You know the Reserve's travel credit is valid for any travel right? So if you spend $300 on taxis, Ubers and trains over a year, you can still get it back.
I believe you can also purchase $300 in airline gift cards. That way you can redeem the $300 travel credit. Then pay the balance with sapphire reserve to earn 3x on travel.
The Credit Shifu Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature? 5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category): Travel Restaurants Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.] Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.] Department Stores Hardware & Home Improvement Stores Charitable Organizations Pharmacies & Drug Stores Amazon 3x on gas 2x on groceries 1x everything else Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25 0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months 1% foreign transaction fees No annual fee
BeatTheBush Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature? 5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category): Travel Restaurants Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.] Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.] Department Stores Hardware & Home Improvement Stores Charitable Organizations Pharmacies & Drug Stores Amazon 3x on gas 2x on groceries 1x everything else Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25 0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months 1% foreign transaction fees No annual fee
Thank you for all your information. I remember I started watching you 2 years ago when my credit score was at 540 with no credit cards. I'm at 715 with 2 credit cards with 3000 line of credit each I was able to refinance my car and I pay all balances in full every month and now I'm looking to buying a house through a VA loan. Thank you for your hard work!!
Wow! Have you been watching 2 years already? Time flies! You know, having 715 takes a huge burden off your shoulders doesn't it? I'm so glad you are able to use my videos to get some results. I am very happy for you! =D =D
Yeah man thank you for all the videos, and your hard work. I can say I've learned a lot from your videos, ever since I made the decision on May 2016 to fix my credit, I've even used your recommendation self lender link to help with my credit rebuilding process. So far I've gotten two credit cards Cap1 and Chase freedom Unlimited. I've watch every video you've made since, and majority of the older video. Keep up the good work.
I like watching your videos as after watching something from Credit Shifu or asksebby. You rather bring us back to earth in a way. Show the side that many should consider when considering any of these cards.
You should be a college professor. You have a knack for giving fantastic financial education advice. You really do great at giving advice in easy to understand terms. Keep doing what you do. You are one of my favorite RUclipsrs.
Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature? 5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category): Travel Restaurants Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.] Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.] Department Stores Hardware & Home Improvement Stores Charitable Organizations Pharmacies & Drug Stores Amazon 3x on gas 2x on groceries 1x everything else Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25 0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months 1% foreign transaction fees No annual fee
Thank you for more amazing productive information.. rethinking getting a travel credit card now. 10/10 stars for this one. Keep em coming dude!! #BeatTheBushLife🤙🏻
This was a very interesting video, and I was glad I ran into it because I had in mind that you might have talked about this specific topic. For big spenders (but responsible with the expenses) by all means they can get those cards with big bonuses and perks. But for those who don't see themselves traveling that often, but wants to have a card for traveling just in case the opportunity arrives, there are lesser traveling credit cards out there without annual fees that are exceptional out there. Especially those without transactions fees and which points doesn't expires. There's the Capital One VentureOne and the Bank of Americard Travel Rewards in which fits in this criteria. Both of which are Visas. I think these are among two of the best cards for those who are willing to travel once in a while, especially because the bonus requires just 1K spending on the first 3 months and generally speaking this is less risky. I have been watching your videos for some time now as I seek counsel regarding all matters of finance, and I like your enthusiasm. For the past 6 months I've been building credit, and I am doing so much better now because you actually do help me to be patient while I step forward for better scores.
I'm glad each of the vids help you think about finances in a way that builds wealth. To throw a wrench into all this though, as others have mentioned, one can possibly manufacture spending to get these rewards without actually spending real money. I suppose I'll have to give that a go next time I get a sign up bonus card and report on this with a new video.
In my opinion, you need to update your Creditcard hustle !! For instance, to meet the minimum spend, you can buy gift cards in advance for the places you usually buy.
I'm getting one only because I travel for work and my job reimburses me on travel, so it makes sense. If I'm flying at least twice a month for work, and staying in hotels for 6-8+ days per month, then I think the annual cost for the travel card makes sense. Plus, I'm in grad school so I'm just going to put some of my tuition on the card to get the bonus, and pay it off right away. I think if you're not in a situation similar to this, travel cards don't make sense. I feel if I didn't travel to work, I would be inclined to spend more money than I normally would to try and justify the annual fee and get the travel points. THe purpose of the credit card shouldn't be to spend more to get points, it should be to get points from purchases that you were going to make regardless if you had the card or not
Aside from rent and car payment still has an easy add up method: cell phone, electric bill, student loans, gas, groceries, misc, dining out, car insurance all adds up quite fast.
Great video! I got the CSR with the 100k bonus. A friend's rent is $2k and he paid me b4 the transaction so the $4k was easy to hit. For me it's totally worth it. I travel once a month for business or leisure. I honestly haven't purchased anything I normally wouldn't have. The $300 flew by very quickly with a car rental & hotel. Excellent card for people who travel a few times a year or maybe one big trip a year. If you don't travel then you're better off with a $0 cash back card.
I agree. You can get great value if you can use it with your normal spending habits. Perhaps it might be worth it if you can manufacture the spending as well. I might have to do it and make a new video on it.
Personally always find cash back cards are just better in return then travel cards. I can spend 1k and get 300$ cash back via bonus (not including the 1-5% cashback). Thats saving 30% on every dollar I spend. Travel cards value wise going by bonus I'm only getting 15% or 10% at best usually. Only ever get a travel card if I can't churn anything else cash back wise for the bonus and have a big purchase to make anyways business wise. Also annual fees of travel cards are a no go for me and digs into the value of the card even more.
Do you not manufacturer spend? e.g. venmo, plastiq, gift cards, serve, etc. I've found it being way easier than counting up 100 $30 purchases over 3 months. I spend way less that way
I generally avoided that kind of spending for some odd reason. Mainly I hate paying the fee but I guess the bonus is much better than the fee. I probably should try this soon.
I see the point you're trying to make, but the $300 travel credit is simple to hit in a year given it takes uber, lyft, flights, etc. If you take 1 domestic flight in a year and take 2-3 uber/lyft rides you hit your minimum there. I'm a very, very frugal person but with the slightest bit of discipline you can get a ton of value out of this card. This is true for those of us who got the CSR with the 100k signup bonus, the March reduction to 50k makes this card a lot less appealing.
Might depend on the person. What about the $4000 spend while being a frugal person? I did miss the CSR on purpose as I did not see me being able to use it as I just went out of the country a few months ago. You see how easy it is to use the travel credit is relative to the person. But you see, once you pay the $450, you essentially bought a gift card for travel and you are on a timer to spend it. If you know you will do 1 domestic flight then it should be fine.
I agree the $4000 can be hard to hit, but as you mention in the video, timing is everything. I needed an eye surgery that was $3k, so I timed it to coincide with my 3 months and hit the minimum just in time. Something I'm not sure if you've mentioned in previous videos, but using a 3rd party service for rent is also a great way to hit the minimum. As an example, I could pay my 5 person house's $3200 rent with a credit card through "plastiq." While I'd be losing $80 on the transaction fee (they charge 2.5% for credit cards), I'd be gaining a ton in value with the signup bonus. Also, my plan is to keep my CSR for several years then likely product change down to a freedom/other free card. Still a fan of a lot of your videos, so keep it up. Edit: Just saw someone mention "plastiq" and your reply.
BeatTheBush I agree about hitting the min spend. That might be out of reach for a lot of folks for the chase reserve. But cmon... For the vast majority of people, even the vast majority of frugal people should have no trouble spending $300 on travel in one whole year. This isn't a travel credit that applies to a small and narrow definition of travel. This includes mass transit, parking lots and as already mentioned above uber and Lyft. You don't have to take a single expensive flight or hotel stay to use the travel credit. Unless you walk and bike everywhere only, it's super simple to use up such a broad travel credit without having to purposely increase your spend.
Lots of us live in suburbs where we can drive ourselves to work or to the grocery or wherever everywhere and don't ever have to pay for transit or tolls or parking. For us non city dwellers, a card like the CSR doesn't make as much sense.
Going to the airport, going to/from the bars, etc. it's not hard to hit the $300 reimbursed spend. And that's just considering any uber/lyft used during the year, hitting the spend for travel (flights, hotels, etc) is probably the easiest thing to do assuming you make 1 weekend trip at a minimum during the year. If you stay at home or local 100% of the year then obviously this card won't do anything for you, it's marketed as a travel card after all... I just don't really see your point in isolating non city dwellers, only places like SF, Chicago, and NY seem to be the "we don't need cars" types of cities as well.
It really depends on your travel and spending habits. The CSR's travel credits are pretty flexible. I live in new york and ride the subway every day, that's easy $120 dollars every month and that more than makes up for the CSR's $300 travel credit in 3 months (And that's excluding all my Uber rides every now and then).
Citi often lets you swap over your Premier card to a Preferred Card. You keep the same account history (i.e. age of credit account) and points. The Preferred Card doesn't have an annual fee and you can get some sign-on bonus points when you swap over to it.
I guess I'll see what they offer. Usually the sign up bonus requires a minimum spend though. Normally, I prefer to just cancel to leave room for me to get a new card a year later. I keep the older cards of course, this card is less than 2 years old.
BeatTheBush I totally agree! I don't really have any desire to travel unless I could bring a special someone or family member with me. I took my mom to Disneyland for her birthday this year and it was special because the traveling was only half the fun, the other half was that I got to do something really nice for my mom!
I have a lot of travel cards. What you don't know is that even when you rack up points to purchase hotel or airfare, it's not cheap. They raise the price/points. You're better off using cash and getting the discount by doing own research. Chase Sapphire has the same hotel for our stay at about 1600.00. I am aware that my points are worth more when redeem through UR. Yet, I did my own research, discounts and everything, 1300.00 after tax. Charged it to the card and used the points for statement credit. Paid what was left.
I agree. Their Ultimate Rewards portal is not the cheapest. Sometimes you get a bonus for using it through their portal but their pricing negates the bonus.
I am a total home body and I hate traveling 2....really don't understand people who want to travel all over the place every year, its more stress then fun....urgh.....plus I kind of see it as too much money spending for sure...
The closest I have to a travel card is the Chase Ink Preferred. Meeting the minimum spend was costly. Some of it was treating visiting relatives and family to dinner multiple times and buying Amazon gift cards I knew I would be using soon anyway. A huge chunk of it was to put an entire hotel bill during our trip to Japan for me and my family. I was reimbursed for their shares, but it was stressful to see the balance. The CIP is my only card with an annual fee, and I’m considering product-changing it to an Ink Cash if I don’t get the best value from the card. I have to admit that I have been tempted to apply for the new Chase Southwest Priority card. I use Southwest a lot (though I don’t travel as often as I would like) and it wouldn’t be super difficult for me to get value from the card. However, I already have other cards to use (all can earn cash back except for my former secured card), and as you mentioned, you don’t necessarily want to prepay for travel. That’s the thing about annual fees and minimum spend: even if you get a lot of perks (travel credits, status, and Companion Pass included) for the money, you’re still paying for them. (Since I’m single, I have no use for Companion Pass.) And even if you make up or exceed the amount of the annual fee, is it worth the trouble of managing the card?
I only got a mid tier travel card because I have been forced to travel every 4-5 months for an out of state doctor and got tired of paying for hotels regularly.
It's unfortunate and represents a lot of travelling costs. I really wonder though with US having so many health problems, how much of that is diet based?
BeatTheBush probably a signifiant amount. Someone I knew from high school racked up a 60k dollar hospital bill and lost a toe simply because he was in denial that he had diabetes and wouldn't take medication.
The US Bank Altitude visa has got $400 annual fee but it has $325 travel credit which you can use on uber, taxi, trains, car rental. That will then leave you with $75 , but then you got $100 Global Entry credit, plus you get a total of 8 Priority Pass lounge which is roughly $25-30 each in value, plus car rental insurance, extra 1 year warranty on electronic goods, and more.
The test if it is worth it for you is if you would use those things even without getting the card. Does that make sense? Just because that is the price does not mean that is the value to you.
I travel international every year, US to Manila for the past 2 years, and also planning to do the 50 states marathon (50 marathon in 50 US states). Travel while you are young and strong because when you grow old you will be too weak to travel and will ask yourself why you did not do it when you are still strong and young.
There are travel rewards cards with lower to no annual fee and miles that don't expire. My card gives me JetBlue points directly with TrueBlue, not with the card issuer bank, so those points never expire. The anual fee is $40, but with the 10000 points bonus I received with it plus using it with my every day purchases (and paying it back in full) plus paying bills for family members who would pre-pay me in cash (so I got extra points, as with my current income I don't spend much at all) I have already booked two seperate trips (one of which involved layovers, so it involved booking four flights instead of two) and still have all of my bonus left over that I can use at any time to visit my many family members that live across the US (the flight's free and the lodging is free as it is family), so it is very much possible to gain much profit from these cards.
I live in NYC meeting minimum spend on CSR in not hard at all to meet plus chase category for travel and dine is broad going out to eat with family and friends or taking the train to the city or Uber very easy CSR is a great card This videos is a rant about CSR it's not for everyone!
spending the $4000 on my CSR was easy. at the time I had student loans so i used Plastiq to make payments to my student loans through my credit card and i immediately pay back my credit card balance from my cash reserve to avoid interest. Also i used my credit card to give someone $1000 through paypal. The person gave me $980 back under the table. It went through Chase as a purchase.
You have a point if you want to pay the 2% in transaction fee of Plastiq since $80 is a small price to pay to get the $1000 in benefits. Alright, maybe I need to get one and try this myself.
I do a bit of traveling in Italy with just cash and a Debit Card. The merchants outside of the tourist areas want you to pay with cash, and in many cases don't want to cover the fees on premium credit cards. Cash (euro's) is king when you're looking for quick discounts. Also my debit cart does not charge foreign transaction fees or ATM w/d cash advance "interest." Many of the young Credit Card youtubers want to stay in expensive US brand hotels and seem impressed by "upgrades." They seem to want to be pampered. It's often more fun to stay in quirky places and meet the locals. I can shop around the internet and book inexpensive trips using comparison websites without a premium credit card and get great bargains even at the last minute. Beats spending hours meeting "minimum spends" and thinking too much about missing out on a new credit card. I still use a credit card, but find cash is best in many parts of Italy.
you do realize that on the Chase cards (currently at least) you can buy grocery store gift cards to get the bonus. You can then spend down the gift cards over a longer period of time thus thwarting the time limit. Worked for us. Also we got the chase sapphire reserve credit card, got the bonus, spent the bonus + travel credit on vacation and then downgraded the card to a card that has no annual fee (thus not harming your credit). Also we found the exact same flight price on Chase's website vs. on other websites. We got the bonus on my wifes card then I got it on my card. $3k free money baby
Yup. Buying gift cards is a great way to offset your spending but how much do you want to store in gift cards? $1000? 2000? I think I might go the Platiq route at some point rather than buy gift cards. I actually have way too much right now. Whoa... you got two Reserves? How awesome! I think maybe I missed out? =(
We live off of 26k a year so we normally have about $1,000 a month in expenses that we can use a credit card for so we just got $1k in grocery store giftcards which we then used over the next 4 months then repeated for mine. We also had done the chase freedom (both of us) and the chase preferred (both of us) and gotten those bonuses and then we transferred the points to our reserve cards (thus turning a point that was 1.25 in value for one that is now worth 1.5 in value when booked through chase reserve bonus website.
I was just approved for a Capital One VentureOne card and it claims that travel miles don't expire for the life of the card, and there is no point maximum. It offers 1.25 miles per dollar spent, with a 20000 mile bonus when you spend $1000 or more in the first 90 days. For a travel card, it seems pretty good, but it seems like cash-back cards are a better value, especially if you can find 3-5% cards.
Ok BeatTheBush, I understand where you come from but on the other side if you have the right travel card you'll be good. For example, I'll use myself. I have the chase sapphire preferred for one and a half year. When I first got it I didn't meet the sign up bonus which was cool to me but it save me money on my travel to Florida with my girlfriend, only having to pay 65% of the cost for our tickets. Yes, my card have a annual fee of $95 but once you use it with your chase freedom (assuming you have the freedom) you be fine and even with out the freedom the $95 fee you'll be able to meet before the year end. At this moment I have $56.57 worth of cash back with a $70.71 worth of travel points. The year haven't pass have way yet and I'm on track in beating the fee off before it comes back around. To me, travel cards can be good depending on which card you use.
How did you pay 65% of the cost of your ticket? Breaking even with the $95 fee is not good enough in my eyes because with another card you could have cash back instead. Point is, if you're going to spend on travel anyway then it IS worth it to get the card if that makes sense. To me, you need to beat the fee + 2% because if I take my spending to the Citi Double, it has no annual fee plus 2% cash back. Sometimes the perks they give you is a perk such as airport lounges. But then if you were not going to buy the perk anyway, you are not reducing your spending but it instead encourages you to use the airport more and spend more instead.
I think something a lot of people forget to account for is the opportunity cost. Yes, you break even at $x spend, but you could have made $x * 2% with the DC. Valuing perks is also interesting: What if you get the same/similar perk from another card? What if you don't value it that much, do you discount it?
That's an interesting point. How do you value something you would not have otherwise bought? Lets say I get an upgrade from coach to business class and it normally costs $1000 more. Its nice of course and I would enjoy it but I wouldn't buy that normally right now. So I would pay $0 for it but the value to me might be $300?
BeatTheBush. I didn't break even because the first year fee I didn't had to pay and the points I've gained by using my Chase Sapphire with the few months plus the cash back I had from my Chase freedom was a lot
I'm amazed at how your normal monthly credit card spend is $500 a month. I consider myself relatively disciplined in my spending and my monthly CC spend is still higher than that, excluding rent. Do you have a video on managing your monthly spend? Would you be willing to reveal some of that breakdown of your expenses and how you keep it so low?
Thanks for the link. I watched it and I basically follow the same principles so I didn't find a whole lot of new info there. Groceries + eating outside (on avg less than twice per week) can run me up close to $400-$500 per month on its own. I also have public transport ($100+ per month) and entertainment (I go to concerts pretty frequently, on avg $60 per month) expenses that you might not have which can add to the bottom line. You also live on the West Coast, so I'd think groceries and eating outside would be roughly equivalent or more expensive than MA. I imagine you spend money on more than just that. Would you share some more information about how much you spend in those categories and how you keep them low?
Premium travel credit cards (AMEX Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and Citi Prestige) are for those who can meet the $4-5k spending requirement in the first 3 months and travel at least once a year.
+BeatTheBush - I have looked into Plastiq and Paypal, but it's a no-go for me. 1) I hate paying fee even if it's only 2.5% or $100 for $4k. 2) My biggest bill is my rent and I can't use Plastiq to pay since the check is payable directly to my landlord. Plastiq only allows payments to companies. To meet the $4k spending requirement for Chase Sapphire Reserve, I overpaid my phone bill ($1k), utilities (PG&E $1k +1.25 convenience fee), bought $1k of Costco cash card and spent the remaining $1k on contact lens (since I have some money in FSA account, I submitted the claim and got reimbursed.) and groceries and dining.
Hmmm. Or you can pay other bills? I mean the net you get is still largely positive even with the fee. So a possibility still. Hey! I like all this $1k spending you did. Nice! Prepaying on utilities is a good one. =D
Citi will surely waive the $95 fee for 2017 if you call and say you are considering closing the card. If you tell them the benefits hold little value for you, maybe they can switch the card to another rewards program with no fee and throw in some free points?
'surely'? My experience has been about 50/50 and it depends largely on the card. So they will want to change to another program but personally, I rather cancel it so I can get the same card later without having too much credit from the same bank.
Awesome advice. If u dont travel as much n dont want build up more expenses to open em up then have budget for travel by that time u go over the expenditures made the cc companies got u. My income not high enough to do the savvy travel stories however would love to if i could afford to jetset n not worry bout carrying a balance then possibly it would work but not on my income. Its just nice to dream that i could be that that gurr - lol. Ty again
The $300 travel credit for the CSR is like Chase is giving us $300 in advance and when paying the $450 AF, $300 of $450 goes back to Chase. That's how we get a travel credit from Chase every year, it's from our AF. There's no value in the travel credit. It's like we putting in $300 from our own pockets to save for the travel credit and if we miss using the credit Chase banks on it.
I wouldn't stand too far in not getting a travel car or for it. If you can satisfy the requirements without straining, then it will be good net net. Depends on the person and so it seems you wont benefit and for me, I might sometimes benefit.
Harrison Gomez what you're missing is you can use the travel credit twice (once in each calendar year, i.e December 2016 and June 2017) before the annual fee hits. also you can simply redeem this for an airline gift card and simply save it for when you need to or resell it on a site like raise.
Obviously CSR is not for regular pp that has no habit for travel, actually if you just do some simple buy and resale stuff, you can easily hit that 4000 spend limit without money out of pocket to get 50k bonus.
I got the chase sapphire reserve card 2 months ago, I only got it because I was planning a Hawaii- Australia- South Korea trip leaving from here in Chicago. The 450 fee is steep, but at leas t for the first year, you can also claim the application reimbersement for your global entry credentials of 100$. I understand the 300$ travel credit burning a hole in the pocket, but if someone uses uber or lyft, or even train or bus tickets the 300$ allowance also covers this. It does seem like a card geared towards travelers, its the only one of my 4 cards Ive been using these past couple of months.
If you have to stress to claw your money back is it worth it? When does it actually provide a net positive in terms of spending? You can only make it net positive if you travel a lot, true.
If you have a CSR and you don't want to travel that year buy a gift card from any airline. Do that 3 years in a row and go on a free trip. You don't lose the credit if you don't take a trip every year. You don't seem to understand how the card works.
I have a similar philosophy on travel cards and don't use them either. The problem I'm running into, though, is when I do travel, my expenses end up going to my default catch-all card (Citi DC) which only gives me an effective 2%. Is this what you do as well? Are there any cards that offer better than 2% cash equivalent return on travel expenses? And before anyone says it, no, points redeemed on a travel portal is not a cash equivalent. I want the ability to use those rewards on something other than travel.
Ha ha... Yeah me too. =/ But then I do have the travel cards sometimes. With more active churning you'll end up with a travel card that has no annual fee the first year would could help you out.
Found this in my quest. Not much of a bonus, but 3% unlimited cash back on travel expenses for no AF is not bad! autoclubsouth.aaa.com/Financial/CreditCard/AAA-Dollars-Credit-Card-Offers.aspx EDIT: Looks like $59 yearly AAA membership is a prerequisite
=D I want to add that if you are able to churn those cards without additional cost to you, then you could get away with travelling for a low cost. Still, it should be a place you want to go yourself rather than for social media.
Yeah, after the first year it's really just another card that I'll cancel. It's still 'worth it' initially with the 50K points as a churn card but not as compelling.
The one thing that no one says to do is sign up for free to all the reward programs, no credit card needed, like United, Southwest, SPG, Marriott, etc. Then use whatever credit card you want.
Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature? 5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category): Travel Restaurants Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.] Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.] Department Stores Hardware & Home Improvement Stores Charitable Organizations Pharmacies & Drug Stores Amazon 3x on gas 2x on groceries 1x everything else Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25 0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months 1% foreign transaction fees No annual fee
Thanks for the info! What do you thing about BoA Travel Rewards card? Spending req. is not high, 1k for 3 months. But I wander what kind of tickets one can by for that 20k points... Never understand how this points actually works:) Edit, read their page carefully, 20k points equals to 200$ And later on its 1.5 points per dollar = 1.5% cashback which can be spend only for travel tickets I suppose...
Sometimes they give you 25% bonus on points if you use it on travel. Like some have said you could be using some light grey area tactics to make up that spending.
Thank you, it good to know. So it's intro bonus about twice higher comparing to e.g. Amex Blue Cash Everyday, but you have to spend it on traveling, and after that it's worse than or equal to e.g. City Doublecash (depending on amount of money on BoA checking one has)...
Hum, I guess it's not bad for the sign up. Usage of it after the bonus will depend if you get more than Citi Double using the Preferred Rewards program tiers.
Not speaking from experience, but according to chase "Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages." Passenger trains seem to cover metro card.
Hope you didn't blow it on random stuff. Gotta buy things you would anyway. Sometimes, you can buy Visa Gift cards at grocery stores if the card allows it.
Hello BeatTheBush, I am wondering if a mile earned, is really the same for a North american or european consumer, than it is for a South american. Yesterday I saw a friend had to have 11.000 kilometers in order to have a free flight from continental Ecuador to Galapagos Islands, when the real distance is just 1254Km and 1 hour 51 minutes of flight. Then, is it false advertising calling these rewards "miles" when in reality you can't travel 1 real mile for each mile earned in the loyalty program?
as you know I have both Venture and Venture1 cards. yeh you get good miles but when it comes to mile redemption all points and miles are not equal. so what do you think about my list for earning and redeeming points and miles? Barclay's arrival card with the fee Barclay's arrival no fee version Bank of America travel card Citi bank Thank you premiere Citi Bank thank you preferred Chase Sapphire preferred chase sapphire basic capital1 venture capital1 venture1 American express platinum American express gold rewards American express original gold American express green? would you apply for any of these travel cards? if so which ones?
We were considering the southwest card but it has a $65 fee to maintain. Bleh. And really high minimums for points. Both the wife and I vetoed that one pretty quickly.
I use a prepay Mastercard card that I can top up with whichever currency I need online from my bank account and transfer any unused funds back to my bank account when I'm done, all fee free. I don't know if they offer the CashPlus prepay card over there but it's well worth having, plus you can take micro loans for one day (fee free) and each one is registered on your credit report as that form of credit. It's supposed to be a credit builder card for those without a bank account as it can be used that way (acct # and sort code) too but it's so handy for other things.
I don't understand how this is better than just a debt card that takes money straight from your bank account. Interesting that it gets reported as a credit card since it's actually a prepaid card, there is no credit involved unless you are borrowing from it. I guess it depends on how you look at it.
BeatTheBush Any purchases made with it are insured by the consumer credit act, meaning that any and every purchase (the holiday cost itself too) can be claimed back if anything goes missing, if the holiday isn't what it was supposed to be etc. Anything spent with a debit card isn't covered. The borrowing can be done in the hundreds of pounds for a month (payday loan type of thing) but make that loan for £1 and repay the next day and it's free. It's definitely not for people with poor self control though, the interest rates are extortionate (30-40% maybe more).
I like your channel and how you think. All the other credit card channels on RUclips they're all about the fanciest credit cards not all of us need them we want to make the most out of the others
PMCU just told me I can get a credit card with a $7,500 limit, and the card is a personal rewards card that has a $45 annual fee. They said they won't run my credit either and won't put an inquiry on it because they already have a copy of it .... is it worth it? I know that credit limit would help my FICO score right?..... it'll be either 13% 16% or 19% APR, and all the other fees look good just like other credit cards
I wouldn't get a $45 annual fee card unless they give me more than $145 in sign up bonus and I would cancel it after the first year as well. This card is bad news if you keep it for long term. 10 years is $450 which would really put a hamper on the 'rewards' you get. I'd say pass on it and get a no annual fee card. Get ANY no annual fee card.
BeatTheBush ... I know some of the Amex cards have huge annual fees, the cheapest one being $95 a year, which made this $45 a year look attractive.....but I know I won't pay $550 a year for the platinum Amex
As a college student I am really in the same boat as you right now, building those points so when I do travel they will be waiting for me! 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝟑𝟐𝟓/𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥
Being worth it or not is sort of a relative term right? If you were going to spend the $300 travel credit and the 50k points valued at $500 anyway, it would be worth $800 to you. Paying $400 for makes sense. There's also the issue of spending the $4000 in 3 months though.
I heard you should buy stuff like grocery store gift cards or something you're going to use to make the minimum spend. Like prepaying your necessities.
Eh? You can't spend $300 travel credit through the year? And you must not change your spendinh habit, it is crucial with credit cards! Man, these cards are really not for you. The video is very misleading for those who does not have any of these catds yet, but who may benefit ftom them.
Agree with you that it really depends on each person's situation to determine if travel cards are worth it. I do not see Chase Sapphire Reserve's 300 travel credit each year as a ticking time bomb that will expire. Actually if you know what airline you typically fly or any travel related charges you might have in the future, you can buy its gift card and get reimbursed. For example, I know I fly southwest every year or two and if I do not travel in a given year, I could use the Reserve card to purchase Southwest gift cards to use up its travel credit so it wont be a waste. The equivalent of 150 annual fee is tough though so it really depends on each one's situation. If you do not like travel cards, I do not think TY premier is right for you. I hope you know how to redeem TY points to make it worthwhile. I, so far, have not found a good way of redeeming them... other than transfering to Prestige and 1:1 redeem into statement credit. If you decide to keep the card, make sure to ask for retention offer as Citi is pretty good at offering retention bonuses.
Agreed. For some, you can use this pretty fast. For me... it might take me a year to do it. Nice one of delaying the usage via a gift card, I didn't know you can do that.
Boooo, you need to go Africa! And Mid East. I suggest Marrakesh, Dar Es Salaam, and Dubai. Great cities. CSR $300 is cool. Especially if you Uber or take public transportation.
Why should I go there? I guess no don't have that itch most people do. Certainly worth getting the CSR IF you can easily meet the requirements of course.
BeatTheBush Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature? 5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category): Travel Restaurants Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.] Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.] Department Stores Hardware & Home Improvement Stores Charitable Organizations Pharmacies & Drug Stores Amazon 3x on gas 2x on groceries 1x everything else Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25 0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months 1% foreign transaction fees No annual fee
Airlines and traveling with them are definitely over rated ..... sitting in a tight seat with people on each side of you, not leaning back because the old woman behind you will get mad.... the guy next to you didn't put on deodorant.... the little air blower thing above you always blows to hard..... you have to wait in line to use the bathroom, can't poop, can't sleep, your ears get clogged up from the flying, and jet lag..... blah
You haven't been to Africa or Europe, but you've managed to double your net worth more than once and save an entire year of your job's income. Poor baby. He doing so bad 😔😜
You know the Reserve's travel credit is valid for any travel right? So if you spend $300 on taxis, Ubers and trains over a year, you can still get it back.
Yes I know. I might have missed that in the vid. I don't actually use those enough myself.
I believe you can also purchase $300 in airline gift cards. That way you can redeem the $300 travel credit. Then pay the balance with sapphire reserve to earn 3x on travel.
The Credit Shifu Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature?
5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category):
Travel
Restaurants
Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.]
Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.]
Department Stores
Hardware & Home Improvement Stores
Charitable Organizations
Pharmacies & Drug Stores
Amazon
3x on gas
2x on groceries
1x everything else
Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25
0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months
1% foreign transaction fees
No annual fee
BeatTheBush Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature?
5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category):
Travel
Restaurants
Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.]
Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.]
Department Stores
Hardware & Home Improvement Stores
Charitable Organizations
Pharmacies & Drug Stores
Amazon
3x on gas
2x on groceries
1x everything else
Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25
0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months
1% foreign transaction fees
No annual fee
Reg M they don’t give points on purchases that go towards the travel credit.
Thank you for all your information. I remember I started watching you 2 years ago when my credit score was at 540 with no credit cards. I'm at 715 with 2 credit cards with 3000 line of credit each I was able to refinance my car and I pay all balances in full every month and now I'm looking to buying a house through a VA loan. Thank you for your hard work!!
Wow! Have you been watching 2 years already? Time flies! You know, having 715 takes a huge burden off your shoulders doesn't it? I'm so glad you are able to use my videos to get some results. I am very happy for you! =D =D
Yeah man thank you for all the videos, and your hard work. I can say I've learned a lot from your videos, ever since I made the decision on May 2016 to fix my credit, I've even used your recommendation self lender link to help with my credit rebuilding process. So far I've gotten two credit cards Cap1 and Chase freedom Unlimited. I've watch every video you've made since, and majority of the older video. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! Yes you definitely helped me navigate some of the confusing aspects of credit scores and credit cards
I like watching your videos as after watching something from Credit Shifu or asksebby. You rather bring us back to earth in a way. Show the side that many should consider when considering any of these cards.
You should be a college professor. You have a knack for giving fantastic financial education advice. You really do great at giving advice in easy to understand terms. Keep doing what you do. You are one of my favorite RUclipsrs.
Thanks! I'll have to keep in mind what you enjoy and emphasize on this more so in future vids. Thanks for your feedback! =D
PlantbasedQuietriot are you dumb?
100% agree. I believe travel rewards are idiotic. Track and minimize expenses. and use a few cash back cards.
Unless you have the large expense and travel all lined up of course.
Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature?
5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category):
Travel
Restaurants
Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.]
Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.]
Department Stores
Hardware & Home Improvement Stores
Charitable Organizations
Pharmacies & Drug Stores
Amazon
3x on gas
2x on groceries
1x everything else
Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25
0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months
1% foreign transaction fees
No annual fee
Thank you for more amazing productive information.. rethinking getting a travel credit card now. 10/10 stars for this one. Keep em coming dude!! #BeatTheBushLife🤙🏻
=D =D =D Thanks for your encouragement! =D
This was a very interesting video, and I was glad I ran into it because I had in mind that you might have talked about this specific topic. For big spenders (but responsible with the expenses) by all means they can get those cards with big bonuses and perks. But for those who don't see themselves traveling that often, but wants to have a card for traveling just in case the opportunity arrives, there are lesser traveling credit cards out there without annual fees that are exceptional out there. Especially those without transactions fees and which points doesn't expires. There's the Capital One VentureOne and the Bank of Americard Travel Rewards in which fits in this criteria. Both of which are Visas. I think these are among two of the best cards for those who are willing to travel once in a while, especially because the bonus requires just 1K spending on the first 3 months and generally speaking this is less risky. I have been watching your videos for some time now as I seek counsel regarding all matters of finance, and I like your enthusiasm. For the past 6 months I've been building credit, and I am doing so much better now because you actually do help me to be patient while I step forward for better scores.
I'm glad each of the vids help you think about finances in a way that builds wealth.
To throw a wrench into all this though, as others have mentioned, one can possibly manufacture spending to get these rewards without actually spending real money. I suppose I'll have to give that a go next time I get a sign up bonus card and report on this with a new video.
In my opinion, you need to update your Creditcard hustle !! For instance, to meet the minimum spend, you can buy gift cards in advance for the places you usually buy.
Junito Punto Comm you are missing the point. He doesn’t spend a lot, throughout the year.
I'm getting one only because I travel for work and my job reimburses me on travel, so it makes sense. If I'm flying at least twice a month for work, and staying in hotels for 6-8+ days per month, then I think the annual cost for the travel card makes sense. Plus, I'm in grad school so I'm just going to put some of my tuition on the card to get the bonus, and pay it off right away. I think if you're not in a situation similar to this, travel cards don't make sense. I feel if I didn't travel to work, I would be inclined to spend more money than I normally would to try and justify the annual fee and get the travel points. THe purpose of the credit card shouldn't be to spend more to get points, it should be to get points from purchases that you were going to make regardless if you had the card or not
It does makes perfect sense for your case. Nice philosophy on spending what you would already, that's my point exactly.
Aside from rent and car payment still has an easy add up method: cell phone, electric bill, student loans, gas, groceries, misc, dining out, car insurance all adds up quite fast.
Yup... just pour everything into those cards to meet the minimum spend.
Great video! I got the CSR with the 100k bonus. A friend's rent is $2k and he paid me b4 the transaction so the $4k was easy to hit. For me it's totally worth it. I travel once a month for business or leisure. I honestly haven't purchased anything I normally wouldn't have. The $300 flew by very quickly with a car rental & hotel. Excellent card for people who travel a few times a year or maybe one big trip a year. If you don't travel then you're better off with a $0 cash back card.
I agree. You can get great value if you can use it with your normal spending habits. Perhaps it might be worth it if you can manufacture the spending as well. I might have to do it and make a new video on it.
Personally always find cash back cards are just better in return then travel cards. I can spend 1k and get 300$ cash back via bonus (not including the 1-5% cashback). Thats saving 30% on every dollar I spend. Travel cards value wise going by bonus I'm only getting 15% or 10% at best usually.
Only ever get a travel card if I can't churn anything else cash back wise for the bonus and have a big purchase to make anyways business wise. Also annual fees of travel cards are a no go for me and digs into the value of the card even more.
Do you not manufacturer spend? e.g. venmo, plastiq, gift cards, serve, etc. I've found it being way easier than counting up 100 $30 purchases over 3 months. I spend way less that way
I generally avoided that kind of spending for some odd reason. Mainly I hate paying the fee but I guess the bonus is much better than the fee. I probably should try this soon.
I see the point you're trying to make, but the $300 travel credit is simple to hit in a year given it takes uber, lyft, flights, etc. If you take 1 domestic flight in a year and take 2-3 uber/lyft rides you hit your minimum there. I'm a very, very frugal person but with the slightest bit of discipline you can get a ton of value out of this card. This is true for those of us who got the CSR with the 100k signup bonus, the March reduction to 50k makes this card a lot less appealing.
Might depend on the person. What about the $4000 spend while being a frugal person? I did miss the CSR on purpose as I did not see me being able to use it as I just went out of the country a few months ago. You see how easy it is to use the travel credit is relative to the person.
But you see, once you pay the $450, you essentially bought a gift card for travel and you are on a timer to spend it. If you know you will do 1 domestic flight then it should be fine.
I agree the $4000 can be hard to hit, but as you mention in the video, timing is everything. I needed an eye surgery that was $3k, so I timed it to coincide with my 3 months and hit the minimum just in time.
Something I'm not sure if you've mentioned in previous videos, but using a 3rd party service for rent is also a great way to hit the minimum. As an example, I could pay my 5 person house's $3200 rent with a credit card through "plastiq." While I'd be losing $80 on the transaction fee (they charge 2.5% for credit cards), I'd be gaining a ton in value with the signup bonus. Also, my plan is to keep my CSR for several years then likely product change down to a freedom/other free card. Still a fan of a lot of your videos, so keep it up. Edit: Just saw someone mention "plastiq" and your reply.
BeatTheBush I agree about hitting the min spend. That might be out of reach for a lot of folks for the chase reserve. But cmon... For the vast majority of people, even the vast majority of frugal people should have no trouble spending $300 on travel in one whole year. This isn't a travel credit that applies to a small and narrow definition of travel. This includes mass transit, parking lots and as already mentioned above uber and Lyft. You don't have to take a single expensive flight or hotel stay to use the travel credit. Unless you walk and bike everywhere only, it's super simple to use up such a broad travel credit without having to purposely increase your spend.
Lots of us live in suburbs where we can drive ourselves to work or to the grocery or wherever everywhere and don't ever have to pay for transit or tolls or parking. For us non city dwellers, a card like the CSR doesn't make as much sense.
Going to the airport, going to/from the bars, etc. it's not hard to hit the $300 reimbursed spend. And that's just considering any uber/lyft used during the year, hitting the spend for travel (flights, hotels, etc) is probably the easiest thing to do assuming you make 1 weekend trip at a minimum during the year. If you stay at home or local 100% of the year then obviously this card won't do anything for you, it's marketed as a travel card after all... I just don't really see your point in isolating non city dwellers, only places like SF, Chicago, and NY seem to be the "we don't need cars" types of cities as well.
Beatthebush can you do an analyzation of Swagbucks? It seems like a good side hustle to make money on spare time, thanks! :)
It really depends on your travel and spending habits. The CSR's travel credits are pretty flexible. I live in new york and ride the subway every day, that's easy $120 dollars every month and that more than makes up for the CSR's $300 travel credit in 3 months (And that's excluding all my Uber rides every now and then).
Wow! That's a lot of expenses on subways! Yeah, in your case you can easily use that credit up. Definitely worth it for you.
Citi often lets you swap over your Premier card to a Preferred Card. You keep the same account history (i.e. age of credit account) and points. The Preferred Card doesn't have an annual fee and you can get some sign-on bonus points when you swap over to it.
I guess I'll see what they offer. Usually the sign up bonus requires a minimum spend though. Normally, I prefer to just cancel to leave room for me to get a new card a year later. I keep the older cards of course, this card is less than 2 years old.
This is a good counter point to travel rewards cards video! Good to see both sides of an issue before deciding
=D The most important thing is to only travel when it means something to you and not to impress.
BeatTheBush I totally agree! I don't really have any desire to travel unless I could bring a special someone or family member with me. I took my mom to Disneyland for her birthday this year and it was special because the traveling was only half the fun, the other half was that I got to do something really nice for my mom!
I have a lot of travel cards. What you don't know is that even when you rack up points to purchase hotel or airfare, it's not cheap. They raise the price/points. You're better off using cash and getting the discount by doing own research.
Chase Sapphire has the same hotel for our stay at about 1600.00. I am aware that my points are worth more when redeem through UR. Yet, I did my own research, discounts and everything, 1300.00 after tax. Charged it to the card and used the points for statement credit. Paid what was left.
I agree. Their Ultimate Rewards portal is not the cheapest. Sometimes you get a bonus for using it through their portal but their pricing negates the bonus.
I am a total home body and I hate traveling 2....really don't understand people who want to travel all over the place every year, its more stress then fun....urgh.....plus I kind of see it as too much money spending for sure...
You do get some fun. Wish it's slower. You can make it slower if you have more time and go to a destination one month at a time.
I agree with you. Thank you for the advice ; big fan!
=D It also makes you spend a whole lot more once you are away ha ha. But sometimes needed.
The closest I have to a travel card is the Chase Ink Preferred. Meeting the minimum spend was costly. Some of it was treating visiting relatives and family to dinner multiple times and buying Amazon gift cards I knew I would be using soon anyway. A huge chunk of it was to put an entire hotel bill during our trip to Japan for me and my family. I was reimbursed for their shares, but it was stressful to see the balance. The CIP is my only card with an annual fee, and I’m considering product-changing it to an Ink Cash if I don’t get the best value from the card.
I have to admit that I have been tempted to apply for the new Chase Southwest Priority card. I use Southwest a lot (though I don’t travel as often as I would like) and it wouldn’t be super difficult for me to get value from the card. However, I already have other cards to use (all can earn cash back except for my former secured card), and as you mentioned, you don’t necessarily want to prepay for travel. That’s the thing about annual fees and minimum spend: even if you get a lot of perks (travel credits, status, and Companion Pass included) for the money, you’re still paying for them. (Since I’m single, I have no use for Companion Pass.) And even if you make up or exceed the amount of the annual fee, is it worth the trouble of managing the card?
I only got a mid tier travel card because I have been forced to travel every 4-5 months for an out of state doctor and got tired of paying for hotels regularly.
Wow, out of state just to see the doctor? Yeah a card would be handy in that case.
BeatTheBush Yes unfortunately my wife has a very complex situation and the doctor moved. Changing doctors would have set us back years.
It's unfortunate and represents a lot of travelling costs. I really wonder though with US having so many health problems, how much of that is diet based?
BeatTheBush probably a signifiant amount. Someone I knew from high school racked up a 60k dollar hospital bill and lost a toe simply because he was in denial that he had diabetes and wouldn't take medication.
Didn't know you can loose a toe from diabetes. 90% of the food you can buy at the store contains too much sugar. It's ridiculous.
The US Bank Altitude visa has got $400 annual fee but it has $325 travel credit which you can use on uber, taxi, trains, car rental. That will then leave you with $75 , but then you got $100 Global Entry credit, plus you get a total of 8 Priority Pass lounge which is roughly $25-30 each in value, plus car rental insurance, extra 1 year warranty on electronic goods, and more.
The test if it is worth it for you is if you would use those things even without getting the card.
Does that make sense? Just because that is the price does not mean that is the value to you.
I travel international every year, US to Manila for the past 2 years, and also planning to do the 50 states marathon (50 marathon in 50 US states). Travel while you are young and strong because when you grow old you will be too weak to travel and will ask yourself why you did not do it when you are still strong and young.
Even the Dinosaur on the right is looking at you like: Is This Guy really serious !? 🤦🏻♂️lol
Junito Punto Comm hilarious!
This is something I'm thinking thorough right now.
=D Free money right?
There are travel rewards cards with lower to no annual fee and miles that don't expire. My card gives me JetBlue points directly with TrueBlue, not with the card issuer bank, so those points never expire. The anual fee is $40, but with the 10000 points bonus I received with it plus using it with my every day purchases (and paying it back in full) plus paying bills for family members who would pre-pay me in cash (so I got extra points, as with my current income I don't spend much at all) I have already booked two seperate trips (one of which involved layovers, so it involved booking four flights instead of two) and still have all of my bonus left over that I can use at any time to visit my many family members that live across the US (the flight's free and the lodging is free as it is family), so it is very much possible to gain much profit from these cards.
I live in NYC meeting minimum spend on CSR in not hard at all to meet plus chase category for travel and dine is broad going out to eat with family and friends or taking the train to the city or Uber very easy CSR is a great card
This videos is a rant about CSR it's not for everyone!
spending the $4000 on my CSR was easy. at the time I had student loans so i used Plastiq to make payments to my student loans through my credit card and i immediately pay back my credit card balance from my cash reserve to avoid interest. Also i used my credit card to give someone $1000 through paypal. The person gave me $980 back under the table. It went through Chase as a purchase.
You have a point if you want to pay the 2% in transaction fee of Plastiq since $80 is a small price to pay to get the $1000 in benefits. Alright, maybe I need to get one and try this myself.
This made a lot of sense ! Smart Guy..
Good points I'll think about that in the future.
=D
I do a bit of traveling in Italy with just cash and a Debit Card. The merchants outside of the tourist areas want you to pay with cash, and in many cases don't want to cover the fees on premium credit cards. Cash (euro's) is king when you're looking for quick discounts. Also my debit cart does not charge foreign transaction fees or ATM w/d cash advance "interest." Many of the young Credit Card youtubers want to stay in expensive US brand hotels and seem impressed by "upgrades." They seem to want to be pampered. It's often more fun to stay in quirky places and meet the locals. I can shop around the internet and book inexpensive trips using comparison websites without a premium credit card and get great bargains even at the last minute. Beats spending hours meeting "minimum spends" and thinking too much about missing out on a new credit card. I still use a credit card, but find cash is best in many parts of Italy.
you do realize that on the Chase cards (currently at least) you can buy grocery store gift cards to get the bonus. You can then spend down the gift cards over a longer period of time thus thwarting the time limit. Worked for us. Also we got the chase sapphire reserve credit card, got the bonus, spent the bonus + travel credit on vacation and then downgraded the card to a card that has no annual fee (thus not harming your credit). Also we found the exact same flight price on Chase's website vs. on other websites. We got the bonus on my wifes card then I got it on my card. $3k free money baby
Yup. Buying gift cards is a great way to offset your spending but how much do you want to store in gift cards? $1000? 2000? I think I might go the Platiq route at some point rather than buy gift cards. I actually have way too much right now.
Whoa... you got two Reserves? How awesome! I think maybe I missed out? =(
We live off of 26k a year so we normally have about $1,000 a month in expenses that we can use a credit card for so we just got $1k in grocery store giftcards which we then used over the next 4 months then repeated for mine. We also had done the chase freedom (both of us) and the chase preferred (both of us) and gotten those bonuses and then we transferred the points to our reserve cards (thus turning a point that was 1.25 in value for one that is now worth 1.5 in value when booked through chase reserve bonus website.
I love using my travel credit cards, hardly worries about how much I spend I have the money to pay for it.
Excellent that you have more than you need to do what you want without worry. Hope this is after you secured your financial Independence first though.
hey michael, which travel card do you use?
I was just approved for a Capital One VentureOne card and it claims that travel miles don't expire for the life of the card, and there is no point maximum. It offers 1.25 miles per dollar spent, with a 20000 mile bonus when you spend $1000 or more in the first 90 days. For a travel card, it seems pretty good, but it seems like cash-back cards are a better value, especially if you can find 3-5% cards.
Ok BeatTheBush, I understand where you come from but on the other side if you have the right travel card you'll be good. For example, I'll use myself. I have the chase sapphire preferred for one and a half year. When I first got it I didn't meet the sign up bonus which was cool to me but it save me money on my travel to Florida with my girlfriend, only having to pay 65% of the cost for our tickets. Yes, my card have a annual fee of $95 but once you use it with your chase freedom (assuming you have the freedom) you be fine and even with out the freedom the $95 fee you'll be able to meet before the year end. At this moment I have $56.57 worth of cash back with a $70.71 worth of travel points. The year haven't pass have way yet and I'm on track in beating the fee off before it comes back around. To me, travel cards can be good depending on which card you use.
How did you pay 65% of the cost of your ticket? Breaking even with the $95 fee is not good enough in my eyes because with another card you could have cash back instead.
Point is, if you're going to spend on travel anyway then it IS worth it to get the card if that makes sense. To me, you need to beat the fee + 2% because if I take my spending to the Citi Double, it has no annual fee plus 2% cash back.
Sometimes the perks they give you is a perk such as airport lounges. But then if you were not going to buy the perk anyway, you are not reducing your spending but it instead encourages you to use the airport more and spend more instead.
I think something a lot of people forget to account for is the opportunity cost. Yes, you break even at $x spend, but you could have made $x * 2% with the DC. Valuing perks is also interesting: What if you get the same/similar perk from another card? What if you don't value it that much, do you discount it?
That's an interesting point. How do you value something you would not have otherwise bought? Lets say I get an upgrade from coach to business class and it normally costs $1000 more. Its nice of course and I would enjoy it but I wouldn't buy that normally right now. So I would pay $0 for it but the value to me might be $300?
BeatTheBush. I didn't break even because the first year fee I didn't had to pay and the points I've gained by using my Chase Sapphire with the few months plus the cash back I had from my Chase freedom was a lot
I'm pretty sure you made it worth it. You have to think though if all those points made you spend more, the whole point of this video.
I'm amazed at how your normal monthly credit card spend is $500 a month. I consider myself relatively disciplined in my spending and my monthly CC spend is still higher than that, excluding rent. Do you have a video on managing your monthly spend? Would you be willing to reveal some of that breakdown of your expenses and how you keep it so low?
This video is probably what you are looking for: ruclips.net/video/H4nt1gNjxIU/видео.html
Thanks for the link. I watched it and I basically follow the same principles so I didn't find a whole lot of new info there. Groceries + eating outside (on avg less than twice per week) can run me up close to $400-$500 per month on its own. I also have public transport ($100+ per month) and entertainment (I go to concerts pretty frequently, on avg $60 per month) expenses that you might not have which can add to the bottom line.
You also live on the West Coast, so I'd think groceries and eating outside would be roughly equivalent or more expensive than MA. I imagine you spend money on more than just that. Would you share some more information about how much you spend in those categories and how you keep them low?
Premium travel credit cards (AMEX Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and Citi Prestige) are for those who can meet the $4-5k spending requirement in the first 3 months and travel at least once a year.
Have you explored the possibility of using plastiq to pay bills? Some have mentioned this and I'm giving it a trial run.
+BeatTheBush - I have looked into Plastiq and Paypal, but it's a no-go for me. 1) I hate paying fee even if it's only 2.5% or $100 for $4k. 2) My biggest bill is my rent and I can't use Plastiq to pay since the check is payable directly to my landlord. Plastiq only allows payments to companies.
To meet the $4k spending requirement for Chase Sapphire Reserve, I overpaid my phone bill ($1k), utilities (PG&E $1k +1.25 convenience fee), bought $1k of Costco cash card and spent the remaining $1k on contact lens (since I have some money in FSA account, I submitted the claim and got reimbursed.) and groceries and dining.
Hmmm. Or you can pay other bills? I mean the net you get is still largely positive even with the fee. So a possibility still. Hey! I like all this $1k spending you did. Nice! Prepaying on utilities is a good one. =D
Or you can offer to pay for your friends when you go out to eat and they can pay you back via Chase Quickpay, Cash, or Venmo
Citi will surely waive the $95 fee for 2017 if you call and say you are considering closing the card. If you tell them the benefits hold little value for you, maybe they can switch the card to another rewards program with no fee and throw in some free points?
'surely'? My experience has been about 50/50 and it depends largely on the card. So they will want to change to another program but personally, I rather cancel it so I can get the same card later without having too much credit from the same bank.
Awesome advice.
If u dont travel as much n dont want build up more expenses to open em up then have budget for travel by that time u go over the expenditures made the cc companies got u.
My income not high enough to do the savvy travel stories however would love to if i could afford to jetset n not worry bout carrying a balance then possibly it would work but not on my income.
Its just nice to dream that i could be that that gurr - lol. Ty again
The $300 travel credit for the CSR is like Chase is giving us $300 in advance and when paying the $450 AF, $300 of $450 goes back to Chase. That's how we get a travel credit from Chase every year, it's from our AF. There's no value in the travel credit. It's like we putting in $300 from our own pockets to save for the travel credit and if we miss using the credit Chase banks on it.
I wouldn't stand too far in not getting a travel car or for it. If you can satisfy the requirements without straining, then it will be good net net. Depends on the person and so it seems you wont benefit and for me, I might sometimes benefit.
Harrison Gomez what you're missing is you can use the travel credit twice (once in each calendar year, i.e December 2016 and June 2017) before the annual fee hits. also you can simply redeem this for an airline gift card and simply save it for when you need to or resell it on a site like raise.
Obviously CSR is not for regular pp that has no habit for travel, actually if you just do some simple buy and resale stuff, you can easily hit that 4000 spend limit without money out of pocket to get 50k bonus.
I got the chase sapphire reserve card 2 months ago, I only got it because I was planning a Hawaii- Australia- South Korea trip leaving from here in Chicago. The 450 fee is steep, but at leas t for the first year, you can also claim the application reimbersement for your global entry credentials of 100$. I understand the 300$ travel credit burning a hole in the pocket, but if someone uses uber or lyft, or even train or bus tickets the 300$ allowance also covers this. It does seem like a card geared towards travelers, its the only one of my 4 cards Ive been using these past couple of months.
If you have to stress to claw your money back is it worth it? When does it actually provide a net positive in terms of spending? You can only make it net positive if you travel a lot, true.
If you have a CSR and you don't want to travel that year buy a gift card from any airline. Do that 3 years in a row and go on a free trip. You don't lose the credit if you don't take a trip every year. You don't seem to understand how the card works.
Ha ha, but then the annual fee. I would hate to pay that.
It's not a travel card but I recently signed up for Ebates and they have a cash back credit card is that a good one to have?
Ebates is good for using it with their cash back program to get 3%. Every where else is 1% so it's useless outside of Ebates.
I have a similar philosophy on travel cards and don't use them either. The problem I'm running into, though, is when I do travel, my expenses end up going to my default catch-all card (Citi DC) which only gives me an effective 2%. Is this what you do as well? Are there any cards that offer better than 2% cash equivalent return on travel expenses?
And before anyone says it, no, points redeemed on a travel portal is not a cash equivalent. I want the ability to use those rewards on something other than travel.
Ha ha... Yeah me too. =/ But then I do have the travel cards sometimes. With more active churning you'll end up with a travel card that has no annual fee the first year would could help you out.
Found this in my quest. Not much of a bonus, but 3% unlimited cash back on travel expenses for no AF is not bad!
autoclubsouth.aaa.com/Financial/CreditCard/AAA-Dollars-Credit-Card-Offers.aspx
EDIT: Looks like $59 yearly AAA membership is a prerequisite
Beat the bush is right about this.
=D I want to add that if you are able to churn those cards without additional cost to you, then you could get away with travelling for a low cost. Still, it should be a place you want to go yourself rather than for social media.
I live in Northern California. $4,000 is easy to reach by paying your rent or mortgage with it in 3 months.
You mean with plastiq? Or you can pay it direct?
BeatTheBush I used Square at first, but later switched to Plastiq.
I get your point. Perhaps I should try it myself. I hate to pay the fee though even if the payout is larger.
we can pay via rental portals or some apps for little fee like rentcafe or rentpad
Yeah, after the first year it's really just another card that I'll cancel. It's still 'worth it' initially with the 50K points as a churn card but not as compelling.
That sounds about what I would probably do as well. It's About $500 net value for the trouble so hmmm.
Citi Premier has a targeted 50k points MC for a $95 card with a 3k in 3 month spend - Thinking about it, might be ok !
3K spend is better than the 4k in the Chase Reserve. =D
The one thing that no one says to do is sign up for free to all the reward programs, no credit card needed, like United, Southwest, SPG, Marriott, etc. Then use whatever credit card you want.
You can indeed do that if you are able to meet the requirements without spending more than you normally would.
You haven't done a lot of traveling...didn't hear Europe on your list.
I guess that's relative. Is there a bar one must reach to be 'well traveled'? Should going to all these places be a given for people of certain class?
Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature?
5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category):
Travel
Restaurants
Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.]
Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.]
Department Stores
Hardware & Home Improvement Stores
Charitable Organizations
Pharmacies & Drug Stores
Amazon
3x on gas
2x on groceries
1x everything else
Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25
0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months
1% foreign transaction fees
No annual fee
A lot of credit cards today have no expiration date for points or any kind of annual fees.
Many cards have annual fees actually, specially the premium ones.
Thanks for the info! What do you thing about BoA Travel Rewards card? Spending req. is not high, 1k for 3 months. But I wander what kind of tickets one can by for that 20k points... Never understand how this points actually works:)
Edit, read their page carefully, 20k points equals to 200$
And later on its 1.5 points per dollar = 1.5% cashback which can be spend only for travel tickets I suppose...
Sometimes they give you 25% bonus on points if you use it on travel. Like some have said you could be using some light grey area tactics to make up that spending.
Thank you, it good to know.
So it's intro bonus about twice higher comparing to e.g. Amex Blue Cash Everyday, but you have to spend it on traveling, and after that it's worse than or equal to e.g. City Doublecash (depending on amount of money on BoA checking one has)...
Hum, I guess it's not bad for the sign up. Usage of it after the bonus will depend if you get more than Citi Double using the Preferred Rewards program tiers.
I just got my American Express Everyday Card
Nice! =D
In the intro, is that your home? How do you like the condo/townhouse setting?
This whole video is my living room, lol.
Beat TheBush, how to buy a plane ticket with half cash and a credit card, is it possible ? At the airport
+BeatTheBush, what's your take on the Capital one Venture card?
Does Chase Saphire Reserve card’s TRAVEL includes buying metro card in NYC?
Thank you
Not speaking from experience, but according to chase "Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages." Passenger trains seem to cover metro card.
Yes I got the CSP I had to spend extra $1000 just to reach the max spending … smh
Hope you didn't blow it on random stuff. Gotta buy things you would anyway. Sometimes, you can buy Visa Gift cards at grocery stores if the card allows it.
Thank you.
Hello BeatTheBush, I am wondering if a mile earned, is really the same for a North american or european consumer, than it is for a South american. Yesterday I saw a friend had to have 11.000 kilometers in order to have a free flight from continental Ecuador to Galapagos Islands, when the real distance is just 1254Km and 1 hour 51 minutes of flight. Then, is it false advertising calling these rewards "miles" when in reality you can't travel 1 real mile for each mile earned in the loyalty program?
I'll have to give this question a pass as I have not used many miles in my redemption. I normally opt for cash. Cash is so much more portable.
Travel credit cards in the US sound awful. What is the point of $300 travel credit -- you can barely do anything with that.
$300 is useful if you can use it. Some argue it's easy for them others its much harder until you have a trip planned that can take advantage of it.
as you know I have both Venture and Venture1 cards. yeh you get good miles but when it comes to mile redemption all points and miles are not equal.
so what do you think about my list for earning and redeeming points and miles?
Barclay's arrival card with the fee
Barclay's arrival no fee version
Bank of America travel card
Citi bank Thank you premiere
Citi Bank thank you preferred
Chase Sapphire preferred
chase sapphire basic
capital1 venture
capital1 venture1
American express platinum
American express gold rewards
American express original gold
American express green?
would you apply for any of these travel cards? if so which ones?
I have the TY Premier and Sapphire preferred but that's it. The gold is pretty good if you get a targeted offer of spend $1000 get 50k in points.
We were considering the southwest card but it has a $65 fee to maintain. Bleh. And really high minimums for points. Both the wife and I vetoed that one pretty quickly.
Yeah... having the first year fee makes it really not worth it.
What about the Discover Travel Card????
I actually do not have that one just yet. I've since been churning a lot of travel cards though.
I use a prepay Mastercard card that I can top up with whichever currency I need online from my bank account and transfer any unused funds back to my bank account when I'm done, all fee free. I don't know if they offer the CashPlus prepay card over there but it's well worth having, plus you can take micro loans for one day (fee free) and each one is registered on your credit report as that form of credit. It's supposed to be a credit builder card for those without a bank account as it can be used that way (acct # and sort code) too but it's so handy for other things.
I don't understand how this is better than just a debt card that takes money straight from your bank account. Interesting that it gets reported as a credit card since it's actually a prepaid card, there is no credit involved unless you are borrowing from it. I guess it depends on how you look at it.
BeatTheBush Any purchases made with it are insured by the consumer credit act, meaning that any and every purchase (the holiday cost itself too) can be claimed back if anything goes missing, if the holiday isn't what it was supposed to be etc. Anything spent with a debit card isn't covered.
The borrowing can be done in the hundreds of pounds for a month (payday loan type of thing) but make that loan for £1 and repay the next day and it's free. It's definitely not for people with poor self control though, the interest rates are extortionate (30-40% maybe more).
Buying stuff on credit does have a lot of protections depending on the card. =D
Joseph: Scratched DVDs and Travel credit cards? ha ha, Glad it worked for you. =D
I like your channel and how you think. All the other credit card channels on RUclips they're all about the fanciest credit cards not all of us need them we want to make the most out of the others
=D Just milk them and get the value out. But you have to know if you are the type that will get trapped by debt.
CSP Is the way to go Its better Then CSR in lots of ways!!!
It might just be.. it might just be.
PMCU just told me I can get a credit card with a $7,500 limit, and the card is a personal rewards card that has a $45 annual fee. They said they won't run my credit either and won't put an inquiry on it because they already have a copy of it .... is it worth it? I know that credit limit would help my FICO score right?..... it'll be either 13% 16% or 19% APR, and all the other fees look good just like other credit cards
I wouldn't get a $45 annual fee card unless they give me more than $145 in sign up bonus and I would cancel it after the first year as well. This card is bad news if you keep it for long term. 10 years is $450 which would really put a hamper on the 'rewards' you get. I'd say pass on it and get a no annual fee card. Get ANY no annual fee card.
BeatTheBush ... I know some of the Amex cards have huge annual fees, the cheapest one being $95 a year, which made this $45 a year look attractive.....but I know I won't pay $550 a year for the platinum Amex
Ehhh I guess it's base on your tolerance of annual fees. I stress boosting cash flow and annual fees goes against that.
As a college student I am really in the same boat as you right now, building those points so when I do travel they will be waiting for me!
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥
𝟑𝟐𝟓/𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥
wow 400 bucks annual fee. they should give free planes tickets every year. it's not worth it at all.
Being worth it or not is sort of a relative term right? If you were going to spend the $300 travel credit and the 50k points valued at $500 anyway, it would be worth $800 to you. Paying $400 for makes sense. There's also the issue of spending the $4000 in 3 months though.
I heard you should buy stuff like grocery store gift cards or something you're going to use to make the minimum spend. Like prepaying your necessities.
You could also use a payment processor to pay your mortgage. More info here: ruclips.net/video/AXXLW1OkRqg/видео.html
BeatTheBush good idea!
BeatTheBush hey love your videos too! Keep it up!
No prob! Thanks! Will do! =D
Manufacture spending isn’t that hard
I don't like it too much myself when you recycle money. It makes things suspicious to the FBI.
Chinese guy pulls out list of places he's traveled....Asia and Mexico. lmao so much travels so cultured.
It really depends on who you compare to. Many people I know travel much more than I do.
Mexico is very diverse in every way
I subscribed. :) Hope that makes your day.
Thank you! =D =D
Eh? You can't spend $300 travel credit through the year? And you must not change your spendinh habit, it is crucial with credit cards! Man, these cards are really not for you. The video is very misleading for those who does not have any of these catds yet, but who may benefit ftom them.
Agree with you that it really depends on each person's situation to determine if travel cards are worth it.
I do not see Chase Sapphire Reserve's 300 travel credit each year as a ticking time bomb that will expire. Actually if you know what airline you typically fly or any travel related charges you might have in the future, you can buy its gift card and get reimbursed. For example, I know I fly southwest every year or two and if I do not travel in a given year, I could use the Reserve card to purchase Southwest gift cards to use up its travel credit so it wont be a waste. The equivalent of 150 annual fee is tough though so it really depends on each one's situation.
If you do not like travel cards, I do not think TY premier is right for you. I hope you know how to redeem TY points to make it worthwhile. I, so far, have not found a good way of redeeming them... other than transfering to Prestige and 1:1 redeem into statement credit. If you decide to keep the card, make sure to ask for retention offer as Citi is pretty good at offering retention bonuses.
Agreed. For some, you can use this pretty fast. For me... it might take me a year to do it.
Nice one of delaying the usage via a gift card, I didn't know you can do that.
"Treacherous flying"?? Haha, riding in a car, bus, or on a motorcycle is WAY more treacherous than any plane!
I'd say flying is worse due to the duration and very dry air.
Boooo, you need to go Africa! And Mid East. I suggest Marrakesh, Dar Es Salaam, and Dubai. Great cities. CSR $300 is cool. Especially if you Uber or take public transportation.
Why should I go there? I guess no don't have that itch most people do. Certainly worth getting the CSR IF you can easily meet the requirements of course.
Because they're awesome destinations!
BeatTheBush Hey you ever going to do a review on the Vantage West Credit Union Connect Rewards Visa Signature?
5X (5% cash back) REWARD CATEGORIES (Choose 1 category):
Travel
Restaurants
Utilities[water, cell, electric, etc.]
Wholesale[Costco, Sam's Club, etc.]
Department Stores
Hardware & Home Improvement Stores
Charitable Organizations
Pharmacies & Drug Stores
Amazon
3x on gas
2x on groceries
1x everything else
Redemption starts at 2,500 points or $25
0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for 6 months
1% foreign transaction fees
No annual fee
you never been to europe?! you are really missing out man. don't use uncomfortable plane rides as an excuse!
I have never been! Yeah I know, I should really get some travel cards, manufacture some spending and off I go.
Airlines and traveling with them are definitely over rated ..... sitting in a tight seat with people on each side of you, not leaning back because the old woman behind you will get mad.... the guy next to you didn't put on deodorant.... the little air blower thing above you always blows to hard..... you have to wait in line to use the bathroom, can't poop, can't sleep, your ears get clogged up from the flying, and jet lag..... blah
Yeah those are the downsides. But then you have to brave it once in a while if you want to see the sights.
You haven't been to Africa or Europe, but you've managed to double your net worth more than once and save an entire year of your job's income. Poor baby. He doing so bad 😔😜
U only spend $500 a month for everything? Thats a channel right there, how the hells that possible? Lol
On credit cards that is. There are a bunch of automatic deductions from the checking directly that doesn't go through the credit card.