Credit cards Archives - Page 36 of 48 - Personal Finance Digest

Kyrgyzstan on miles, the Virgin-Atlantic credit card, and Goldman’s new law enforcement role

August 6, 2013 By pfdigest

7 GREAT USES FOR AMERICAN MILES: Via Rapid Travel Chai, here is a great list of seven trips you can take using American Airlines miles. If you’re new to the world of points and miles, you’ll learn a lot about what can be done, and even if you’re not you still might get some good ideas. I, for one, had no idea S7 Airlines even existed, much less that American miles could be used to fly them to Kyrgyzstan. If you’re looking for something closer to home, the off-peak trips to Brazil look like a good value as well.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC CREDIT CARD: Frequent Miler takes an in-depth look at the Virgin Atlantic credit card. I had always mentally classified it in the “pretty much useless” category, but the card might actually be worthwhile for certain people. FM’s conclusion:

Thanks to the generous Bank of America Virgin Atlantic credit card, it is possible to accumulate Flying Club miles very inexpensively. And, there are some excellent high-value uses of these miles such as short flights on Virgin America or coach flights on Virgin Atlantic to London. There are also competitive redemptions available through the Delta partnership. If you are sure you can make use of those high value and/or competitive redemptions, then this credit card is probably worth its place in your wallet. For others, Virgin Atlantic miles are worth having to round out your portfolio of miles, but you probably wouldn’t want to think of Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club as your primary go-to program.

More details here.

GOLDMAN-SACHS IS NOW IN THE LAW ENFORCEMENT BUSINESS: Michael Lewis, one our of nation’s great financial writers, has the story of the questionable trial and imprisonment of former Goldman-Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov:

To avoid double jeopardy, the Manhattan D.A.’s office had found new crimes with which to charge Serge for the same actions. But the sentencing guidelines for the new crimes meant that, even if convicted, it was possible he wouldn’t have to return to jail. He’d already served time, for crimes the court ultimately determined he had not committed. Marino called the D.A.’s office. “They told me that they didn’t need him to be punished anymore, but they did need him to be held accountable,” says Marino. “They want him to plead guilty and let him go on time served. I told them in the politest terms possible that they can go fuck themselves. They ruined his life.”

Since this is a Michael Kelly piece in Vanity Fair, it’s a long read, but it’s very much worth your while.

HOME COOKING: One of the best ways to save money while simultaneously improving your health is to cook at home. If you’re at a loss for how to get started, The Simple Dollar has some ideas.

A great credit card offer ends soon, cost-cutting for the lazy, and cheap Toys R Us gift cards

July 31, 2013 By pfdigest

CHASE SOUTHWEST 50,000 OFFER ENDING NEXT WEEK: The Points Guy reports that the Chase Southwest 50,000-point sign-up bonus, one of the better deals currently out there, will go away August 6. This offer has been coming and going for a while, but as TPG points out you never know if or when it will come back. How good is this deal? Mommy Points rates it as her pick for the best deal in family travel.

HOW LAZY PEOPLE CAN CUT EXPENSES: Here’s an interesting business model: there’s a company called BillCutterz that will make phone calls on your behalf to cut your costs–in exchange for a cut of the savings. So if you’re too lazy or too clueless to call the cable company to ask for a lower rate, they’ll do it for you.

I’m not using terms like lazy and clueless in the pejorative sense–plenty of perfectly decent people simply are that way–I’m sure all of you have friends like that–and if a company like BillCutterz can save them money they otherwise wouldn’t save, then good for them. (Via MaximizingMoney)

$10 TOYS R US GIFT CARD FROM COINSTAR: We’re only a few months away from Christmas shopping season, so you may be interested to know that Coinstar will give you an extra $10 on your Toys R Us gift card when you exchange $40 or more at a kiosk at Kroger, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, Dillons, City Market, Smith’s, Baker’s, Ralphs, QFC, and Gerbes. (And I’m sure those of you with kids know that Toys R Us gift cards are also valid at Babies R Us.)

Note that there is no fee if you exchange your coins for a gift card instead of for cash. So this actually seems to be a way to get $50 worth of Toys R Us credit for $40, which is better than you can get buying from resellers. In fact, 80 cents on the dollar is actually lower than what most places will give you if you’re selling, though I have no idea how fungible the Coinstar gift cards are. (Via HustlerMoneyBlog)

THE OBAMACARE SUBSIDY CLIFF: There’s a study at a site called ValuePenguin detailing some of the incentives put into place by the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. There’s a summary of the study at CNBC as well. Long story short, some folks may face the incentive to earn less money lest they lose their health care subsidy, though it’s hard to say for certain because nobody’s been able to thoroughly work out all the details yet.

Has anybody read the Wikipedia entry on the ACA? It is not an easy read.

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU DEAD DONKEYS: For all you enterprising capitalists out there, here’s a good joke from Quorum:

A city boy, Raju, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for Rs 100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
The next day the farmer drove up and said, “Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died last night.”
Raju replied: “Well then, just give me my money back.”
The farmer said: “Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.”
Raju said: “OK then, just unload the donkey..”
The farmer asked: “What ya gonna do with him?”
Raju: “I’m going to raffle him off.”
Farmer: “You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!”
Raju: “Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.”
A month later the farmer met up with Raju and asked, “What happened with that dead donkey?” Raju: “I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two rupees a piece and made a profit of Rs. 898.00.”
Farmer: “Didn’t anyone complain?”
Raju: “Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his two rupees.”

Get 1% back on a no-fee balance transfer! Plus the demise of a 14% rewards card, and some Euro credit card advice

July 18, 2013 By pfdigest

1% CASH BACK ON BALANCE TRANSFERS: The Barclaycard Ring is offering 1% back on balance transfers for the first 60 days (note: this is not an affiliate offer of mine) and no balance transfer fees.

Is this a good deal? The answer is a definitive “probably not.” First of all, the interest rate on balance transfers is 8%, so after only a month and a half your 1% bonus will be negated. Even if another card is charging a 3% fee, if you combine that with a low APR you’d still come out ahead on that vs the Ring card after several months.

Now some of you are probably thinking, “Can’t I just transfer money in, pay it off, then transfer some more in?” The answer is maybe–it would depend on how quickly Barclays processes transfers and payments. My best guess is that it would not be worthwhile, especially when you consider that Barclaycard has many better and easier offers, but who knows.

Over at FWF, where I first read about this promotion, resident credit card expert imbatman has a very clever idea: “I wonder if you can prepay, then BT (effectively no interest because your balance was never greater than $0).” That would probably be the most efficient way of working this promotion, although it would also be risky since credit card companies might shut you down if you start running lots of very negative credits on your account.

Still, it’s an interesting promotion in that it’s the first time I can remember reading about bonuses for balance transfers in a very long time. Hopefully Chase or Citi will come through with a 5% BT rewards offer one of these days…

ADIOS TO THE LUCRATIVE TRAVELOCITY CARD: A few months ago I wrote about how you could get 12% back (or even 14%) on your travel purchases with the annual-fee version of the Travelocity Amex. It appears as though the party may be over, as Flyertalkers report that the more lucrative annual fee version has disappeared. I couldn’t find the annual fee version either. Let’s hope they’re just getting ready for a relaunch, but just in case… Requiescat In Pace.

DO YOU NEED CHIP CARDS FOR YOUR TRIP TO EUROPE?: There’s lots of talk out there about how you need chip cards (as opposed to the old-timey magnetic stripe cards that we’re used to) if you’re going to Europe. Fortunately for us, hard-hitting reporter Tony Mecia did an objective, scientific study which consisted of making lots of purchases during his family’s recent trip to Europe:

We attempted to use credit cards 106 times in 17 days in three countries (England, France and Spain), following our usual points-collecting strategy of charging everything possible and paying off bills each month. In only 10 cases were we unable to use any kind of credit card. Almost all of those were in Barcelona metro kiosks, at toll booths in southern France and with automated machines used to validate parking.
And to my surprise, only once did my chip card work after my stripe card didn’t: at a rest stop in Fraga, Spain, where I was buying a couple ham sandwiches and some Pringles.

If you have any trips coming up, take a look.

HOW ABOUT SOME 100-YEAR-OLD LIFEHACKS: Enjoy.

Microsoft Office for $10, the 1% savings boost, and Barclays tightens up

July 8, 2013 By pfdigest

MICROSOFT OFFICE FOR $9.95: Some of you may already be aware of this, but it’s possible for those with the right employers to get Microsoft Office for only $9.95. This is done via the Microsoft Home Use Program, wherein employees of companies that use Microsoft Office can get a version for their home computer on the cheap. To find out if you’re eligible, just enter your work email on the page linked above.

HOW MUCH WILL SAVING 1% MORE GET YOU?: A nice interactive graphic from the NYT on how much an additional 1% of savings adds up to over the years. (H/T: Barry Ritholtz)

$500 VISA GIFT CARDS TO RETURN AT OFFICE DEPOT: Chase Ink fans, get ready: the scuttlebutt is that $500 gift cards are returning to Office Depot. Though there is some talk on Flyertalk that they’ll only accept cash. This could turn out to be a YMMV situation, as with certain retailers who let you buy gift cards with gift cards. We’ll see…

RAPID TRAVEL CHAI’S APP-O-RAMA: It’s often informative to read the results of somebody’s app-o-rama, especially if they’re applying for more cards than you’ve ever applied for at once. I therefore enjoyed seeing how Rapid Travel Chai did: 5 credit cards approved, 1 pending, 2 denied. The two denials were from Barclays, and the lesson:

In line with many recent reports, Barclays has gotten very tight and reconsideration would not budge. They were most concerned about overall number of recent accounts and want me to have a longer track record with existing Barclays accounts. Similar happened with my wife a month earlier for the Arrival even though she has only ever had one Barclays card, the US Airways, and that for a year. So I think it may be best early on to go for one big Barclays score like the 4 I got last Decemberand then let them cool for a year or more.

MORE ON MONEY AND HAPPINESS: The Economist has a review of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending. In a nutshell:

This slim volume is packed with tips to help wage slaves as well as lottery winners get the most “happiness bang for your buck”. It seems most people would be better off if they could shorten their commutes to work, spend more time with friends and family and less of it watching television (something the average American spends a whopping two months a year doing, and is hardly jollier for it). Buying gifts or giving to charity is often more pleasurable than purchasing things for oneself, and luxuries are most enjoyable when they are consumed sparingly. This is apparently the reason McDonald’s restricts the availability of its popular McRib—a marketing gimmick that has turned the pork sandwich into an object of obsession.

I’ll second the television suggestion–I (mostly) gave it up a few years ago and I don’t miss it one bit. I say “mostly” because I’ll still watch live sporting events or catch up on TV shows via Netflix, but I’ve cut out aimless channel-surfing entirely.

I will never understand the McRib obsession, though. Those things–and I say this as somebody who actually likes McDonald’s hamburgers–are appalling.

Kyrgyzstan on miles, the Virgin-Atlantic credit card, and Goldman’s new law enforcement role

A great credit card offer ends soon, cost-cutting for the lazy, and cheap Toys R Us gift cards

Get 1% back on a no-fee balance transfer! Plus the demise of a 14% rewards card, and some Euro credit card advice

Microsoft Office for $10, the 1% savings boost, and Barclays tightens up

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