Posted: 4/10/2007 8:08:28 AM EDT
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OK. Chase has pretty much pissed me off. Long story and not important. The solution is to change companies. OK, I don't need a low interest rate since I don't carry a balance. I don't want to pay an annual fee and I want to accrue miles on a frequent flier program for purchases made. WHo offers the best deal these days? Go to work hive mind 
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I use Marriott Rewards, but that is backed by Chase. Over the past three years, I've probably accumulated 100,000+ extra points by using my Marriott VISA due to company expenses. That more than offsets the $50 yearly fee. However, my company got bought out by another one and we've all been forced onto corporate AMEX, so I might go shopping for something else myself. I only carry a $1 balance every month. |
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First of all, you appear to use credit and debit interchangeably, which they're not, and secondly, you screw it up even more by the use of debit instead of debt. Thirdly, there is no problem with using credit cards provided the balance is paid off in full each month. No interest is charged, and by using credit cards it will help you in the long run by building your credit rating. 
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I've been using Citibank Dividend platinum MasterCard for a few years now. It gives you cash back on purchases which varies from 1%-5% depending on the type of merchant. There is a cap at $300 on cash back rewards, which is the only downside as I max it out usually by August-September. I like cash rewards way more than any points or miles, but YMMV. This card has no annual fee. Like you, I don't give a rat's ass about APY because I never carry a balance on credit cards. It is hard to beat the convenience of having a detailed record of your spending and not having to pay for it for 30 days. If someone has no fiscal discipline and is constantly suckered into impulse buys cash only is the way to go, but if one has an ounce of common sense and knows how to budget, credit cards are still the best. |
Can you tell me why AMEX Clear is good? I admit to preconcieved notions of AMEX that aren't all good. 1) Not as ubiqitous in usage as a Visa 2) Never a credit balance (OK, I always pay off every month but what IF something weird happens?) 3) Large annual card fees? Might be I am wrong. Help a guy out. |
Hmm, thinking here. My wife (of course not I) gets the mileage in her account for every purchase. I would guess around 75,000 miles a year. I'm guessing that is worth a lot more than $300 to me. Does Citibank offer mileage or other options? |
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Lemme think here. 90,000 miles equals (best case) a RT biz class ticket to Bangkok (I fly there regularly) If I buy the ticket (and trust me I know the best pricing available) it is $2300 If I buy 90,000 dollars and get back 1% that is 900$? Is my math right? I'm thinking for a guy who flys longhaul a lot this might be the better choice. |
Thanks. I didn't realize AMEX had entered this realm. I think I'm going to look into it some more. As you can see above I think mileage might be better for me thatn 1% cash. But, maybe United can hook me up with another bank. Hmmmm, decisions. |
Im not allowed out much so Im the cash type. Got some new chase one that saya 3% back on gas and groceries, so Im using it for those |
I was about to post pretty much the same thing but then thought why bother. Especially on a gun board one would expect that we'd avoid attributing character traits to inanimate objects. "Credit cards are bad" is pretty stupid, just like "guns are bad". For the record, I like Dave Ramsey's show and I think 99% of the time he gives sound advice. IMO he developed this anti-credit card position because he mostly deals with people who are incapable of restraint. But it is still dumb to blame the card... |
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The umbrella link I posted is for the platinum advantage card. Visa with a fixed 9.9 percent just incase. I use it for everything. For the last 4 years I think. Racked up like 600k in points. Worth about 1 percent in cash back if I want it, or about 4 airline tickets to everywhere but austraila.(Which works out to be about 2-4 percent back.) |
| If you ever rent cars, "supposedly" you should have a 2nd credit card as the rental agency will "supposedly" immediately max out the rental card if you report an accident until the matter is settled. This could be complete BS for all I know, so take this with a grain of salt.... |
Yeah, "the only good gun is the one cut into 1000 tiny pieces..." 
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Exercise a little self-control and you can make money off of credit card companies. Of course, your benefit is paid for by the millions of buffoons who keep a balance and pay 20+% interest. I'm expecting another $50 check from Chase this week, "earned" it by buying gas, groceries, even got 5% back from buying ammo. My lifetime total of interest/fees paid to Chase: $0. Chase is still getting rich (thanks to the buffoons.) I once borrowed $16,000 from Citibank for 0% for about a year. Put it in a money market account and collected a little interest. Programmed my auto-bill pay to send in the payment in full $16,000 check (couple weeks early, just in case) before the promotional interest rate expired. I then forgot about the $16,000 in the bank... and used the interest to buy a few cases of .308 back when it was $150 per 1,000. Citibank was hoping I was a buffoon and would spend up the cash and end up with a $16,000 balance to pay off. Didn't work out with me though! Don't worry about Citibank's finances. Citibank's getting rich too, cause the world is full of Buffoons. These buffoons are smart enough to keep enough of a job to make the minimum payments, but otherwise make poor financial decisions, I guess. |
Same here, although I think Citi now only pays 1%/2% (used to be 1%/5%). I also use the Chase Rewards card which is still 1%/5% but it takes a little longer to get cash back because you have to rack up $100 worth of cash before you get the full 1%/5% cash back. With Citi it was only $50. I considered the AMEX Blue but not everybody takes AMEX. A good example is AIM Surplus. |
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Chase has a new card that will give you $250 the first time you use it for new people who sign up for the card. But you said you don't like them, or maybe you already have that card so the deal won't work for you, so I won't sugest it. But I got one, I like chase.
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