The Historical Grapevine

3/21/2000

Regarding the 2 free Round-Trip Airline Tickets from FirstUSA, the catch is "to one of over 50 fabulous destinations ... as low as $278 double occupancy for required minimum nights stay"

Regarding the Citgo Visa through Associates Bank, be warned that the customer service reps may not always provide correct information. I signed up for the Amoco Visa which they offer. When I asked the rep, he indicated the card gave a 2% rebate for non-Amoco purchases. So I went ahead and signed up.

Shortly thereafter and after having read contradictory information on the net, I called up and asked as was told it was only 1%.

So I waited for the card and used it a little to see what the real numbers are (interesting to note that I've never received in writing what the rebate should be!). As it happens for the Amoco Visa, the rebate is 2% for all non-Amoco purchase, 3% for Amoco purches, but 0% for non-Amoco service station purchases. After a rebate of $70 (or $75, not for sure), the rebate falls to only 1% for Amoco purches only. This card is offered by the Associates, same as for the Citgo card, so I wouldn't be surprised if it did offer a capped 2% non-Citgo rebate.

I currently have an Associates Student credit card. It gives you 3% cash back when you leave a balance (give em a penny!) up to $100 a yr, $20 max per statement. So after $666 on a statement and $3333 a yr its useless, but its an easy way to get $100 cashback.

Has there anyone else heard of CITGO VISA? Where would I apply for it (web site or 800#)?

RE: "2 Free Round-Trip Airline Tickets.

**Read The Fine Print**. In this case it's on the inside of the envelope. I didn't read it that closely, but I recall it resembled many other 'free ticket' deals in that you can only fly to a choice of destinations and must stay for a minimum number of nights at their hotel... which is where they make the money...

3/20/2000

I have just received my monthly credit card statement from First USA. The envelope includes an insert stating: "2 Free Round-Trip Airline Tickets. Simply complete [that is, supply you credit card number], sign and return this Airline Ticket Acceptance Voucher [up to $3,000] immediately to claim you 2 Free Round-Trip Airline Tickets and to activate you risk-free, 30-day savings with 'essentials'. I tempted to sign up, subsequently cancel the subscription before the 30-day trial period, and keep the airline tickets. What is the catch? There must be something.

Hi, http://www.CreditForStudents.com/ is a web site that teaches students about credit and allows them to apply for student credit cards online.

Where can I get some information on the Citgo Visa through Associated Bank?

I just called Citgo (1-800-GO CITGO) and they said that the Citgo Preferred VISA through Associated Bank gives only a 1% cash rebate on all purchases.

In your March 19 Update, each of your three correspondents wrote about Visa cards issued by First USA Bank.

Based on my experience with First USA since they bought Chevy Chase's Visa accounts a year ago, their customer service is nothing short of atrocious.

Anyone considering a First USA card would be wise to review the hundreds (thousands?) of customer complaints on file at a site called First Scams:

http://members.tripod.com/~FUSA1/

Caveat emptor!

Can we have more information regarding the CITGO Visa? Is it capped? What's the phone number? Does one have to carry a balance to receive the rebate? And most importantly... if this is a 2% CASH rebate, why haven't we heard about it before?

Read and reread the fine print even closer on your Aria Visa. You get up to 5 points/dollar on purchases made at "participating merchants". These participating merchants are the same ones you can get when you use any credit card to order through the MyPoints web site. You don't get anything extra with the Aria card or anything you couldn't get just using Mypoints with any card. RE my previous Aria posts I highly discourage the use of this card. The compay and their customer serive and misleading advertisement are horrible and close to being downright illegal.

I located your site while en route to somewhere else. Its interesting and informative. I think you've missed a great deal, however: The CITGO VISA card through Associated Bank gives a 2% cash rebate on all purchases, and the rebate is posted to the next (following) month's statement so you don't have to wait an entire year to benefit. I would also like to say a kind word about the GM rebate cards which I have used for the past several years. I used a $2700 rebate in 9/98 to purchase one car and will be using a $3400 rebate next month to purchase another (different GM rabate accounts). While its true I probably would not have purchased GM products without these rebates, I know my future involves periodic automobile purchases and am thankful for the GM "downpayment accumulation plan".

I was just wondering about the Providian Aria someone mentioned earlier. Where did you find the info about the rewards? I am really interested in the 5 Mypoints/dollar spent on the card. Is this still the case?

How about http://www.aria.com/?

I have noticed over the last few years that most credit cards have changed their auto rental coverage to "secondary only" coverage. Does anybody know of a credit card which still offers "primary" auto rental coverage? Last I knew Diners Club was one possibility but they have a relatively high annual fee and aren't accepted widely.

3/19/2000

I just signed up for the Buy.com Visa card. This card pays 1% back in Buy.com merchandise for all purchases, and 5% back on Buy.com purchases. This is great because almost everyone buys products that Buy.com has at one time or another, and they usually always have the lowest prices on the net for all the products they carry (because they sell most products below their cost, but that's another story). There is no limit to how many "points" you can accumulate, but you can only purchase up to $1000 per year with your points (not too bad!). I use it to purchase computer equipment for my office from their web site, and I have already earned $200 in merchandise in the first week I got the card. You can apply at Buy.com's web site or at this address :

http://app1.firstusa.com/card.cfm/XPLA3P030/6B73

In response to the question from 3/16 about Yahoo Visa. I have had this card for about 2 years, and it has been a pretty good card, although not perfect. I had a few problems getting my points credited correctly, and one problem where they withdrew $4000 from my checking account twice (instead of once) when I did an electronic payment, causing my checking account to be overdrawn. They fixed this, but didn't give me anything for my trouble. These problems weren't really the fault of Yahoo Visa, but of First USA's web site, which has gone through some pretty bad stages in the past (seems OK now). They recently changed the APR from 9.9% fixed to variable (which is around 12.9% right now). They also keep changing the Rewards program, so it's hard to set your sights on anything in particular that you want to redeem the points for. They have changed it 3 times in 2 years already. I just got a message this week that the rewards are going to change again, from Giftcertificates.com to this :

http://points.yahoo.com

I may cancel my card as soon as I pay my balance off, if I can find another Visa with good rewards/cash back. It seems that they are just gradually downgrading the value of this card.

Re inquiry: < Does anyone have any experience with the Yahoo Platinum Visa Credit Card ? It claims to offer a "reward point" for every dollar charged to your account which can be redeemed toward gift certificates at various merchants. Any feedback would be helpful before I make my decision to apply for the card. < I've generally been pleased with this card, which is from FirstUSA. Although I was disappointed when Amazon.com dropped out as a participating merchant early in my membership period, they have since added others (including Barnes & Noble) so that now there's a decent selection of merchants.

Initially, their website was s-l-o-w (and it still is, on occasion), but this has also improved. I haven't found a Visa card that I like better, although if I could get into the FirstUSA Platinum Visa "cash-in" program (I've tried, but it's available only by invitation) I would switch simply because I prefer cash to reward point programs.

If I correctly recall, after getting the card you must "enroll" if you want to participate in the rewards program -- it isn't automatic. However, this was easily done via their website. You can view statements and recent transactions on-line, as well as download to Quicken.

Apply for Yahoo! Visa card at this site: https://cardmemberservices.firstusa.com/cmsonline/main/cmslogin.jhtml

3/16/2000

I was a Mall VIP card holder, but they have discontinued the rewards program so I am dropping them. Looking for a no fee reward or cash card. I am looking into the new visa card offered by Kroger's.

This is in regards to Providian's Aria visa card.

When first reading through the website about 4 months ago it seemed tempting to be rewarded with 5 mypoints for every dollar spent on the card. All my cards right now I own have some sort of rewards program attached to them. All (almost) were set up automatically once I started using the card. All except Aria visa. Maybe I didn't read carefully on the Aria visa page as I should have. But now 4 months later I started to wonder how they have kept my points since I never see my points on my statements like I do with all my other CCs.

Here's what should have happened:

As soon as I opened my account I was suppose to receive an email notice or be mailed a mypoints user name and password, in which then I would have had to activate this with www.mypoints.com. Since I didn't read deep enough into the Aria web page, and since the rep who called me, to tell me I got my card and tried to get my to transfer my balance over, didn't mention any manual point system setup, I pretty much spent money on my card and probably wont get my points. I emailed customer care today and hope to hear from them about this situation.

So bottom line is that aria rewards wont be set up automatically like yahoo rewards or bmg rewards or amex rewards.

Just a little caution in case your other readers ever decide to sign up with aria visa and wonder what happened to their points.

Does anyone have any experience with the Yahoo Platinum Visa Credit Card ? It claims to offer a "reward point" for every dollar charged to your account which can be redeemed toward gift certificates at various merchants. Any feedback would be helpful before I make my decision to apply for the card.

3/14/2000

Wow, that last posting was very impressive, even if it likely did come from a Discover Card employee. The fact is that Discover was not "exclusive" at the warehouse clubs by design. As you say, they were the ones offering the best deal to the club, what I remember hearing was that they did not charge them anything and paid the clubs the following day, so it was the same as taking cash (better, since they did not have to deal with the money). But they have not been exclusive for some time. BJ's takes both Mastercard and Visa. Sam's has been running an extended test taking Visa or Mastercard in different regions (I use my Mastercard here in New York). And Costco has had their own card for some time now, initially it paid a rebate but that ended rather quickly. I also disagree that Discover did not want Costco's business. In fact, I got a letter in the mail from Discover yesterday saying that they were very disappointed that they would not be accepted at Costco anymore, and if I felt the same way I should complain to my local club manager. They also gave me a $10 off a $50 purchase for use at Sam's Club, and a special cashback promotion from March 14-April 14, where I can get $10 back for spending between $50-500, and $15 or $20 if I spend more. I'll have to be sure to charge at least $50 on my normally unused Discover Platinum card before then!

Don't cancel your Discover Card yet! I just received a letter for special Cashback Bonus because Costco dropped Discover. For purchases from 3/14 through 4/14: $10 bonus for $50-$500, $15 bonus for $501-$1000, and $20 for $1000+. Nice 20% bonus for spending $50!

I understand what you said in defending Discover in their rebate change. I have a couple of other points though.

First of all Discover was pretty sneaky in how they informed their customer about the change. I would have never of noticed it except for the fact that I saw it posted on your e-mail list. Discover disclosed the change in a customer mailing with the proverbial small type buried in the back of a flyer with no mention anywhere else. They thought that they could sneak it past us without noticing.

Also, in addition to Costco taking Amex, BJ's takes Visa/Mastercard. With National Bank of Commerce rebate card at 1% I see very little reason to keep the Discover card at all. Amex and NBC combined are far better deal.

3/12/2000

For those of you looking for SmartFlier, see http://members.aol.com/ffmiles/

I just received a "Notice of Change in Terms" from Household Bank. It includes the following new gem:

"CREDIT LINE INCREASE FEE FINANCE CHARGE If you request and are approved for a credit line increase ("CLI"), a CLI Fee FINANCE CHARGE of 10% of the CLI may be charged to your Account.

The Cash Advance Fee, CLI Fee and Minimum Finance Charge may increase the actual APR on your Account."

Note the magnitude of this new fee. If I have, say, a $5000 line on my Visa or Mastercard and request an increase to $7000, they could charge me a $200 fee (10% of the $2000 increase)!

I've noticed a lot of complaints about Discover and its change in policy to pay only .25% on warehouse sales. First of all, do any of you realize why Discover was exclusive at most of the warehouses? Because they lowered the discount rate to the warehouse stores to get the exclusive deal. The plan was that it expected cardholders to use their card elsewhere where they could "make up" the cashback that they overpaid from warehouse sales. But that isn't happening - users are paying off their bills and are making more money that Discover is getting from the warehouse discount fee.

This is also probably why Discover didn't push to get the Costco contract. Amex is trying the same thing (and they also have their cashback card too), and is hoping Costco Amex users will also use the card at other places to make up the low (or none) discount fee Costco pays to Amex. Amex will do the same thing Discover did if the usage patterns match what Discover experienced.

Go ahead, get upset, but the only winners in this situation will continue to be the warehouse clubs because of the flop-sided use of the cards at these stores. This is also why you will not see all types of cards accepted at warehouse clubs because some cannot give in and lower their discount rate because of what is guaranteed to their member banks.

Discover card is a quality credit card brand that is working to keep itself profitable so that it can continue its cashback programs with minimal changes. As many of you know, its merchant network grew at the fastest rate last year and with double cashback promotions in the past with ski places and restaurants.

3/08/2000

After your last comment about discover going to a .25% rate for all "warehouse clubs" I contacted them to confirm this. I then requested they transfer me to the section that handled closing accounts. When asked I stated their new policy as my reason for closing the account. They "reminded" me that the card can be used elsewhere and has no annual fee and I "reminded" them I had gotten the card specifically to use at Sam's Wholesale and had several cards that payed a better rate then .25% or even 1%. I then cut up the card.

Perhaps your readers/subscribers would be interested in my newsletter. http://www.expage.com/page/shopnews

I got this statement from Discover card website. "Beginning on May 1, 2000, all purchases made at Costco Wholesale Warehouses, BJ's Wholesale Club and Sam's Club will earn a fixed rate of .25% (.0025)" I am really disappointed with Discover card.

3/07/2000

Interesting. Costco just dumped Discover ..... maybe also because of "cost considerations". :)

Which cards have people successfully negotiated away the annual fee?

Be advised that even if you only leave $0.01 on the credit card, you will be charged interest on the entire balance or average daily balance for the entire 30 day period. Interest will accrue daily in most cases and even if you pay the balance off in full after the payment due date, you may have residual interest charges on your account for the following month's bill.

I forgot to pay my Discover Bill on time last month and given that my balance is usually $1500 (or more) I was charged approx. $52 in interest when I was only 5 business days late with the payment. I called and Discover waived the finance charges as a "one time only" goodwill gesture since I have never been late on a payment and pay in full every time. The representative explained to me, that once you miss a payment or do not pay in full by the due date, you begin accruing interest daily until your payment is received. It can take 2 months to completely pay off all the interest charges as they show up on your bill.

This alone would negate any "cash back" offered by any rebate cards. If you need to leave a balance, it is much more trouble than it is worth to calculate and make the payments which would make your average daily balance minimal. Card holders wishing to take full advantage of a rebate card should always pay in full every month if possible. The extra percentage you receive for leaving a balance on the card is far surpassed by the interest charges you incur.

Thought this item might be "down your alley."

STOCKS
* Pick of the Week: MyPoints.com *
A whopping 75 percent of Americans participate in rewards programs, using credit cards to rack up frequent-flyer points or earn free coffee at favorite cafes. MyPoints offers frequent surfer rewards to 7 million Internet users who click on targeted ads. Dana Serman, Internet analyst at Lazard Freres & Co., sees strong revenue growth over the next couple of years. http://wwwrd.0mm.com/cg/rd.cgi?i=nbc075003

I have to wonder if the 1/4% cashback change with Discover is related to Costco's dumping Discover in favor of AMEX? Or more likely, there is some other fee change that we aren't seeing which caused Costco to toss Discover and take in AMEX.

3/06/2000

Just today (3/6) received a notice that Discover is changing the cashback bonus to a flat .25% at warehouse clubs. I called them and the only info. the rep had about the reason was "cost considerations".

I am the guy who orignianlly posted about the Fleet Home Platinum card. To the person who followed up on 3/1, you are indeed right, the verbage is "up to 2%," not 2%. Thank you for pointing out that fine print. Still, if you have a mortgage, it still appears to be a more attractive deal than the amex cashback rewards card for anything less than about $33,000 of charges per year. Not to mention it's a Mastercard (a little easier for me to use, anyway!) Note that I pay off my balance, and don't miss payments, so I haven't really looked closely at the interest rate/fee comparisons of the two when I say this. Also, please understand I don't actually have it yet, I am still waiting for my application in the mail to go over the fine print.

About the nextcard having to keep a balance....I think it is only a $1.00 balance. Just leave a tiny amount in there!

3/03/2000

The Royal Bank of Canada offers travel cancellation and trip interruption insurance on several of their Visa cards as a perk to make sure you charge all of your travel (tours, cruises, air, etc.) on that card. The cards are only available to Canadians and U.S. citizens who live in Canada.

We have been trying to find a U.S. bank which offers similar insurance on its cards.

Am wondering if you or any of your site visitors would know of such a card. Direct calls to Visa and MasterCard have been to no avail as they do not have knowledge of the perks offered by the various card issuers. Thanks for any help which can be offered.

I read about the NEA Travel Rewards card (2/27/00) and it sounded perfect for me. However, when I applied at the 800 number you listed on another day, they said that the $30 fee is NOT waived for the first year. How does one get it waived?

To answer the question on the gapevine --- yes, you can pay anyone in the US by credit card. The limit is $5000 per 6 months per person. Hopefully your a/c cost less than 10K :-)

Unfortunately, there was no phone number given anywhere on the application. The address for Capital One is:

Capital One Customer Relations
P.O. Box 85015
Richmond, VA
23285-5015.

So, I guess you can write to Capital One if you want any information.

3/01/2000

2 comments: The Costco Cobranded Cashback Optima is inferior to the regular platinum one in that it requires a balance to get the full rebate. My long distance (multiple home lines & calling card) is automatically billed to my Optima. 7.9c/min- 24/7, 6 sec increments, no monthly fee (but $5 minimum). VoiceNet 800.500.9028. I still haven't figured a way to pay the mortgage by credit card!

Have you come across any credit card that protects owners for liability on their car? I have a question from someone who doesn't live in the US and therefore, doesn't have car insurance. He is trying to avoid paying the extra charges when he rents a car here. Any suggestions?

This is a question to the person with the Fleet Home Platinum Card. Are you sure you are earning a flat 2% cash back from the first dollar you charge to the card? The Fleet Home Platinum MasterCard website states that you can earn "up to 2% cash back." Also, I called Fleet and they informed me that you only earn 1/2 percent on the first 2000, 1 percent from $2001 to $5000, and 2% from $5001 and up, capped at $500. Still a good deal if you have a mortgage, but not exactly as good as a flat 2% from the first dollar.

2/29/2000

My wife recently got a job that requires a great deal of air travel. So, she got a credit card that gives her air mile for use of the card. We just had an ac system put in the house by a company that doesn't accept cc. They did a great job, but I sure would like to use a cc so that we can get credit for the air miles. Is there a way around this problem??

So far I haven't seen mentioned the best deal that I found on my own: the Fleet Home Platinum card. Although it is only useful for homeowners w/ a mortgage, if you are one of these, it offers a 2% straight (i.e. no .5% etc. thresholds to achieve first) for all your purchases to be applied against your mortgage balance (limit $500/yr). No annual fee. Only negative I could find: only a 20 day grace period from clsoing date. Here is the link: https://www.fleetccapplynow.com/offer_2084897805/terms.html Any comments. Am I missing something?

I am glad to report that Wingspan Platinum VISA starts to mail me those magic convenience checks with grace period, of a maximum of $50 transaction charge. This is much better than any rebates. For a line of $25,000, I earn interest regularly for every two months ($250 at 6% interest minus $50). I already have two 1ST USA cards doing the spin. That is a total of $600 per month (the catch is that one has to have a large line). I put that in Vanguard Admiral so that it is free of state tax. I did not see this offer for GE rebate card yet and am looking forward to that also.

I do not think only FirstUSA checkes where you are using the card. I use Visa, Discover, and Amex. I got calls from all of these or my account was put on holding when I made some purchases out of state, country and even out of the city where I live. When I ordered a computer, MBNA called me and checked if this purchase was made by me.

I just received an offer from Capital One Card Services for a straight 1% cash back VISA. There's no annual fee and the APR is a fixed 13.9%. Looks to be a good deal. This would be a nice card for people who don't charge a whole lot.

NEA Travel Rewards card call 1-800-441-8027.

2/28/2000

Can you (or anyone else) confirm what the woman at FirstUSA told me regarding their fraud protection?: she said that anytime you travel outside of your home state, you need to call FirstUSA and tell them that you are traveling, or they will put a hold on your card.

While I appreciate this strong stance against credit card fraud, that seems quite complicated--especially for those who travel a lot.

Just wondering if I understood her correctly . . .

Regarding the Bankamericard: I called the company and here is the rebate structure

0-4000	.5%
4001- 8000	.75%
8001-12000	1%
12001-15000	2%

If you do your calculation, you will find that overall you get less than 1% unless you spend exactly $15000, then it is 1%. I feel there are better cash back card than this one. It is the magic "up to" word one has to be careful with

I don't recommend the Aria card at all, I had a horrible experience with it. First of all beware that when you are "instantly approved" online, you haven't really been approved. About a week later, you will receive an unsolicited call out of the blue from a person claiming they are with Aria, and asking you to give them your name, address, birthdate, SSN, etc. You have to provide the info to them, they won't read it out to you and allow you to verify. If you politely tell them that you don't wish to provide this info to a total stranger they will not approve your card. If you then write to Aria to tell them this goes against all good business practices, they tell you to apply again in 60 days because they can't give you your card without phone verification and your past application was denied because you wouldn't provide you info over the phone. Once you get the card, you just get 10% of the points that you balance xfer, ie $5000=500 MyPoints. They have a clause in the fine print that says if you re-transfer a balance from the Aria card to another credit card you are charged a percentage (5% I think) of the transfer amount so no unlimited free points there. Also they make it sound like you get points from purchases, but the reality is you just get points from MyPoints if you shop at a MyPoints vendor. There is no need for the Aria card to get these points, just use any card and your MyPoints membership. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Its not worth it for me, I just canceled the card last week. After I waited for 34 minutes on hold for a representative and she seemed suprised when I told her why I wanted to cancel the card.

It is the visa bankamericard "rewards" card which is a cash back card... that is the only name.

On the Nea travel rewards mastercard---They have a 70,000 dollar limit of acrued miles per year, and your travel must stay over a Saturday night. Also you must make your reservations 21 days in advance. So it might be a tossup for me--but i still like my card best.

I am interested in the GE Rewards card, but when I clicked the link you have for firstusa.com I couldn't find the card anywhere. Do you have any ideas?

(Call 1-888-871-4714)

I just applied for the American Express Sheraton Optima Card. 0% interest for the first six months on charges and a fixed 9.9% on all balance transfers for the life of the balance. You also get a mile for every dollar spent. These miles can be applied to any of the several participating airlines in their program. Has anyone ever had this card??? I found out about it by accident.

2/27/2000

For about 12 years I tried to find the best rebate. I spend $25,000 to $35,000 each year! I tried Discover, Private Issue, Apple MC (5% towards an Apple computer), RCA Mastercard, .....etc. Now, I have the best card...NEA Travel Rewards Mastercard. First year free..$30 annual fee after that....1 point for each dollar spent. points goes for any airline, car rental, or hotel. 10,000 points buy airfare to Zone 1 (Eastern and Central Time Zone). 15,000 buys anywhere else in the USA. 35,000 buys airfare to Europe. 1,000 points buys 1 day car rental. 3,000 points buys hotel room for a night. So far, its the best I have seen. WHAT DO YOU THINK????

I agree with all of your conclusions but do not understand why you don't mention the bankamericard visa card which does have a cap but pays up to 2% until the cap is reached. 1-800-352-4035.

I live in columbus, ohio and do not know of any supermarket or store for that matter that gives cash back for discover. Has anyone had that experience?

2/26/2000

Does anyone know of any stores in the Minneapolis area that will give over cash over on the Discover Card?

The Safeway stores in Maryland are still giving cash back. In fact they have increased the maximum amount from $30 to $50.

I had the BellSouth Visa, which gave cash back. It became a BellSouth Mastercard, which I do not care for as much, and now only gives credits on my phone bill, not cash. Is there still a cash back option? I switched to an AmEx Delta SkyMiles card (first year annual fee waived), but agree with you that cash is best. I will try the AmEx cashback card!

2/21/2000

Fleet platinum card, "up to 2%" cash back if i remember correctly: $0 to 1000 = 0.5% = $5 $1000 to 2000 = 1% = $10 $2000 to 3000 = 1.5% = $15 $3000 + = 2% = (2% of (total-$3000)) total = $30 + (0.02* (total-$3000)) I spend around $1500 per month. Between Aug-Dec 1999, I got back about $120. Their anniversary is on the calendar year. I have never seen this fleet card advertised anywhere; it was sent pre-approved in the mail. In the past 6 months, we've received at least 6 Fleet offers (yes, even after we already got a card) and none of them repeated this deal.

I have a few questions regarding selecting a best visa card for myself. 1.What do you think about Aria credit card? YOu get points for every dollar you purchase (I believe), and for 20,000 pts you can get an airticket anywhere within USA. 2.I want to get a visa card that can get me the best cashback bonus, what is your suggestion on this? 3.I found a couple of visa cards that seem offering a good deal but they don't have sufficent information on the webpage and I'm wondering if you ever heard of them: http://www.brcu.org/visa_rate.htm and franklin bank with so-called great deals on travellers miles club If you have any opions about my questions, I'd be more than glad to get some feedback from you =)

P.S. I recently signed up "Nextcard" which gives you double points. but after signning up I realize they give you pts only if you don't pay your payment in full. That really sucks

2/20/2000

I signed up for my AMEX CashBack just now. I have a question. How do you get your mortgage, phone bill, etc on your CC? As a "pay in full" CC user, I again thank you for this.

I would like to report that I received (as promised) my rebate credits from AmEx. The Corporate Optima Cashback Card credited my January statement. The personal Platinum Cash Back Card credited my February statement.

2/15/2000

For those who uses Mall V.I.P card. I received a letter from MBNA and it said they had decided to discontinue the rebate program. You can earn rebate by May and have to redeam by June 30. Even though they have 25 dollar policy, this will not be necessary due to the termination of the program. You will receive what you earn by May. Since I enjoyed their program, I am sorry to hear this.

For quite a while, we've been using a Mall VIP visa, which gave 2% toward any mall store for any mall-related store purchase, and 1% back on everything else. They would issue a check you could use at any mall-type store, which was pretty nice when it came time for back to school, or similar stuff. Recently, the program was sold to MBNA, and I just received a letter saying they will be discontinuing the rebate program the first part of June. Now it's time to look for a new issuer! What are your suggestions for the best zero balance account card? I need a high credit limit ($15k or so) because I travel a lot internationally.

FYI: we use Citibank MC card, it offers a 2% rebate, good up to I believe $500 per year with a 3 year cap of $1500, towards the purchase of any NEW OR USED car. We ran across this when Ford pulled their card and replaced it with this one. Hope this info can help someone! It did us; $701 rebate off our 2000 - 4 door, x-cab, 4x4 OFF ROAD F-150 XLT. Dealer took the $701 rebate off the purchase price with a phone call at time of purchase, no messing around with "it's in the mail". hope this helps someone else.

2/13/2000

Any tips on how to find a list of credit card companies which offer no balance transfer fees and low intro rates?

Re: Am Ex, Costco and Discover: I have an Am Ex Platinum Cash Rebate card from Costco which rebates up to 1.5% per year. I figured you must spend $11,000 before the rebates equal the 1% of my two straight 1% rebate Visa cards. Since the Am Ex card is the only way to get extra warranty protection at Costco as well as the only way to get any rebate, I will use the Am Ex for most of my purchases. I received a letter from Costco saying that March 12 is the last day they will accept Discover card. Good bye Discover!

Does anyone have or know anything about the Egghead/Onsale Platinum Visa? This seems like a good card (~1% back in Onsale merchandise). It is managed by FirstUSA, but I haven't really had any problems with my FirstUSA managed Yahoo Visa (except that they keep changing the rewards program). Any comments about this card would be appreciated.

Vons in So. California gave me a choice of either $20 or $50 cash back this week.

2/08/2000

FirstUSA (which took over the GE Rewards card from GE) also has a "Ca$h-In Card" with equivalent terms. There are no references to it on the web site, and it seems to be a "by invitation only" card -- my wife received the invitation, and so she's the primary card holder on our card. Also, I've had a GE Rewards card for over a year and have not had a maintenance fee...

To receive information about the Waterhouse Visa, call 888-327-9962. You do have to open a Waterhouse Brokerage account to get a Visa card.

I'm sorry to specify that the FIRSTUSA has taken over the GE Rewards Card and it screwed-up everything like removing all my earned dollars and not replacing the old card on time, etc, etc... finally had to cancel the card but none of their customer (no) service rep was able to fix the problem but dragged it so long to even close the card. Not even a courtesy questionaire or sorry about what they did. I had a bad experience after FIRSTUSA took over. It really sucks. Sorry. Thanks.

Re: Waterhouse info.

This is the website for the Waterhouse Credit Card info. http://www.tdwaterhousebank.com/ or call 1-888-771-6201. I do believe you need a TD brokerage acct or TD Web based checking acct.

Ralphs in Southern California still gives $30 cash when you use your Discover card. I still need to check Vons/Pavillions.

I have been using Amex cashback platinum card since last June. As you may know, Anniversary of rebate program is February. My closing date was February 3rd. I checked out my account statement and found the amount of rebate was subtracted from my total charge shown on February billing statement. It was fast and convenient for myself. No need to wait for rebate check or to worry about delivery error. I liked it.

creditindependence.com

2/05/2000

Your article on cashback rewards was real good. I use the same cards and change cards when the max is met. However somewhere in there you say to get everything you can on your card. That is absolutely true but you list taxes as one of the items to charge. If you do that you will be charged finance charges from the date of the charge. For those who pay the balance each month it is a mistake to charge taxes. I learned the hard way.

Nob Hill Foods in Northern California still gives $30 cashback on Discover purchases -- so it must have been Safeway specifically, not Discover generally, which decided to drop the $30 cashback privilege.

Any news from Discover users at Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions, Pathmark, or Costco?

Could you please let me know where I can find out the information on Waterhouse Visa. I went into "Waterhouse.com" web site, but I don't see anything about Visa card.

I just received GE rewards platinum card today. I read all documents enclosed with the card, I found nothing about 25 dollars of maintenance fee for those who do not pay any finance charges. I called customer service center for GE card (1-888-871-4714) and asked about the $25 fee. I heard that kind of charge does not exist. For those who was already using the card, have you ever pay for that charge until now? Please let me know about it. Thanks.

RE Discover Card: I was at the Costco today 2/2/2000 and have received the $30 cash-back!

RE Cash$In Visa: Good luck -- last fall I tried for a peroid of over two months to get my current Yahoo! Visa (FirstUSA) card converted to a Cash$In Visa. In spite of being told it was a "done deal" several times by several different people, in the end all they were able to do was convert my Yahoo! Visa to a regular First USA Visa. The final message was "sorry, Cash$In Visa is a marketing test program -- only invitees are being accepted at present".

2/02/2000

GASP! Today at Safeway, the $30 cashback on my Discover card was DENIED! I inquired and was told that a memo just came out at Safeway ending future cashback on the Discover card! Now it's just a plain old credit card, and since its rebates are tiered up to 1% back, I might as well use my Waterhouse Visa, which ALWAYS offers 1% back.

The question is: Is this merely a Safeway policy, or a widespread change in Discover policy? Shoppers at Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions, Pathmark, and Costco: have you noticed any change with $30 cashback on the Discover card in the last few days?

Thanks for the info on your web site. I have GM Mastercard, used money from it to buy a truck. I also have AMEX golf card and Chase Visa. I would like to get GE Rewards but can't find it.......could you help?

Can you add a link to http://www.freecreditcardanalyzer.com/

I may be one of the lucky ones!! I called First USA and tried to convert a *CLOSED* ebay Visa card to the Cash$In Visa card. The rep. told me that I couldn't convert a closed account and I asked if I wanted to apply for the card. Of course I said 'yes' and he transferred me to the application department. Well, to make a long story short, the rep. said that I could apply for for the Cash$In visa cards, took all my application info. and said if accepted I should receive my cards within 30 days! I'll keep you all posted.

01/29/2000

Bell Atlantic has a cobranded (with Chase) Visa gold card that has no annual charge and gives you back 1% of all purchases and 2% of what your monthly Bell Atlantic bill is. The rebates are in the form of checks umade out to Bell Atlantic that are used to pay your phone bill. This is as good as cash, since there are no strings attached. The only downside of the Chase card is that they charge a 2% fee on all transactions that are not made in US dollars - this is a ripoff, but as long as you know to only use the card in the US, the rebate is a good deal.

I tried calling in regard to Amex corporate card 2% cash back; at 800/678-0745, they did not know anything about it. I then called 800/678-4269 and operator came on that it was an invalid number. ?? I presently have Amex 1 1/2% card and like it. Is 2% card available?

I had a similar experience to the Chevy Chase user with First USA. I called about their Cash$In rebate card (as I've benn doing now and again for a long time.) This last fall they finally told me it was available, but I could not apply directly for the Cash$In rebate card; rather I had to get a normal card (Visa or MasterCard) first, then once the card was issued I could call right back and they would (not might!) upgrade it to the Cash$In card. I applied right then, and upon receiving my new card I promptly called them to follow through on their promise and they said the Cash$In feature was still in test marketing and I had to be invited to apply (I thought that's what the Rep already did!, and told them so). I put the card on the shelf and used a different card for Christmas shopping. I kept calling and getting the same runaround. So this last weekend I wrote to them again, criticizing their Bait-and-Switch tactic and refusal to honor their promise, and cc'ed the FTC (Federal Trade Commission, CRC-240, Washington, D.C. 20580). I hope this gets them to honor their commitment.

For those who don't remember, the Cash$In rebate is a tiered uncapped rebate that rises to a 2% tier.

01/24/2000

To the person who gave the information on the True Value Master Card:

Can you tell us which True Value store(s) you go to? I have already got my True Value rebate check, but all the True Value Stores in my neighborhood (Los Angeles) said that they are not allowed to give me cash back. They said that I must spend my entire rebate check or lose out on the difference.

I went to the Chevy Chase web site to apply for a cash rebate card. They were happy to accept my application, but said that I could not apply directly for the cash rebate card, rather I had to get a normal card first, then once the card was issued I could call right back and get it upgraded to a cash rebate card. Upon receiving my new card I promptly called them and they said they could not handle my request. It was necessary to be solicited by someone in their marketing department. OK, I said I would like to talk to someone in marketing and was told they could only call me, I couldn't call them. I asked them to call me. They said I would hear from them with 10 days. Over 2 weeks have gone by and needless to say no one has called. What is the secret to getting what you called the "most available" cash rebate card! It seems to be the most unavailable card. Where else can I get a cash rebate card without all the hastle?

01/21/2000

To anyone interested: The toll free number to get an application for the G.E. Rewards Mastercard that is now supported by FirstUSA is 1-800-347-7887. In a nutshell it's 1.4% for up to $10000 worth of purchases a year. (Max rebate = $140) I have NOT been charged any form of "maintenance fee" as some folks have indicated they have. This is my second year of maxing the card's rebate out and I've never paid them any finance charge. Recently I had them convert the terms to 5.9% for 6 months and after that 9.9 fixed. Also be sure to check out http://www.mastercard.com and the mastercard exclusives section for additional discounts from participating vendors. One of my favorite places to buy computer stuff offers a 10% discount if you use a mastercard on top of any other savings....

True Value Hardware Stores offer a credit card that pays 1% back but they send a check two times a year made out to True value so you use it in one of their stores. There is a way around it though, You can go into the store and buy a small item for .20 or so and get the rest in cash. For the first 90 days the account is open they will pay you 5% back on any balances transfered also. I made $300.00 just by transfering balances in my 90 day period. http://www.ramresearch.com/cardtrak/news/1996/may/cf5_17b.html http://www.anbcards.com/tv_mc/terms.html

I saw on my Sears bill this month that they're discontinuing their 1% rebate program (Sears Bonus Club is what they called it). Oh well, I didn't use the card much, anyway although I do buy stuff there. it would be nice for them to give you their "Sears Best" (or whatever they call it these days for people who spend several hundred dollars a year on their Sears Card) status based on your purchases on bank cards as well. Has anyone managed to get them to turn on this status for you without it being done automatically based on your purchase level? I've gotten it a couple of times when I bought something big like a snow blower with delayed billing, but the next year I lose it. The advantage to being at this level is that they send you much better sale circulars, often with $5 off anything coupons included. They also send you a coupon book at the beginning of the year with a bunch of $2, $5, $10 off various sized purchases, but I've never used those because they are typically not good on sale items. Personally I think it's pretty stupid of Sears to drop people from this program once they've gotten in just because they don't spend enough in subsequent years. These are people who once were what you considered your top customers. Do you do something to discourage them from increasing their shopping frequency in the future when it costs you almost nothing to keep them in the program? But then again, no one ever said that Sears was smart.

For those of you gaining rebates at Costco now with your Discover card, be warned that I confirmed with multiple employees at Costco today that Discover will no longer be accepted beginning sometime in March. This will limit Costco purchases to Costco's own credit card, debit/ATM cards, and American Express cards (including Costco's co-branded AMEX Cash-Back cards).

Note that with the Costco Credit Card and debit/ATM cards, you can get your $30 in cash from the registers with purchase but with the AMEX cards (including the Costco co-branded AMEX cards), you cannot. Also note that although Costco used to offer a flat 1% back on their credit card (presumably to compete with Discover), they no longer do this. So even though you can get your $30 cash at the register, it isn't giving you any cash rebates.

Finally, regarding AMEX cards, they seem to have finally implemented an automatic withdrawl program so that you can have your balance paid in full each month automatically from your checking account. Armed with this knowledge, I'm happy to continue shopping at Costco but with my AMEX Cash-Back Rebate card instead of my Discover card. (I use a Mileage Plus VISA everywhere else, incidentally).

I called Bellsouth at the number you noted and was told that they are not accepting applications for MasterCard presently. I mentioned cash back...could that have turned them off?

01/19/2000

I will be starting a sales job soon. As a novice regular card user, I want to use a card to my advantage.I will have a weekly check to reimburse my charges and should be able to keep the account down to near zero.My charges will mostly be taking clients out for meals. I don't anticipate several thousands of dollars in charges.Going by your suggestions on your site, would you suggest the American Express cash back with no annual fee? Another? Lastly, last year I had opportunity to get a card with gardening freebies as rebates. I am a big time gardener, and I wished I had remembered the card type. Does that ring a bell with you?

You can earn rewards points towards Free Merchandise including books,sport equipments,electronics,music,books,and others.Their site is http://www.netscapecard.com . Currently,Travelers Bank cardmembers can convert into Netscape Mastercard without apply for a new one.

I am looking to get a card that offers airfare rewards. I do not carry a balance on a credit card and I am thinking of using this card for all of my purchases (i.e.groc,gas,misc.). Does anyone have a good source for the fine points of how these programs work.

01/15/2000

I just found your sight what a great source now that i might be looking for a new rebate card. I was suprised to not see anything on the GM card 5% towards new car purchase. I just bought a new car and recieved $3500 off with the rebate. I am debating to keep using this card or find a better rebate card. I probably will go for an airline card. I pay of my balance each month and charge almost everything to take advantage of rebates.

In your 01/14/00 update, you posted the $10 offer for getting a NextCard Visa I told you about. I found a better deal for the NextCard Visa. Get up to $50 (depending on what kind of NextCard Visa you are approved for) by taking advantage of the offer sponsored by ebates.com: http://www.ebates.com/nxcd_splash.jsp

On 01/14/00, you also posted an offer for X.com, which offers a sign-up bonus of $20. Plus, you can add $500 to the account with a credit card every six months. Here's a similar deal: sign-up for PayPal and immediately get $10 (that's not the best part). PayPal is not a bank like X.com (which is a really great bank, by the way). PayPal is a system where you pay people over the internet by using their email address and your credit card or checking account (great for paying for things you buy on eBay, etc.) Here's the good part: they let you charge up to $5,000 with your credit card to pay people, and the transaction is treated like a purchase (i.e. no cash advance fees apply). So you could send your wife/husband/good friend $5,000, which they can immediately withdraw to their bank & go to the horse races, send back to you, etc. With a 1% cash back Visa/MasterCard, you get a quick $50 (plus the float if you pay your bills in full every month, assuming they give the money back to you!). It's also an easy way to give yourself some cash without the fees & interest that is normally charged on a cash advance. Check out https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=bonuses@hotmail.com

And for more of these kinds of deals, visit http://geocities.com/signupmoney

01/14/2000

Get a $20 IncentiveFunds Card from American Express, valid wherever AmEx is accepted. You have to talk to a Nextel Representive regarding Nextel Direct Connect. This takes about 90 seconds. Visit http://www.nextel.com/demo Offer good until Feb. 29, 2000
Join UtopiAd at www.utopiad.com (a pay-to-surf program like AllAdvantage) and within 24 hours they will send you an email offering you $10 to apply and receiving approval for a NextCard Visa.

As always, check out http://geocities.com/signupmoney for similar offers and more ways to get free money.

Anyone who'd like to add some miles or rebates to their cards might want to visit this site: https://preview.x.com/new_account.asp?Referrer=act456@hotmail.com It's a popular on-line bank. Get $20 immediately for signing up and they'll let you add $500 from your credit card as a "purchase". If your inclined, you can get the $20, sign-up your wife for her $20, and then get a $10 referral bonus. That's $50 for a few minutes effort plus $500 in credit card "purchases" every 6 months for each person. You can get the money out almost immediately but you may not not want to. It's a decent bank that pays interest and has some very convenient ways to move money to friends, to your other bank, with an ATM card, or through checks. Like the bank or not, the $50 is worth the effort.

I use the FreeRide Visa card, which issues 1 point for each dollar spent. Point value can be supplemented in many different ways, includiung clicking on web links to vist web pages sponsored by advertisers and by buying from certain retailers. I collect an average 70 points every day by clicking. Points can also be applied to the MAC gas station card. It comes out to about 1%, but it starts from the first dollar. It's a good card for we financially challenged perk seeking individuals. but only, as you pointed out, the bill is paid in full every month. http://www.freeride.com

01/05/2000

The customer service number for the Amex Corporate Cash Back card is 1-800-678-0745. It has an annual rebate period with the credit posting in January.

Here's an interesting fact: The Corporate Cash Back card provides a 25 day grace period and a 2% rebate (above $10,000). The personal Amex Platinum Cash Back card only provides a 20 day grace period and a 1.5% rebate (above $5,000). I think we should all "go into business" to get the better terms!

I disagree with an earlier post. Here in King County you can pay your property taxes with a credit card (strangely enough with Discover or a PI card only) I believe its $16 for up to $2500 and a fixed 25 for $5000 or more. If you have several properties and a huge tax bill, It actually makes

I meant the federal income tax. _That_ one is a 3% fee.

I haven't tried the federal income tax, but my best advice is that you can't give a blanket statement like "It doesn't make sense to pay your taxes with a CC because of the additional fee they charge" You have to look at each scenario on a case by case basis and do the math.

Ok, sorry, when I hear the word "taxes" without qualifications, I think of federal income taxes. That is what I was talking about, and I still believe that one is WASTING their money to pay via credit card.. But heck, I wasted $3 by paying my car registration one year via credit card (which far surpassed the cash back).. but I was in a hurry.. I have enough time to reason about the cost/benefit of the federal income tax credit card fee to realize it's not worth it.

Info for Amex Corporate Optima Platinum cash-back card: Number to call: 800-678-4269 (apply-by-phone Optima division -- ask for Corporate Platinum cash-back card)

Particulars:

no annual fee
$50,000 credit line
may add up to 9 additional cards to account
Tiered cash rebate schedule -- 0.5% first $5,000; 1% next $5,000, 2% over $10,000 -- credited each February

01/04/2000

What's the phone # for AMEX corporate Cash-Back card?

I would like to know where I can order an AMEX optima card or the GE rewards card as mentioned on your site. Please send me the web address. THanks.

(The answer is 1-800-FIRSTUSA or http://www.firstusa.com/ for GE and 1-800-467-8462 or http://home1.americanexpress.com/apply/fmac.asp?aexp_nav=hp_apply -- Peter)

I recently contacted FirstUSA which now services both of the cash reward cards I carry. The first was the Chevy Chase Cash reward Visa card and had a variable interest rate of 23.49% The second was the GE Rewards mastercard and had a rate of 17.5% In both cases I was able to get them to change the rate to 5.9% for 6 months and then 9.9 FIXED rate. *Note* Leaving a balance defeats the purpose of having a cash reward type card but better to have a 9.9 fixed rate as opposed to a 23.49% rate in the event you miss a payment. This may be of interest to some folks.

I have the Amex cash reward card which "resets" sometime in febuary. Does anyone have the EXACT date I can begin putting purchases on the card to have it post to the current year's cycle? Do I need to wait till march to begin using the card?

Thanks in advance.

Some people were complaining of the $50 dollar fee that First USA charges on BT's saying the "party was over". Baloney. If you do a $15000 one time balance transfer you're still coming out very much ahead even with the fee. At 6% (which you can get most anywhere) You're earning $150 for two months or $100 net after the fee. Matter of fact any BT over $5000 is gravy. Too many people are making short sighted statements saying things like the partty is over any time a new fold comes into the CC game. This throws off alot of the newbies, (I guess that could be a good thing). You have to take the punches and learn how to adapt.

And finally, I wholeheartedly agree with the person who talked about you can't establish a pattern. Although, this is hard to do and sounds a little strange, its very true. First USA denied me a $5 burrito but allowed several $500 charges and several thousand worth of BT's to go through saying that this didn't fall under my normal spending pattern. Imagine standing in line to buy a Burrito with a platinum card and getting turned down.

01/02/2000

Do you think the credit card companies will get too smart? I think there are too many people who dont know what they are doing and are going to screw it up for the rest of us. I have learned from my mistakes. I think I have changed some programs with my mistakes (for the worse). I have been thrown out of at least one program that I can remember. I wish there was an "expert" category for credit card flipflopers. There is one bit of advise that I think you should print and that is not to have patterns. When there are patterns than you can get caught.

RE: 01/01/00 posting. Citibank has an Amercian Airlines Platinum Select card that allows all of the points earned on multiple company cards to accrue to one frequent flyer account. It costs $75.00 a year for the first card, I don't know what additional cards cost. There is a 150,000 annual cap on points that may be earned. If you use the points to purchase Businees or First Class airline tickets it's one of the best returns in the business.

Ask for the Amex Platinum Corporate Cash-Back card -- accomodates up to nine employees, provides 2% (tiered) cash-back.

01/01/2000

Yes, you can pay your taxes by credit card, but my town adds a $75 fee. You better make sure what the adders are before leaping. everyone has their hands in the till.

Upon your advice, I got the Amex Cash Rebate Card. I've been using it like crazy over the last two months. When I got my bill, I noticed that they do a renewal for everyone in February. This puts me at a disadvantage vs. an annual renewal, as you have pointed out. Do you recall if this card always had a once-a-year renewal?

I am looking for credit cards for my company. I will be getting about 40 of them. I would like to know if you know of a company that would compile the rewards points to a central account so that I could use the rewards that my employees accumulate with their expenses.

There is a Fleet "Home" Mastercard that pays back 2% from $5,000 up with a yearly cap at $500 per year. The only draw back is that the check must be sent to the bank you have your mortgage at to pay down principal.

_NONE_ of these is the best. At least last year, you had to pay an extra 3% to pay your tax bill via credit card. That extra charge overwhelms any cash back program, so you are _LOSING MONEY_ in the process. It is a stupid thing to do, unless you like throwing money away.

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