Anything related to credit cards and their rewards programs
This new Federal Reserve study is a fascinating look at credit card utilization across income brackets. It’s showing up all over the place: NY Times, Wall St. Journal, etc. It’s also an incredible distortion. There are a number of variables for which it fails to account. The most egregious were pointed out by Matthew White …
Who Gains and Who Loses from Credit Card Payments? Read More »
Today Target announced that beginning this fall, users of their store credit card as well as the Target VISA card will receive 5% off their purchases made exclusively at Target. Like the Toys ‘R’ Us program I reviewed a couple of days ago, this program’s sole goal is to increase spending at Target and hopefully …
Today, Toys ‘R’ Us announced a new program called the Holiday Savers Club to incentivize consumers to do their holiday shopping at their store. The program works like this. You go into the store anytime between now and October 16 and sign up for a card. Then, you can put money on the card through …
On Monday, the Federal Reserve introduced its new online database of credit card agreements under the guise of strides in consumer protection. This, of course, comes as the result of all the recent credit card legislation. So, let’s click on over there and see if we feel any safer. Ta-Da! OK, fine I’ll be the …
Review of Federal Reserve Consumer Credit Card Agreements Searchable Database FAIL Read More »
Last September I detailed the process of buying coins from the US Mint using a rewards credit card and their free direct shipping program. You take the coins and put them in your money market account where you gain interest on the float while you wait for your credit card statement then pay off the …
US Mint Circulating $1 Coin Direct Ship Program Update Read More »
On April 16th, I learned from Buck's Blog that Charles Schwab had decided to stop offering the Invest First VISA card that I use to get back 2% on all transactions. Uh-oh, time for a new card? Although the Schwab program has not (yet) been taken away from existing customers, the writing is on the …
Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express Card 2% Cashback Credit Card Review Read More »
Back in April, I reviewed the Charles Schwab Invest First VISA Credit Card. I’ve been using the card for 6 months now as my primary card (except for gas (PFCU) and hotels (Marriott)), and I have to say it has met all expectations. The account is everything I currently could ask for: 2% back on …
Charles Schwab 2% Credit Card, An Update and NEW ETF’s! Read More »
Okay, my headline is a bit sensationalistic, but it’s not far from the truth in my latest profitable personal finance adventure. You see the US Mint has a problem. It wants to replace the paper version of the US dollar with the coin version because the paper version wears out much more quickly and increases …
I'm always in the market for a better credit card. Many of you will remember when last year I posted about the merits of the PenFed VISA Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card. I still love this card, and its customer service, but I think I'll only be using it for gas going forward (5% back …
As if I needed another reason to hate living in NJ beyond the inflated house prices, worst in the nation real estate taxes, and population density, now I find out that I can’t get the gas rewards with my credit card either! This all started because I got a new credit card which I love. …
