My Credit Card Offers

Chase Jacking Up the Interest Rate on My Amazon Visa

2009-05-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Got the news today that my Amazon credit card is getting a big interest rate hike --- from the current 10.90% up to 14.24%, a raise of 3.25 percentage points. That's big!

I have the option to turn down this hike BUT if I do I can't use the card anymore. AND I need to use my reward points before rejecting the hike, otherwise I lose them.

I pay off my credit card every month, so I don't really care and I'll keep the card at the new rate. But many other people have been getting these notices recently, and they're not necessarily in the same situation in terms of keeping their balances at zero.

On Friday President Obama signed a new law that is going to stop card issuers from doing a lot of things like raising rates on existing balances or changing rates with like 5 minutes notice. That's good stuff, but I will guarantee you this: every person in American who holds 2 or more credit cards will see the interest rate go up on at least one of them. These card companies know how to take money --- tell 'em what they CAN'T do and they'll start thinking about what they CAN do to get the money flowing again.

January 27, 2009: Capital One No Hassle Miles MasterCard

2009-01-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today's credit card offer comes from Capital One. It is my special invitation to their No Hassle Miles Platinum MasterCard. The skinny:

1 mile per dollar on purchases
0% APR on purchases and balance transfers until February 2010
12.99% interest rate

Now, looking at Index Credit Cards Travel Credit Cards page, I see:

Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards Credit Card:

1.25 miles per dollar
0% APR on purchases until January 2010
8.15% APR

It's hard to say that one is "better" than the other, because the mail offer I got is offering a 12-month 0% balance transfer (although there's that 3% transfer fee to consider). Otherwise, though, a higher interest rate and fewer miles per dollar.

This is why credit card companies structure offers in so many different ways. They put them out there, see what response they get, and then make new offers based on that feedback. You never know what they might offer next.

Back in the New York Groove

2008-11-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

That's a Kiss reference in the title if you didn't know. I wrote it on account of I'm posting again after 5 months. Every time I post I promise to get back on a regular schedule and I never follow through on that promise. This time will be different. Really. We've got a new president Obama and when he asks me if I will blog regularly I say to him "Yes I can!" So here goes.

Here are the last 3 credit card offers I got in the mail:

First up is one from National City, a Visa Business credit card. They just got bought out, but they're not gonna let that stop them from clogging my mailbox. Their offer is for me as a small business owner. They want to give me a 0% rate on balance transfer until December 2009 and then an interest rate somewhere between 8.99% and 21.99%. Why not just make it between 0% and 100,000%? There is no balance transfer fee on balances I transfer with the app, and that's actually a pretty good deal. I don't have any balances to transfer, but I do have to give them credit for the offer. They also will let me be part of their "points from National City" program, although they don't offer too many details on it. I'll pass on this offer but thank you National City I mean PNC.

Okey Smokey, next up is American Express with a Blue from American Express offer. Wait, I already have this card! Oh, wait, I see, they're not offering me a new card but want me to add more people to my card. Hee, hee, that ain't happening. I like this line:

"Additional Cards let you be with your favorite people even when you're not, so if a friend wants to pick up dinner or a family member is away on a ski trip, you can still provide for your loved ones with Blue."

Yeeeeaaaa, I'm almost going to put my friends on my card so they can buy dinner when I'm not around. Just what I've always wanted, the ability to live vicariously through others via my credit card bill. No thanks Amex but thanks for the funny stuff. (Or the funny stuff you're smoking, can I get some?)

I think this next one is for real a card offer from Amex... yep, it's the Business Platinum Card from American Express. It says I could get hold of some of the "pride that comes from carrying a Business Card recognized the world over for its power and prestige." If I get this card I'm going to be like freaking James Bond, man. I've been over this before. I'm not much of a traveler, and travel benefits are the only upside I see to a card with a hefty price tag like this one has ---$450. I could buy a Wii for less than that and maybe a game or two.

One other note: Chase sent me a letter telling me about changes to the terms & conditions on my account. They are: Overdraft Advance APR is 20.99% (prime + 15.99%), Cash Advance APR is also the same 20.99%, and the default rate is (prime rate + up to 26.99%), topping out at 29.99%. I don't know what an Overdraft Advance APR is exactly, but I hope I never get one that's for sure.

All right. I promise to post again soon. Maybe even in 2008!

7 Credit Card Offers in Three Weeks

2008-06-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly 3 weeks since my last post and the credit card offers have not been the usual stream, it's definitely slowed to a trickle. Still, I got 7, which is over 2 per week. Let's take a look at what I got.

The American Express Business Platinum Card is first. This is the one that wants to charge me $450. I already went over this on the last post, but they continue to send me this same offer. No thanks.

An offer for the Capital One Visa Business Platinum Card with No Hassle Miles (say that 10 times fast) showed up in an oversized envelope that had a sticker on the front stamped Time Sensitive and a little fake code 29051154 on the sticker. Marketing. Anyway, this one offers 2 miles per dollar in spending for the first year plus a 0% balance transfer offer for a year. 3% fee on the balance transferred, though, and after a year it's just a mile per dollar charged. OK, but nothing to jump up and down about.

Next up is the American Express SimplyCash Business Credit Card that offers 5% cash back on gas, office supplies and cell phone service and 1% back everywhere else. This one is really a nice deal, especially if you're going through gas a lot. No cap on earnings, and no annual fee. Good interest rates, too. I've already got an old Chase card that gives 5% back on gas and some other purchases that I'm happy with, but I'd go after this one otherwise.

Bank of America wants me to get their Platinum Plus Visa that has a 0% intro rate on purchases and balance transfers for roughly 12 months. and an APR of 10.24%. I'm all about the rewards, though, and this has none. If I was looking for a nice 0% introductory offer on purchases, though, this would be a keeper.

American Express is trying to get me on board the Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card. Comes with 20,000 bonus miles after the first purchase, which is nice. No annual fee for the first year, but then $95 per year. If I was a big Delta user, I might go for this, but I don't travel enough and have no airline loyalty.

Another one from Capital One, this time in a padded envelope. Cap One is the best at crazy envelope packaging to get your attention. I open it up to find it's not a padded envelope exactly, but just a piece of bubble wrap slipped inside to give it that cushiony feel. I like to play with bubble wrap, so it gives me warm feelings toward Cap One as I check out the offer for the Capital One Visa Business Platinum Card with No Hassle Miles. Hmmmm. I already got this one! Let's see if there's any difference between the two... yes. This one does not offer me the 2 miles per dollar for the first year, but it's giving me a 0% rate on purchases and balance transfers all the way to October of 2009. Another good offer if I was looking for a 0% rate to float some purchases for a while, but for now I don't need that. (The bubbles on the bubble wrap are too small for popping. Hmmph.)

Finally it's American Express again for the 4th time. This time it's the Business Gold Rewards Card. They'll waive the $125 fee for the first year and give the equivalent of a free airline ticket if I spend $1,000 on the card in the next few months. I might do this if I just wanted to swing a free ticket really quick, but I don't want any of these American Express cards that you have to pay for. It just doesn't make sense unless you really travel a ton and can use some of the extra travel rewards that you can get. In most cases, though, I think their customers are paying a fee with not a whole lot to show for it.

Ta-ta for now.

American Express Wants Me to Pay for a Credit Card. Why Would I Do That?

2008-06-05T04:41:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks, I've received 6 mail solicitations from credit card companies, with 3 of those being American Express trying to get me to sign up for a card I have to pay for. Let's see what they're offering that's so great I'd pay for it, and we'll look at the other offers, too.

First off is the Platinum Card from American Express, which they say I'm being offered for being such a great cardmember for so long. (And I have been good, I'll give them that.)

This card costs $450 per year. What could possibly move me to pay $450 for this card? Let's see.

I'd get enrollment in the Membership Rewards First program, which is supposedly a step up from the Membership Rewards program you peons have. the selling point of "First" seems to be better travel rewards, luxury rewards from their First Collection portfolio, and "one-of-a-kind experiences." No word yet on what is so great here.

OK, I can get a complimentary companion airfare when I use the card to buy an airline ticket. That could cover the $450 right there. This of course assumes I'll be traveling somewhere that would make me fork over real money for an airline ticket. As the airlines know all too well, we're all trying to get by on frequent flier miles these days. Anyway, that could make this card worth it.

Another feature is access to airport clubs from American Airlines, Continental, Delta and Northwest. Nice for the frequent traveler, not so much for me.

From here the benefits are only so-so as far as I'm concerned. Upgrades at certain hotels, upgrades on certain cruises, membership in "premier" car rental programs, etc. No big deal. I'm not spending my time cruising around the world.

OK, back to the Membership Rewards program. It's still one point per dollar, just like the others, and supposedly it offers something more, but it's unclear what it is.

They're also telling me the card has a personal concierge service to help me no matter what I might need, from "a conference room in Boston" to "a gift delivered in Paris" to "help locating a rare edition of a classic novel." Who am I? Nelson Rockefeller?

There's also the By Invitation Only feature that gets you into experiences that "are simply not available to the general public at any price." Sports, fashion, fine dining, and performances are mentioned. It would be nice to include a few examples, like maybe if I get to be in the locker room at the Super Bowl, which would seem worth it to pony up some cash.

If you are a frequent world traveler and international (wo)man of mystery, I could see paying $450 per year, but otherwise I don't understand the attraction. Other than the free companion ticket, the rest is nice but not vital.

I also got a solicitation for the American Express Business Platinum Card. The marketing says "Be among the few who know what it feels like". That sounds almost sexual; I'm excited.

This one costs $450, too, and offers pretty much the same benefits as the card above. It markets the By Invitation Only events as good for client entertainment, which is interesting. It also offers a couple of event examples --- the US Open Tennis Championships and an unforgettable wine tasting tour through California's Napa Valley. (I once had a forgettable tour through Napa Valley. I have a hard time remembering it after getting drunk on so many tastings.)

So, same deal with this card I think. If you travel a lot, could be worthwhile, but unless you're going to use the companion ticket feature, it probably doesn't pay for itself.

Not done yet. I could also get the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card.

This one's cheaper. Only $125 per year, with the first year's fee waived.

Unfortunately, it's even more hazy as to why I'd pay for this card. I do get the Membership Rewards program, including the opportunity to earn some decent bonuses --- $5,000 points when I use the card the first time and $20,000 points if I put $1000 on it in the next 4 months or so. That 25,000-point bonus is an airline ticket right there. Not bad.

There's some other features they tout, but I'm not buying. Other than the initial point bonuses, I fail to see why I'd want to pay $125 for this.

Here's what I got these last two weeks...

I could get the Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card (also from American Express). Costs $95 per year, but first year is waived. If I was already a heavy user of Delta, this would obviously be attractive.

I'm pre-qualified for the Banco Popular Platinum MasterCard. Nothing so great there.

Bank of America has a Platinum Plus Visa with my name on it. Offers a 0% rate on purchases for about a year. If I needed to stash some debt at 0% I might go for this, but I don't see anything too special otherwise.

Today's Credit Card Offers: American Express and National City Bank

2008-05-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

American Express sent me some checks I could use to transfer balances from other credit cards and only pay a 1.99% APR until November of this year. Only in the fine print did they mention that I would pay a fee of 3% of the total transferred, capped at $99, but still.

Here's how I figure it: If I had a balance of $3,000 that I wanted to transfer, I'd pay $90 to do so. Well, if I had a card with a 12% interest rate, $90 would be 3 months worth of finance charges. Transferring the balance, I'd pay those 3 months of finance charges up front, then get the 6 months at 1.99%, then I'm basically back to where I started from. A little savings, but not much.

On the other hand, if I had a $6000 balance and an 18% interest rate on the other card, then it would be a much better deal, because I'd be charged $99 to transfer that balance, which is roughly one month of finance charges on that other card.

I don't have any balances to transfer, so it doesn't matter, but I thought I'd share the math in case you're thinking of doing this and wondering if you're getting a good deal or not. Watch those balance transfer fees!

I also got an offer from National City for a Visa Business credit card, which will offer me a 0% APR on transferred balances until July of 2009. and this with no fee on the transfer. That's a good deal if I had a balance elsewhere. It says the card's interest rate could be anywhere from 9.99% to 17.99%. That's kind of a big range, which I find annoying, but almost all the card companies do that now. You don't get to find out your interest rate until after you fill out the application and they send you the card. Surprise! You get a 13.99% interest rate! Surprise! You get a 17.99% interest rate! And if you don't like it, you have to go through the hassle of canceling the card.

Anyway, I'm not getting this card, although it's not a bad deal.

This Week's Credit Card Offers

2007-07-20T14:11:00.001-07:00

Although I haven't posted since February, please play along and pretend it was just last week, OK?

Fine new credit card offers this week:

The Citi Diamond Preferred Card is offering me 0% on purchases and balance transfers until July of 2008 plus a 9.99% fixed APR after that. That's way better than what they offer online, where you'll see they're only giving the 0% on balance transfers and NOT purchases, and the ongoing rate is 12.74% at best. Plus there's the reward program. For me, though, I'd be more likely to take the online deal because you get 6,000 of those ThankYou points free and the mail offer is not giving me that. I don't need 0% anything, and I don't carry balances, but I do like my points, yes I do.

Next up is a Wells Fargo Visa Business Platinum card. Wellsy is offering me 0% on purchases for 12 months, interest rate as low as the prime rate + 4% (which would thus equal 12.25% assuming I qualified for their best rate), and "up to" 2% cash back on purchases, with the cash reward credited automatically to my account. I got excited for a moment and thought it was a straight 2%, but reading the fine print I see it's 0.5% on the first $350 of purchases, 1% on the next $1,650 and then 2% after hitting $2000. And that's per month, not per year. So you really have to be using that card to hit the 2%. Ah, Wellsy, your fine print stinks. That's the ultimate come on---2% my butt.

All right. Now we have the American Express Rewards Plus Gold Card, which has come in some fancy golf leaf enveloping. This is one of Amex's charge cards, which comes with an annual fee of $150, although they'll waive it for the first year. It's not a bad card if you're a traveler---2 points per dollar on airline and hotel purchases for the first year and 1.5 points per dollar after that. It also promises access to Gold Card Events, "giving you the ability to purchase some of the most sought-after tickets" to concerts and sports, "often before they're made available to the public." I wish I knew someone who had this card so they could tell me just how often they get some kind of VIP status to get good tickets. I'm skeptical, but that might draw me in if I really believed I could get good tickets to a U2 show or something. For now, however, it goes n the circular file.

I actually have a stack of 40 other offers I've received since I last posted, but I don't feel like opening them all. I'm wiping the slate clean and will only report on new mailings in the future.

A commenter asked why I never seem to talk about Chase credit card offers. The reason is that I'm already up to my eyeballs in Chase cards; it just so happens that Chase has had a lot of cards that I've wanted in the last few years, and so they really don't bug me with new offers very often. Maybe I'll close down some of those accounts that I don't use much so I can get more mail from Chase. Nah.

My 2007 Credit Card Offers

2007-02-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Happy 2007! Yeah, I know it's already February, and my blogging has languished, but I have a treat for you---a run-down of the 25 credit card offers I've received in the first 39 days of 2007. Read 'em and weep:

Citi Diamond Preferred Card -- 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months 10.24% APR + reward points for gift cards, merchandise.

Oh, look, I actually got this one twice.

Hey I got this one again, only this time with a $50 gift card and 0% on balance transfers for 15 months and an 11.24% APR. Interesting the differences between the two.

Black MasterCard BusinessCard from something called Val Corporation. That's a new one on me. 2.99% APR for life on balance transfers, 6% cash back or free travel. Sounds just like Advanta, I wonder if this is Advanta under another name.

And, here we go. The Advanta BusinessCard offer has the exact same terms and a similar-looking mailing, but without the appeal of the blackness of the card. I wouldn't swear they're the same, maybe one ripping off the other? Hard to say.

Citi PremierPass Card -- 0% on balance transfers for 15 months, plus a $100 gift card, plus travel points for purchases and flown miles. No annual fee, 14.24% APR. That's a pretty good one.

Capital One No Hassle Miles Ultra MasterCard -- 10,000 bonus miles with first purchase, 1.25 miles per dollar spent, 9.24% APR. Pretty good also.

O.K. I actually got that one twice.

Hey, check it out! I got that same Capital One card offered to me a different time with 20,000 bonus miles! Wait a second. I don't get the first 10,000 bonus miles until I've had the card a year and I don't get the second 10,000 until I've had it two years. My excitement has dissipated.

Hey, another one! Cap One sent me the same 20,000-mile bonus deal in a different envelope on a different day. This envelope was big and white and had a sticker on the front that looked like some sort of special delivery tag or something the airlines might slap on my baggage.

Capital One Visa Business Platinum Card -- This one came in a bigger yellow envelope with some bubble wrap inside, no doubt to cushion the fragile paper inside. 0% on purchases for a year, one mile per dollar, no straight answer on APR, could be really low or really high, pretty card designs to choose from. (I'm popping the bubble on my bubble wrap right now as I type this with just one hand.)

One more Capital One, this one with the most fun packaging, although the bubble wrap is hard to top. This time it came in a bigger envelope with a tabbed opening that you pull from left to right, sort of like a FedEx package. Guess what's inside? A regular Capital One envelope, which itself could have been mailed instead of using the envelope-in-an-envelope method. This offer's for the Capital One No Hassle Miles Visa Platinum -- 1 mile per dollar, 0% APR for the rest of 2007 on purchases and balance transfers, 9.99% APR.

I'll bet they have a lot of fun at Capital One coming up with new ways to make their packages look very official and enticing.

Discover Platinum -- 0% on purchases for 6 months, 0% on balance transfer for 15 months, APR of 11.99% after te intro period, plus the general Cashback bonus reward offer. That's nothing too special, Discover's not showing me any extra love here.

American Express twice offered me a Business Line of Credit which technically is not a credit card but is still in the ballpark, so I'm including it. 5.99% on up to $100,000.

United Mileage Plus Visa. I just cancelled this a little while ago; I'm not hopping on that train again (or plane I guess would be more appropriate).

My mortgage company twice sent me an offer for their credit card. I won't go in to who it is, although you might be able to guess.

American Express wants me to get additional cards to hand out like money lollipops to my family members. No.

First National Bank Omaha Gas Rewards Platinum Edition Visa Card -- Gotta love those long names. 3% rebate on gas, 1% rebate elsewhere, 9.99% APR, 0% for six months. Not bad. I don't get too much from these guys, wonder if they're upping their marketing efforts.

Bank of America Platinum Visa Business Card -- 0% on balance transfers for the rest of 2007, no firm answer on what my APR would be. No thanks.

Hilton HHonors American Express Card -- This is a good card, but I'm not a big traveler.

My former university wants to get me an alumni card. They used to try to give me a free blanet or something to sign on, this time nothing but fond feelings for my alma mater.

Juniper Platinum MasterCard at 8.99% fixed APR. Plus, five exciting card designs!

Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card - Again, not a big traveler, but this is a good one too if you're a big traveler.

It's been a fruitful 2007 so far. If I had taken all those offers, it's conceivable I could have a 17 million dollar credit line right now.

That would be so cool.

Today's Credit Card Offer: Washington Mutual Visa Platinum

2006-10-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry I haven't written in you since September 5th. It's nothing personal. I love you and will visit more often. Like in November. Just kidding, don't be angry.

Here is today's credit card offer:

Washington Mutual wants to send me a Visa Platinum. Jeez, there's like a million little papers in this envelope. It's like they want you to think this is the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes or something. It's just a credit card for God's sake.

Anyway, they're offering me a 0% fixed APR on purchases and balance transfers until August 1, 2007, with this helpful reminder: "Keep in mind that your 0% APR may increase if you default on any account with us. Payments are applied to balances with lower APRs before those with higher APRs, and a fee of 3% ($5 minimum/$75 maximum) per transfer will apply." That sentence kind of cuts down on the emotional high they had brought me up to by waving the 0% in front of me.

Let's see. The APR after the 0% introductory period is 9.99%. Not too shabby. AND----cash back! "Up to" 10% on gas and "up to" 5% on other purchases for 6 months, then "up to" 5% on gas and "up to" 1% on other purchases after that.

Let's check out these "up to"s to see what thresholds we have to meet. Not bad, actually. Once you hit $4000 in spending for the year, you're at the 5% and 1% mark. I do a lot of spending on my credit cards--I could hit those numbers easily. I don't see any info on limits, in terms of how much I can earn overall in a year. Are they hiding something? Like, you can only earn $100 per year? Not sure.

It does say I have to call the company to request my rebate check, which is just an annoying way to make it less convenient for you in hopes that you'll never actually call. I hate it when they pull that crap. Just send me the money or give me a credit on my bill. What possible reason would there be for me to have to call you to get my check, other than you're hoping I'm too lazy to do so?

I was considering this card, but that call-in thing drove me over the edge. Ixnay on the AshingtonWay UtualMay.

6 Capital Ones, 6 American Express, 2 Discover, 1 Local/MBNA, 1 Advanta, 1 Wells Fargo, 1 First Equity

2006-09-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm supposed to chronicle my credit card offers and I've fallen way behind, so I'm chucking the whole stack. I'm not going to bother even opening these; I'll just start over with whatever I get next. But in looking at my stack, it is interesting to see Capital One and American Express tied for the lead in terms of who sends me the most stuff. I have no Capital One cards, so it makes sense they'd pursue me, but I have a Blue card from Amex and they've obviously decided I would benefit from even more.

Discover didn't send too much, and I have none of their cards, so I would expect more than I get.

I have a lot of Chase & Citi cards, so it's not surprising that they've stopped soliciting me (other than Chase's constant "convenience checks").

Bank of America/MBNA sends me very little--in fact, the only one I got in the recent past is actually my local bank marketing an MBNA card with the local bank's brand on it.

I just chucked them all into the trash without shredding a one. If you're a dumpster diver, you could get a lot of credit in my name right now.

Bloggers! Win a Free iPod nano from IndexCreditCards.com!

2006-08-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've been assigned the task of giving IndexCreditCards.com a shot in the arm traffic-wise. My solution: give away iPod nanos! It's not genius, but it just might work...

Here's the deal. Link to IndexCreditCards.com (http://www.IndexCreditCards.com) or any/all of the site's pages on your blog or other Web site between 5PM EST on August 23rd, 2006 (that's right about now as I write this) and 5PM EST Thursday September 14th. The three blogs/sites that send the most traffic in terms of unique visits during that period will win a prize.

Our goal is to increase our profile in the PF blog community, but there's no incentive for you to be nice or not-so-nice in any links or posts. If you think IndexCreditCards.com is the most comprehensive source for apples-to-apples comparisons of credit cards, thus helping consumers and small businesses find the best deals (and you should think is in my opinion), say so. If you think we stink and are trying to bribe you with the possibility of a free nano even though credit cards are evil, feel free to say that as well.

In the end, it only matters if you are in the top three sending us traffic. So, without further ado...

Prizes:

First Prize: 4GB iPod nano (or choose $250 in Amazon.com gift certificates)
Second Prize: 2GB iPod nano (or $200 in Amazon.com gift certificates)
Third Prize: 1GB iPod nano (or $150 in Amazon.com gift certificates)

Rules & Regulations:

1. In determining "unique visits", we will track traffic through our site logs. To weed out cheaters, we will study traffic mainly via IP addresses, but we also might red flag other traffic that is especially suspicious, such as 50,000 clicks coming from Taiwan from 1 to 2 AM. In our experience, fake traffic is pretty obvious. The decision on what traffic is legitimate will be ours alone, and by entering the contest you agree that we are the ultimate judge. (Don't mean to sound scary, but there's always someone who tries to ruin a perfectly good contest by being a nerd.)

2. To be entered, you MUST drop me an e-mail at tim@indexcreditcards.com to tell me you want to be entered. Give me your e-mail address and your blog(s)/site(s). If you are generally anonymous on your site, you don't have to tell me your name. HOWEVER, if you win, you obviously will have to tell me your name & address so I know who to send the booty to.

3. Prize winners will be announced on this blog on September 15th or thereabouts and anywhere else we decide to announce them. Your blog/site will be mentioned, as well as your name unless you want to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym.

4. Winners will get their iPod nanos shipped directly from Apple, or their gift certificates directly from Amazon.com, but Apple and Amazon.com have absolutely nothing to do with this contest, so leave them alone.

5. We are not responsible for any dealings winners might have with Apple or Amazon.com. We send the loot and then we're out of the loop. If your iPod breaks, go to Apple. If Amazon has a glitch or something that makes your life difficult, that's not our fault.

6. Void where prohibited.

I never like to deal with legalities, but I think that covers us. If you have further questions, let me know.

Now go forth and multiply our traffic!

August Credit Card Offers

2006-08-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been two weeks and I still have a mountain of credit card offers. I've got the whole stack in my hand and will pull 5 randomly. Let's see...

#1: American Express Platinum Business Card offers "up to" 5% cash back on eligible purchases, which just screams for a small print investigation... I only get 5% with American Express' OPEN Savings participants, and I only get that when my yearly spend is $7500-$15,000. The best I can do outside their partners is 2.5%. I hate all these tiers--it's good for the credit card company but it confuses the issue. Give me a straight 1% on everything with some opportunities for bonuses & I'm set. Otherwise, it's too hard to keep track of what I'm earning and when.

#2. This one's from my college alma mater's alumni association. It's from Bank of America. Has their WorldPoints program, which actually became theirs with the acquisition of MBNA. Sorry, I don't mean to bore you. Truth--I don't care much about my alma mater. I paid to get an education and it was OK, but I've never been a true to your school kind of guy.

#3. Chase is offering me a free companion travel ticket if I spend $900 on my Flexible Rewards card. Do I still have a Flexible Rewards card? I have to spend the $900 in August and September to get the deal. Maybe those are slow months for the credit card companies.

#4. Got some 0% balance transfer checks from the CitiBusiness card which I recently acquired to float a balance. No fee on the BT! No fee on the BT! I'm doin' it! Oh, shoot, I have to use the checks by August 9th. That was two days ago. Rats!

#5. Same deal from my Blue from American Express, wanting me to transfer balances. No fees to do so, but I'm only getting the transfers at my regular interest rate--they market it as "consolidating" my debt. I'm guessing they don't get a huge number of takers on this. My rate on this card is good, but it's not so crazy good that I'm going to transfer balances without any special offer.

The card companies, like many industries with lots of competition, are in something of a bind, because they keep having to one-up each other, but then when they pull back from the hot deal, you're inclined to yawn because you know there's another one around the corner.

More of My Credit Card Offers

2006-07-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

A lot of catching up to do. First, I should mention that I got a follow up invitation to the Platinum Card from American Express I spoke of yesterday. The offer's no different, but I appreciate the new attempt at making it feel "exclusive":

"Membership is available to our best Card members only, and is limited to a fraction of all American Express Card members."

Of course they don't say what that fraction is. 10%? 24%, 89.9%? Hard to say.

All right, I don't want to pick on the fine folks at American Express so let's see what else is in the accumulating pile from the last month or so...

The WorldPoints Credit Card from MBNA. Here's a good opening line in their letter: "You don't need another credit card...you need a better one"

Good line, let's see if they can seal the deal.

0% interest rate on on purchases, cash advances and balance transfers until next September. That's pretty good. Credit line as high as $100,000. And of course 1 point for every dollar in purchases, which will allow me to get the expected rewards: travel, gift certificates, cash back. Interest rate on this is 7.9% for "Premier" and 13.99% for "Select" or 19.99% for "Classic". That's a big spread. I wonder how difficult it is to get that 7.9%.

Not a bad deal, but nothing that particularly excites me there. It's all about the rewards for me, so unless I'm getting something out of the ordinary, it's really not a better credit card as far as I'm concerned.

I also received a mailing today for a 6.99% home equity loan. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's good to know I can get my hands on all this cash if something bad happens or if I get a good tip on the ponies.

My Credit Card Offers Are Piling Up

2006-07-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean to make this blog a monthly affair, but, alas, almost a month has gone by. On the bright side, a LOT of credit card offers have piled up since last I wrote you. Let's not waste time but instead get right to the goodies:

The Platinum Card from American Express is being offered to me for my being such a good customer since the early 2000s. Now, why would I want this? 25,000 Membership Rewards points the first time I use my card! That's pretty cool. That of course puts me quickly into a search for the terms & conditions to see what this puppy costs: ah, $395. Now I see. What do I get for that $395 other than the bonus? I never have understood the big benefits to paying so much for a credit card.

It looks like a lot of travel perks, upgrades and such. I don't travel a lot. Here's where I am almost sucked in, because I get weak when I think I might get "exclusivity":

"By Invitation Only is a program that gives Platinum Card members exclusive access to once-in-a-lifetime experiences -- from sports, fashion and fine dining to the visual and performing arts. These unique experiences are customized for Platinum Card members and are simply not available to the general public at any price."

I bolded the last part to show you where I get suckered. If it's not available to the general public but is available to me, I want it. But Amex blows it here, because they don't give me any examples to whet my appetite. Something like: "Just last November, Platinum Card members joined Tiger Woods at the ESPN Zone Sports Bar to watch the Super Bowl." Or "Imagine flying kites on a windy field in Iowa with Demi Moore and that young guy she married -- our Platinum Card members did just that!"

Add those small touches and I'm a lot closer to forking over $395 for the privileges.

Well, I'm getting tired. This blogging thing never fails to exhaust me. I'll have to do my other credit card offers tomorrow. Or maybe a month from now. We'll see how it goes.

Today's Credit Card Offer

2006-06-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today's credit card offer is from Discover. Inside the envelope is a faux plastic card with some sort of blue bubble design. Very attractive, I'd be happy to see this pretty little card coming out of my wallet, but of course I don't apply for credit cards willy nilly. Let's see what Discover is offering today...

Unfortunately it appears this is a worse offer than I could get from Discover if I just applied online. They're giving me the lowest interest rate shown online and the standard 5% back on Get More purchases (the offer would be more attractive if they made it clear upfront exactly what these Get More purchases will be throughout the year) as well as the "up to" 1% Cashback Bonus on everything else.

HOWEVER, they're only offering me a 0% rate on purchases until February of 2007, when they offer a full year online. They are offering 0% balance transfers until September of '07, which is an upgrade over the online offer by about 3 months, but I don't need a BT. Maybe I shouldn't say this is a worse offer than what is online, it's just different, worse for me but maybe better for someone who's got a big balance to move to a 0% home.

I also received an American Express Membership Rewards booklet, geared toward electronics. I've only got about 10,000 points at the moment, let's see if I can get anything... ooh, if I had 520,000 points I could get this 50-inch plasma TV. What could I spent another $510,000 on really fast to get to that level? Hmmm. I'm going to have to ask for an increase in my credit line.

The only thing I can get in this catalog at the moment is a Panasonic 256MB SD memory card. Looks like that's for a digital video camera, or maybe a regular digital camera? Says "...lets you save video, digital still images, music and more." So could I use that in my regular digital camera? Sounds like it, but I'm not sure.

The only other thing in this catalog I'm close to is the Panasonic Clock Radio with built-in CD player for 11,000 points. Says it's MP3 compatible. I don't care about that; I just want it to wake me up.

Why's everything Panasonic? Or is that just on the low end of the rewards? Oh, wait, the whole catalog's Panasonic stuff. They must have some sort of deal with Amex to push their stuff in a separate catalog. I knew this wasn't all the stuff from Membership Rewards.

I love rewards.

Catching Up on My Credit Card Offers

2006-06-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been blogging about my credit card offers like I'm supposed to be. They're still paying me, but still I should probably do what I've been assigned. I've been saving them all in a stack for the last couple weeks. Here's what I got:

- Costco American Express Card - I get this one regularly. Not even gonna open it.

- Something from Capital One, with a return address from "Pat W. Johnston Director of New Accounts." Capital One is the king of crazy attempts to make their mail look important, as if the director has chosen to make personal contact with me. I'll at least open it, since they spent so much time... oh, jeez, it's the No Hassle Miles Ultra MasterCard. I've seen this one before.

- Here's another one. Hey, it's Capital One again, with the Same Pat W. Johnston return address. It's for the exact same card! But wait, the last one said 10,000 bonus miles, this one says 20,000! That's a lot of miles. I already ripped up the last one so I can't compare the rest of the offer to see if they differ in any other way. Oh, well.

- Chase sent me a $20 check if I'll get their Chase Payment Protector Plan. No thanks, guys.

- I've gotten two sets of those "convenience checks" from Chase as well. One set offers a 1.99% APR and 4.99% APR while the other set offers a 0% APR and 5.99% APR. I'm not even going to look at what those are for because I get these checks constantly, but it's interesting to see how they vary the offers to try to get you to bite.

- Another one fromn Pat W. Johnston at Capital One. Let's see what Pat's got up his/her sleeve this time... It's that darned No Hassle Miles Ultra MasterCard again! This time the come on is that I'll earn miles 25% faster. I'm too rushed for time to learn how. I admire Capital One's perseverence.

- Citi sent me one. I don't get much from them as I have a Citi card already. This is for their Diamond Preferred Rewards card. Looks like the standard offer, but a 9.99% interest rate, which I totally deserve, but doesn't really move me because I don't carry balances.

- Advanta BusinessCard. This the 2.99% for life balance transfer offer card. Don't need that.

- Another from Capital One. As you may have guessed, I hold no Capital One cards, and they'd like me to. This one not from Pat W. Johnston, and has some fancy calligraphy-like lettering. Oh, it's a small business card, that's why. Don't have time to open it.

- Finally, another from--guess who--Captal One. Fifth one from them in the last 2 weeks. This one looks very industrial, sort of a Nine Inch Nails theme to the envelope, whatever that means. I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. You'd have to see it to know what I mean. Unfortunately, I have to go to the bathroom and won't be able to open this one, either. I promise I'll open them next time, Capital One!

"I would like you to lower my interest rate now, please."

2006-06-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

Finance writer Greg Karp has an article today about haggling over credit card interest rates that I thought was amusing.

Karp quotes from an e-book called "Credit Card Insider Tips" by financial coach Cindy Morus. Basically the article tells you that it's just fine to call your credit card company and ask for better terms on your interest rate, credit line, etc.

What I found amusing was the script that apparently is in the e-book, which tells you exactly what to say over the phone. I've used phone scripts for various reasons in my life, and they always crack me up, because they are always written in ways that are completely un-conversational. This one's no exception. From the article:

You: "Hi, can you tell me what my current interest rate is?"

Operator: "Your current interest rate is X percent."

You: "Hmmm. I would like you to lower my interest rate now, please." Don't say another word.

The ball is in their court, and they'll fill the silence with an offer.

Operator: "OK, I can lower it to X percent."

You: "That's not enough, but I will take that for now. Thank you for your help. I'd like to tell your supervisor how helpful you've been. Could you pass me over?"

Supervisor: "How can I help you?"

You: "First, I wanted to let you know how helpful the operator was. She/he did an excellent job of helping me.

"Now, can you tell me what my interest rate is?"

First off, I don't believe they're going to lower your interest rate just based on your robotic "Hmmm. I would like you to lower my interest rate now, please." What it's actually going to take are threats. And this pass-off-to-the-supervisor thing to get a second shot at lowering the interest rate? Not going to work. If you got the reduction in the first place, do you really think the supervisor isn't going to know you just got a reduction and say, "we just gave you a reduction"? These companies track everything--you're not going to fool them that easily."

Here's a script that is more likely to work for you...

You: My interest rate is 15% right now and I'd like to see about getting it reduced.

Operator: Well, sir/ma'am, that's the interest rate we've determined is correct for you. I can't do anything about that. I'm sorry.

You: OK, well, I think I'm just going to transfer this balance to another credit card. I got a pretty nice zero-percent offer in the mail yesterday......"

Operator: Well, let me see if there's anything I can offer you.... O.K. I can actually offer you a 13 percent interest rate."

You: Mmmmm....

Operator: Does that work for you?

You: Mmmm...

Operator: Sir/Ma'am?

You: Mmmm...

(Awkward silence.)

You: Well, I've got an offer for a 10.99% card. I don't really want to switch because it's a hassle and I don't like opening up all these credit lines. Think you can match that & I'll just leave it alone?"

Operator: Can you hold please?

You: Sure.

(Short hold period while operator pretends she's getting authorization from a higher power to give you new, amazing low rate.)

Operator: Sir, Ma'am?

You: Uh huh.

Operator: I'm happy to tell you that I can offer you the 10.99% rate you requested.

You: Great.

I should really write an e-book on this stuff.

Today's Credit Card Offer

2006-06-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've been bad about chronicling my credit card offers, but, rest assured, they're still coming.

Today I got a special invite from the First Equity Platinum Business Card, and I'm a little confused by it because it seems to be telling me that I could get an APR for purchases that is 0%. That's not an introductory offer--that's the ongoing rate. It's a variable-rate card, so I also could get a rate of 23.99% or somewhere in between, but I've never seen a credit card that offers the potential for a 0% interest rate on an ongoing basis.

I'm suspicious.

It's issued by Columbus Bank & Trust, who I've heard of but I'm not sure if I've heard of positively or negatively.

I'm passing. I don't really need a credit card, and I tend to live by the adage that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Hotel Key Cards Do NOT Store Your Personal Information

2006-06-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

There's sort of an urban legend out there that says hotels are putting your personal info on those key cards you use to get in your room. For a while this was attributed to a warning from the Pasadena Police Department (which denies ever issuing this warning), and was stoked a bit by this article last year.

In reality, hotels only link your key card back to their computers to know which card corresponds to what room, and if you don't take the card with youat the end of the trip, no one will be scanning it to use your credit card number. If you think about this for a moment, having your credit card number on the key card wouldn't even matter anyway, unless you lost the card. Hotel employees already have your credit card number at the front desk and could steal it that way if they wanted to. But, no matter. Your info's not on there.

This rumor seems to have come about because some criminals do get their hands on hotel key cards and then reprogram with credit card information that they have stolen by other means. So, if someone manages to find out your card number, they could use a blank hotel key card, program the card with your numbers, and use that card at an ATM machine to withdraw cash (assuming they also knew your PIN). But that's a longshot, and it certainly has nothing to do with anything the hotel has done.

Credit Card Sent to My Pinky Toe!

2006-06-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Every so often I see a news story like this one about a 13-month-old baby getting solicited for a credit card. A while back I read one about someone sending their solicitation back with the name Stop Killing Trees as the name and they got a credit card back. And there was also one about the guy who ripped his credit card solicitation into tiny pieces then taped them back together and sent it in to see if he'd still get the card no questions asked. He did.

This is going to date me, but I remember back before MP3s and iPods. Back in those olden days, a lot of us would do the offers from BMG or Columbia House where you get 6 or 10 free CDS if you agree to buy 3 more or 6 more or whatever over the ensuing three years. I always went with BMG because it was a smaller commitment and even though you got fewer CDS, I calculated out that it was cheaper per CD once you factored in the ones you actually had to purchase as part of the commitment.

Armed with this information, I pulled a fast one on BMG. I made up a new first name (Roger) and sent BMG another application for free CDs, with my same address and everything. Soon I was getting double free CDS from BMG. Boy was I crafty. Gaming the sytem. Those suckers at BMG were eating out my hand.

It wasn't long before I started to get other mail sent to my fictitious alter ego, Roger. I considered getting a credit card in Roger's name, but I was too scared.

No real point to this story. Sorry if you read it all hoping for some greater wisdom that came from this experience.

Discover Card: Not Your Drunk College Kid's Credit Card Anymore

2006-05-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Look here and you will see that Discover Card offers 0% on purchases and balance transfers for a year, as well as a decent cash back situation.

What I got in the mail today suggests however that Discover will only give me a 0% rate on purchases until January of '07, or roughly six months. On the other hand, they'll give me a 0% on BTs until August of 2007, roughly 14 months. They'll also throw in $20 after my first purchase, which I don't believe I can snag online. In addition, I'll get their best rate, which I richly deserve.

I'm not going to do it, partly because if I was going to, I think I'd go for the Discover Gas Card instead.

I haven't actually had a Discover Card since college, when that was the only card I could get, and strangely enough I think their willingness to take me when I was in college has actually biased me against them as I've moved up the economic ladder. It's as though because they were my lifeline when I was an immature student who couldn't pay the balance but wanted to go on Spring Break, I've seen other cards as more "adult" and I've not gone with Discover in a long time.

I'm going to take another look at Discover, although today's card offer is not what I'm looking for. I don't carry balances to transfer, but I do use zero percent introductory offers every so often, but only if they are for a full year. Keep 'em coming, Discover, I'm going to consider you again.

Obvious Advice: Save Money, Be a Very Good Investor and Get Rich

2006-05-31T11:21:00.000-07:00

Via Lifehacker I found this article from Motley Fool. Basically it's an article that tells you to pay yourself first, start saving for retirement early, and you'll earn enough over the years to live comfortably when you're old.

The hook to the article is that instead of just being comfortable, you could also be rich. How to get rich? Be a good investor, be a student of Warren Buffett and any other big name, buy what your research tells you has real value instead of what seems to be hot, etc.

This is fine advice, sure. But easier said than done, bub. If everyone had the skill to beat the markets convincingly year after year, we'd all be rich. Warren Buffett would just be a face in the crowd.

I'm not saying the author is wrong. Undoubtedly you will be much richer if you are a top-notch stock picker and you can keep your blinders on when others are panicking. But by putting this out there as advice, it seems to encourage people who don't have the combination of time, talent and an iron stomach to get out there and start investing in individual stocks.

I'm all for people investing, but the truth is that most people will do worse than the market, not better, and they could end up sitting in retirement cursing the day they started putting all their money in individual stock picks.

Sure, you could get rich, but you could also go broke. Fund your retirement and don't play as an individual stock investor unless you're playing with extra money that you are fully prepared to lose.

Today's Mail 5/22/06

2006-05-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Some credit card offers and other sundries in the mail today.

First off, Advanta wants me to get their Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with a 7.99% APR and 0% APR for 15 months, plus 5% off gas, office supplies, cell phone, computer equipment and Internet services and 1% cash back everywhere else. No annual fee.

This is a pretty awesome card; I don't know how difficult it is to get approved, but that's a pretty good package of stuff. The mail offer I got isn't any better than they're already offering online, but, still, that's quite a bit of stuff. I might do this, even though my business technically no longer exists. I'll bet I could get approved.

American Express sent a promo flyer for their My Wishlist thing going on from June 6th to June 16th. Basically My Wishlist offers certain items at big discounts, like a Saab convertible for $5000. As you might imagine quantities are very limited.

I let myself get sucked into this promo last time they did it, and wasted a lot of time trying to get something for nothing. This time they seem to have made more items available at more moderate discounts, so I'll at least take a look, but I don't know if I'll try to get anything. Maybe the walk-on role on that show Entourage--it could be my big break. Probably no one else will be going after that, right?

Chase also sent me something about improvements to their Flexible Rewards program. Seems they've lowered redemption levels for Continental and British Airways flights and added United Mileage Plus, too. That's decent, but I don't really use that card much--not sure that this will change that fact.

I also got a piece of mail from my online broker, reminding me that I purchased quite a few stocks the day before the market went into the toilet. Thanks, guys.

PF Bloggers Profiled in Chicago Tribune

2006-05-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Several personal finance bloggers got some props in the Chicago Tribune this weekend.

Noting that more and more twentysomethings (and a few older people, too) are opening up their books for the world to see, financial writer Carolyn Bigda gave shoutouts to The Road to Rich, Make Love, Not Debt, Young and Broke, and My Money Blog.

Congrats to these bloggers, who have not increased their net worths with the attention, but who nevertheless feel a little more important today and a little less like one of the sheep. That's worth a few pennies in the pocketbook, yes?

Alternative credit scoring systems could solve Credit Catch 22

2006-05-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

USA Today had an interesting story earlier this week about the potential for new credt scoring agencies that would take into account payment histories of things such as rent, utilities, etc. in determining a credit score instead of only relying on credit card payments and installment loans (auto, mortgage, etc.) as most do now.

As I've mentioned, the current system often puts consumers in a Catch 22--you can't get credit at decent rates until you have a credit history, but you can't build a credit history unless someone give you credit.

According to the USA Today article, the moves are in part to gain more of the Hispanic market. Also, consumer advocates want to steer more people away from payday lenders and toward banks. Right now, people who can't get credit often go to payday lenders for a short-term loan with sky-high interest rates--get $500 today and pay $550 in two weeks, or a 10% payment for just two weeks, which calculates to over 250% if stretched over a full year as most interest rates are calculated.

It seems there is a long way to go to actually make payments other than credit and installment loans a significant part of the credit score, but at least some companies are now trying to serve that market, which could eventually mean better credit rates for everyone.

Sell Your Stocks for the Summer?

2006-05-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

According to Newsweek, right about now is about the worst time for stock performance.

First off, the article shows that, at least since 1990, stocks perform much worse in the summer. Even worse, the second and third quarters of the second year of a president's term are usually the worst time for stocks (why I can't tell you).

On the other hand, if you believe in buy low and sell high, and have some money to invest, right now might be the very best time to buy stocks. Or not. Who knows? My stock buying record is spotty at best.

Credit Counseling Firms Lose Tax-Exempt Status

2006-05-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ever get a call from a credit counseling firm telling you they can virtually eliminate your debt through some magic process, along with implying that their non-profit status should make you feel secure in their trustworthiness? Well, it took a while for the IRS to figure out what most of us pretty much already figured out, but now they've pulled the tax-exempt status from 41 credit counseling firms--or every single one of the firms they investigated.

Why? Because it was obvious that these non-profits were looking for profits, and waving their tax-exempt status around as a way to convince people of their legitimacy.

Oh, yeah--21 of the firms are also now under criminal investigation as well.

Serves 'em right.

Germany Forcing Credit Card Use in Cigarette Machines

2006-05-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Because I cover the credit card industry, I often come across news stories that include information about credit cards, but in which the cards themselves are only tangential to the story. This story is one of those.

Starting next year, Germany is forcing all cigarette machines to accept credit cards only, so that underage smokers will not be able to use the machines (because they can't get credit cards, of course).

I don't know what's available in Germany, so I don't know if they have debit and/or prepaid cards. If they do, I'm not sure how this would stop kids from getting the cigarettes, because I don't think a machine can tell the difference between a credit card and a debit card. But maybe Germany doesn't do debit & prepaid, not sure. Either way, this isn't a solution, but it's at least another roadblock to keep kids from smoking, which is always a good idea.

Bankrupt Woman Wins $350K from MasterCard

2006-05-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

The winner of a national MasterCard sweepstakes giving $350,000 to the winner is a bankrupt woman who doesn't plan on using her credit cards anymore.

Lucy Backman, from the Milwaukee area, won MasterCard's "A Home for the Holidays" sweepstakes, which she was automatically entered into when she used her MasterCard debit card to pay for Weight Watchers.

It was a far cry from the bad luck that brought her into bankruptcy in the first place, when an uninsured drunk driver smashed into her car and crushed her foot. Backman makes her living as a bus driver, so the months of recovery led to bills piling up that she paid with her credit cards, which eventually resulted in her going bankrupt.

MasterCard might not like hearing that she'll be swearing off her credit cards for a while, but it's a pretty nice story to see that kind of money fall into the lap of someone who really needs it.

Verizon Reporting Payment History to Credit Agencies

2006-05-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

If you're a young person without much of a credit history, you'll be happy to find out that Verizon is now reporting its customers' payment histories to the major credit reporting agencies.

Why is that good, or even a little bit interesting? Because many people, especially young people, get caught in a vicious cycle when trying to build a credit history--they can't get credit because they have no credit history, and they can't prove they can handle credit unless someone gives it to them. These same people may already have a history of paying rent on time, paying utilities, paying cell phone bills, etc., but the credit reporting agencies generally only use credit cards, auto loans, and mortgage loans when calculating a person's credit score.

If utility bill payment, cell phone payment, rent, etc. could be factored in to the credit score, more people could gain credit under more favorable conditions--they wouldn't be treated as high risk and have higher interest rates just because of a lack of "credit" history. By reporting to the credit reporting agencies, Verizon is helping its regular-paying customers to boost their credit scores. (Or decrease their scores if they're not paying their Verizon bills.)

Will more utilities and service providers follow Verizon's lead? It could be a good thing for both the companies that do the reporting and the customers who pay their bills.

Gay Personal Finance

2006-05-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

Gay people get plenty of ink in the media these days, but generally it's only within stories specifically about gay people. Today's USA Today, however, picked a gay couple in Massachusetts to profile for a personal finance makeover, if you'd like to call it that.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy about the two men's financial situation, other than their 28 count em 28 mutual funds, and the fact that their marriage in Massachusetts is not recognized as a marriage by the Federal government for tax purposes, inheritance purposes, etc. I just found it interesting that this is the first time I can remember coming across one of these types of personal finance profiles where the couple in question was gay. Usually it's "how the Conwells are doing on their retirement planning" or "Jim thinks Kathy spends too much," but it's rarely "Simon and Patrick have 28 mutual funds and 20 credit cards" as it is today.

Whether you think that's a good thing or not I suppose depends on your feelings about gay people, but it was interesting to see something a little different in one of these PF columns.

Revolutionary Wealth Book Review Posted

2006-05-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

My boss Justin just posted his review of the new Alvin Toffler book Revolutionary Wealth here at Index Credit Cards. Toffler is the futurist who wrote the famous book Future Shock back in 1970 (which might be before you were born).

Justin usually only posts personal finance-related reviews on Index Credit Cards, and it's kind of a stretch to call Revolutionary Wealth a personal finance book, but it's a book that deals with potential world economics and how we might all be affected by them in the future, so the powers-that-be decided it made the grade to be included on the site.

Justin's a big reader, and he posts his non-personal finance reviews over at BlogCritics.org. He's slogging through a book about Ben Franklin right now. He's sort of obsessed with Ben Franklin if you ask me.

I've been neglecting the blog but I'm going to be better.

Original Batman Credit Card on eBay

2006-04-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Via Bayraider comes news of an original Batman credit card from the Batman TV series up for auction on eBay. Opening bid $1999.99.

According to the seller, Starwares, the Batman credit card is a prop from the 1966 TV show, and the cardholder is William Dozier, the show's producer and uncredited narrator.

The card has a list of Terms & Conditions on the back, including #3: "Bills payable on receipt. Delinquent accounts result in loss of credit privileges and a big spanking."

By the way, looking at the auction page, Starwares says it is now "excepting" Paypal. I can handle some bad spelling, but "excepting"? That's too much.

Find a better credit card at:

Why Am I Paying for Their Political Calls?

2006-04-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Somewhat off-topic for this blog, but vaguely financial is my anger at these automated political calls that have popped up constantly in recent years. Number one, it's annoying, but worse, when I don't answer the calls and they roll over to my voice mail, I'm actually paying for them, because I am charged some small fee for checking my voice mail.

It's sort of like the fax machine thing where people spam your fax machine and you pay for the ink and paper to print out their junk ads. The do-not-call list was supposed to stop that practice, but good luck figuring out where the heck those faxes are coming from.

At my last high school reunion, one of my ex-classmates had been fairly successful at his business using the practice of marketing by fax. This was before do-not-call lists, so he wasn't doing anything illegal, but I felt like slapping him. What a disrespectful thing to do to your customers, to expect them to use their paper and ink to print out your ads. Think if you sent an ad to a prospect through the mail that was postage due or made collect calls to prospective clients--you think they'd stand for that?

Why are politicians allowed to do this? You guessed it--because the politicians make the laws, and they've exempted themselves from the do-not-call lists.

I'm preapproved for the Amex Rewards Plus Gold Card

2006-04-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Per today's mail, I'm preapproved for the American Express Rewards Plus Gold Card. I'm obviously honored, but I can't decide if I want to take them up on it.

There's no fee for the first year, but then it's $150 yearly. I get upgraded to the Membership Rewards program from the Membership Rewards Options program if I do it, but I don't know quite what that means to me. I'd get double points at gas stations, supermarkets, drug stores, the post office, one point everywhere else.

If I was putting $10,000 a month on my Amex card, I'd snap this up. But, as it is, I'm not sure how to do the math on whether the enhanced rewards would be worth the card.

Looking at $150 annual fee, that's equal to about 15,000 points in a rewards program. So, let's say I would put $3000 per month on my card, or $36,000 yearly, for 36,000 points total if I was using a no-fee card. And say I use this Rewards Plus card for about $700 worth of groceries, gas and other services that get me double miles each month, meaning about $8400 per year as part of that $36,000 overall. So $27,600 at one point and $8400 at two points (16,800 points), that would be 44,400 points. If you subtract 15,000 from the 44,400, you get 29,400, which is fewer points than I'd get if I didn't have the annual fee.

But then there's the Membership Rewards thing that seems to be some sort of upgrade. And they seem to think they're giving me sopme sort of upgrade on travel rewards, too, but I can't understand exactly what I'd be getting. Maybe that's the difference between Membership Rewards and Membership Rewards Options?

I guess I'll have to pass. It's just not spelled out clearly enough what this new card would give me over what I'm already getting.

I Bonds & Career Development

2006-04-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Two items, one worth knowing and one worth thinking about:

Financial columnist Terry Savage has an article today about the I Series Savings Bond that currently delivering 6.73%, but could go down to 2% next week. It's a long-term investment, you have to hold it 5 years if you don't want any penalties, but that's a pretty nice rate if you want to park some money risk-free. But you have to hurry--Savage explains why in her column.

Over at Yahoo Finance, Jim Citrin has a thought-provoking piece about career development, and how branching out as your career moves forward can take you to all sorts of unexpected and neat places that you would never get to if you overspecialize.

He uses the example of former Senator George Mitchell, who is now leading Major League Baseball's investigation into steroid abuse after being chairman of Disney and negotiating a peace deal in Ireland and of course being a Senator. His point is that Mitchell got some of these gigs because he'd taken a varied career path.

I don't totally buy Mitchell as an example, because once you're an accomplished politician all sorts of doors open up, and we're not all going to have that happen. But Citrin also uses the example of an MBA graduate who chooses to do management consulting versus derivatives training. The first gives you wide experience across a lot of industries and builds a network as well, while the latter takes you down a narrow path of specialization. Neither is better, but if you want an interesting career that takes you to new and unexpected (in a good way) places, pigeonholing yourself is not the way to go. Pretty neat article, especially for people who are just getting started in their careers.

My Investing Shortcoming

2006-04-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

Greg Karp's talking about a Putnam Investments listing of the traits that lead to successful investing & financial security. I'm pretty good at most of them, except #3 -- Patience in the face of adversity.

Actually I'm not sure if that's even correct. My investing problem is that I hold on to my loser stocks too long and get rid of my winners too quick, which leads to worse gains over the long haul. Luckily I only play with a small amount of my money & leave the rest to the mutual fund experts, because I repeatedly have been unable to stop myself from selling off when my stocks make a quick jump (I feel so smart to make such a big profit so quickly!) or to hold on when it's obvious a stock is headed for the toilet (the stock has to come back, I'm an investing genius!).

Otherwise, I'm pretty good on the other factors--I resist temptationm for quick rewards and I have realistic expectations (except for those stocks I buy and sell myself, that is). I'm doing OK, but I still haven't learned to be a good stock buyer and seller. I love doing it, but my track record is shameful. I really should just hand all the money over to the pros, but I can't bring myself to do it.

Latest Mail

2006-04-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

I got an invite to enroll in the Citi IdentityMonitor program, which costs $9.95 per month, or less than 35 cents a day, as they helpfully note. I believe I could also feed a starving child in some far-off place for 35 cents a day, or buy myself some new pants for less than 35 cents a day, but I digress.

Here's what I get for my money: a credit report, daily "monitoring" of my credit file for suspicious activity, alerts whenever there is a change to my file.

Interestingly, I can also upgrade to a combined 3-in-1 credit report with scores and notification from all three credit bureaus at no extra charge. This of course begs the question: if the upgrade is better and is free, why not just offer it as the basic service?

I can get a free 30-day trial as well as some sort of $25 rebate, too. This offer is going the way of all warranties and protections I am offered -- in the circular file. I like to live dangerously.

In other news, Chase sent me some more checks to pay off other bills at super duper low interest rates. They are pretty relentless with these checks.

I Hate Self-Checkout at the Supermarket

2006-04-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post's Caroline Mayer has a very interesting discussion happening on her consumer blog about self-checkout at supermarkets. Personally I hate the things, but people are weighing in on both sides. Here's why I hate them:

1. The stores tout this as if it's a convenience to customers by allowing you to get out of the store faster if you only have a few items. Ha! What happened to the "10 items or less" lane at the store? Gone. So, in reality, the stores just cut their costs by having fewer cashiers available to check people out. This may explain why the self-checkout lines are so long every time I go into my local store.

2. It's a pain in the rump. Yes, I know we use ATMs to get our own money and we pump our own gas, but these self-checkouts are different. You have to scan every single item, and if you do something the machine doesn't like (or it suddenly stops working), you have to figure out what the problem is or locate someone to help you (good luck). If I could throw all my groceries on a belt and press a single button that totalled it all up and then I paid, I'd be fine with checking myself out. Otherwise, I'm not interested in being a cashier (although I'd like to play one on television).

3. At my store, if you pay by credit card, you then have to go to a special table near the self checkouts to sign your card's slip. This requires a human be present to offer you the receipt to sign. The human is not always present, so I stand there like a doofus, looking hopeless so maybe some store employee will have pity on me and come over to help. Other times this human is gabbing with a co-worker, oblivious to me standing one foot away. Perhaps she's forgotten that she has any actual tasks to perform at her job. "Don't ask me, I just work here."

It's getting to the point in this world where every retailer wants you to do everything for yourself. If this is the case, it might make more sense for me to just install a gas pump in my front yard, and buy my groceries from the wholesalers. They can all just back up to my front yard, dump the stuff on the lawn, and I'll pay them. Let's cut out the middleman, since the middlemen are working so hard to take themselves out of the equation by providing absolutely nothing of extra value.

I'm not that old, but I already feel like a cranky old man.

Yesterday's/Today's Mail

2006-04-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

One credit card offer, plus one credit card offer that fell out of my newspaper yesterday. Let's explore:

I got an offer for the Discover Platinum Card this week. Interestingly enough, they're only offering me 6 months of 0% on purchases, even though I can snag 12 months online. However, they'll give me a full year on balance transfers. Plus, I get $20 just for signing up, something I don't get online. The regular rewards are the 5% on Get More purchases, which I just discovered (pardon the pun) yesterday means gas and auto-related stuff in the spring and early summer, apparel and school stuff in the late summer/fall and music, books, etc. around the holidays.

It says the APR is 10.99%, but based on their calculation of Prime Rate + 3.49%, it would actually be 11.24%. That's the best rate they're showing in the online offer.

Not really looking for a credit card right now, but I'd probably pick the Discover Gas card over the standard card if I was looking right now. I'm a little miffed, though, that they're only offering me 6 months at 0% on purchases. I'm not going to get the card, but I like to think I'm royalty to the credit card companies, and I'm clearly not to Discover.

Out of my newspaper yesterday came an offer for the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards American Express Card (a finalist in my longest credit card name ever competition). This card offers a pretty generous rewards program of 5 points per dollar on gas, supermarket and drug store purchases, 1 point everywhere else. There's also a $100 gift card in it for me after I use the card for the first time. Interestingly, the newspaper offer has an APR of 13.99%, although their calculation suggests it would now be 14.24%--online you can get this same deal with an interest rate a point lower.

Citi also has this same card as a MasterCard, offering a 12.74% interest rate, but just a $50 gift card after first use. I'm not getting any of these, but it's interesting to see how they market what is essentially the same card differently in three different places.

Another Credit Report Horror Story

2006-04-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Now I know it's the general practice of the media to pick the worst stories and ignore when things are going right, but, still, should these credit reporting agencies really be wielding so much power over us?

Look at this article in the NY Daily News. This woman Marie McGrath had her credit history just wiped off the map by Experian and the only way she got it back was when the newspaper contacted Experian to see what was happening.

Ridiculous:

Maxine Sweet, a spokeswoman for Experian, acknowledged the company made
multiple mistakes. "It was a mixed file that went to a no record," she
explained. Credit reporting agencies define a mixed file as one that contains
information pertaining to more than one consumer.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, as many as 5% of credit bureau
files could be mixed.

When Experian attempted to separate the accounts in McGrath's file, it "did
not get the identity perfect," Sweet said. "We are now creating her credit
report and making sure that the accounts are linked to the right names."

It was "a mixed file that went to no record"? First off, no average person knows what that means, and, once we know, we're incredulous that your way of handling getting two people's information mixed up is to simply wipe away their credit history.

It's also annoying how these companies jump when they know the media is going to shed some light on their practices, but they ignore the customer up until that point.

Like I said, it's not totally fair to take one problem and pin it on the company or the industry as a whole, but, still, they could at least try to fix it once they know.

Book Review: WSJ Personal Finance Guides

2006-04-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal just came out with two personal finance books, The Complete Personal Finance Guidebook and the Personal Finance Workbook. Justin did a new book review of them, which you can find here.

I leafed through them right quick, so I'm not qualified to make a judgment, but Justin thought they were pretty good, especially for those just starting to get their doo-doo together financially.

He's trying to line up an interview with the books' author, Jeff Opdyke, who is one of the main personal finance writers for the Journal. That's not at all confirmed, but that's the goal.

I've been gonme for a few days , but hoping to make up for lost time starting today. I'm starting to enjoy this blog thing; I see now why people get hooked.

Jerry Falwell's Personal Finance Advice

2006-04-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

There's a new indie film called "Maxed Out" that ponders the dangers of debt, and Newsweek has a priceless piece of video from the movie--it's Jerry Falwell giving some personal finance advice, "spiritual mathemathics" as it were. Check out the article here and the Falwell video here.

There IS Mail Today! Whoopee!

2006-04-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure if they delivered the mail on Good Friday, but, goodness, they do! There are a lot of postal holidays, so you never know if the mail's going to show up or not. The mail's here, the stock market's closed, not sure if my bank's open.

What I got today was my mortgage bill, due May 1st. I kind of like getting my mortgage bill, because I've been pretty aggressive with it & I like seeing the principal go down somewhat substantially each month. I remember when I got my first house & paid my first mortgage bill--something like $35 came off of the principal. I thought there was some mistake. Luckily I showed it to my mom instead of making an ass out of myself by calling the mortgage company and demanding an explanation.

Also got a come-on for a second mortgage from SouthBanc Mortgage in Herndon, Virginia. They say I "have been pre-selected for up to $63,450.00 or more!!! No Equity Required!" Now that's bad writing there. Have I been pre-selected for up to $63,500.00, or have I been pre-selected for more than $63,450.00? It can't be both.

Oh, well. I'm not doing it anyway. See you Monday.

"Luxury" Credit Cards

2006-04-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Forbes has a story this week on luxury credit cards, including the American Express Centurion card, also known as the ultra-exclusive American Express Black card.

The appeal of these cards is to some extent their rich rewards, but since they are generally only offered to very rich people, it's questionable whether rich people carry them for their rewards (not that rich people don't appreciate getting rewards; they didn't become rich by mistake).

Their main attraction seems to be the fact that only a small number of people are invited to carry them and only a small number could even afford to carry them (the American Express Black card requires you to spend $250,000 per year on the card).

Many of them have rewards of private jet travel, which sounds nice but unnecessary, although perhaps Lindsay Lohan does prefer to travel away from the admiring throngs, so for some of us it makes sense.

The world's a crazy place sometimes. Most times, actually.

Jackson Hole Lotta Money

2006-04-13T05:11:00.000-07:00

You can't live in Jackson Hole or a lot of other places in Wyoming these days unless you've got the money, honey.

Now, while it may be beautiful, Wyoming is kind of in the middle of nowhere, which probably at one point made it a unique destination for rich people, until all the other rich people decided to get away from it all and showed up in Wyoming, too. Then it just became another place for rich people to mingle with other rich people.

I'm not knocking it. I'd like to be rich and buy a $17 million dollar house with custom heating vents, too. Well, maybe that's not how I'd spend my money, but I have no problem with getting rich.

What's a little depressing is to hear that no one without means can live in Jackson Hole anymore now that the richies have taken it over. They can come in each day to serve up the rich people's Eggs Benedict, but they can't live there.

That leaves me a little torn. It's a supply-and-demand world, and even more than that, it's a survival of the fittest world, at least in terms of whoever has a lot of money gets the best things. Unfortunately, the best things often mean nature and natural wonders that should be open to all. Buying up all the real estate in beautiful places, buying up the beaches, making fewer and fewer nice places for average people to live. Sometimes government limits this, by doing things such as public access parks and beaches, or by limiting home sizes like they've done in Jackson Hole, but for the most part the rich get their way.

I'm not sure where I was going with this, it's just an interesting topic to me.

Capital One Wants Me So Bad

2006-04-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

I don't mean to brag, but Capital One wants me so bad that they sent me the exact same credit card offer for their No Hassle Miles Ultra MasterCard today that I received from them back on March 24, or just 19 days ago.

That's not quite as fast of a comeback as the American Express Costco credit card (they only had 13 days in between sending the exact same offer), but it still shows that Capital One wants to have like 10 thousand of my babies.

Are "Contactless" Credit Cards Safe?

2006-04-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

A lot of new credit cards are incorporating this RFID (radio frequency) technology that will allow people to just wave their credit cards at special readers to pay for purchases. MasterCard calls it "blink" technology and Chase seems to be working hardest at implementing it. It's basically the same thing as the Exxon Speedpass that lets you buy gas faster or the cards that certain states use to let frequent toll road users zip past the toll booths without stopping.

The potential downside, as always with wireless technology, is that someone could intercept and steal your data. A couple stories on this have cropped up recently.

The Wall Street Journal did a story on Monday about it. Brenden Walker of Canton, Ohio smashed his new credit card so the device wouldn't work anymore. It seems a whole industry is springing up of companies offering protection from the insidious devices. My guess is that many of these companies were previously offering to build bunkers for the Y2K doomsayers.

Mitch Radcliffe at ZDNet also did a blog entry this past Sunday on the situation, titled "RFID: Legitimate fear or fear-mongering?" Radcliffe thinks the devices mentioned in the WSJ story to defeat RFID are a little ridiculous, but he also argues that RFID shouldn't necessarily become the standard, and people concerned about privacy concerns should resist it, which seems easy enough to do.

I don't know. I'm very loosey-goosey with my personal information--there's a decent chance you already have my credit card number and know the combination to my lock at the gym. I know identity theft is real, but I go for the convenience over the security, I guess because I just can't think of a scenario in which having any of my information stolen would really ruin my life versus just being a huge pain in the ass. Someday something will happen & I might change my ways, but for now I'm waiting for my RFID credit card. In fact, I just got a new Chase card, maybe it has one. Unlike Brenden Walker, I won't be taking a hammer to it.

Should a Wal-Mart Bank Be Allowed to Exist?

2006-04-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart wants to be a bank. They say they only want the go-ahead to create a bank so that they can process credit card transactions themselves instead of paying millions of dollars to other banks to have them run the transactions.

On its face, this is reasonable. After all, Target, Harley-Davidson, BMW, Nordstrom and others have their own banks, so why shouldn't Wal-Mart?

On the other hand, some feel that Wal-Mart using its banking charter for benign purposes is about as likely as Iran using enriched uranium to spread peace.

I'm a little torn here. I'm not anti-business, and I don't necessarily think Wal-Mart getting a bank charter is a sign of the apocalypse (those Iranians getting nukes could be, though). But there does come a time when a successful business has to be reigned in before it starts to systematically wipe out the rest of the economy.

What I'm trying to say is if Wal-Mart gets their charter, don't be surprised if Microsoft suddenly wants one. Or Google, for that matter.

On the other hand, big retailers often sell off their credit card businesses when they realize that their strength is as a retailer, not as a finance company. This same thing could easily happen to Wal-Mart (although if they really just want to process their own credit card transactions, this is all just talk).

I'm not really a fan of Wal-Mart, but I say let 'em bank. However, I would also encourage Citigroup, Bank of America and other banking behemoths to begin production of cheap clothing in China, just to hedge their bets.

Today's Mail 4/10/06

2006-04-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

No credit card offers today. I have to say I'm surprised--I really don't get as many credit card offers mailed to me as I thought before I started tracking my mail like some sort of junk culture anthropologist.

I still got plenty of mail:

J&R Music World Computer World Everything World sent me a catalog. I don't shop with them, but used my American Express points to buy an iPod Nano from J&R (via the ShopAmex reward option that allows you to buy from anyone), so now I'm on J&R's list. (The ShopAmex option is nice in a way, because you have a greater selection, but for items like the Nano that aren't part of American Express' regular rewards program, you use twice as many points to get anything -- e.g., $300 Nano cost 60,000 points. I really wanted that Nano, though.)
Joe at Progressive Urban Real Estate would like me to call him for all my real estate needs. I don't have any, but Joe looks nice enough.
Mutual fund statement. This one did OK for the first quarter, but not nearly as well as the others. It's got a good track record, though, so I'm not distressed.
My other mutual fund wants me to send in my proxy statement as there is a change in fund management being voted on. This has been a good fund, but the guys who have been shepherding it for 15 or 20 years just quit, so now I'm not sure what to think. I'll keep it for now & see how the new managers do. I really should vote but since I don't understand what the heck's going on, I'm abstaining & will decide if that money stays with them based on how this shakes out.
Geico wants to give me an auto insurance quote.

That's it. More enlightening mail news tomorrow.

Building Up and Cashing Out

2006-04-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

This morning's Washington Post has one of my favorite kinds of stories, about people who built companies out of nothing and then cashed out for gobs and gobs of money.

The people profiled today are business owners who built their businesses mainly by being government contractors. Sure, you know about government contractors like Halliburton who feed at the trough of the Iraq rebuilding, but these are smaller companies that have never had Dick Cheney at the helm but built up enough of a business to sell out for ungodly sums of money.

If you want to get rich in this life, the surest way is to start your own company. Yes, it's risky, but the potential is great and the need to bust your a** everyday to make a buck gives you a kick that few other jobs will.

I've started a number of small companies and done fairly well, but I've never broken the bank the way these people have. But one thing I never had in all the years of being my own boss was the dread of Monday morning. Every week I saw the potential, the possibility of landing a big client or seeing an advertosement bring in a ton of new business. Even if those things didn't actually happen often, the possibility of them happening made work a gas, something I looked forward to instead of dreading. I highly recommend it.

In fact, I'm getting closer to taking that plunge again. (As fun as being an entrepreneur can be, it can also be exhausting and leave you in need of a break. Especially if you've done it more than once.) I'm scanning the business sections, checking out the Web to see what kinds of services people need. So far I'm thinking health care, but I'm not sure where the greatest needs are. But I'm open to other possibilities.

What business would you start?

Old Navy Gift Cards and Retirement Account Statement

2006-04-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

No credit card offers in the mail today.

However, I did receive $100 worth of Old Navy gift cards thanks to my Chase Flexible Rewards credit card. I'm actually going to drop this card because I rarely use it anymore, so I decided to cash out my rewards and get some new clothes for the summer. Old Navy stuff doesn't last very long, but you can get a ton of stuff for $100, and I decided to go for quantity over quality.

I also got a statement from one of my retirement accounts--it went up 10% in the first quarter! Awesome. I haven't always been a great investor, but I did manage to find two mutual fund companies that are off the charts in the returns they've delivered. I won't name them because I don't want too much money hitting those funds and screwing it up for me, but I will say they are not household names, and I did my due diligence before picking them. So if you're looking for a mutual fund, look hard at past performance and think long-term--these funds aren't flavor-of-the-month funds. They look at the long-term and they deliver over the long term. There have been times when the markets have been great and my funds have been not-so-great, but they stick to their investment philospohies and it's paid off over and over again. I wish I was as smart as the people who run these funds, because they must be filthy rich themselves, and I am not, at least not so far.

Have a good weekend.

What's Wrong with the Chinese?

2006-04-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

HSBC and Citigroup are jumping into the China market whole-hog, and they've signed up millions of new credit card customers. The problem is, the Chinese don't revolve balances. Seems their culture does not value going into debt. It's estimated only 2% of Chinese credit card customers revolve a balance, compared to 54% in the U.S.

The credit card companies are convinced they can train the Chinese to change their evil ways, and given the West's success at pushing American cultural norms into countries the world over, no doubt there will soon be a need for credit counselors throughout China. Actually I just might pursue that idea--it's the entrepreneurial brainstorm I've been waiting my whole life for.

Gotta go.

Today's Credit Card Offers + Other Mail

2006-04-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well, today American Express sent me an offer for the Costco TrueEarnings Card. I received this same offer 13 days ago. It appears to be the exact same piece of mail--they must be pretty sure I want one of these cards.

Netflix also wants me, and says they can give me a deal as low as $7.99 per month. The best deal on their Web site is $9.99 per month, so I'm feeling special, but I'm not going to do it. I did it once before & I just don't have time to watch enough movies to make it worthwhile. I like sitting in theatres, too, and only watch so many movies at home. I guess I'm going against the trend that way.

I also received an offer of a home equity line of credit from my mortgage company.

The local school district also sent me a newsletter about what's up in the school district. My kid doesn't show up anywhere in this issue, so I'm tossing it.

Credit Scores Held Hostage

2006-04-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

Michelle Singletary's talking today about the new VantageScore credit scoring system that the credit reporting agencies have cooked up to try to devise more uniform credit scores (right now there's a big variance from agency to agency). My boss has already given an opinion on the plusses and minuses of this system, so I won't bother, but Singletary actually spends more time in her column discussing how to make sure your credit report is accurate, and that's what I'd like to discuss.

Your credit scores are used by a variety of lenders to judge whether you get credit from them and at what rates. Credit cards are obviously one financial product that would use credit scores to determine rates, but more important are the rates you get on your home mortgage and to some extent your auto loans. So it's important to keep a good score.

Singletary talks about how to get your score fixed if credit agencies have the wrong info, and she says you need to go to the source -- namely, the financial institution or merchant that supplied the credit agency with the faulty info. And here's where the problem potentially comes in.

Suppose you send in your credit card payment 10 days before it's due but when your next bill comes you see a late payment fee on your statement. You call the credit card company and dispute the charge. The company says your payment didn't make it on time. You say "bullfeathers" and refuse to pay the fee and while you're at it, you tell them you want to cancel the card altogether. They say they'll cancel it just as soon as you pay that late fee otherwise it will stay open. And as long as you refuse to pay that late fee they'll keep your account open--to a certain extent holding your credit score hostage by continually telling the credit agencies that you are not paying your bill, even though you dispute the fact that the late fee should be on the account at all.

Do you think the next potential lender is going to be interested in this brouhaha or are they just going to look at your credit report and say "this one's untrustworthy" and turn you down or give you a crappy rate?

I'm not saying this happens very often, but I've had experiences like this where I just paid the fee because I didn't feel like putting up the fight and potentially damaging my credit. I felt taken advantage of, powerless.

There oughta be a law.

In the Mailbag

2006-04-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

No, this is not where I answer reader letters, mostly because no one has written me letters. This is where I look at my mail and tell you what I got.

First, credit cards. No new offers, exactly, but American Express wants me to take on additional Blue credit cards and hand them out to my family members to do with as they please, including, according to them, my daughter for a haircut, my spouse to buy dinner for the kids (I guess I don't eat), or the nanny to pick up diapers.

Huh? As Mr. T would say, I pity the fool that decides to get additional cards and hand them out to family members (and the nanny for God's sake!) as if they are toy poker chips. Say goodbye to your money and hello to bankruptcy court.

In other mail news, I received a bill from my accountant for doing my taxes. He's a pro, and does a good job (I think, really I only know that I haven't been audited yet, who knows otherwise, he could be robbing me blind). But the bill is high--thus my previous rant about taxes (and legal proceedings) becoming too complicated for anyone to do anything themselves any more, forcing us to pay others for what should be transparent exercises. OK, off the soapbox...

I got a little flyer with an ad for a ClearVue antenna booster that you simply plug into your TV or stereo for a crisper TV picture or better FM reception. Only $29.95. I'm always amazed when I get ads like this -- it looks like a product from 1975. No thanks.

I also got the Major League Baseball Spring Catalog, actually two of them for whatever reason. I love baseball, but I don't like to buy too many pro sports paraphernalia--as much I love watching the games, it's hard to let go of the fact that they are grossly overpaid. On the other hand, I'd hate to see my Cleveland Indians pack up and leave the way the Browns did a few years back. By the way, the White Sox just scored two in the sixth to go up on the Tribe 3-2. Cliff Lee had been pitching pretty well up until then. Indians have wasted a number of scoring opportunities.

What else... Ad from a furniture store, letter about my kid's 529 plan (which you should get one of if you have kids), local radio station promo, and a catalog for office furniture from Topdeq. Despite my annoyance at the spelling of Topdeq, it looks like decent stuff. I might take a closer look -- I don't need anything, but I like office furniture for some reason.

Until tomorrow...

Whose Fault Are Faulty Tax Returns?

2006-04-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

A new study by the Government Accountability Office shows that commercial tax preparers, which seems to mean the storefront types versus individual CPAs, got 100% of tax returns wrong when the GAO went undercover to see how effective they were. The sample size was only 19 returns, of course, but nevertheless I suppose it's legitimate to guess that the numbers would be the same across all such preparers (well, maybe not the 100%--as soon as one preparer gets a return right that would blow the average).

The GAO wants consumers to be careful in how they choose tax preparers, which is good advice, but how about creating a tax code that isn't so complicated that we require professional tax preparers who can't even be trusted to get it right? How about making it possible for the average person to do their taxes without tearing out their hair?

There's a bad trend in this country toward forcing people to pay large sums of money to do things that common sense would tell you they should be able to do themselves.

Here's an example: this guy in Dallas set up a "fan" Web site about a local mall called the Shops at Willow Bend. He wasn't trying to make money from it or anything, just giving info about this new retail mall that he thinks is going to be cool. The mall developers come after him with their lawyers to shut down the site, and this guy doesn't like their hardball tactics, so he decides to fight them in court.

Problem is, he's not a lawyer and doesn't know how to file the myriad papers that a court of law requires for every single little maneuver that takes place, so he's flying blind, getting it wrong half the time and in danger of losing his case simply because he doesn't understand a process that the legal community has created to make it almost impossible to represent yourself in court.

I'm not against lawyers, and I certainly think using a lawyer in court would be smarter than not using a lawyer. But the fact that the legal system is set up in such a way that it is almost impossible to proceed without a lawyer (and they're not cheap if you haven't heard) is just plain wrong, just as a tax system that is so complicated that tax preparers themselves can't figure it out is wrong.

So the GAO can go to the Senate Finance Committee and smugly report their "a ha!" findings about tax preparers if they choose, but what they should be telling the Senate is that they've created a horrible system that forces people with no money to go sit in a storefront tax shop and pay someone to mess up their taxes a little less badly than they would mess them up if they did the taxes themselves.

I know, this blog is supposed to be about my credit card offers, but I can't help myself sometimes.

Yesterday's Mail

2006-04-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's mail came a bit late but I got a lot of stuff, including a new credit card and my first credit card offer in about a week.

First off, I got my new Chase Cash Plus Rewards Visa (the names of these cards get longer and longer, just think if they sponsored a college bowl game with this card, it could be the Chase Cash Plus Rewards Visa Bowl). This card gives 5 points on gas, grocery and drug store purchases and 1 point on any other purchases, and you can turn the points into cash or use them for gift cards.

I'd been using the Amazon credit card because I like getting books and CDs as rewards, but this card actually gives me more flexibility--I can still use my rewards at Amazon if I want, but I can also get cash or get gift cards at places like Gap, Home Depot, Target, Marriott, Starbucks, etc. if I choose. It appears I only get the rewards every time I reach 5,000 points, but that's fine. I'll do that easy.

(My Amazon card gives me a $25 gift certificate at every 2,500 points, so I'd get the rewards faster, but I like the flexibility with this Cash Plus card. I might be saying goodbye to the Amazon card altogether. It's been a while since I've overhauled the cards I'm carrying.)

In other mail news, I got an offer from Universal Savings Bank for their Upfront Reward Visa. If you've never heard of this, it's sort of a strange card. You sign up for the card and get a free laptop computer--IF you transfer at least $5,000 from another card AND keep at least a $3,500 balance for at least 18 months. The APR I'm being offered is 9.99%--looking online it's possible you could be offered 10.99% or 11.99% as well.

My offer says I'd get a Dell Inspiron B120 Notebook Computer worth $850. Online you'll also find the choice of an IBM Thinkpad, an HP laptop, or a Dell desktop system.

It's not a horrible deal. It's tough to calculate this out, because you have to keep the $3,500 or above limit, but, using this calculator, I can see that if I float that $5000 balance for two years at 9.99% making minimum payments, I still only pay about $734, less than the computer is worth--but that doesn't take into account that making minimum payments (with no new purchases) would take me below the $3,500 threshold, so...my head's starting to hurt. I'm just going to figure it's a wash--if I got this card I'd pay about the same in finance charges over that period as it would cost to just buy the laptop outright, but of course I'd get the laptop upfront (thus the card name), so that might be a bonus.

After you're allowed to completely pay off the card, though, there are no more rewards coming as far as I can tell, so then you have a card with fairly low interest but no other benefits. That is a pretty low rate, actually, but I don't know if you could initially forgo the laptop and just get the card for its interest rate without transferring any balances. Probably not. I don't have big balances, though, so this card's not for me anyway, so why am I wasting my time? (Oh, yeah, they're paying me to blog about my mail. Almost forgot.)

This is a long post, so I'm not going to talk about my other mail. If today's mail is slow, maybe I'll add in some interesting observations about my water bill to thrill you.

At What Age Is A "Card" Appropriate?

2006-04-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

Michelle Singletary is not happy. The Washington Post personal finance writer had her 10-year-old daughter return from a birthday party requesting a prepaid Hello Kitty debit card like those she saw the birthday girl for presents. Singletary's response? No way.

I both agree and disagree with Singletary. I agree that the debit's card's fees make it a poor financial product -- there's no reason to spend $10 a month for the pleasure of having Hello Kitty on your card as a 10-year-old.

But Singletary's beef is more with the fact that these cards are like training wheels for credit cards, encouraging kids to join the plastic society that too often leads to burdensome debt. I see her point, but eventually most people do start to use credit cards, so at what age is it appropriate to use some sort of debit card as training wheels, or should they be forbidden until adulthood.

Singletary calls credit cards "evil" and the "plastic devil", so it's easy to see where she comes down.

I agree that no ten-year-old should be using plastic of any kind, but I'm not sure where the line is. Once college comes around, kids can get cards without their parents having anything to say about it. Is it better to let them have some experience with how credit (really, debit in most cases) works before they start charging pizza and textbooks?

Whaddya think?

Is Identity Theft Growing or Not?

2006-04-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Justice Department put out a report yesterday saying that about 3% of Americans have been victims of identity theft in the recent past, a figure that is about a third of what another government study had said in the past. In February, Javelin Research did a survey that put the number at about 4 percent.

The Javelin study found that about half of identity theft victims actually knew the person who stole their info -- so the identity theft bogeyman might just as easily be your next-door neighbor who stops by for a cup of sugar (I know, no one does that anymore, but I couldn't think of another example very quickly) as a conniving meth addict hiding in the bushes trying to read your ATM PIN.

Of course 3% is a lot of people in actual numbers, so I'm not trying to underplay it, but is it really a problem that's getting worse? Or do certain media (especially local TV news programs in my experience) like to play it up as another one of their shocking revelations with reports titled "Hands Off My Pocketbook!" or "The Thief You Can't See"?

I've had credit cards stolen when I was a little careless, but the credit card companies make so much money off of their system that they're more than willing to let me lose my card every so often with absolutely no liability. It's a hassle digging up your account numbers and getting things reissued, but life's a hassle in general, so you take the good with the bad, at least IMO.

I guess your take on this might depend on whether you've been a victim of identity theft or not. Or how bad the identity theft was.

How about you? Have you been a victim? Was it a big deal or no?

Today's Mail 3/31/06

2006-03-31T14:30:00.000-08:00

It's getting embarrassing. This blog was supposed to be about my credit card offers, and I haven't gotten one since Tuesday. Oh, well. We might have to re-think this.

Nevertheless, I did get other mail you'll no doubt be interested in:

Homerun Stock Alert newsletter. Don't know this company, won't be reading this, but thanks anyway.
Flyer from a local painter.
Sierra Trading Post catalog. Ordered some sandals from them online last year, and you know what happens once you actually place an order.
Garnet Hill catalog. Bought something for my significant other from this one, based on her request for something from it. I'd never heard of them myself, but now I'm on the list...

Also got a 9-volt battery from my mortgage company -- a reminder to change the batteries in my smoke detectors. That's a pretty good one, perhaps the best piece of marketing I've gotten this week.

Be well, enjoy your weekend, spend some money (I know you're on a budget, but don't totally deprive yourself, OK?).

No Ticket Airport Parking with Credit Card Payment

2006-03-31T11:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've had to travel regularly, and most of the time I take cabs and leave the car at home. But, I remember when I used to travel often & the paranoia I'd have about losing my ticket for the airport parking lot and being stuck paying one million dollars for a two-day stay.

I see that at least one airport has changed this scenario -- in the Washington Post's Sunday edition (already online on Friday for some reason), the paper reports that Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall (there's a mouthful) airport has a Credit Card In/Credit Card Out system working -- you swipe your credit card on the way in, swipe the same one on the out, and you're golden.

Sure, you could lose your credit card during your trip, but that's a lot less likely than losing that flimsy airport parking ticket.

As the WaPo says in the article: it's the little things that count.

Today's Mail 3/30/06

2006-03-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

For the third straight day, no credit card offers, which is sort of killing the theme of the site. Maybe people don't really get as many credit solicitations as they think they do.

I did get some mail, though:

A local furniture store is going out of business and wants to give me first dibs on buying their remaining stock at cut rates. I'm always tempted by these kinds of offers, but in my head know that I don't need any furniture.

CVS Pharmacy will give me a free $25 CVS gift card if I fill a prescription there before April 25th.

COSE wants me as a business owner to join up to get deals on insurance, networking opportunities, etc. As I am no longer a business owner, this holds no appeal.

Finally, my home security company has thoughtfully sent me a note telling me my credit card will be expiring soon & I should give them some new numbers if I want to continue credit card billing. I do, so I will.

Not too exciting today.

Cheaper with Cash

2006-03-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

TV station WSAV in the Hilton Head/Savannah area has a report about a local gas station chain, Enmark, that is charging customers 3 cents less per gallon if they pay with cash versus a debit or credit card. The report also mentions a local restaurant that won't let customers pay by credit card unless the check is at least $10.

I'm not a lawyer, but it may be against the law for a merchant to charge credit card customers more than it charges cash customers. If it's not against the law, it's at least against the agreement that the merchant signed in order to be able to accept credit cards.

It's fine for merchants to not accept credit cards at all, but I don't think they can accept credit cards and add a surcharge if you use them.

Likewise, I think merchants are breaking their agreement with the credit card companies if they refuse to accept credit cards for purchases of a certain amount. Credit card companies are definitely trying to get you to use your credit card for smaller and smaller purchases, so I'm guessing they're not too happy about this practice that some merchants are doing.

There's an interesting fight brewing there. Merchants think credit card companies are gouging them with fees while preventing them from putting surcharges on credit card purchases. Credit card issuers and processors say merchants want the ability to accept credit cards without paying a fee for the service. Index Credit Cards did a rundown of this issue last month when a merchants group successfully got Discover to drop its "no surcharge" rule.

That issue's a long way from over.

Slow Mail Day

2006-03-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

It took a long time for the mail guy to show up today & the payoff stunk:

Local radio station SoftRock 102.1 sent me one of those "listen & win" promos. I can win $1000 if I am the 12th caller when they play the "Workday Song of the Day." I used to actually go for this stuff when I was totally broke and being the 12th caller seemed as good of a money-making strategy as anything else, but now I thankfully have better ways to make a buck, like this massive money-generating blog you're reading. The "Workday Song of the Day" for April 14th is "We Belong" by Pat Benatar.

Honeybaked Ham sent us a $5 coupon if we buy a ham of over 7 lbs. by April 15th. It says "While Supplies Last" on the coupon, so I gotta hurry.

That's about it. I have to call my accountant for the 15th time this week & make sure I understand what the heck I'm supposed to do so the IRS doesn't come after me.

American Express Membership Rewards Offering iTunes!

2006-03-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

I am psyched! (I don't know if people say that anymore, I might be showing my age.)

American Express has just added iTunes to Membership Rewards--you can get 25 songs for 3,000 points or 50 songs for 5,500 points. Looks they put a bit of a premium on them, as you would expect those numbers to be 2,500 and 5,000, but that's not a big deal to me. I have a lot of points that are going to get sucked up in iTunes.

A lot of people like to get cash back from their credit cards, but for me personally it's more fun to rack up points and have the option to buy things I might not spend my money on otherwise. Yes, I know the argument that cash back allows you to buy anything you want, and using points ties you to certain rewards when you could have cash money. But if you get cash back, you usually just pocket it and don't get anything special. Points, on the other hand, allow you to get stuff you want but couldn't otherwise justify to yourself.

I've already gotten an iPod Nano from Amex's ShopAmex feature, and I probably wouldn't have been in a hurry to get one otherwise -- I'd hopelessly desire one, sure, but I probably wouldn't have been able to justify forking over $300 for it. I was happy to give up those points, though, because they never existed as money in my hands, you know what I'm saying?

Ah, it's a good day.

Today's Mail 3/28/06

2006-03-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

Well, surprise, surprise, no credit card offers in the mail today. See, it does happen sometimes.

Let's see what I did get.

Got the weekly circulars from the supermarkets and such. Finger Lickin' Feasts coupons from KFC, Pizza Hut, some satellite dish providers, Marc's ("Hip Hoppin' Deals" including Coke 12-packs 4 for $10 this week plus Easter candy specials), Drug Mart (also with an Easter bunny theme), Elgin Furniture (microfiber sofa & loveseat $899), Arby's (5 for $5.95 special this week), The Original Pizza Pan, Regency Windows (with company founder "Mikey" giving a smling thumbs-up in the ad), cell phone providers and Giant Eagle, which has some buy one get one free offers this week, including Klondike bars, Finesse shampoo, and sweet red California strawberries.

Also got a piece from the ubiquitous Designer Checks. I think these check-printing companies are going the way of film cameras in the next few years, so I hope they're thinking about the next step--manufacturing check cards might be the business to move into.

Got a flyer from our last real estate agent--she's wasting her time, she did a lousy job.

OfficeMax sent some coupons, including $10 off a minimum $20 purchase if I actually venture into one of their stores to buy something. I've got til May 6th; might go for that one.

Shell Energy wants me to buy my natural gas from them. I really do need to look into how this natural gas stuff works, it's killer to pay those bills.

Finally, a catalog from Hershey's -- I bought someone a gift from their Web site a year and a half ago.

That's a lot of stuff. Anyone who thinks mail delivery is on its way out is crazy.

Fed Raises Interest Rates Again

2006-03-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

The Federal Reserve jacked up interest rates again today, which means higher interest on many loans that rise and fall with the Prime Rate.

I'm a little cloudy on the federal funds rate versus the prime rate versus the who-do-we-apprecirate, but I can tell you that if you have a credit card with a balance on it, there's a good chance your interest rate will rise another quarter-point soon, from 13.49% to 13.74%, for example. Most credit cards are variable rate, going up and down based on what Alan Greenspan, oops, Ben Bernanke decides at these Fed meetings.

Some cards are lightning-quick to increase rates when this happens, some are slower--but almost all of them do it, unless you're lucky enough to have a fixed rate credit card--so you'll see it soon enough.

Virtual World Credit Card Rewards?

2006-03-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

This post at the Make Magazine blog is a bit over my head because I don't know anything about these virtual world games World of Warcraft or Second Life, but it seems these games allow you to exist in a virtual world, right down to making and spending virtual money (World of Warcraft "gold" and Second Life "Lindens"). Supposedly World of Warcraft has over 6 million users, and so the post author believes the next logical step to reach this market is for credit card companies to create credit cards that offer "virtual" rewards -- gold or Linden dollars instead of real money or tangible rewards.

If I understand correctly, there is now a market in the real world for "virtual" money, meaning people are paying real dollars to get more Lindens, so if a credit card did offer this type of reward, the virtual money could have real value, provided you could find a buyer who wants to get virtually rich.

Seems a little crazy to me, but I've never been much of a gamer because my few experiences with gaming have shown me how much time it can suck, and so I've always found it better to steer clear and not get sucked in. Still, interesting stuff.

Today's Mail 3/27/06

2006-03-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

First off, I got my American Express Blue bill & see that the due date is April 11, which means I have less than two weeks to turn this thing around in order to pay on time. That shows you how credit cards have cut down the billing cycles & the timeframe in which you have to pay. You really don't get to float your money for as long anymore -- the earliest charge on the bill is from 2/22, but the latest is from 3/22, which means I get to float those more recent charges for less than three weeks before I have to pay them back.

I like to do my bills once a week, and, these days, if I forget or let it slip for a couple of days, I'm already in danger of late fees.

Also got two bills from Chase cards that I have. One of them I rarely use & I think I'm going to cancel it even though the experts say that you don't want to cancel too many credit lines because it can lower your credit score. Forget that, my credit's fine, I'm bagging this card. I think I'm going to get Chase's Cash Plus card so really I'm not cutting down on my cards. Also found out today that it appears Chase didn't close my other account that I've already called about once. That's freaking annoying that I have to call again -- especially because that one has an annual fee & I'm going to be livid if I'm close to the fee date & they try to charge me. I already cut up the card but I still see it in my online account. Chase also sent me today the same balance transfer checks that I got on Friday -- they are relentless with these.

In terms of new accounts, my only credit card offer today comes from the L.L. Bean Platinum Plus Visa credit card. It's a no annual fee card, APR of either 7.9 or 13.99% -- of course I won't find out which until I actually apply. I don't see what this card does for me other than free shipping on L.L. Bean stuff. That can't be the whole reward, can it? Oh, here we go -- "use your card everywhere you shop and you'll be rewarded with Coupon Dollars good toward L. L. Bean products." Says I can get free monogramming on anything that they monogram, too. I'm not a fan of monogramming, so that's meaningless. If you go to the L.L. Bean Web site, you get basically the same offer, except the APR is 11.4%, higher than the 7.9% I might qualify for by mail, but less than the 13.99% APR they also say I could end up with. I'm going to pass on this one.

Here's my other mail, in case you're curious:

Some sort of mortgage loan device from Indymac Bank that apparently would allow me to pay any mortgage premium I feel like every month. That can't be right and you know that's going to cost, and anyway I don't want temporary cash flow from my mortgage, I want to pay on that sucker. I want equity, baby.
Local Nationwide Insurance agent wants to cover my nonexistent business. Good luck, Jack.
Special Olympics wants me to donate. They even included one of those stickers that says "Supporter 2006" as if I've already donated. If I weren't an upstanding citizen, I could stick that sticker on my car without donating. But I won't. However, the Special Olympians won't be getting any money from me today -- I don't give to mail requests. Once a year I see how much money I've got to give and make decisions -- giving randomly when asked doesn't do it for me.

A big movie weekend for me. Saw "Inside Man" Friday, plus 3 movies at the Cleveland Film Festival. Inside Man was good, glad to see Spike Lee doing something interesting again. At the festival, I especially enjoyed "I for India" so check that out if you ever get a chance, which you probably won't unless you go to film festivals. Although Netflix seems to have everything these days, so maybe they'd have it eventually.

Til tomorrow...

Today's Mail 3/24/06

2006-03-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

I got some mail today:

Capital One would like me to take on their No Hassle Miles Ultra MasterCard. They say I can use the miles on over 100 airlines, fly with no blackout dates, get a free ticket with as little as 15,000 miles, redeem the miles for cash if I don't want to fly, all for no annual fee. According to their chart, this compares very favorable to the United Mileage Plus Signature Card, the American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Card and the Citi Premier Pass Elite Level card.

The letter says this is "for professionals" -- the card may be intended for business owners, which I used to be before hooking up with this outfit that pays me to blog about my mail. (If I'd been a better business owner, I'd be phoning this in from my vacation retreat in Tahiti. Or, better yet, not doing it at all.)

They're not offering any special introductory offers or balance transfer offers, but they will give me a 7.9% APR on purchases, which beats the pants off the 14.15% rate (plus $39 annual fee) I see on their Web site today. I also get 10,000 bonus miles after I use the card for the first time. On the rotten side of the apple, my offer says 1.25 miles per dollar, versus the 2 miles per dollar that I see online.

American Express and Costco want me to get their TrueEarnings Card. As they acknowledge I'm already an American Express Cardmember, but why stop at one, right? This card is only for Costco members, which I am not, although I have been in their store, and I could be convinced. They had a big video game machine I could've bought for something like $1888 the time I visited, and I wouldn't have bought it, but it made me feel special somehow just to think about buying it. I'm sorry, I don't mean to get mushy.

Let's see what I get -- 3% cash back at restaurants, 2% cash back for "traveling", 1% any other place, including Costco, which is a place. Every February I'd get a certificate for my earnings. Not sure what the certificate is, I prefer the word "check". I'd also get a 0% APR on purchases for 3 months (whoopdy-do) and a 1.9% on balance transfers for 6 months. APR: 16.49%. All for the cost of my Costco membership, which I can't seem to find a price for. As far as I can tell, I'm not very special to them -- any old consumer can get the same deal online.

That's it for the new card offers. I also got:

Some promotional balance transfer checks from Chase. Two of the checks will give me 6 months at 0%, the other three will give me a 4.99% APR for the life of any balance I transfer -- my choice, or I can do them all, if I really had that many balances to move around.
JB Dollar Stretcher magazine, the midwest's premier result driven direct mail magazine, according to the JB Web site. What that means to me is coupons from local places. I usually toss this, along with all this other stuff, but thanks to my new gig here, I'm actually going to check it out. First thing is for Friendly's Super Melts, but I only go there for ice cream-related items, so not interested. What else? Lots of pizza coupons, kitchen remodeling, siding, carpet, HVAC and satellite dish come-ons. I see one for donuts, which I like. Maybe I'll clip that one.
Gas bill, thankfully lower than last month, but still high as all H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Just think if this had been a cold winter. Criminy.
Cell phone bills. I don't know why I even have a cell phone, but my wife insists I have one for emergencies, even though I never remember to bring it along and it's never charged. Plus I refuse to upgrade so I look like a frigging Dan Tanna on the rare occasions when I pull it out.
Bank statement. Things look good.

I'll get more mail tomorrow, I'm sure, but if they think I'm blogging on the weekends, they're out of their minds.

Enjoy your weekend, get off the Internet for Pete's sake. See you Monday.

About this blog

2006-03-24T12:21:00.000-08:00

I work for IndexCreditCards.com. Despite my lowly standing within the company, I happen to have excellent credit and I get a LOT of credit card offers. So the powers that be have asked me to blog them, to see how the offers that show up in my mailbox jibe with the offers that are featured on the Web site for someone just coming in cold to look for a new credit card.

If you've ever wondered who reads all those credit card offers that show up in the mail each day, now you know -- it's me.