Credit Card rewards question

[sunshinehighway]

I had to google it to see what it was and how it works. I think I understand the process, I'm just not sure whether I'm willing to go through that many hoops to pay the few bills I have that do not accept a CC directly. But it's still an interesting idea for anyone who has the time and organizational skills.

Yeah it really depends on how many bills you have that you can't pay with credit cards and how organized you are. With Serve through softcard you can add $1500 per with month with a credit card, regular Serve is $1000.
I'm a phone person so I just do everything on my phone and its easy. If you don't use your phone for stuff like that it might take more work to keep track.

 

[calypso726]

Yeah it really depends on how many bills you have that you can't pay with credit cards and how organized you are. With Serve through softcard you can add $1500 per with month with a credit card, regular Serve is $1000.
I'm a phone person so I just do everything on my phone and its easy. If you don't use your phone for stuff like that it might take more work to keep track.

I went ahead and switched to the Target Pre Paid Red card in order to pay bills you can't pay with credit cards like car payments and other credit cards etc. It works like Blue Bird. You can load up to $5K per month on it and then transfer to your bank account and then pay the bills or pay bills directly from the Target Pre Paid Red Card account. The loads come up as purchases not cash advance. You can also use the loaded Red Card to purchase items at Target and get 5% off. I tried it with a Disney gift card and it worked. However, I prefer to get 5 miles/$ when buying Disney gift cards as opposed to 5% off.

The card isn't available in all states yet but does work at all Targets. I am in Florida and you can't get the card here yet. I had a friend from Indiana get one for me and have been using it here with no problems.

 

[MommyBryn]

This is an AWESOME way to earn "free" stuff! We have numerous credit cards (all rewards cards) that we use for certain things to maximize our rewards. We have never carried a balance, and we keep a register just like a checkbook so there are no surprises when we pay the bill and it "deducts" from our account at the time of the expense.

Unfortunately, though, our mortgage doesn't take CC payments, nor do certain other utility bills. One thing to watch for though- sometimes they DO but there is a fee...make sure the fee is less than the points/cash back you'll be earning. Paying a $3.50 fee on a $75 bill may not seem bad because you get to use the rewards card, but if you're only getting, say 1% back, that's not worth it IMO.

 

[georgina]

I want airline miles!! LOL. I'm such a travel bug.

I notice the Chase Sapphire says 2x on travel or restaurants. And travel listed things like parking.

I use a toll road daily on my commute and it's about $60/month. I pay my toll charges with VISA. I wonder if those would count as Travel. Anyone with experience here?

And restaurants: does fast food count?

THANKS!!

I am cancelling my SW Visa in favor of Chase Sapphire, as both have an annual fee and Sapphire gives double points for more categories. They have been very generous in what is considered dining and travel. Also, my Chase Freedom points can be combined with the Sapphire points to get SW rapid rewards points. The only thing the SW card gives over Sapphire is the free drink coupons I get each year, but I can live without those. Plus, if I cancel my SW card, it appears in 2 years I can reapply and get the 50,000 point bonus again.

 

[sunshinehighway]

I am cancelling my SW Visa in favor of Chase Sapphire, as both have an annual fee and Sapphire gives double points for more categories. They have been very generous in what is considered dining and travel. Also, my Chase Freedom points can be combined with the Sapphire points to get SW rapid rewards points. The only thing the SW card gives over Sapphire is the free drink coupons I get each year, but I can live without those. Plus, if I cancel my SW card, it appears in 2 years I can reapply and get the 50,000 point bonus again.

You can call Chase and see if they'll do a product change from you Southwest Card to a Sapphire, just make sure you are still eligible for the sign up bonus.

 

[calypso726]

I want airline miles!! LOL. I'm such a travel bug.

I notice the Chase Sapphire says 2x on travel or restaurants. And travel listed things like parking.

I use a toll road daily on my commute and it's about $60/month. I pay my toll charges with VISA. I wonder if those would count as Travel. Anyone with experience here?

And restaurants: does fast food count?

THANKS!!

Fast food counts I had my Sun Pass connected to my Sapphire Preferred for tolls but it never coded as travel due to the way Sun Pass has their merchant code registered so I use a different card for the tolls.

sorry for all the posts, I'm excited

Does anyone know what this means:
You can redeem your miles as a statement credit against any travel expense – gas, airfare, baggage fees, hotel stays, you name it


I don't understand "as a statement credit", or how that works.

If you use the card to purchase a travel expense you can then use the points you have earned to pay for that travel expense. Your credit card statement will be credited for the value of the points you used to pay for the expense.

Example: When I applied for the Barclay Arrival Plus card I earned 44,000 bonus points after meeting the spend requirements. This is equal to $440. When we went to Europe last year we stayed in a Bed & Breakfast ( travel expense) and used the BAP credit card to pay for it. When I got home I logged on to my BAP account and used some of my 44K points to pay the Bed & Breakfast part of my credit card bill. Hope this helps.

 

[platamama]

The Target prepaid Redcard is terrific, I'm lucky it was rolled out in my state. It has come in extremely handy, more so than Serve because of the ability to load it with a CC at the store. (Lots of info about this if you google it.) With that as the intermediary, I can pay bills with a credit card, even other credit cards, and I'm about to try it with my mortgage. It's a great way to meet minimum spend for signup bonuses.

I would say if you don't pay off your balances in full each month, this is not a game you should get into.

 

[sunshinehighway]

Is there a limit on credit card loads with they Target red card?
I'm going to have to look more into this.
Thanks. I just always assumed it had the same limits as Serve.

 

[AnnaS]

We only have one credit card & charge everything I am allowed to purchase on it without any fees. I used to be able to pay college - no more. Except for my T Mobile bill - no other utilities I know take credit card (as far as I know without any fees).

I do not wait for my statement at the end of the month to pay. As soon as I see the charge posted on-line - I check everyday & make a payment every few days online (comes out from my checking account). No balances here.

I have been wondering if I can charge my lease payments without a fee. I should try it one month.

We charge gas for three cars, meals out, homeowners, car insurance for three cars (2x a year) 90% of our grocery bill, Tmobile, EZpass & just about any other purchase that is over $25 or so.

 

[calypso726]

Is there a limit on credit card loads with they Target red card?
I'm going to have to look more into this.
Thanks. I just always assumed it had the same limits as Serve.

The Target Pre Paid Red Card limits are $5K per month, $2500 per day, $1,000 per swipe. Here is an great page with more info CLICKY HERE

We only have one credit card & charge everything I am allowed to purchase on it without any fees. I used to be able to pay college - no more. Except for my T Mobile bill - no other utilities I know take credit card (as far as I know without any fees).

I do not wait for my statement at the end of the month to pay. As soon as I see the charge posted on-line - I check everyday & make a payment every few days online (comes out from my checking account). No balances here.

I have been wondering if I can charge my lease payments without a fee. I should try it one month.

We charge gas for three cars, meals out, homeowners, car insurance for three cars (2x a year) 90% of our grocery bill, Tmobile, EZpass & just about any other purchase that is over $25 or so.

We pay our cable, internet and phone with the Chase Ink Plus card to get the 5 miles per dollar with no additional fees. Our electric bill and car payments are paid through our Target Pre Paid Red Card after we load it up with a credit card to earn the points and miles. We never use cash/debit cards if we can help it since cash does not pay us back with any benefit. We recently had landscape work done and the landscaper said he'd give us a significant discount if we paid cash. DH scheduled the work to begin the following week so he had enough time to run to Target, load the Pre Paid Red Card with a credit card for the amount of the landscaping and then transfer that amount to our bank and withdrew the cash to pay the landscaper. So we got our "cash" discount but still earned the points and miles for the expense

We do not carry balances, and we pay most of the charges as we go before the statement hits but do let the statements cycle with a small amount due and then pay in full. This builds up the credit score as it will show using credit responsibly and keeping the utilization ratio low. I have well over 30 credit cards but only use 5 of them on a regular basis. The rest sit in a drawer. Some of them I've had a long time and won't cancel them since they play a role in my length of credit history which is a significant part of the credit score. The available credit on those cards also keeps my overall utilization ratio low. Before I started playing this game my credit score was in the low 700's and is now over 800.

 

[AnnaS]

The Target Pre Paid Red Card limits are $5K per month, $2500 per day, $1,000 per swipe. Here is an great page with more info CLICKY HERE



We pay our cable, internet and phone with the Chase Ink Plus card to get the 5 miles per dollar with no additional fees. Our electric bill and car payments are paid through our Target Pre Paid Red Card after we load it up with a credit card to earn the points and miles. We never use cash/debit cards if we can help it since cash does not pay us back with any benefit. We recently had landscape work done and the landscaper said he'd give us a significant discount if we paid cash. DH scheduled the work to begin the following week so he had enough time to run to Target, load the Pre Paid Red Card with a credit card for the amount of the landscaping and then transfer that amount to our bank and withdrew the cash to pay the landscaper. So we got our "cash" discount but still earned the points and miles for the expense

We do not carry balances, and we pay most of the charges as we go before the statement hits but do let the statements cycle with a small amount due and then pay in full. This builds up the credit score as it will show using credit responsibly and keeping the utilization ratio low. I have well over 30 credit cards but only use 5 of them on a regular basis. The rest sit in a drawer. Some of them I've had a long time and won't cancel them since they play a role in my length of credit history which is a significant part of the credit score. The available credit on those cards also keeps my overall utilization ratio low. Before I started playing this game my credit score was in the low 700's and is now over 800.

Very clever - I used to pay our cable with the cc when we had Time Warner. We then switched to Verizon and send a check now. Take away my dd's college tuition and we charge so much less on the cc. I like the pre paid Target Red card idea.

 

[marlynnp]

I don't have a CC.. really. I do have a $500 card with zero balance that I never use, for emergencies and as a guarantee for renting cars.

I do have credit accounts but I'm a novice at this.

Is it possible to pay my water, electric, MORTGAGE with a cc, and immediately pay off what I just charged via my debit card and not get charged interest but DO get some sort of reward?

I would love to earn airline miles for the things I'm already spending money on monthly. But I would NOT like to carry any kind of balance.

teach me!

No, you cannot use your debit card but you can immediately pay with your bank account directly on the cc issuers website - no fee.

 

[platamama]

I would also advise for each spouse to get their own credit card in order to double up on any sign up bonuses. Several programs (but not all, you need to research this) allow transfer of points/miles from one spouse to another for free. UR points, Club Carlson points, Marriott points are a few that come to mind that do allow this. If there are annual fees involved, you need to determine if the reward is worth the fee.

The easiest route is to go with the 2% cash back cards (Cap One Venture, Barclays Arrival+, Citi Double Cash - BTW this one has NO annual fee) and use those to spend on everything. Easiest, but not the most lucrative in terms of rewards. Going the more diversified route (lots of cards, using the ones that get you the most back in bonus categories) takes a lot more time and attention. Fun, if you like that sort of thing.

 

[calypso726]

I would also advise for each spouse to get their own credit card in order to double up on any sign up bonuses. Several programs (but not all, you need to research this) allow transfer of points/miles from one spouse to another for free. UR points, Club Carlson points, Marriott points are a few that come to mind that do allow this. If there are annual fees involved, you need to determine if the reward is worth the fee.

The easiest route is to go with the 2% cash back cards (Cap One Venture, Barclays Arrival+, Citi Double Cash - BTW this one has NO annual fee) and use those to spend on everything. Easiest, but not the most lucrative in terms of rewards. Going the more diversified route (lots of cards, using the ones that get you the most back in bonus categories) takes a lot more time and attention. Fun, if you like that sort of thing.

Exactly! DH and I each apply for the same cards so we can double our bonus and depending on the program pool our points. British Airways is another that allows household accounts. DH, my mom and I are using those points to fly direct in first class on American Airlines to Denver next Thanksgiving for 60K points and $11.21 each. My brother and SIL who are traveling with us do not play the miles and points game. The best economy fare they could find was with a connection and the tickets were nearly $600 each

We like the diversified route so we can maximize the value on the rewards we earn. Yeah, it does take a bit more attention and learning how to game the system to your advantage but I think it is fun. The other thing we do is utilize the shopping portals like Ultimate Rewards or American Airlines etc. to earn even more points/miles when shopping online.

 

[platamama]

We like the diversified route so we can maximize the value on the rewards we earn. Yeah, it does take a bit more attention and learning how to game the system to your advantage but I think it is fun. The other thing we do is utilize the shopping portals like Ultimate Rewards or American Airlines etc. to earn even more points/miles when shopping online.

Yes, me too. DH just does what I tell him.

Those shopping portals are super helpful. I like cashbackmonitor.com to see where the best rewards are.

We are flying business class round trip on British Airways to London and Paris for half the cost of economy tickets next summer, staying in Ireland for 6 nights for free, and I'm debating whether or not I should shoot for a free week at a Marriott in London while we're there. It would kind of eat up all my UR rewards but it might be worth it.

 

[sunshinehighway]

The Target Pre Paid Red Card limits are $5K per month, $2500 per day, $1,000 per swipe. Here is an great page with more info CLICKY HERE



We pay our cable, internet and phone with the Chase Ink Plus card to get the 5 miles per dollar with no additional fees. Our electric bill and car payments are paid through our Target Pre Paid Red Card after we load it up with a credit card to earn the points and miles. We never use cash/debit cards if we can help it since cash does not pay us back with any benefit. We recently had landscape work done and the landscaper said he'd give us a significant discount if we paid cash. DH scheduled the work to begin the following week so he had enough time to run to Target, load the Pre Paid Red Card with a credit card for the amount of the landscaping and then transfer that amount to our bank and withdrew the cash to pay the landscaper. So we got our "cash" discount but still earned the points and miles for the expense

We do not carry balances, and we pay most of the charges as we go before the statement hits but do let the statements cycle with a small amount due and then pay in full. This builds up the credit score as it will show using credit responsibly and keeping the utilization ratio low. I have well over 30 credit cards but only use 5 of them on a regular basis. The rest sit in a drawer. Some of them I've had a long time and won't cancel them since they play a role in my length of credit history which is a significant part of the credit score. The available credit on those cards also keeps my overall utilization ratio low. Before I started playing this game my credit score was in the low 700's and is now over 800.

Thanks! I'll definitely look into it.