward points from my reward credit cards.

 

Future Plan Purchases

I’ve come up with what I think is a clever solution to take some of the bite out of minor, future emergencies, at least to some degree.

My house is over 10 years old now, and this means that my some of my appliances are starting to get pretty old too.  So lately, I’ve thinking about letting my balance ride until my dishwasher, clothes washer or dryer, or any appliance start to fail, at that point I’ll redeem my points and buy a new appliance with the reward points.  The only caveat is that I’ll have to cash out some of the point every 5 years or so.  Some of the credit card companies have the points start to expire around this time period.  You really should check your policy to determine when the points start to expire.  Another option would be to call credit card company’s customer service 1-800 number and ask them if and when the points start to expire.

As an alternative, I’m also thinking about getting reward cards such as Chase Freedom that will give you cash back instead.  That way I can create a special emergency fund this way.  Actually I’m kind of fond of the idea of a free emergency fund (lol).

The key is to have total control of your spending!  I only spend on what I normally would spend money on, nothing more and nothing less.

Do your credit cards work for you, or you for them?

MR