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I haven't posted here in a while but when I saw this I had to come share. 1) This is crazy, the data is sketchy at best 2) Are merchants actually doing this? 3) Is it just me or is this just really unsavory? (I'm in no way affiliated with these dudes): http://www.reversecreditscore.com/

I have a $30k limit on my BCP (3x'd from original $10k), never have been given a 4506.

Right, because the full market value includes extrinsic factors like the value of flexibility to fly when you choose. So absolutely, the economic value of the first-class conveyance is below the MSRP market rate. But to me, the distinction is not a very compelling argument against in-kind rewards because they are just much, much more lucrative. We're not talking about even 2x but in this case, 10x. And I find that definition to be somewhat kludgey. Yes, the maximum consumers will pay is often more than the minimum they must pay. The definition makes that sound as if it's a conclusion reached.

You would never pay 22k for those tickets. Whether or not you would pay the amount were you using cash is irrelevant. The fact is that they cost $22K and he got them using miles for free. First and foremost 99% of the time they are not free. I will tell you what is better than free is making money. Whole family first class to Mexico. All inclusive top rated hotel. Left when I wanted and stayed where I wanted. No miles card can do that no matter how much you try. They weren't free. We had to pay over $1500 in taxes and fuel surcharge. But when I booked them I searched for a cash booking and it would've run just under $24k. Of course, I could've gotten miles & cashback from that purchase that would reduce it. So I'm comfortable just saying I got $20k in economic value out of the avois. Also, I realize I fibbed, we put more like $50k in spending to get the points, because it was on 2 cards. This was stretched over a period of about 16 months. With a cashback card, you'd get $50k * 0.02 = $1000 for that spend. So I think the question for people is: how do you want to use the rewards, and how much do you value the flexibility of cash. It makes total sense that travel rewards are more lucrative than cash: A $1 award in cash costs the bank/brand $1. But $1 in airfare costs some fraction of a dollar. For us, we knew all along what we would use the points for and how much value they would have.

I always hear this, but when I had my AmEx I almost never found a place that didn't take it. Small mom & pop restaurants, gas stations, and dry cleaners are the only places I can think of that wouldn't take AmEx, but even that wasn't 100% uniform across small retailers. Oh, and Mexico, I don't think I was able to use it in Mexico. I didn't use it much because it either didn't have rewards or the rewards weren't as generous as my other cards, but I just didn't find availability to be a problem. What type of places don't take AmEx in your area (or places you frequent)? You keep hearing it because it's true. There are literally millions of merchants in the US that accept Visa/MC but not American Express. IIRC it's something like 40% smaller.

Remember that the card is offered by BofA (thru their FIA subsidiary) Two percent cards are rare. Schwab used to have one that was similar to Fidelity's but was better because it was a visa. That said, the reason I don't see enough value to app the fidelity card is that I only need a 2% card when there are no better bonuses available. For that purpose, I need a visa or MC. Amex is not accepted widely enough to be my reliable backup card. Citi has a 2% card but I don't know the details, and NASA FCU has one as well.

CT is exactly right. Just the example I posted -- we got about $22,000 in plane tickets. We put $30k in spending thru the card to get that. We would need a card that pays 74% cashback (lol).

You should have a Chase Freedom to feed more UR points to your CSP. Chase have been pulling EQ for me now, I applied for the CSP they pulled TU. I tried for the slate with EQ on Ice no dice they wanted EQ, I didn't give them pin. EQ is not as high as TU, or EXP. I asked them to pull the other two they said that they are not able to. Smh.If you want a card from a TU puller, how about a Sallie Mae? Thanks but I don't care for Barclays. Not just looking for TU, pullers but cards with the most benefits for me don't see the Sallie card being one of them. Thank tho. Eh, Sallie Mae definitely qualifies to me as a card with good benefits. Hell, 5% cashback at Amazon.com alone is worth it. With prime, we get 2-3 deliveries a week from Amazon. And past that, the 5% on groceries is fantastic in the last week of the month after BCP is maxed-out. On top of that, it has no annual fee. And anybody who remembers the credit crunch understands the value of diversifying your tradelines across lenders.

BA Avios is nice domestically with a big caveat. Only "saver" level awards are available. I've done an AAdvantage search for Avois awards maybe 20 times and IIRC I've successfully booked a ticket only once (Miami to Providenciales). Also, in my experience Citi will offer the $250 airline reimbursement to your AAdvantage Executive card to reduce the AF to $200 if you call to cancel. YMMV.

I'm going to app NASA later this week. Would love to add a general-purpose 2% card. Haven't had one since Schwab bit the dust. That was a damn fine card. I'll report back my experiences.

Oh, there was like $1500 in taxes and surcharges IIRC. Forgot that. That is definitely the downside of flying BA. If you're booking solely with miles United is a better deal. For this trip, though, with a companion pass BA was the best deal. MSRP on each seat is about $10k so it was certainly a good deal.

For what it's worth, I have several credit lines over $30k (around $150k in total) and I've never needed to access cash. Large credit lines are granted to those people with means to repay them. Sort of eliminates the desire to take a large high-cost cash advance. Moreover, I think any card you pull cash out of is going to be scrutinized by the lender for AA. It sends a message that you are having a cashflow issue, which is not what you want to see if you're in the business of interest-free short term loans.

I booked RT business class (lay flat) from San Francisco to Athens on BA using 180k avios and a companion pass. The miles were accumulated by 1 100k mile signup bonus and another 75k mile signup bonus. The companion pass was from spending $30k on the card in CY2013. I also booked economy flights between Athens-Istanbul-Florence for another 60k avios all in for both of us.

CV, I presume you also have a Discover? In most cases it seems ShopDiscover beats Ebates so I've often not checked there. I suppose I should start checking first..

I would send a 4506-T if I received an AR. The value in the card is worth it. But for $10k CLI I don't really even need? Meh. Also, I just filed my 2013 taxes in October so I also fear they would recive 2012 returns which show income about 33% less than my 2013 income which I gave Amex.