OT: $100 back with Chase Cash Plus Rewards Visa Card

is the offer in the magazine section or the actual paper itself?

I saw similar offer in my paper - but only for $50 cash codeTP8- one of the NJ papers. Curious about what paper you saw it in - they must have different offers al

Alan:

The offer was in the flyers and coupons for the Albuquerque Journal. I can't imagine Chase would limit this to just my geographic region. The $50 dollar offer was Code: ND5 in last weeks paper. The offer is good till November 30 here.

Bob

From: "Alan"

| I saw similar offer in my paper - but only for $50 cash codeTP8- one of | the NJ papers. Curious about what paper you saw it in - they must have | different offers | al

Which one in Jersey ?

Newark Star Ledger ? Asbury Park Press ?

Hello, Bob! You wrote on Sun, 23 Oct 2005 11:30:46 -0600:

BW> This card pays a 1% cash reward on regular purchases, and 5% on BW> purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, and drug stores.

BW> Number to call: 1-888-787-0329 BW> Offer Code: MZ3

BW> Oh, and of course, Chase supports Direct Connect ;-)

Poo, I've already converted my Buy.Com (Chase) VISA to this card, so no $50 or $100 for me. :-( Anyway, I've been using my Citibank Dividends MC, which has pretty much the same rewards, though they have different policies on how rewards are handled. Here's what I've learned from reading the fine print and talking with customer service:

With Citibank, you can earn a rewards maxium of $300 per year (calendar), but any unclaimed rewards in December carry over to the next year and count toward its $300 limit. The Chase card also has maximum rewards of $300 per year, but dollar points expire three years from the month in which you earn them. Both cards require you to earn $50 before they'll cut you a check. Chase automatically sends you a check when you earn $50, while Citibank requires you to either call customer service or click a button on their web site to initiate a check once you've reach the $50 minimum. But, Citibank will cut a check for less than $50 if you've already earned $250 during that calendar year, thus allowing you to avoid a balance that counts toward the next calendar year's $300 limit. Citibank customer service tells me they are working on making it possible to have them credit rewards to one's Citibank account rather than mailing a check. They don't have an ETA on that though.

One way around the $300 maximum with Citibank is to check their Citi Dividends Merchant Network before you make a purchase, as purchases through the network earn the regular dividend of either 1- or 5% *plus* a premium of some additional percentage which *doesn't* count toward the $300 maximum. (Some are online, some are brick & mortar. Still others are both, but with different rewards percentages.) There are an awful lot of merchants participating that I already buy from. So taking the time to check the web site before I make a larger purchase tends to pay me more often than not. :-)

I won't be using my Discover Card nearly as much now, though I think I'll convert it to their Home Improvement specialty card when my anniversary rolls around in early November. Those new windows I plan to get next summer will bring in a nice reward....

Well, back to pinching pennies. ;-)

Regards, Margaret

Parade magazine in the star ledger

Margaret:

That is SOME fine print reading there ;-) But, seriously, good to know about the carryover from year to year. I WAS just letting the rewards sit there, but I guess I'll be requesting checks now. Thanks VERY much for pointing out THAT wrinkle.

Bob

From: "Alan"

| Parade magazine in the star ledger

Gratzi !

Hello, Bob! You wrote on Sun, 23 Oct 2005 11:30:46 -0600:

BW> This card pays a 1% cash reward on regular purchases, and 5% on BW> purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, and drug stores.

BW> Number to call: 1-888-787-0329 BW> Offer Code: MZ3

Hmm, these offers must differ by region. In Lansing, Michigan it's $100, and the offer code is "MY9." Ad is in the coupon section.

Regards, Margaret

Hello, Bob! You wrote on Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:56:18 -0600:

BW> That is SOME fine print reading there ;-) BW> But, seriously, good to know about the carryover from year to year. BW> I WAS just letting the rewards sit there, but I guess I'll be BW> requesting checks now. BW> Thanks VERY much for pointing out THAT wrinkle.

Y'welcome, Bob. :-)

Regards, Margaret

My reading of the fine print seems to indicate that you do not get the 5%, unless your annual purchases total more than $6000 and then you only 3% unless your monthly balance is NOT paid off. Would appreciate your view of this. I think it is false advertising, or maybe I am not reading this correctly.

Hello, Stan! You wrote on Mon, 24 Oct 2005 15:17:50 -0400:

SB> My reading of the fine print seems to indicate that you do not get the SB> 5%, unless your annual purchases total more than $6000 and then you SB> only 3% unless your monthly balance is NOT paid off. SB> Would appreciate your view of this. I think it is false advertising, or SB> maybe I am not reading this correctly.

SB> -- SB> Stan B.

What fine print are you reading? I charge everything I possibly can and then pay my full balance off at the end of each month -- without fail. The rewards are listed on each month's statement, so I know I'm getting the full

1- or 5% depending on what I actually purchase. I can verify this is the case with both the Chase and Citi Dividends cards. These cards are definitely not meant for those who carry balances, because the interest rates are quite high. As I haven't had a CC balance in some years, the days of finding the lowest-rate, no-annual-fee cards are long gone. Now I look for the highest-paying cash-back cards, so I don't even bother to check the interest rates. (I just make sure there's no annual fee.) However, while I was reading the fine print, I couldn't help but notice the rates on both the Chase and Citi Dividends cards are quite high. Discover has always been rather high. And that's even with my high FICO score. ;-)

I do recall reading that $6000 is the total you have to charge (if all the charges earn 5% rewards) to earn $300 in one year. At 1%, you have to charge $30,0000 to earn $300. Because one's charges will be a mix of the two, it's impossible to tell what one's total charges will be to hit the maximum reward. Now I suppose if I charged enough, I could use, say, the Citibank card for all my 5% purchases and the Chase card for all my 1% purchases. Not only do I not charge *that* much, but remembering which card to use when is a bit too much effort for my taste. I think what I'll do is charge on the Citi card till I hit $300 (if I do), then switch to the Chase card for the remainder of that calendar year. This way, I just have to remember to occasionally charge on the Chase card, so they don't close it for lack of use. Back to rewards....

On my monthly statement, Chase breaks down the rewards as follows:

Rewards earned in current billing period: Amount at 1% Amount at 5% When these rewards expire Total rewards earned to date

Citibank just tells you the total rewards earned in the current billing period as well as the lifetime activity. But if you call customer service, they can tell you what reward rate you earned for a given purchase. I found this out, because the first month I had only one charge which I thought should have earned 5%, and it only earned 1%. All these cards base their reward rate on the sale category reported by the merchant. For example, if I buy gas at a gas station that also has a small convenience store, and they categorize themselves as a convenience store, my purchase only earns 1% even though I purchased gas. Discover makes it a bit easier, because you can look at your account activity, and it has the sales category listed. Neither Chase nor Citibank do this, but Citibank tells me they're trying to improve on this. As I mentioned earlier, you can call Citi's customer service, and they'll tell you what category a given merchant reported for a particular transaction. I haven't called Chase, but my guess is they can do the same.

Regards, Margaret

margaret

Does the chase card support direct download from quicken? Is there a cost - I noted on chase website about charges for electronic banking but was not sure a bout this.

alan

I have an amex card that works the same way - the first $6000 in charges you get less rebate, al

Hello, Alan! You wrote on Mon, 24 Oct 2005 18:57:55 -0400:

A> Does the chase card support direct download from quicken? Is there a A> cost - I noted on chase website about charges for electronic banking but A> was not sure a bout this.

Both Chase and Citi Dividends card support direct connect free of charge. TMK, DC became available for Chase cards when they bought out First USA. So, you select First USA as the financial institution, even though your card may be with Chase. It doesn't flake out periodically like the Citi DC does, either.

Regards, Margaret

This card pays rewards from dollar one. Pls see my earlier post on what the $6000 is. Now I haven't read the fine print on the ad for the card with $100 cash back. Perhaps the deal is different *during the first year* because of the extra $100 reward check they give you. I've seen that happen before. But having read the fine print on the plain, vanilla Chase Cash Rewards card, you don't have to carry a balance, and you don't have to charge a certain amount before you start earning rewards.

Regards,

Margaret

I maxed out my AT & T Universal card in September (same deal as the Citi card), am using the Citi card for the rest of the year. Next year I will use each card for about six months to avoid maxing out either one. I use a Fidelity Investment rewards card for everything besides gas, food, and drugs - they pay 1.5% on everything. It's not that hard to remember which card to use for what. So far this year I have collected $761.70 in rebates. I guess that's worth a little extra effort.

Jim

Hello, Jim! You wrote on Tue, 25 Oct 2005 03:26:28 GMT:

JC> I maxed out my AT & T Universal card in September (same deal as the JC> Citi card), am using the Citi card for the rest of the year. Next year JC> I will use each card for about six months to avoid maxing out either JC> one. I use a Fidelity Investment rewards card for everything besides JC> gas, food, and drugs - they pay 1.5% on everything. It's not that hard JC> to remember which card to use for what. So far this year I have JC> collected $761.70 in rebates. I guess that's worth a little extra JC> effort.

Interesting info, Jim. Thanks. Please tell me more about this Fidelity Investments card. Where does one apply, and does it have a maximum rewards $$ per year?

Regards, Margaret Wilson

Hello, Jim! You wrote on Tue, 25 Oct 2005 03:26:28 GMT:

JC> I maxed out my AT & T Universal card in September (same deal as the JC> Citi card), am using the Citi card for the rest of the year. Next year JC> I will use each card for about six months to avoid maxing out either JC> one. I use a Fidelity Investment rewards card for everything besides JC> gas, food, and drugs - they pay 1.5% on everything. It's not that hard JC> to remember which card to use for what. So far this year I have JC> collected $761.70 in rebates. I guess that's worth a little extra JC> effort.

I found info on the Fidelity Investment rewards cards here:

Regards, Margaret Wilson