Category Archives: credit card

Citicard Diamond Preferred Card Update

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During “The Great Recession“, one of my favorite credit card the “Citi Diamond Preferred” card seemed to have discontinue the Best Buy $100 gift card for 10,000 points option.  In fact, they seemed to discontinue most of the $100 gift cards for 10,000 points options!  Instead they seemed to be offering a $25 gift card for 3,5000 points and other less beneficial deals.  So as you can imagine, I was very disappointed!

Well, I’m happy to say that they have included the $100 gift certificates for most (if not all) of the companies in the program again, but you have to be on your toes!

If you just go to the thankyou.com site that Citicard uses, you have to dig a little to get to the $100 for 10,000 point option!  If you just glance at the gift cards offered, there only seems to be the “$25 for 3,500 points” option!  The trick is that you have to go to “View Details“, the click on the denominations pulldown box to select the $100 for 10,000 option!

 

Citi Diamond Preferred reward points

Tricky Thankyou Rewards Site

 

 

So what did I decided to do with the now my now once again valuable points?

Well, now that I can get a decent value for my points, I decided to cash out 70,000 points for $700 so we can finally buy a 50 inch HDTV (note, I still have $500 leftover from the previous “thankyou rewards” order for Best Buy cards).

In addition, if things go as planned and the credit card companies don’t discontinue their rewards program, I should have enough points to buy a new computer system by the end of the year.

The best thing is that these purchases are effectively free!  The money I spend with my Citi Diamond Preferred card was on things that I would have purchased anyway!  By using my credit card, I receive a discount in the form of reward points with each purchase!

Now some may say, that they would rather have cash, and I’m definitely cool with cash!  But, at the same time, by using this rewards programs, I have to spend the points instead of saving the money like I typically would.  Now as long time readers may know…  I have an unusual problem with not spending money.  But by using the thankyou rewards program, I have to spend the points that I saved on fun stuff, or at least on something!  So for me, this is a win-win, because it’s spending without the money coming out of my checking account!

UPDATE:  I should mention that if you have this card or if you decide to go with this card, you should only use it to order gift certificates, and in denominations that are $100 for 10,000 points!  Any other options is subpar in my opinion!

Today (4/8/2011) I got replacement cards for my City Diamond Preferred card a year earlier than expected, and surprise, the card is now called “Citi Preferred”.  Apparently, the lost the diamond…

The new cards are blue instead of black.  So much for the cool looking black card.

I hope others that have a citi credit card that use the Thankyou rewards site find value in my little tip!  Do you have any additional tips on any credit card?

-MR

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5 Reasons To Use A Credit Card

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The following guest post is from United Kingdom writer (Les Roberts, and so a small italicized section of the following article pertains just to the UK (section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974), the rest of the article applies to all.

Credit Cards

Picture by Andres Rueda on Flickr.

 

 

Many people view credit cards as the monetary equivalent of an addictive drug, once you start using them you will want to use them more and more until you have become totally dependent upon them and your life is in tatters, financially at least.

Which is one way of looking at it!

But, although there is no doubt that credit cards do send some people on a downward spiral financially, that’s not to say that there is a time and a place for credit cards and, if used correctly, they can be a great asset to personal finance planning.

So below are five good reasons to put it on plastic.

Reduce Existing Debts

Balance transfers are a great way to save money and can also help you pay off an existing balance sooner than expected.  This is because many lenders offer interest free periods to new customers and so you can transfer the balance of an existing credit card onto a new card and pay no interest for the duration of the offer.

These interest free offers generally last between nine and 18 months depending upon the lender and so great savings can be made.  In addition, any repayments you make are taken directly off the balance with no extra interest added and so, in theory, you should be able to repay the debt sooner.

Spread the Cost

If you need to make a major purchase but cannot afford to pay for it all in one go then a credit card enables you to spread the cost over a period of time.  This is a great way to manage your cash flow but you need to make sure that you have the best card available for this purpose else you may end up paying well over the odds in interest fees.

So if you are to use a credit card for this purpose then it is best to try to get one that offers zero per cent interest for as long a period as possible.  This means that any repayments that you make will be taken directly from the cost of your purchase and will not be passed on to the lender as interest payments.

If this is not an option then try to get a card with the lowest annual percentage rate (APR) available so you are paying a little out in interest as possible.

Maintain a Good Credit Score

In recent years credit companies have been a lot more selective about who they lend to, so it is imperative that you maintain a good credit score.  And using a credit card regularly is a great way to do this.

If you use your credit card for everyday purchases, such as fuel and food, and pay off the balance at the end of each month, then this will show that you are a responsible borrower and lenders will be prepared to keep on giving you credit.  But it is imperative that you keep up with your repayments as a missed payment will show up on your credit file and could have a negative impact on your score.

Similarly, using a credit card is a good way to rebuild your credit rating if you have a low score due to having never used credit before or because you have mismanaged your credit in the past.  Once again, the important thing to remember is to pay off your balance in full at the end of each month as this will ensure that you are seen as a responsible borrower and will rebuild your score more quickly.  In addition, if you pay the balance off in full at the end of each month it will mean you avoid costly APR charges on your purchases.

Earn Rewards

Many credit card companies now offer customers incentives, such as cash back or air miles, to ensure that they regularly use their particular card.  So, once again, if you use your credit card for everyday purchases and then pay off the balance in full at the end of each month then you can earn as much as five per cent cash on your purchase.  This really is money for nothing.

Alternatively, air miles may be of more value to you if you are a frequent traveler so if you use an airmiles credit card then you can benefit from discounted, or even free, flights just for spending on your credit card.

You just need to have the right cards and use them in the right way.

Protect Your Purchases

Paying with a credit card generally offers you a greater level of purchase protection than paying with cash or a debit card.

Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (for United Kingdom) your lender becomes jointly liable with the seller as soon as you spend between £1,000 and £30,000 on your credit card.

This means that should any goods you purchase on your card be damaged, faulty or not be delivered to you, then you can ask your credit card provider for a refund.  Although this is something that you would normally take up with the trader, this Act simply ensures that you have another avenue to do go down should you have no joy from the seller.

So, if used correctly, there are a number of occasions when it is more beneficial to use a credit card.  But it is vital that you use your card correctly and this usually means paying off the balance in full at the end of each month.  Use your card unwisely and you could find yourself facing a mountain of debt!

Article written by Les Roberts, credit journalist at Moneysupermarket.com.

Money Reasons here, I just want to thank Les for a great article!

Update: as mentioned in the comments, using a credit card may also help you establish or improve your credit score.

Relief From Holiday Credit Card Expenses

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Our credit card for this past December was $3,400! 

The amount $3,400 isn’t the largest credit card bill we’ve ever received, but it is still a lot for me!  In fact, if I received this last January, I’d be sweating until I got the year’s tax refund.

This year is different though!  This year I have plenty of money in my checking account to cover the December expenses and still have a buffer left over since we no longer have a mortgage payment to make every month.  While I’m not jumping up and down about paying that $3,400, but it’s just a normal credit card bill like all of the others!

In the past since I never carried a balance, I always dreaded receiving this particular present-filled bill.  We buy presents for 4 birthdays and Christmas, not to mention the Christmas traditions (Christmas Tree, Christmas Dinner Out) that we follow every year.

It’s great that I can now more easily afford the December bills now and in the future, but to just accept that and go with the status quo doesn’t seem like a good long term answer.  So instead, sometime this year I have a loose goal of buying stocks that provide a dividend so I can buy Christmas presents with the dividend yield, or at least us the dividend payment to help with the cost!

-MR

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My Best Credit Card: Citi Diamond Preferred

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Please see this new page about my best credit cards, the Citi Diamond Preferred card I reference below no longer exists with the beneficial properties that I wrote about. It was great until they retired it, then years later brought it back in an inferior form. I do not own the Citi Diamond Preferred card and I won’t because it’s not a good match for me anymore.

It use to be a great card for a lot of reason that are now struckout below, but sadly now is subpar compared to the ones in the link: best credit cards …

Citi Diamond Preferred

Citi Diamond Preferred

My best credit card is the Citi Diamond Preferred credit card offer by Citi.

As you can tell by the picture above of the card, it’s not all black.  But here is something you don’t know…  Some of the  non-black colors wear off the card shortly after you get it!  It wasn’t intentional on my part, it literally was just rubbed off from use.

So while it wasn’t planned, the card looks like a Black Card.  I always get a chuckle when a retailer or restaurant thinks that it might be something more than it is.  While this is a good card and on the higher end, it does have spending limits, unlike the American Express and Visa Black Cards.  More than once, I had to explain that it’s not like one of those very high-end cards!  I do get plenty of compliments on how cool it looks.

So, other than the fact that the card becomes mostly black shortly after using it a few times (including the text that identifies the type of card), why else do I value this card?

Let me say this upfront, I didn’t really give a rat’s arse about the color of the card!  I’m got in it for the excellent rewards program that they offered (one of the best).

List of cool benefits of the Citi Diamond Preferred Card:

5 ThankYou® Points for every $1 spent on purchases at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations for 12 months; 1 point thereafter

1 point for every dollar spent on all other purchases.2 No matter what you are spending on, you’re earning ThankYou® Points

Rewards start at just 1,000 points2 . You’ll be rewarding yourself in no time

Annual Fee: No Annual Fee (for the most part)
Purchase APR: 0% Intro APR on purchases for 12 months; after that the variable APR will be 12.99%-20.99%, based on your creditworthiness

Diamond Perks: Access to Private Pass, which gives you the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of exciting events and unique experiences

So has the card benefited me?  Yes, I’ve already earned and spent over $1000 dollars via the rewards program!  It’s still one of the best cards out there in my opinion!  I’ve never used the Diamond Perks, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have value!

What is your best Credit Card?

Don