Credit Card Rewards

[Weasel]

Decided to make a new thread, didn't want to upset anyone! (Also searched and couldn't find an old thread on the topic)

Ive been pouring through info on different rewards cards, and Im trying to determine whether or not Id be able make my student loan or mortgage payments via a credit card. Right now these are directly withdrawn from a bank account, but Id be able to rack up rewards quickly with these sizable monthly payments Im already making. Have any of you done this? I plan on calling them this afternoon to see

[Cnasty]

Ive been told no in the past on mortgage payments and car payments as these come directly out of our account each month.

[shel311]

Right now these are directly withdrawn from a bank account, but Id be able to rack up rewards quickly with these sizable monthly payments Im already making

Genius!!

I'm sure my payments aren't sizeable compared to yours, but every little bit helps. I'm interested as well now.

[Wasted Memory]

Ive been told no in the past on mortgage payments and car payments as these come directly out of our account each month.

Same here. Tried setting it up on mortgage but couldn't do it.

[The_Niddler]

I will 3rd that for mortgages.
To my knowledge, you cannot pay a mortgage on a credit card.
A car payment though, I am not sure.

I would have to imagine no, but not sure.

[Weasel]

From what Ive been reading, it isn't looking too promising. There is a workaround, where you can buy a pre-paid card that is accepted for such payments, but its reeeaallly cumbersome and doesnt seem to be worth the hassle for me.

The way its setup essentially is you buy a loadable card from a retailer (using a CC that gets rewards), using that card you just bought to load a pre-paid American Express (which itself doesnt have rewards), which can be used to pay mortgage etc. Reading up on it, it seems kinda fishy

[Uuaww]

If you pay stuff with a check, there is a way to do it via bluebird and vanilla refills. it's called manufactured spending and theres forums dedicated to it. I'm all about travel rewards in general and my go to forum is Flyertalk.com. For the latest news and big deals, I also hit up frugaltravelguy.com and thepointsguy.com

With most of the card offers, theres a standard offer and a "targeted" offer that is usually quite more. These sites tell you how to get the targeted offers.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-c ... ption.html

Thats the standard list right now.

In general, if a card has a $95 or so annual fee, it is waived the first year. so you just need to cancel before the first year to avoid it. Also the general spending is 3k in 3 months to get the bonus.

American and United cards are the top ones for air travel. They have the most extensive network partners and can both get you anywhere in the world for free. AA is better for europe (40k miles RT (round trip)), United is better for Asia.

Good cards to start are the AA Citibank 50k. Standard 50k miles if you spend 3k in 3 months. If you are going to make a lot of purchases in the next 3 months they have a 100k miles if you spend 10k in 3 months. I can give more info on that as well.

United has a Chase 50k as well. Same deal.

After you have those two you can move on to the Chase Sapphire which gives 40k if you spend 3k in 3 months. It gives you points but they can be transferred to hotels or a variety of airlines, including United.

AA has their own version with the Starwood preferred which gives a similar bonus and transfers points to AA.

After those you can do the business cards which give you the same bonus. You don't need an actual business, its easy to get as well.

Theres a bunch of other quality cards as well. Hyatt has one that gives you 2 free nights at any of their hotels worldwide, which includes hotels worth thousands a night.

You can redo these cards after 12-24 months (varies). I do about 3-4 a year and always have a ton of miles in my accounts. Credit score doesn't take a lot of hit. Canceling a card does not do much to it. I've seen a drop of only 3 points in my credit score since I've started and it was only temporary. Been doing this for 2-3 years now.

[Weasel]

That there is a quality post.

The Bluebird and Vanilla refills is what I was reading about, probably wont bother with it

[Cnasty]

I thought about this previously and trying different cards but I was worried about closing accounts negatively affecting credit as that is a common thing I have heard. You have done it though and true example of the score being affected.

[Weasel]

Also, do the rewards remain even after you've cancelled the card?

Ill have to look at my CC statements, I don't think Im quite to $1k/mo on it

[shel311]

I thought about this previously and trying different cards but I was worried about closing accounts negatively affecting credit as that is a common thing I have heard.

That does bring up a good question.

Every time I'm closing my interest free card to get a new one since the current interest free window is about to expire, the reps go through that same spiel, stating that there's no reason to actually close the account, and it's better for your credit to leave it open blah blah blah.

Is that correct? Or is it still best to just close it out?

[Weasel]

I by no means am an expert, but debt:income/available credit ratio is a part of the calculation for your credit score. Thus, if you have open credit cards that increases the available credit and would theoretically increase the credit score. How much, I have no idea. If it were me Id probably just close the account so I could keep track of what I had open/closed

[The_Niddler]

I by no means am an expert, but debt:income/available credit ratio is a part of the calculation for your credit score. Thus, if you have open credit cards that increases the available credit and would theoretically increase the credit score. How much, I have no idea. If it were me Id probably just close the account so I could keep track of what I had open/closed

While this is partially true, and as Weasel stated, I am no expert, but there comes a point where you will have too much available credit and it will start to hurt you negatively.
Companies will not give you credit or want to take you on as they know you could flip tomorrow and go charge $100k worth of stuff.
Again, I do not know what that point is, I am sure there is a formula they use as I know your debt to credit ratio and available credit all play a part in your credit score.

And I believe, while closing an account will hurt your score slightly, if it is user closed, that hurts much less than if it is closed by the creditor for whatever reason.
But again, I know there are formulas and such that creditors use to see how risky you are and what the companies use to figure out your credit score.

[Uuaww]

Most of these cards (and nearly all that I do) are Chase/Citi. When you sign up, you can call them and ask for a lower credit line. Also you can move credit from one card to another on Chase (and I am pretty sure on Citi too). So that if you have a Chase card, and you sign up for another, you can call them and ask them to move most of the credit from the card you are canceling to the card you are starting. So that when you cancel the one you don't want, the hit is minimal.

I don't keep more than 4 cards open at any time and usually only have 3.

[Cnasty]

Seems like a lot of work

[Uuaww]

Seems like a lot of work

I rarely do the movement of credit but have before, takes about 2-3 minutes on the phone. It really isn't a lot of work and I enjoy getting free flights whenever I want . This is just another lifehacker type thing I do... like gamesharing, xbmc, etc. Things I do to make my life easier/better.

[shel311]

Ted's single, he has all the time in the world to do this stuff.

/ must be nice

[Weasel]

So you open CC #1, meet the spending requirements in 3rd month, get rewards. At that point do you open a second CC to get the bonuses, or do you wait until the year is nearly up?

[Uuaww]

So you open CC #1, meet the spending requirements in 3rd month, get rewards. At that point do you open a second CC to get the bonuses, or do you wait until the year is nearly up?

either or... depends on if you like it. With the starwood card and saphire you have to make sure you move the points before you cancel or else you lose them

[Uuaww]

Ted's single, he has all the time in the world to do this stuff.

/ must be nice

yeah pretty much.


although once i get confident I can streamline/explain stuff well I do try to pass it on.