Credit Cards - Intrest, Fees, and Bullshit

[JPolen01]

The "pros" are really good at the quick installs. Watch how fast this guy installs a skimmer inside of a convenience store! Imagine if no one is watching you at a gas pump or ATM.

[.RJ]

I want to start a product/company that gives you an interface between your CC and all your monthly subscription payments.

Thought and talked to friends about this several times. I want this too but, there is a lot of hoops you'd have to go through to have this work. Good luck. Can't share card numbers through APIs, risk of exposing customer info, etc. So, you'd have to get a unique identifier, grab through api, then convert to find PAN (card number) to update on all the accounts. Just seems like something a card company themselves would have to create and even then they would have to make sure only companies following their same standards could use that tool to update subscriptions.

I dont want to convert card numbers.  Removed the card layer from the retailers all together so it would have to be new tech/product.  Maybe this is a good application for blockchain instead of speculative meme currency.

Now, naturally this creates a bigger problem in that holding all of the cards in one place, vs all the different places you have recurring payments makes it much more attractive to scammers/hackers.

[Apoc]

This already exists in a myriad of solutions like Amazon Pay. The problem is the billing entities, like retailers and utility companies, haven't adopted a standard.

[.RJ]

This already exists in a myriad of solutions like Amazon Pay. The problem is the billing entities, like retailers and utility companies, haven't adopted a standard.

And some offer paypal or ACH.  You're right, there's no standard. 

But this problem fucking sucks now that EVERYTHING has moved to a subscription payment model and large companies keep getting hacked.

[Apoc]

The Citi Prestige we've had is working out for us, but not without some gaps. The feature we've used most often is club lounge access, which is killer with a toddler. Unfortunately, we had a late flight in New Orleans recently and there wasn't a participating lounge (I think they were all Delta?).

I also started booking our trip to Europe this fall. We had 115k miles by the time we booked, which saved us $1600 off flights. The nice thing about how they structure rewards is it's all money based, so you get like 1.33 cents per mile. This sucks if you're trying to get an expensive flight for free (I do cross country with Alaska this way), but nice because you still benefit from deals and you don't have to have the full cost of the flight to book. 

Then I used the card to snag four nights in Milan for the price of three. I was worried availability would be crap because we're staying near an F1 race, and there were some issues, but ultimately I got it worked out. Long story short, their website only shows the availability the hotel sends them... which can be manual. You only find out after you enter all your contact and payment info, then click submit. It actually took me 2.5 hours today to finally get something booked. The good news is we got $400/night hotel rooms for $240/night (including another 23k miles), so it worked out.

[Apoc]

Built up 169k miles over the last 18 months on our Citi Prestige card. That plus $149/person got us flights next nonth to Prague and back from Vienna two weeks later. Flights are British Airways, connecting through LHR.

I think they're moving the airline redemption from 1.33x to 1.00x, which reduces the value a bit. I'll have to wait and see how that impacts our awards.

Unfortunately, Alaska lounges no longer participate in Priority Pass so we end up walking half the airport just to get to a lounge at SEA. #firstworldproblem. Looks like there are plenty of lounge options in LHR and VIE.

They've also capped the fourth night free at two per year, but we've never used more than that in any given year (partly because we do Airbnb when traveling with a kid).

Lastly, the Price Rewind is going away... but I think I've only managed saving like $20-30 total by using it over the last 3-4 years.

Given we're flying to Europe for two weeks for $446 in flights, I'm still pretty happy with the card. The lounge thing is big for us, so that and cheap flights are all we really care about. We travel enough that their 5x for airlines, etc. really adds up fast.

[Apoc]

I can no longer recommend Citi Prestige because all the travel benefits have been absolutely gutted.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/citi-remov...otections/

We'll probably be moving over to Chase Sapphire Reserve. I think someone mentioned that in here?

The worst part is having to changed the stored credit card number for like EVERYTHING.

[Ken]

I can no longer recommend Citi Prestige because all the travel benefits have been absolutely gutted.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/citi-remov...otections/

We'll probably be moving over to Chase Sapphire Reserve. I think someone mentioned that in here?

The worst part is having to changed the stored credit card number for like EVERYTHING.

Yikes - they really did.

Yes - Sapphire Reserve is one of our two go-to's, would recommend.

[Jake]

I can no longer recommend Citi Prestige because all the travel benefits have been absolutely gutted.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/citi-remov...otections/

We'll probably be moving over to Chase Sapphire Reserve. I think someone mentioned that in here?

The worst part is having to changed the stored credit card number for like EVERYTHING.

Chase SR is great. Sadly they're not running any referral offers right now, or I'd send you a special link that gave us both some extra points.

[HAULN-SS]

You should check into the Barclay arrival cards. I'd be very surprised if the redemption value made up for having 10x the annual fee over 2 years. It basically works out to 2.1% off every purchase if you just save your redemptions for travel stuff, plus bonuses.

[Apoc]

That card was discontinued in June of this year.

[Jake]

You should check into the Barclay arrival cards.  I'd be very surprised if the redemption value made up for having 10x the annual fee over 2 years.  It basically works out to 2.1% off every purchase if you just save your redemptions for travel stuff, plus bonuses.

The CSR fee looks high on the surface ($450) but you immediately get $300 of it as travel credit. It works out if you actually travel with the card, and "travel" includes bus, Metro, parking, Uber, etc.

So the $150 annual fee I'm actually paying is still worth it given I use the card for 98% of my spending and get an assload of points back.

[Ken]

You should check into the Barclay arrival cards.  I'd be very surprised if the redemption value made up for having 10x the annual fee over 2 years.  It basically works out to 2.1% off every purchase if you just save your redemptions for travel stuff, plus bonuses.

The CSR fee looks high on the surface ($450) but you immediately get $300 of it as travel credit. It works out if you actually travel with the card, and "travel" includes bus, Metro, parking, Uber, etc.

So the $150 annual fee I'm actually paying is still worth it given I use the card for 98% of my spending and get an assload of points back.

Yup - if you travel, it absolutely covers itself. Lounge access, global access/pre check covered, etc.

[Apoc]

He's right to think of it as a % of all purchases, but the outcome really depends on spending habits. Looks like the CSR is about 6% on travel and dining, which is probably 1/3 of our spending. The blended rates probably aren't that much different than 2.1%.

I've had very mixed results with Priority Pass. Alaska Air, which has a couple lounges at SEA, withdrew from the program a year ago. There are two lounges that still participate there, but they are never near our gate (almost always fly Alaska) and/or they close to PP members "during busy times." You won't know until you show up, which is annoying. It was awesome during our recent layover in LHR.

Clear is life changing. Seems so shitty to pay to cut the line... but TSA pre check lines are the longest lines at SEA. Saving 30 min in line with a 3 y/o is worth the $99/year ($179 normally, but $99 with a free Delta Skymiles account). I got over the guilt pretty quick before my four month free trial was over.

[Ken]

He's right to think of it as a % of all purchases, but the outcome really depends on spending habits. Looks like the CSR is about 6% on travel and dining, which is probably 1/3 of our spending. The blended rates probably aren't that much different than 2.1%.

I've had very mixed results with Priority Pass. Alaska Air, which has a couple lounges at SEA, withdrew from the program a year ago. There are two lounges that still participate there, but they are never near our gate (almost always fly Alaska) and/or they close to PP members "during busy times." It was awesome during our recent layover in LHR.

Yeah, Priority Pass is just, "meh" domestically but is very good overseas. 

Venture is pretty good too  - to your point that's why we split up our purchases. Travel and dining is CSR, and everything else is Venture. We tend to forget about venture and every so often look and realize we have a ton of points added up. I like that you can just select a previous travel expense and have it covered retroactively.

[Apoc]

We had that before our Citi Prestige but bailed because the 5x on travel, fourth night free, lounge access, etc. We still have it, but we only take it overseas with us as a backup. It lives in my passport wallet, actually.

We use Alaska's card for small things. The $99 annual companion fare makes buying a seat for a three year old more palatable. My wife has one too, so we've been flying anywhere Alaska does non-stops (e.g. we're currently in Puerto Vallarta).

[Apoc]

Ordered the Chase Sapphire Prestige 2.5 weeks ago and it never came. Hopefully the replacements actually show up cause I'm over using the Citi Prestige.