Archive for the ‘Credit Cards’ Category

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CITGO Visa Ending Long Run of 1% Cash Back Rebate Card

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

We were really surprised Citibank waited this long to end this dinosaur of a credit card. Several years ago it was my ultimate favorite credit card because of its pure one percent back and automatic no-hassle credit to the statement every month with no waiting period. The sad thing is Citibank really does not even have a card half this good right now but yet they are closing out this outdated card. The competing banks have better offers if you read further.

In a letter from Citibank:
As of February 29, 2012, Citibank, N.A. the issuer of the CITGO MasterCard and CITGO Visa, will discontinue these credit card programs. Your account will be closed on that date and you will no longer be able to use your account for purchases or other transactions. Please ensure that any companies you have authorized to bill to this account on a recurring basis are notified. You will continue to receive a monthly statement until any remaining balance is paid in full. Any rebates you have earned but have not redeemed as of February 29, 2012 will be applied as a credit on your statement in a future billing period.

The CITGO MasterCard and Citgo Visa credit card programs are being discontinued but the big bank is offering an alternative. Citibank is inviting you in the letter to apply for a CITGO Plus Card. The CITGO Plus Card is more of a gas card that is not used anywhere but CITGO stations. It does come with a 10% Rebate on CITGO purchases for 60 days after the opening of the account where you can earn up to $75. Although you would be better off applying for a Freedom Card and earning back 5% this quarter and be able to shop at any gas location.

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Winter Wonderland promotion can get you a $100 Zynga game card from Discover Card

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

For the first time a brand has helped bring an expansion to the Farmville players. Discover Card partnered with social game developer Zynga to promote it’s cash back credit cards. The sponsorship from Discover lasts two weeks and will allow existing cardmembers of Discover Card to turn $25 in Discover cashback bonus into a $50 Zynga Game Card. If you do not own a Discover card yet the non-cardmembers who apply and are approved for a Discover More card through a special link can receive a $100 Zynga game card after making their first purchase with their Discover card. December 5 Winter Wonderland became available to the public for Facebook users.

“Partnering with Zynga to develop a unique in-game experience helps us connect and engage with players and put more fun in time spent online,” said Mike Boush, vice president of e-business at Discover.

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Discover Card Birthday 2% Cash Back

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

We all should expect one thing for our birthday this year and that is an endless supplies of “Happy Birthday!” posts on Facebook. Be ready for 100′s of posts of some people you do not even know posting away at your older age. You can also look forward to a fun 2% promotion from Discover Card this year and to get more than a fourth of a percentage point from them is a huge deal. They have become rather greedy with their Cash Back these last few years. It takes a lot of 2% to add up to that $50 redemption into your checking account or to put on your account statement but we can dream can’t we? Dream especially big on your birthday because you can spend up to $500 for this 2% Cash Back and that is a pretty good present to yourself. Maybe a few pairs of jeans or that lawn mower you have always wanted.

Earn 2% Cashback Bonus on up to $500 in purchases from the first day of the birthday promotion month for which you are enrolled (or the date on which you sign up, whichever is later) through the last day of that month. This will be in addition to any promotional Cashback Bonus you may earn. For Open Road cardmembers, you will earn this 2% Cashback Bonus in addition to the 2% Cashback Bonus you earn on the first $250 in gas and restaurant purchases for the month. These purchases will not count toward your total annual purchases to determine your tier level. Allow up to 5 weeks for this reward to be added to your Cashback Bonus account. See Cashback Bonus Program Terms and Conditions for further details about your reward program.

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Discover Card Loyalty does not pay off

Friday, February 18th, 2011

The brand loyalty to the Discover Card just does not pay off I found out recently. In my recent Discover billing statement I got a notice that they want to thank me for my loyalty with a special card design. The old design of the Discover Card – let me jump up and down now! SO I get to pretend I am living in 1990 when I first got the card and thought it was kind of a trendy looking thing but yet reminded me of that Discover travel outdoor magazine more than a money having piece of plastic. This is what I get for my loyalty to you for over 15 years?

What they should have given me for my loyalty was a better credit line. My credit is excellent yet I only have a 5,000 limit with them and I recently applied for another Discover Card for a 0% Balance transfer offer which did not help at all. They told me I would have to split my old line of credit in half for $2,500 to make it even lower. A Balance transfer of $2,500 is nothing compared to what other card issuers give out.

It seems my loyalty to Discover is not doing much for my side of things. This is telling me I will use them a few months for this BT offer then cancel EVERYTHING Discover. I am not only frustrated with Discover but am insulted with my income and credit history being Excellent they cannot give me more than $5,000 limit. I get to carry around a card that looks like 1986 with the black and orange but not reap the benefits of being a long term Discover card holder?

My message to Discover card is to pay attention to your cardholders if you want to be around another 25 years. There is a reason you are the underdog it is because you barely give us a credit limit to stand on and while we are going through hard times as a country you need to step up the game. If you want to compete with the big dogs such as MasterCard and Visa you have to offer something more than UP to 1% for your loyal cardholders. You need to offer something better than a redemption level of $40 if you want cash which is worse than American Express. Your card was exciting back in 1986, but now it offers nothing to stand out from the 3% offers, 5% offers, and FULL 1% offers.

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Discover Card Orange Bowl Experience

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Do you want to be treated like a VIP at the Orange Bowl coming up in 2011? Discover is the new sponsor of the Orange Bowl for the next few years and they are bringing it to college football fans in a major way. Your Cash Back Bonus can not only start paying your Discover Card bill and buy you gift cards for retail stores but now it can get you to the game. Look at it this way if you start putting all of your Christmas and Holiday shopping on your Discover Card you could well be on your way to these exclusive tickets, Fan Zone, Tailgate, and maybe a glance at the halftime act. Starting December 1, you can redeem Cashback Bonus towards the purchase of an exclusive Discover Orange Bowl experience that includes:

* Lower-level, sideline tickets to the game
* A sneak peek at the halftime entertainment the night before the game
* Snacks and entertainment at the pre-game Discover Tailgate
* Admission to the Game Day Fan Zone

This experience is available to Discover cardmembers with a minimum of $20 Cashback Bonus. Redeem $225 Cashback Bonus (per ticket) for this experience or apply at least $20 Cashback Bonus and pay the rest with your Discover card.

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Chase Freedom 3 Percent back on Dining, Childcare

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

3 percent cash back educationMany offers come and go in rewards credit cards but this one really stood out to me when I saw it advertised earlier tonight.  Chase bank’s Freedom Card is offering a 3% cash back in four major categories from January to March 2010.  These categories include dining, utilities, childcare, and education.

This could not be a better time to offer the 3% back on college tuition and childcare.  It is too bad they do not offer this year round but then again if you have a grandfathered-in Freedom card you may be able to get 3% back on any of the top 3 categories you use the most so this really means nothing.

This promotion is great for students, parents who have children in childcare centers, people who eat out frequently, and consumers with high heating bills this Winter.  Utilities would be better of course in the Summer when we spend the most on those heat wave electric bills.  Gas bills are normally pretty steep too though during the first few months of the year.’

Get this card while you can and start saving on these categories at three percent.   You can apply for Chase Credit Cards online or goto yourchasefreedom.com for information on how to sign up with your existing card.

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The Hassle of Applying for a Pre-Approved Business Card Offer

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Capital-One-approved-businesscardNo one can complain when you get credit card offers in the mail during one of the worst markets and housing bubbles of all time. It has truly been awhile that I have gotten any offers from Chase or a few of the other banks that I used to get mailings each week. Back then they would bug me but now I am excited.

Capital One sent me a 0% APR on purchases until 2011, $0 Annual Fee, and an offer for a card that will result in Double Miles for purchases for 12 Months. The bad thing is that earlier this year I was denied twice from the same bank. I was just trying to get a credit card to use for foreign purchases while traveling which is really one of the only reasons to have a Capital One card. Their rewards are good but I am pretty content with my Chase rewards.

The only downside to this offer from Capital One is that when I goto fill out the application it kept giving me errors. I had to try over ten times to get this application to be error free. This thing is picky as to dashes and what phone numbers you have listed. For instance, you cannot have your home phone number and your business phone number the same or it will come back in an error. I filled out the application a few more times trying to see where the other error came from and it said it was from the Business Tax ID where it automatically took out a number when I copied and pasted it with a dash originally. I then had to go back in and fill out the Capital One Business Platinum Credit Card application with the full set of Business tax id numbers and without the dash.

I was then approved. This will be my first Capital One Business card and I am very excited!

Some information is missing or incorrect. Please update fields to continue.

# Date of Birth is a required field
# Business Phone is a required field
# Business Phone Prefix is a required field
# Business Area Code is a required field
# Business Tax ID Number (TIN) or Employer ID Number (EIN) must be 9 digits

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Finding a Credit Card is Easy!

Friday, November 6th, 2009

You know I dislike debit cards.  I have never understood why so many people use debit cards instead of credit cards. With credit cards you get at least a 20-day free loan but you have to have the self governing power to pay the bill off before the end of the month or when it is due just like any other bill.  You do not want to pay the high interest rates you get charged by the banks in this day in time.

When searching for the credit card that fits your lifestyle you need to consider rewards versus interest rates.  The other factors in finding a credit card is your credit if you have good credit you can normally get better rewards but if your credit stinks then you better just start out with a lesser card such as the Orchard bank or Buy Right.

Most of us have average credit and should apply for that card.  A good site to compare the various cards online is here at 123 Easy Card.  This is a simple site for those card shopping before the Holiday season race begins.

Here you will find offers such as the Freedom and Sapphire cards from Chase Bank.   You may also see Citibank, American Express, Discover Card Platinum, and many others.  My favorites are the Discover and Chase cards because I dislike these annual fees that banks such as Bank of America are threatening over our heads.  Say no to annual fees and yes to rewards.

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Discover Card Pulls the Plug On $20 Cash Rewards

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Discover Card has made what some may call a fatal mistake in the credit card industry.  Discover was known for its small bank-like friendliness until now.  They gave you a real cash back onto your statement which was the most non-hassle of them all.  The credit crisis has made all the banks greedy including the friendly credit card issuer Discover Card.

Discover now is making you wait until you get $50 in reward to get cash back instead of the $20 previous.  This is more than double the increased time to have to wait and to have to make more and more purchases which some people may have to wait years to add up the small under 1% payouts from Discover.  This is a sad change to Discover policy that recently changed.

I have been with Discover Card for over ten years now and never have they pulled a fast one on me like this.  The fact that I could go online and redeem my $20 to my account was the ONLY reason I had a Discover Card instead of a Citi ThankYou or a Chase Points card where there is much more hassle involved.

The customer service rep acted as if we could earn more in their shopping mall called ShopDiscover.  ShopDiscover is nothing more than a site where they get paid the more you buy online from the links they send you.  EVERYONE has one of these now including Chase and Bank of America Add It Up.  This service is similar to Ebates and online shopping malls with the airlines.  This is certainly not the answer to the steep increase of redemption at Discover Card.

My friends, family, and co-workers will all be in shock when they sign into their account online and find that they will no longer be able to redeem cash at $20.  Of course, there will be the $20 redemption of gift cards that no one wants for these companies that are all going out of business like Red Lobster (I mean really?).

Call Discover at 1-800-347-2683 and complain.  Get this changed now!!

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MTV Visa for the Entertainment minded

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

If you like catching sports games in person, watching movies at the theater, and eating some taco bell on your date then you may be in luck.  The new Capital One card ad I saw today from a MTV community website is definitely targeted to young males who spend lots of money at these places.

There are two card offers for the MTV Visa Card from Capital One.  One is for Limited Credit and the other is for Good Credit.  I do not really see any mentions of Student card but I supposed that is saved for the Citi version MTVU card which mainly targets College students.

Give me the rewards!

  • 5 points per $1 spent on entertainment like music, movies, video game rentals, and sporting events
  • 2 points per $1 spent at restaurants, fast food places, and coffee shops
  • 1 point per $1 on everything else
  • 25 bonus points each billing period you keep your account in good standing by paying on time – These are special rewards for those who “do good” similar to Citi’s Myspace Forward Card.

The only difference in the MTV good and limited credit card is that the good credit profile’s get 0% until April 2010; after that, 16.9% variable.  The bad dudes who have limited credit get the high interest of 24.9% variable stoned into their billing statement.

The MTV credit cards have no annual fee and neither offer balance transfer fees.  There are 4 hip hoppin MTV rockin cards to choose from.

How do you get your no hassle rewards?

You may Redeem for MTV stuff, events and shows, or create your own MTV experience.  You can get gift cards from retailers,  give points to a charity,Trade points for cash and save up for your next purchase, or Fly for free on your next vacation for as few as 15,000 points.  The latest MTV rewards are always posted on the No Hassle PointsSM website, which you can access once you get your MTV Visa card.

Capital One seems to hate me they deny me every time I apply for a credit card even though I make over the required amount and have a great credit score.  They claim I apply too often.  Maybe they will let me attempt to be cool with this MTV generation Visa Card.  This card has 4 designs with one of the moon man, one all access and some other fun colored cards.

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