FonzieSpook

Well if you logon to Discover and go to the Rewards site, you'll see lots of gift cards with $5 off. $50 cards for $45 and $25 cards for $20. Goes without saying that if there's both a $25 card and a $50 card for the same store, the $25 card's the one to get since you can get two of them for 40 bucks.

Yeah Discover's cashback rules are too strict and the 1% thing is quite misleading. I had the card for such a long time and I only realized it yesterday (partly my fault for never checking my cashback).

What would be your first choice cash back card then (that does not also have an annual fee)? I haven't shopped for one in a while.. I got on the Schwab train a year ago before they discontinued new accounts. But, my outdated opinion would be to look at: Fidelity Amex, NASA Credit Union 2% card, and I think there are some decent BankAmericard ones now but don't quote me on that. For 'cash equivalent' and if you do much travel, Travelocity had a good card too I remember. And, if you spend enough to get past the first tier within the first 2-3 months of the year, Amex Blue Cash. Any/All of those may be unavailable or discontinued now, though. Thanks, I do have the Amex Blue Cash.

What would be your first choice cash back card then (that does not also have an annual fee)? the chasing of categories and low annual caps is frustrating. there are some Freedom categories that I would never use. I prefer simple, uncapped, rewards such as 2% cashback cards and then using specialized cards for specific purposes, such as an effective 5% on airfare from penfed amex. Furthermore, discover is a terrible company to do biz with. I don't think much of chase either, but I do slum with chase with 2 cards. Thank you!

What would be your first choice cash back card then (that does not also have an annual fee)?

Ah okay, that explains it then. Thank you.

Correction : Discover max is $800 (not 400) but it's lower than the 1500 Chase gives you.

I've always heard people say how Discover More is the best cashback card out there. I have both, and I just found out yesterday that Discover's 1% only works after you've already spent 3000 in that year. Until then you only get .25%. Chase gives you 1% all the time. Of course both Chase and Discover have 5% categories that change every month. Even there Chase has a higher maximum amount of 1500 compared to Discover where I think it is 400 (not 100% sure there). So advice to anyone who has both, use both for the 5% categories, but otherwise use other cards or if you want to pick one of these two, pick Chase.

I guess anyone who has greater than 1% utilization should not even attempt a CLI - it's just too risky.

The cards need to show up on the report with the zero balance before SW can catch the change.

Thank you.

I was thinking about this issue today. We are getting a new home (it's a new build). The idea is to get a pre-approval now so the builder can start work. Then 5-6 months later when construction is finished and it's near closing, we apply again. That means we get another INQ hit. People buying used homes or new inventory homes won't have this problem. How bad will be the effect of a mortgage INQ 6 months down the lane? Is there any way to overcome this problem (getting 2 INQs). Thank you.

It depends on what's on your reports. In my case Equifax is usually my lowest score because it does not have my oldest card which reduces my age of accounts compared to the other two reports. Given identical information, the 3 FICO scores are usually near identical. Give or take a few points. (as far as I've understood the scoring model).

It's not a scam but it's hardly useful. It's called a companion ticket. Means you pay full price for 1 ticket and get 1-2 companion tickets for free. Usually this will cost you more than 3 discounted tickets that you can get from kayak or expedia.

Here's an update for everyone's information. I went from 1 INQ to 0, and got an 8 point boost the following day :-) [Equifax Fico]