Entries Tagged 'Credit Cards' ↓

Discover has a new promotion with their Discover More card. You get a $50 cashback bonus after your first $500 of spend, as long as you spend it within three months of opening the account. It’s a pretty sweet offer if you’re looking for a Discover card.

Discover More shifts their high percentage cashback categories each quarter to help you maximize savings.

From now until January 4th, you can get a $20 gift card for every $200 you spend at participating malls in Discover’s holiday mall promotion. It’s the same promotion they’ve had for the last few years and the process is quite painless. Spend $200 with your Discover card, go to the customer service desk, and get $20 gift cards after they stamp your receipts. You can still return stuff, you just won’t be able to reuse the receipts (hence the stamp).

What’s nice is that they’re extending it to January 4th, meaning you can take advantage of post-holiday sales!

Just a heads up that on November 1st through January 4th, Discover will once again be running their holiday season Discover Mall Promotion. You will get an effective 10% cashback, in the form of gift cards, on purchases made at participating malls during the Discover Mall Promotion up to $1000 of spending (so $100 in gift cards).

Terms & Conditions:

*Get a $20 Discover® Gift Card when you make $200 in purchases with your Discover Card at a participating mall between 11/1/08-1/4/09, while supplies last. Original receipts must be presented to a participating mall’s Customer Service by 1/4/09. See Gift Card terms and conditions for full details.

More details available here.

Looking to score a little extra cashback or some reward points for your credit card? You can buy collectible Presidential dollars with your credit card, up to two packages per President, and then turn them back into the bank as a deposit. Right now there are three Presdients available, meaning you can get $1500 of spending on your card absolutely free.

For those who have 0% on purchases offers from credit cards, you can use this as a no fee 0% balance transfer for $1500.

Periodically, I’ll log into my credit card online access portal and see if they’re willing to lower the interest rate on purchases on my account. If the credit card doesn’t have that feature on their online interface, I’ll give them a call to see if they’d be willing to. Nine times out of ten, they’ll acquiesce and lower the rate by a little bit. Why do I bother? It’s the same reasons why I periodically request credit limit increases.

You Never Know…

You never know when you’ll need that credit. Maybe you lose your job the next day or there some big emergency that drains your emergency fund and forces you to tap into your credit cards for some relief. You never know what will happen so it’s always good to have as low a rate as possible on purchases. I never carry a balance and I’ve been fortunate to never have been in a situation where that would’ve been necessary. However, if I am, I’m comforted in knowing my rate is as low as I could’ve gotten it.

Your Best Shot Is Now

Whether you have a balance or don’t, the best time to ask is as soon as possible. If they say no, no big deal. If they say yes, then you immediately benefit. You don’t want to be in a pressure situation before you ask. For some reason companies can sense that.

Why Not?

Basically, why not ask? It won’t hurt you any.

Five Cent Nickel did some digging and unearthed seven cards that offer no fee 0% balance transfers. The real gem in the list is the Citi Driver’s Edge Card for College Students because it normally has a 3% fee but it’s waived.

Is it worth it to get a 0% balance transfer for only six months? I think that any time you can get a breather, you take it if you need it. These give you six months more time to catch up on your debt. If you’re thinking about balance transfer arbitrage, I’d skip them and wait until a longer offer comes around.

While 0% balance transfers aren’t difficult to find, no fee 0% balance transfer offers are essentially non-existent. So many people have asked me where they can find a card that offers a no fee transfer and the reality is that there are probably none. The credit crisis has really put a dampener on the liquidity of many companies, including credit card companies, and so they’ve responded by reducing the aggressiveness of their credit campaigns.

The result is that it is now standard for every credit card with a balance transfer offer to have an associated 3% fee. Citi used to have no fee balance transfers out the wazoo, but now there are 3% fees with no maximum.

The best option now for someone looking for a quick cheap loan is by applying for a Discover card. For the most part, and you’ll have to double check the terms & conditions of the card you’d apply for, the fee is 3% with a maximum of $75. The sweet spot on that deal is thus $2500. If you get a transfer of over $2500, then your actual percentage fee starts to dwindle (3% of $2500 is $75). If you have a $5,000 credit limit and get a balance transfer for that amount, you’re really talking a 1.5% fee. If you have a $10,000 credit limit, you’re only talking a 0.75% fee.

No fee 0% balance transfer credit card offers are getting much harder and harder to find. What is someone looking to reduce their debt debt supposed to do? What is someone looking to plan a big financial expense (such as a home improvement or other large capital project) go for some quick financing? Fortunately, 0% balance transfer offers aren’t going away. Companies have simply added one-time transfer fees that make the offer less lucrative but still valuable if you’re in need of a quick credit infusion.

First, why have the best offers becoming harder to find? It’s because the tightening credit market has caused many issues to pull back their best offers. Credit is not as free flowing as is used to be and those battling debt, or looking for some other edge on their balances, are noticing. As recently as a year ago, you could find three dozen no fee 0% balance transfer offers out there… now it’s getting much harder and harder.

Second, what’s the best way to take advantage of these 0% offers? Many credit cards still offer a 0% balance transfer but now have an associated fee with them but they are still a great way for you to take a quick interest breather, to get more caught up, if you’re carrying debt or they’re valuable for financial planning reasons.

If you are saddled with debt, taking out a 0% balance transfer may be a good decision under certain circumstances. First, compare the interest rate of your debt to the one offered by the credit card after your 0% APR promotional period. If the old debt is higher than the new one, it’s a no brainer - apply for a 0% balance transfer credit card and move the debt. If the interest rate of your debt is lower or the same, how much can you pay off during the 0% period? If the answer is “not a lot,” then you may not want to move it. If the answer is “the whole thing,” and you must be certain of this, then it makes sense to move it.

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express card is a fantastic card if you’re a frequent stayer at Starwood Hotels (Sheraton, Westin, Meridian, Four Points, etc) because you can get 10,000 Starpoints for signing up and making a purchase. Now they have a promotion where you can get 1,000 points for each additional card you get after it makes a purchase, up to 2,000 points.

To take advantage of this promotion, you’ll need to first have Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, then register the new accounts here.

Terms & Conditions:

1,000 bonus Starpoints will be awarded to your Starwood Preferred Guest Account 8-12 weeks after the first purchase on an approved Additional Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card submitted with this application. The Additional Cardmember must make their first purchase with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card within one year of Card approval. Bonus offer applies to first 2 Additional Card added on this application only.

Have you ever heard of the Citi mtvU card? If not, it’s one of the only cards that gives you 5% cashback as ThankYou Network reward points at restaurants, movie theaters and bookstores, including Amazon.com.

That’s right, the coveted 5% cashback.

The card is designed for students but when I got it I wasn’t a student. I don’t know how it is now but it’s always worth a shot.