it gives you the option to sync with facebook, twitter and 4square. Do the $25 statement credits stack? if so, would I have to spend $225 to get a $75 credit if i sync it to all 3 accounts?

sorry for all the questions. on my phone atm and can't find an easy answer.

It's once per acct # regardless of which way you sync. If you have 3 amexs you can get 3 statement credits. If you have 1 you can get 1.

To clarify, Exxon/Mobil ($10) is one time only. BP ($5) is multiple use. (This is through activating the offers on AMEX' website--I'd guess other methods of activating them are the same.)

Ahhhhhh works on gift cards, of course. I'd been trying to figure out what gifts to buy to spend $75 on.

cant find anything on the amex sync site that answers this.

i spent $45ish at toysrus yesterday before realizing there was a spend $25, get $5 back deal there. I activated the deal afterwards, so i'm hoping it will still happen.

My guess is that it won't work, but it certainly doesn't hurt to try.

It wont

Better for travel rewards: Chase Sapphire or Starwood Amex?

Just locked up 50k southwest miles with $1000 spend with Soutwest Rapid Rewards Visa, incredible value even with $95 annual fee.

Plus you'll get 6k additional miles in a year. You can even cancel after they post and get the annual fee back, but ymmv.

If you just got the southwest card you won't be able to get the Sapphire. Do you mean Sapphire or Sapphire Preferred? The regular isn't that good for travel rewards because you can't transfer the points to anything, you can only use them in the UR portal.

This might be a dumb question, but I will ask it anyway.

I have 6k on a credit card to pay off, it is currently at 9% interest. I can take out a personal loan from my bank for the same amount at 12 months no interest. If I do this and pay off my credit card, I know I will save money, but does it look bad taking out another loan?

1. Should I take out the loan and pay off the card, or just continue paying the card off with the interest?

Take out the loan, pay off the credit card debt and don't get into CC debt again. You're really lucky to be paying 9% tbh. Get it down to 0% and pay it off as quickly as you can. Pay it off as quickly as you can!

Diversifying your credit history to be more than just a credit card is a good thing. So it's a win-win as long as you don't use the loan as an excuse to buy a big screen TV.

glad i saw this thread, i have reading to do. I am trying to enhance my knowledge of personal finance as a whole, its overwhelming. I was basically just pondering if I am really saving money using my chase freedom card. I pay my balance in full every due date and dont think i have been late on it. I estimate my credit to be fairly well but have not checked in awhile. Perhaps i should quickly being the last day of the year LOL, o well, i will use my 2014 freebie. Anyway, my wife thinks we should get rid of our CC's because "if we use debit cards we see the money being deducted and were less inclined to spend" LOL. okay, i guess thats different than when i break off a one time chunk. her reasoning sometimes??

However, seems like u r reaping some decent benefits. Maybe i need to be beasting the CC's. I want that 10% rebate u just spoke off in the opener. Some of those signups are awesome.

JL, are you still continuously taking on new offers, etc? came to pop in and I will pry read the thread, I want to learn a thing or two. Thanks

edit: just went to creditkarma and this site looks awesome. 778 credit score, sick brag?? Man, this is very intricate, amazing ****. Setup monitoring for lines of credit, its got my home mortgage down to a tee, etc. CRAAAAZY ****

What credit card would you recommend for me, general info:

- in grad school
- prob going to make like 15-20k this year from poker
- graduate in july, will likely have a job after that.
- currently pay about 1k a month in rent+util
- estimated credit score of 725
- mid 5 figures in SL debt if that matters(only debt)

Would you recommend waiting til I graduate? I was looking into getting one now because I plan on buying a car once I get a job and start working so would like to build some credit before that.

edit: Also is there any direct effect of applying to credit cards? Can I just apply to things, and then decide later if I want them after I get approved/declined?

Does she know that? If you pay off your bill every month it's essentially the same thing as a debit card except you 'settle up' at the statement close date instead of instantly. If you're responsible with credit (not spending beyond your means and paying off every cycle), a credit card is not very different from a debit card at all.

The rebates can be even better than 10%. Some cards are ridiculous with things like $200 cash back after spending $500 (40% rebate). Some cards give you 30,000 miles after first purchase - even of a pack of gum. 10% was just a baseline.

I am working on a new offer about 25% of the time. It's gotten to the point that: 1) I have most of the good rewards cards or I have had them in the past and 2) "Spending" $1k-$5k in 3 months is so laughably easy that it's hard for me to constantly be working on a new signup bonus.

If there are a lot of different rewards cards available to you, you have good credit, you're responsible with your credit and you're not planning on taking out a big loan anytime soon, then I would definitely say start clearing some bonuses! It's money out there for the taking. I bet your wife gets off your case when you fly to hawaii in first class and have a sick hotel for 5 days both 'paid' for with miles and points. And hell, if you can convince her, you can each open up the same card and get twice the payday at once.

If you apply for a credit card you are saying you want it. Definitely don't apply for a bunch of cards you aren't sure you want. You of course could close a card after it's approved, but you are still facing the hard inquiry for the application. It's just a bad idea. For perspective, I got my first real credit card when I was 16 to buy a laptop I wanted (dell.com required a CC). I never used it after buying the computer, and I paid it off immediately. I got my second credit card after I graduated college and started working.

I think getting a cc in college is fine, but there's a reason that credit card companies are on the campuses hunting college kids. I remember my college gf signing up for a credit card because the guy who gave us the application offered us a free pizza to apply. For most college aged kids, credit cards are a really bad idea.

That being said, if you think you're OK with the idea, I would start with a basic rewards card like the Discover IT or the Chase Freedom. Both cards are really good for entry level, fee free cards. Just realize that how you manage that card will have direct repercussions on the car loan you're thinking about getting. Hold it responsibly for a year and you may very well get a better rate, where as if you're late on it even once, you may not even qualify for the car loan.

lmao, I pondered the above question before reading this reply. I bet I have spent somewhere close to 7k on food this year ha. I dunno, 20 bucks a day said and done has to be close for me and food, amazing


damn JL, u r getting me excited now. time to focus less on poker and more on the tricks of the beasts, let's beast this ****. and yes jl, she knows I pay my cc, hence me making fun of her rationale. owning a cc and not owning one to me is no different, because it gets paid. Hawaii, here I come.

maybe I will provide details soon, and check for recommendations. but, I currently use chase freedom. I always activate the 5% but how do I know I am getting credited and are the qualified retailers usually known? ie, could I go see what merchants qualified if I go looking for that info? I also have a mypoints visa that mostly remains inactive. lately I have used it to deposit on some sites because it's a visa and gets accepted

using a debit card is one of the absolute stupidest things someone can do unless they're paying credit card interest every month.

the last 2 years banks are just giving away so much money for signing up for credit cards it's almost comical.if you fly a lot you're getting even more value.the best card i got so far was some amex card that gave 50k amex points for spending 1k in 3 months and i was able to sell the points for 750ish.

barclays arrival card is awesome- that was about 450 free for 1k, and is a great card otherwise except there is no way in hell im paying an annual fee when my free year is up. their nfl card was also a free 400 straight cash for spending 1k.

i also recently got the mariot card 70k points for 1k spending which ill sell for 450 ish.

i've done almost all the airline cards and sold the points, usually getting about 600 bucks for spending 1k. some of the cards i've been able to down grade some i just had to cancle bc im not paying annual fees.

i've hit all the really big bonus cards so lately i've been hitting the 200 for 500 spend cards like chase frredom and some capital one sony card.

an easy free tax free 20k or so the last few years just for paying my bills with new credit cards.

yea ive been doing signup bonuses every semester, usually it's 1k within x months, so I just buy all my books/school supplies with the new card.

problem is opening up new cards slightly dings your credit.

unless you're buying a house soon who really cares if it goes down a little?
i've opened about 35 cards in the last 2 years and my credit score is about 10 points lower than when i started.

I think the goal (at least for me) of using/opening cc is both for cashback rewards and for building a solid credit history. I've raised my score 60 points so far.

Just finding this thread and read through OP. Loved it and thanks for those sites...credit karma has me at 780! Figured my credit was decent but didn't think it was that good. Is that inflated or is that my actual score?

Credit sesame has me at 776...is it normal for them to differ slightly?

my credit karma score is 30 points higher than my fico

Mine is opposite, CK is 20 points lower than my Fico

Yes it can slightly ding your score in the very short term, in the mid-long term opening these new accounts is how you build a thick file.

If you're buying a house in the near future don't open new credit cards, period. If you're building credit, worrying about INQ or avg age dings is like an investor not buying 1000 shares of Google because the e-trade fee makes his balance go down.

Yes, because they're based on two different bureaus so the information might be slightly different. Also, most people report that they're about 20pts higher than their FICO.

Checking mine right now CS is 31pts higher than my last real FICO score, and CK is 14pts lower than FICO. That's why I recommend using both.

It's funny how people live so differently. My gf and I add $250 total into our monthly calculations (after rent and utilities) for groceries and we are usually under.

It shows in your statement how many points you earned at 1x and how many you earned at +4x. When the category is something like "department stores" they have a list of what qualifies on the website.

Congrats Google 'manufactured spending' so that if your books alone don't meet the target you have some other ideas as well.