Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate Saves You Money

The Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate is one of the best credit card offers I have received for my business in a long time. I must admit that it is very tempting to get the card to increase our credit line.

It's not like we need to extend our credit line, but there were several stories that many credit card companies are reeling in credit lines to reduce market exposure.

One of the best features of the Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate is that you get 3% rebates on eligible business expenses. Basically, you get the 3% for most business related expenses except when purchased as superstores, warehouse clubs or discount stores.

So you have to do the math if you actually are going to save money with the extra 3% going somewhere else than a discount store. But even if you don't qualify, they still give you 1% back for unqualified purchases.

The card doesn't carry an annual fee so having this for emergency cash flow is good to have on your books. The first 6 months you have 0% APR, so it's free cash until the big payment is due.

They supply quarterly and annual reports which may help you. All I really care about is that I can download my transactions into Quickbooks for my accountant.

All in all, the Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate is something worth looking into for managing your business expenses.

Airmiles Credit Card Takes Us to S.F.

We had a wonderful weekend trip to the Bay area with complements from our airmiles credit card. Even though the trip was relatively short, it was nice to get away for the weekend and not worry about the economy and just focus on the good things in life: love, eating, eating and more eating.

The free airline tickets saved us lots of money so we splurged on shopping without feeling too guilty. Plus we saved 5% on our rental and hotel by using Discover. However, it took a day to get over guilt of not working on our "save money online" site which getting close to launch, but it will get done when it's good and done.

It must have been over 20 years since we've been to China Town and the Wharf. The food was delicious and even the sand in the Clam chowder was good.

Now that most of the United Air miles are gone, I'm either going switch over to Delta or just use my cash back card more often. It's really hard to justify using United since we hardly fly them.

It will take a couple of more years before we accumulate enough frequent flier miles before we can take another free trip. With the bad economy, we had a sense of urgency to take this trip sooner than later. (Who knows if our miles will still be around or what shape the airline industry will be in a couple of years from now.) But it was a good trip to San Fransisco with thanks to our airmiles credit card.

Can You Trust the Mail to Deliver Your Credit Card Payment?

Can you trust the USPS to deliver your credit card payment on time? This is something that you really need to think about the next time when putting first-class stamp on envelope and dropping your payment into the mailbox.

Normally, it takes three business days to send a first class letter from coast to coast. An amazing trip of over 2,000 miles from start to finish. You drop it the box, it gets picked up, routed to the post office, then to the regional office for sorting and delivery to the next regional office. If the regional office is across the country, it gets bundled up with other postage and put on a commercial flight.

The the letter is unwound in the reverse from the commercial flight, to the regional office, and then to the local post office for delivery to its final destination. A very efficient process taking about 3 business days to deliver your credit card payment.

You would think that 3 business days is enough time for delivery of payment, but its not. I pay my credit cards off each month -- at least 7 days days in advance to take account of any fluctuations in delivery schedules -- so I save money on interest and late fees.

The majority of my cards are paid online so 1) I don't have to pay postage; and 2) I know that the payment arrives there. But I have one low-limit card where I authorized my son to use so he buy gas and school supplies while at college. Normally the bill is around $100 so I was little curious when it was $150. I read the statement: Gas, Gas, Late Fee $39, Interest $1.51; WTF!

Like I said, I pay the bill at least 7 days in advance to avoid this frustration. I mailed the payment on the 28th and it got posted 3 days late, 12 days latter. Absolutely nothing you can do. You can call the Credit Card Company and bitch until you're blue in the face and you're going to get the same answer.

I'm sure each and everyone of us has had this conversation

I'm sorry, the terms and conditions clearly state that your account is credited upon arrival of your payment before 12 PM on that business day... blah, blah, blah, .... Sorry, we do not keep a record of the payment envelope or when it was post marked... blah, blah, blah, .... But you would be happy to know that we do recycle your envelope to make our country a greener place.

So what can you do about it? If you pay off your credit card statement by mail each month, make sure that when the statement arrives, write a check for the entire balance, and put it in the mail the very next day. Or better yet, sign up for online payment with your bank or with the Credit Card Company so you can avoid fees and interest due to late payments.

Don't Abuse Your Credit to Get "Free Money"

An interesting article on ArtWoo where the author makes some valid arguments that credit cards should be used only in times of emergency and living within our means is the prudent thing to do:

Credit cards make sense to use if you know and understand how to use them correctly. Americans abuse credit cards, mistaking them for "free money" and opening many different cards at the same time to satisfy their thirst for expensive things and, ironically, things they can't afford.

If you use your credit wisely, you can actually save money by purchasing on credit. This requires paying off your credit every month to avoid interest and fees. In this sense, the 30 day loan is "free money" since your money is increasing with interest while sitting in your savings account.

Also, if the credit card that you use is a "cash back" card, you're also discounting the purchase price from 1 to 5%.

Saving money to get "free money" is ultimately the plan you need to work at:

1. Pay everything in cash for two months.
2. Keep track of everything you purchase.
3. Use Quicken or MS Money to help you track and budget your expenses.
4. Accumulate enough savings for your monthly budget then start rotating monthly expenses on your card to get the cash back and interest free loans.

Remember the important thing is to save and budget. Use your credit cards wisely by paying off the balance each month.

Credit Card Thief Held on One Million Dollar Bond

It seems kind of excessive to hold a credit card thief on a million dollar bond, but apparently in the Covina, CA, a suspect was arrested for using stolen credit cards to purchase gas.

Sisak Khudaverdyan, 28, of Glendale drove up to a filling station in a Ford Econoline Van and started pumping gas. At gas stations, there is a $100 per charge limit when buying gas, or roughly 25 gallons. If you exceed that, you need to use a different card.

After the thief pulled out a third card, the gas station attendant called the police. When the LAPD arrived, the found two 50 gallon dumbs inside the van rigged to fill up from the external nozzle and dozens of stolen credit cards.

The suspect was out on bail for allegedly committing the identical crime in the Ventura County, and the bail was set for 1 million.

The Discover More Card - Tips to Reduce Your Credit Card Payments

Credit cards are unsecured lines of credit giving you flexible spending accounts. The Discover More Card gives you the flexibility of cash while saving you money on purchases. The best way to take advantage of the Discover More Card is to eliminate the fees and interest which Discover will charge you.

Fees and interest payments will quickly diminish the 5% you earn towards every purchase. But with careful planning, budgeting and especially paying off monthly charges, you can save a substantial amount of money over extended periods use of Discover More Card.

Credit Card Fees

One can avoid fees by making a payment towards your account. However, if the balance is not paid in full, your account starts accruing interest on the balance and future purchases until the balance reaches zero. Discover can charge you from $19 to $39 even if your payment is only a day late.

Sometimes a simple call to Discover will reverse the late fee especially if the payment is due around a holiday. But the best way to avoid the fee is to mail your payment one week before it is due or schedule an online payment.

Cash Advance Fees

Most charge companies have a minimum transaction fee on top of the interest you incur at the time of the cash advance. If the cash advanced fees annualized, you may end up paying upwards to 30%. Thus, try to avoid taking out cash unless you need cash for an emergency.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR)

Credit companies charge various fees for using their credit card. You should make it a priority in avoiding late fees by making your monthly payment on time.. While annual fees were predominate several decades ago, there is no reason to carry a charge cards that have annual fees.

Using Credit Cards Hurt Gas Station Owners

Several Gas Station Owners have been hit hard by the rising gas prices, but not where you would expect. Credit card fees are eating into their profits and they're beginning to accept cash only.

This is how it works...

Credit card companies make it on both ends of the sale. First they collect merchant fees for every sale and then they collect interest on consumers who don't pay off their monthly short-term loan. Usually these fees run a few percent and sometimes as high as 5% for low volume merchants.

I can remember back when processing credit cards was a real pain in the butt. You had to look up the card in the "dead-beat" list that had a publication of thousands of cards that were stolen or over extended.

Then you called Visa or Mastercard to get approval for the sale. You talked to a live operator stating the facts about the card. The whole process took several minutes while angry customers wait in line behind them.

Sometimes you were instructed to cut up the card in half which was sometimes golden especially if the customer was a real prick. But as a merchant, you lose out on a sale and make your customer angry at you.

Today, you just swipe the card thru a card reader and you get back an approval in a few seconds. The process is all automated and hardly justifies the merchant fees they charge since there is no live operator anymore.

So are Gas Station Owners Justified in not Accepting Credit Cards?

Not really since the 2% merchant fee is built into the price. Eighty-percent of their customers are going to use credit and the other 20% will pay by cash. By using your gas card or cash back card, this price increase goes back to you in rebates.

Basically what they can do is lower the price of the gas to compete with other local gas stations. They will push their customers away, have lower sales and eventually go out of business.

Are You Addicted to Credit Cards?

Jennifer Levitz wrote an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal about credit card addiction. She presented a view where consumers were overextending their credit cards to meet compulsive spending habits.

I would argue that the true addiction is not the credit cards but is actually an addiction to shopping.

While it’s not difficult to understand her point of view, overspending, not budgeting and simply paying interest is ultimately the culprit of overextension.

Of course there are shopaholics that continuously go shopping where it wouldn’t matter if they had an endless stream of cash or credit to satisfy some compulsive need.

There really is no addiction to credit cards, but an abuse — either by mismanagement or illness — that causes the ultimate problem.

Solution to Credit Card Addiction

So is there a way to overcome this problem? The answer might not surprise you since it’s as simple as paying off your credit card as soon as possible.

1. Each month pay off as much as possible. Double, triple your payment. Use cash to buy everything else until your cards are paid off.



2. Keep track of how much and what you are spending on each month. Try to eliminate unnecessary purchases.

Once you paid off your cards, a great burden of 20% in interest rates will be lifted off your shoulders.

If you decide to use your cards again, use them only for the monthly expenses and pay the entire credit card balance off each month avoiding late fees and interest.

Here's another Way to Save with Credit Cards

My wife received a really good credit card offer from American Express today. The Blue Sky is cash back rewards card where you accumulate one bonus point for each dollar you spend.

After you spend your first $500, American Express gives you 7,500 bonus points. This is equivalent to $100 off any airline ticket, hotel stay, and car rental or travel package. You must redeem the bonus points in blocks of 7,500.

Unlike Discover, you’re limited to the travel industry. But American Express pays you 1.3% ($100/$7,500) instead of 1% for Discover purchases.

Blue Sky has no annual fees; the APR for the first 6 months is 0%! Zero-percent loans are nice to have even if it’s only for 6 months. Just set aside what you spend and pay it off before they jack up the rate.

After six months, the rate goes up — at least in my wife’s case — to 12.24%. Your rate maybe higher or lower depending on your credit score. Since I pay off all my balances, I never get charged interest. But still, it’s nice to know that it’s a fairly reasonable rate as far as credit cards go.

Another thing I like about this card is that you’re not tied to any specific airline. I use my United Card to keep my miles alive, but I can’t even remember flying United. We mostly fly Delta or Alaska, so it’s a waste to carry the card and use it to save money. I would like to get Blue Sky, but I already have two American Express Cards, one for personal and one for business expenses.

Since my wife doesn’t have an American Express Card, this is the one she should apply for in her name to help her maintain her credit history. Plus, we can use the $100 American Express hands out to help offset the cost of our vacation next year!

Alaska Air – My Favorite Airline but not my Favorite Credit Card

Alaska Air ranks up there as one of my all time favorite airline carriers. Considering that I’ve racked up over 100,000 frequently flyer miles, my guess is that I’ve flown Alaska more than 50 times.

Despite the frequency, it takes a long time to accumulate miles since they pretty much dominate the LA/Seattle market and those are 2,000 round-trip miles.

Since it takes 20,000 miles to get a first class upgrade, I’ve been saving upgrades for longer flights. That is, vacation to Alaska where the 3,500 mile trip can take up to 7 hours of flight time with a stop in Seattle.

So does it make sense to get the Alaska Air Credit Card? The answer is yes if you live on the west coast and fly between Portland, Los Angeles or Seattle and take frequent trips between these cities. The benefits of moving up to first class are well worth the annual card fee.

If you’re planning to take a vacation or fishing trip to Alaska, and I highly recommend that you do, it’s worth enrolling in Alaska’s frequent flyer program to offset the first class ticket price. (It’s a long flight to Alaska, and believe me, you want to fly first class.)

With the miles you accumulate from your credit card purchases and enrollment bonuses, you should get enough to cover your vacation trip.

Other than frequent business use or one or two vacation trips to Alaska, I would not recommend the Alaska Air Credit Card.