Update.
I did learn I was approved.A low level employee in the credit approval department indicated the line size was based on an average of what others had given, and quoted a wrong figure for the highest limit I had. She said this was after a supervisor’s review and i decided not to try to argue, since someone could easily conclude from my credit report that I would be an unprofitable customer, using it heavily until the 5% was over, and then carrying a balance at their .99% annual rate as long as that was available (6 months I believe).
They cannot actual issue the card until they have a membership account to attach it to. I was told if can put the documents needed into a pdf form they can be sent as attachments to their help E-mail, but as a security mechanism any other form cannot be opened.
Having fun with my Freedom card. The 5% across the board reward interval is very short, lasting only until the end of January. But oh my goodness does it EVER come at a great time for spending!! I’m actually even putting a lot of conventional spend on the card. A 5% card on Black Friday! It “don’t get a lot better” than that.
Unconventional spending? I am experimenting. After having got bit at NFCU I’m a tiny bit gunshy. But my sense so far is that Freedom is different and will be fine. Will know more early in December following first statement. If experiments pan out it’ll be full speed ahead with the unconventional spending at Freedom.
Craziest thing of all is that I very nearly did not apply for this Freedom card!! What on earth was I thinking?!! Now realize this card is a total no-brainer. Old age must be catching up with me to where I did not see that from the get-go.
This holiday season, spend $200 between November 16th, 2018-December 31st, 2018 with your Marvel Mastercard®, and earn a $30 Fandango e-gift card, perfect for taking your favorite sidekick to the movies!
Excellent, how much do you use this card on a monthly/annual basis? I got the same offer, but I have to spend $400 for the $30 Fandango money. I am going to try hard to only spend the $400 via 3% categories, but it might not be possible. My usage was pretty steady (few hundred a month) until my Savor card became 4%, then my Marvel card usage dropped to zero, but probably not soon enough to get the lower threshold on this offer.
The only two categories that this card offers that are still unique to this card are 3% bookstores (aside from the Amazon card) and 3% streaming (Netflix/Sling/Hulu).
It depends on how much I spend eating out. At a minimum, I use it to pay for Netflix. Since last year, the most I charged in a single month is $300. Monthly average is probably $100-150.
“Select entertainment categories include Movie Theatres, Video Rental and Game Stores, Theatrical and Concert Promoters, Amusement Parks, Digital Entertainment, Games and Software, Music, Books and Newsstands, Toys and Hobby Stores.”
Unanticipated positive outcome this morning with Freedom Credit Union 5% card. Here is my data point:
Wanted to pay off card before close of statement on (I think) November thirtieth. Did routine ACH transfer of funds from Alliant to my Freedom CU savings. Then, at Freedom website, did transfer from Freedom savings to my Freedom CU 5% CC account. The outcome:
Funds were applied to my CC balance reducing it to zero straightaway. Also they instantly restored my credit line to its maximum value.
I have other no BS cards that do this. But some, instead, put payments on hold, which is always a nuisance, and do not restore your credit line right away. So three cheers for Freedom CU! I could not be more pleased.
Now, of course, it has become “wait and see” to learn whether or not the promised 5% reward will materialize early in December. Time will tell.
Looking for a card with a big sign-up bonus for a short term large expense (medical). Ok with free 1st year no annual fee since I plan in cancelling it before the year is up.
So far it seems like Chase Sappire Preferred, any other suggestions?
Chase Preferred - 50k point for $4k spend in first 3 month. ($625/$4000 = almost 15% back)
Cash only or travel rewards? If travel there are a couple higher value options. If you stay at hotels and take flights, the aspire has a negative effective annual fee and even worth keeping past year 1. Year 1 you get $500 airline (can be gift cards), $250 Hilton credit (only good at ~200 of them, but good on base room charges not just additional), 2 weekend night certificates, and 150k hilton points (~$600). Around $2000 in year 1 for $450 fee paid, $1500 profit. In following years, it’s around $750+ worth back every year for $450 fee, so a net profit of about $300/yr, plus Hilton’s highest status level and standard premium card stuff like priority pass and global entry fees.
Back to cash, if you can reasonably apply as a sole proprietor, the Chase ink preferred has 80k chase points instead of 50k. I think I have referral bonus offers on all three of those cards currently but those help someone else don’t give you extra.
Not really a great idea, some terms already specifically call out this behavior. But you can instead usually downgrade right after the year.
Can you run any travel charges through it? If so, you might consider Sapphire Reserve instead. Also, Priority Pass access is multi-year now on CSR. If you cancel or downgrade, you should be able to keep PP access for 3-4 years (I can’t remember which).
Spark Cash Business*: $500 for $5K/3mo + $1500 more if you spend $50K/6mo.
Arrival+: 70K points (worth ~$735 travel credit) for $5K/3mo, AF waived.
(*) YMMV charging medical expenses on a biz card. I did that recently (on Cap1) and received a reminder letter to not use a business card for personal expenses (may have been a coincidence) and a 50% reduction of CL (possibly because I didn’t use the card in a while and then charged 50% of CL).
Probably going to be around $10k. My credit is frozen so it will be a bit of work, I already have card with citi and chase so they may be easier to get. right now it seems I’ll be sticking with Chase Sapphire.
It could easily be different with CreditKarma. I dunno because I have no experience with them. Maybe CreditKarma does a better job.
But with the free services I use to obtain FICO (and other similar) credit scores, there is a MAJOR issue with currency. Said another way, too often the free credit scores one receives from financial institutions are far too old to be of any value whatsoever.
My credit score moves up and down like a yo-yo. A score from several weeks ago is meaningless. A score which is one or two months old is downright silly. When I encounter the REALLY old scores I usually think :
That’s a good question. The simple answer is to thaw/refreeze the three major bureaus and let them have at it. Mind you, in the state where I live, even before September 21, thaws/freezes were free so I had little incentive to try to scope it down. In general, I’ve found that asking the credit card lender which bureau they pull from almost always gets the answer “All of them”. They may not actually pull from all of them, but they don’t want people shopping for cards based on who pulls what bureau.
That said, I recently applied for a rewards card that I needed to steer away from one bureau (Z). I left the one with the info I didn’t care for them to see frozen. They called me and said they were unable to pull from that bureau. I stated that I was certain that I’d unfrozen X and Y, but maybe not Z. And they immediately said, OK, we’ll use X instead. Worked out well.
You do realize that there’s really no such thing as an “old” score. Your credit score is calculated from the information on your credit report at the moment your report is pulled to get a score. Unless the place you requested your score from happened to have a 2 month old copy of your credit report already on hand (pulled 2 months ago), it’s impossible for them to produce a 2 month old credit score.
What you saw as “old” scores are more likely what’s commonly known as a FAKO score - alternate scoring formulas intended to mimic the FICO formula without paying the royalty fees, and thus are far from exact. Also, different credit reports will produce different scores, due to different information.
If you don’t care, you’d probably thaw all three. But if you want to be strategic and try to “redistribute” inquiries, DoC to the rescue. Allegedly some people had success with making Chase pull a different report than they normally do (and what they normally pull may be inferred from the credit pulls database… it’s always EX for me). And CapOne usually pulls all 3, but some have had success with either TU or EX frozen.
