Credit Cards

Discover Card 5% Bonus Cashback 2010 Q3

Jul 30th, 2010
by Sean.
2 comments

Use your Discover Card on gas, hotels, movies, and theme parks from July through September and get 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $300 in these purchases. All your other purchases will earn up to 1% unlimited Cashback Bonus automatically.

Earn 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $300 in purchases from July through September at:

  • Gas Stations
  • Movies
  • Hotels
  • Theme Parks

I signed up for the 5% Cashback Bonus program in less than two minutes and received a confirmation immediately. I do not own a car, pay for movies, stay in hotels nor visit the theme parks, so I may not be able to take advantage of the 5% cashback.

Related: Credit Cards

FIA Card Services Offers 3% Cash Back on Selected Categories

Jul 20th, 2010
by Sean.
1 comment

FIA Card Services sent me a special offer letter to enroll in their 3% cash back offer. The 3% cash back offer applies to qualifying back to school purchases on my Rewards American Express Card, up to $800, until September 30, 2010.

Earn 3% cash back on eligible purchases (up to $800) through September 30,2010:

  • Office Supply Stores
  • Book Stores
  • Shoe Stores
  • Electronics & Computer Software Stores

I enrolled online with my Fidelity Rewards American Express card and received a confirmation message. I will be able to earn 3% cash back on eligible purchases until September 30, 2010. Check your mail to see if you have received this special offer from FIA Card Services.

What is the best way to maximize this special offer?

Related: Credit Cards

Chase Offers Real-Time Fraud Alerts on Credit Cards

Jul 8th, 2010
by Sean.
1 comment

Chase now offers free real-time fraud alerts on Amazon.com Rewards Credit Card. When Chase knows about a suspicious transaction, you will be alerted on your mobile device

I received an email from them and signed up. It took only one minute. Note that standard text messaging and other rates from your wireless provider will apply to your text messages. Since I have an unlimited text plan, it is not an issue for me. However, for those who pay for individual text messages, it is still worthwhile to sign up, because fraud alerts can potentially save you thousands of dollars.

This is how the fraud alert works:

  1. You will receive a text message immediately if Chase suspects a suspicious transaction.
  2. Respond via text message to confirm whether or not you recognize the transaction.
  3. If you reply that you don’t recognize the transaction, we will block any additional charges from your Amazon.com Credit Card account while Chase researches.
  4. If you reply that you recognize the transaction, your card is available for use.

Discover Card 0% APR until January 2011

Jul 2nd, 2010
by Sean.
No comments yet

I received a promotion offer for my existing Discover Card, a 0% APR on new purchases made from July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. The 0% APR on the balance is good until the last day of my billing period in January 2011, which gives me a 6-month interest-free period. This offer came in at a good time and I have a good idea to advantage of it.

Make Money Combo: Discover Card 0% APR + US Mint $1 Coins
Use the Discover Card to purchase Presidential Dollar Coins from US Mint. The purchases will be charged dollar-to-dollar, which also receives Discover Card cashback Bonus, and the purchases will be interest-free for six months. It is like a 0% balance transfer, except with cashback and without the balance transfer fees.

I have a credit limit of $4,800. I could purchase 4,800 coins with free shipping and rack up 4,800 credit card points. I can either deposit or spend the coins.

Related: Credit Cards

Quest for Credit from Mint.com

Jul 1st, 2010
by Sean.
2 comments

The total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt) is  $852.6 billion.

In response, Quest for Credit, an animated short about the perils of credit card debt was released in May 2010 by Mint.com.

The video follows our hero as he finds himself in the land of the debtors thanks to his newly found power—a credit card. He then embarks on a quest to rid himself of debt, masters the principles of finance (budgeting, bills, etc) and is able to climb out of debt and into a home of his own.

Between Greece, the housing market and the recession –it’s about time for us all to go on a “Quest” of our own and dig ourselves, and our country, out of $852.6 billion dollars worth of debt.

Description: The importance of good credit in our society is unquestionable — as is the destructive power of its ugly cousin, bad credit. Yet, millions of consumers succumb to materialistic temptations or fall into the many traps laid forth by credit-card companies (ever tried making only the minimum payments on a large credit card balance?). And while wise credit management isn’t an easy skill to learn and maintain, battling your “bad credit demons” is even more difficult. To illustrate the importance of staying out of debt while building and maintaining a good credit history, we give you Mint.com’s short epic, The Quest for Credit. The presentation may be humorous, but don’t get us wrong: bad credit is no laughing matter. If you need help with battling your debt demons, check out the budgeting tools at http://www.mint.com.

How to Deal With Credit Card Debt

Jun 18th, 2010
by Guest.
2 comments

A large number of Americans today are slammed by credit card debts. Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade and the average house in America carry some $8,000 in credit card debt!

Dealing with your credit card debt can be nerve-racking. In such a stressful time, choosing the wrong method to come out of debt can push you further into the hole. Therefore, it is very important that you choose the right option for yourself that will help you to shed your debts successfully. Here are some tips to consider: (more…)

American Express Plum Card Review

Apr 30th, 2010
by Sean.
2 comments

I signed up for the American Express Plum Card and received it in May 2009. The card looked very nice with a reddish color. There is an annual fee of $185 for the card, however my first annual fee was waived. That was when I decided to give it a try for a year. The Plum Card is for business, so I registered my business name on the credit card and was approved.  (However, I do not think that a business entity is required. Some people had signed up for the card with their personal names as the business and were still approved.)

The main selling benefits of the card are:

  • Pay in full within ten days, get a 1.5% discount.
  • OR pay as little as 10% and take up to 2 months to pay off the balance, interest free.

And the other benefits are:

  • No Pre-Set Spending Limit, so your purchasing power can evolve with your business.
  • OPEN Savings® to help improve your bottom line with automatic discounts from our partnered companies.
  • OPEN Forum is the online community designed to help you find valuable connections and information to manage and grow your business.
  • Emergency Services and Customer Service to give your business 24/7 security and protection.

I enrolled in the “Pay in full within ten days, get a 1.5% discount” option because I felt the discount would benefit me the most. Over the course of 12 months, I saved $115 with my business expenses by charging them to the Plum Card. I thought that the savings were great, however, for my level of spending, the steep $185 annual fee would be an overkill. Also, I had no more business now, so the card had to go.

Plum Card Cancellation

After one year in April 2010, my one year trail period was over. I liked 1.5% discount in the benefits of the card, but I felt the annual fee was too high for my needs. I could not justify the $185 annual fee. When I canceled the plum card on the phone with American Express, the representative explained all the benefits to me again and tried a last attempt to keep me as a Plum Card holder by offering a WHOPPING $20 savings off the annual fee. Seriously? I wanted to laugh out loud, but held my composure and politely declined. I told him that I had other cards that offer me the same benefits with no annual fees.

To sum it up: Plum, you were great when I borrowed you for a year; you were stylish and had great benefits, but you would be too expensive for me afterwards.

Sneaky Fees from American Express Charges

May 15th, 2008
by Sean.
2 comments

I recently accepted an offer to receive the American Express Business Gold Card and was told that I can link the points to my existing personal American Express Blue Card. I thought it would be a great idea to have two credit cards linked to one rewards point system.

It turns out that American Express (silently) charges a $10 Linkage Fee for linking the two rewards programs together. I called up the customer service in American Express and asked about the charge.

The customer service department immediately transferred me to the Membership Rewards program. I explained the situation to the representative from the Membership Rewards department, but the lady had an attitude and transferred me to another department.

Finally, I ended up speaking a representative by the name of Michael. I told him that I was not aware of the charge for linking the two membership rewards together and was never informed about it. I asked to have the Linkage Fee reversed.

Michael said that he would have to unlink my membership program for my personal American Express Blue Card to reverse the Linkage Fee. After a few minutes, he was successful in unlinking my personal American Express Blue Card, and left all the reward points in the new Gold card.

I questioned about the reward points staying in the Gold card and he answered that the Gold card has more membership rewards. I think the real reason is that they want to trap me in keeping the Gold card, because it has an annual fee.

I had always been very impressed with American Express and their customer service, but they have let me down this time. I was not happy that American Express is charging a fee to have all the membership reward points together. It is really to their benefit, and both parties would benefit. Moreover, I was not satisfied with their customer service and how they handle this situation.

Top 50 Most Useful Credit Card Web Sites

Apr 14th, 2008
by Sean.
No comments yet

CreditCardAssist.com put together a resourceful compilation of links to virtually all the information you want to know about credit cards.

Top 50 Most Useful Sites

0% APR for Life from Discover Card

May 16th, 2007
by Sean.
3 comments

Discover Credit Card sent me a letter with an invitation code to 0% APR for life. It says that the 0% APR be will extended for life as long as I make two purchases each month in January 2008. The card has up to 5% cashback bonus that does not expire. I really liked the offer and wanted to apply for the card until…

I looked at the fine prints and saw the Balance Transfer Transaction Fee. It is 3% for each balance with a minimum of $5 and a maximum of $50. That’s a big catch, because this transaction fee will be charged the regular APR interest every month. Also, Discover Card may not give me a high credit limit based on my current Discover Card experience. My current Discover Card is under $5,000. The $50 balance transfer fee and a possible low credit limit have made the offer less attractive. It seems like my net earnings would be low.

I would consider it only if my credit limit is at least $10,000. Then I would put the $10,000 in a high-yield savings account, at around 5% at the present time. The interest earnings would come out to about $500 a year less fees. The other catch is two purchases a month, and I’ve already figured that out. I would set up an automatic recurring charge to the Discover Card for two transactions of 5 cents a month.

I’m not sure if I want to sign up for another credit card. I’ve already signed up for the Citi Professional Card and the American Express Diamond Rewards Preferred and I still have not activated the cards and claim the promotional rewards. If I sign up for another credit card, it may impact my credit score, which I am not too concerned with anyway at the moment. It appears the profits margins will be small, probably around $500, but contains a lot of initial hassle.

I did a search on the Discover Card 0% APR for Life promotion on Google and found Jonathan’s post on it.

0% APR For Life from Discover – What’s the Catch?

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