Interest rates and Sears card ripoff

[Crinale]

^^^ That is exactly what I do each month as well, although I will end up carrying a balance this month due to the refrigerator purchase. I currently have an REI card that gets me dividends but I'm now looking for a card that does either straight cash back or an Alaska Airlines airmiles card since I fly with them annually. Does Discover charge an annual fee?

I believe Discover has an annual fee.. I personally have a Chase Rewards Visa and i can chose what to spend my rewards on, either cash, gift cards, or miles (i usually choose to put my rewards onto my card to help pay down my balance)

[Good Times]

I have both Discover and AmEx (several diff ones from them) and all of them have no fees. They do offer cards w/ fees but the ones I have are no fees and all come with their perks like cash back rewards etc. One of the my AmEx cards is the Costco Business Card and I know that one has rewards on it.

Chase often and Bank One often has promos with no interest for 12 months so you might want to look into them as well although I don't think you can roll over your cc's into their balance.

[CJM]

Precisely the reason I just canceled a credit card. One time, JUST ONE TIME I wrote the check out and transposed the numbers, not even the full amount just the sense. They killed me from a 9% interest to 22% for a measly less than a dollar that I didnt pay. This was citibank. Not to mention my card got stolen multiple times and I didnt even use it anywhere and they took forever to reverse the fees and didnt even call me or anything either about the charges.

I have a chase MC and ive beenhappy with them, I hardly use it but when they noticed fraudulent charges they called me and had a new card sent asap.

I really HATE credit cards, I hardly use them if possible.

Why not try a balance transfer where the interest is lower, often other credit cards LOVE doing that to reel you in. Plus side is you get a lower rate.

[paddlenbike]

I found some pretty worthy options out there:

Chase Freedom Visa--1% cash back on all purchases, 5% on certain product categories that rotate throughout the year and if you charge $500 in the first three months (which I definitely will) you get an additional $100 back. It sounds like you guys are happy with Chase, so this one is sounding good.

Bank of America has a 1.25% card but in a two year period I spent more time at the bank fixing problems they created that I won't go back for anything. I switched to Golden1 Credit Union in 2000 and have not had a single problem.

Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa--2% cash back on all purchases. It didn't make #1 in the review I was reading because it requires you open a Fidelity Brokerage account, which I happen to already have. [EDIT--2% is for the American Express card, which doesn't seem to work well as a primary card. The Visa offers 1.5% cash back, which still isn't bad.]

I kind of hate to walk away from my REI/U.S. Bank Visa because the customer service has been outstanding but straight cashback would be nice. I contacted my mortgage company and they will not allow me to put the mortgage on a credit card...understandable but a bummer nevertheless.

[Okie81]

Good deals, especially if you have a Fidelity account.

[garrett]

Discover is simliar to how you describe chase freedom visa - no fee, 1% cash back on everything, 5% cash back on different categories which rotate throught the year, and up to 20% cash back at certain online retailers.

[paddlenbike]

I was in the process of signing up for a Discover card last night. After a little research I realized it is not part of the Visa/Mastercard network and therefore its uses are a little more limited. For example, it generally only works in the U.S., so I would have to own a second credit card for international travel. Speaking of which, the Capitol One card offers a 1% rebate for the first $6,000 spent, then 3% for gas and groceries after that. And it carries no foreign transaction fees--I paid $80 last year in Italy on foreign fees alone. I need to stop doing mail order brides and drug shipments from Nicaragua.

What I need is a 1-2% cash back Home Depot card since that's where all my money goes anyway.

[garrett]

Yeah i actually meant to include that in my earlier post is that 1 downside to discover is that it is not accepted as many places as a visa/mastercard. this hasnt affected me yet but obviously something you have to consider.

i have the visa 'americard' from BofA as a backup but hardly ever have to use it. i hear a lot of bad things about BofA but I have had checking/credit/savings accounts there for ~4 years and fortunately have not had any trouble... (knock on wood)

[Whitey]

What do you home owners do for temporary credit when you unexpectedly need to buy something expensive? Does Home Depot charge interest rates that high for temporary lines of credit?

Do you keep an emergency fund for stuff the house may need?

[paddlenbike]

Do you keep an emergency fund for stuff the house may need?

As a new home owner that emergency fund never really got the chance to get itself started. Actually the emergency fund money is being used as I earn it to fix those first year home repairs. I do have savings, but not specifically for the house.

The goal here isn't to find a low interest rate credit card and rack up debt but rather to continue to run things through a credit card, pay it off every month and collect cash-back rewards while I do-so. With the exception of my home mortage, I have no debt. But I also don't live a fancy lifestyle and never purchased a new car.

That said I will have a credit card balance this month. I could pull money out of savings to cover it but leaving the balance the $11 in interest I have to pay will be nothing compared to the amount I save this month because I'M CHEAP and freak out about the cc balance, thereby saving money in the process, haha.