Tag: credit-card

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401k and Personal Finance Business Life Life Tips

Credit card rewards

Reading Time: 3 minutes
PenFed Credit Union is asking me to lobby the congress on rewards Credit Cards

Or rewards credit cards. Today I received an email from PenFed Credit Union and they are asking me to lobby the congress on rewards Credit Cards. I no longer have their credit cards, I used to have their reward cards, and earned quite a bit gift cards from them. Basically I redeemed the points for various gift cards.

Some background

On the Credit Card rewards, and the legislations to eliminate rewards Credit Card:

NerdWallet

WALL ST USES BOGUS REWARDS ARGUMENT IN CREDIT CARD DEBATE

The Truth About Credit Card Rewards

(NPR) The dirty secret to credit card rewards

Are credit card rewards at risk? Congress eyes swipe transactions

(YouTube) Legislation in Congress could end credit card rewards

Note I have a page on this website related to the Credit Card Rewards too. Also, it seems I talked quite a bit on credit cards in my blogs.

What I think

Honestly at this stage of my life I have got “free” iPhone from the credit card rewards, and I got free stay at the Park Hyatt at Shanghai Pudong. But I am ready to give up those perks for the common good. 1% cash back from discover debit sounds good enough for me (see below screenshot). I understand I may be a bit superficial in the sense, that I received quite a bit benefits from the credit card rewards and now I don’t care. I think I am not taking sides on this: it’s a good position to be. I do understand the impact of credit card fees on the smaller retailers. Here in St. Louis, we have a Chinese grocery store that used to accept only cash, and debit cards, somewhat like Aldi did until a few years ago. Grocers have quite low profit margin and the 2 or 3% credit card swiping fee (processing fee) is meaningful or significant for them.

Who wants the free cup from my new dental office, btw?

This is a free cup given to me by the new dental office – as a good well gesture I guess. But I really don’t need it. Recently I am in the mode of declutter, and hope to clean up the house a bit so that we have more real living space 🙂 In a way rewards credit card is the same thing, basically it encourages or nudges the cardholder to spend more, I heard one research is credit card users will in general spend 15% than the consumer who uses cash only. I noticed this cup is from a company I know (Ariel Premium Supply) and I know a few people working there. Compared to the credit card companies, Ariel makes not a lot of money, but I think Ariel is in the rewards business too.

More about the business of Credit Card: The Credit Card Game (full documentary) | FRONTLINE (Aug 15, 2023 #Documentary #Debt #CreditCard)

Full disclosure: a few years ago I worked in the loyalty and rewards platform for a major Credit Card co. and once I spent 2 hours trying to give a Card Holder (CH) 13 cents worth of points.

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Life Life Tips

Loss from Theft

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Agent brown is the name my girls gave to the AirTag I used to attached to the car key (it has a brown holder) and later my older daughter attached it to her brown wallet. We lost agent brown. Saturday, to be more precise, 8/19 evening, at about 6:42 pm I got a text message when I was driving my girls to the premium outlet. The text message is from Amex, and it said “fraud alert” and someone tries to use S8’s Gold Card at a place called “City Gear” for about $280 worth of merchandise. The store declined it and thus the text alert from Amex.

Basically an hour ago my 13 year old lost her purse at the J Creve Coeur girls locker room. She said there is no lock but I cannot verify. We didn’t know then, until the thief started to use the Amex card in her purse and thus triggered the alert from the credit card company.

We were already very close to the Premium Outlet. And I started to call Amex shortly after I get there. To make the card is marked as lost, and also found out two pending transactions at QT. Those 2 transactions will be disputed. After we talked more, it appears someone took S8’s wallet from the girls (kiddos) locker room. S8 said the locker is not lockable. And because she put one of my airtags in her wallet, and I can see at one point the wallet location was at the City Gear (Gravois plaza, or City Gear, 3519 Bamberger Ave, St. Louis, MO 63116). I can even see the location of this person’s home (which I won’t post, I enabled the lost mode and the last location seems to be at someone’s home, at 7:08 pm), as well as QT location (which can be seen from the Amex website from the pending transaction).

A while later after we got home, we found there is even a text message with a time of 7:25 PM saying “I found your wallet” on S8’s phone (she left a number on the wallet).

After some discussions, we decided not to reply back to that text.

This whole episode seems added some excitement to an otherwise uneventful Saturday evening.

I recall when I was in college, my wallet was picked by a thief when I was at a crowded bus (I realized quickly after I got off the bus), another time my drawer in the dorm got broken into and money was lost. In the US, I recall when I was a graduate student, once I lost a digital camera which I left in my office.

I guess this can turn into a good lesson in safety and security (privacy) for our older daughter as the material loss is fairly small.

Peace of Mind

A side note of all this is the Amex and Apple AirTags seem both gave us peace of mind, they provided more transparency than a traditional wallet loss (such as my loss when I was in college in Wuhan). At the same time, I don’t too much curiosity is a good thing. || (update 08-21-2023) it appears the two fraudulent transactions at QT got posted, I opened dispute in the Amex website.

PS – be vigilant: I recall when I was working for the credit card company, on the loyalty and rewards platform, I was tasked to investigate the “fraudulent redemptions for airline tickets and hotel reservations”. It appears the thief (or thieves) got hold of the victim’s personal email and password: the same email and password are used in the rewards redemption website which was operated by the credit card co. Let’s just say the email provider is Yahoo. So from the victim’s point of view, it’s really not a good security practice. At the time though, it was also the 1st time I encountered a sophisticated thief like that and I started to doubt the “evilness” of some criminals. My daughter is 13 and was more thinking about the “goodness” of the people, e.g., she would try to find an excuse why someone would steal her wallet (maybe someone needs the money for food). I don’t know, I would not say she was “woke”. But at the same time, I think we should all be vigilant.

PS 2: handle of loss. 旧的不去，新的不来 (Out with the old, in with the new)。I understand many people want things back, and my daughter is no exception. Recently I started to realized and reconfirm sometimes we just have too much junk (which I discussed below). As a parent I am certainly quite protective of my kids’ feeling got hurt etc. But again we live in a real world. And this sort of thing does happen.

Material Things

A bit relevant topic, from my recent article selling on eBay, one of the themes I want to emphasize is material things are not as important as people, and peace of mind. And I think I agree with this TedX talk Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard? | Jon Jandai | TEDxDoiSuthep

(Update 08-22-2023) Dick’s shares fall 24% as retailer slashes outlook over theft concerns

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advice and tips finance Fun

Hotels in Shanghai I stayed in recent years

Reading Time: 1 minuteCourtyard in Xujiahui (formerly Tibet hotel, as you can see the rooftop design, tripAdvisor, marriott website). Good location and friendly people. I recall the first time I visited (2011), I used my Marriott rewards and silver status, the front desk especially got the leader over and greet. I suspect at that time, perhaps there were not many guests with Marriott silver status. In fact for me it’s just a benefit of Marriott card via Chase. The location is really nice. There is a restaurant next to the hotel. And some convenience stores in walking distance. It’s within the walking distance of Xujiahui business district. It costs 10,000 points Marriott points or about 700 to 800 CNY per night. I stayed there a few times. I recall I received those points from the Chase Marriott credit card . 02-21-2024: note the Marriott loyalty program is now called Bonvoy, a romatic word, at least from the sound. I no longer have the card now. The only hotel co-brand card I have now is the Chase Hyatt (World of Hyatt).

Four Points by Sheraton in Pudong (starwood hotel website, tripAdvisor). It costs 4000 SPG points. It’s bigger than the Courtyard Xujiahui, in fact many things in Pudong is bigger than Puxi, think it as downtown vs. suburban in the US (as one of my Haigui friends once said). The cash rate is between $72 to about $200 per night (depends on room).

Another hotel, I have not stayed, but will stay this June, is Park Hyatt in Shanghai Pudong (tripAdvisor). I am going to use my Hyatt free night there. The going rate is a bit expensive, I think.

Note I used to stay at budget hotels in Shanghai back in 2006/7. Now with family and kids, I can no longer do that.

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advice and tips finance

Airline and hotel credit card offers

Reading Time: 2 minutesI felt it’s easier to make money from those offers from writing iPhone, iPad and iOS apps. At least this is true for me so far. Another plus side people may not pay attention is the “no tax” benefit of the bonus miles/points. Also keep in mind if one needs to apply for home loan (buying new home, or refinance), he/she should be careful not applying too many credit cards in the near term to hurt his/her credit score (and potentially pay higher rate for home loan). With that in mind, I would describe some of the cards I applied this year.

Airline cards
United Mileage Plus Visa Signature Chase: earlier this year I applied this via my Mileage acct, received the 50,000 bonus miles. UA is doing 30,000 miles with $50 coupon now. Check united.com web site.

Continental OnePass MasterCard Chase: applied this after UA card. 50,000 miles. They are offering 30,000 miles as of now. One needs to sign up OnePass from Continental site first. Continental has merged with United, and the milage program will be merged at the end of 2011.

British Airways Visa Signature Chase: applied this in May. Got 50,000 miles with remaining 50,000 miles pending (needs to spend $2,500 in first 3 months).

Hotel cards
Marriott Visa Signature via Chase: 50,000 points worth about 5 nights at Courtyard. And one free night at category 4 or above. The link is here.

Intercontinental Hotel Group Priority Club: 60,000 points, worth about 4 nights at Holiday Inns. New account only. Link is there.

Currently I am thinking about two cards, the Amex HHonors (62,500 points for Hilton family hotels, as described by Loyal Traveller) and Chase Sapphire reward card.

Note compared to writing apps, one can not expect make this as a business, rather than a nice way (almost effortless) to complement income. I have used my bonus AA miles, and Marriott hotel points for my recent travel to Shanghai. Not to mention the convenience brought by my Amex SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) when travel in the US.

(Update 07-09-11) I saw this Southwest airline reward card deal from myMoneyBlog. I jumped.

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401k and Personal Finance Travel

Earn up to 75,000 AA miles for new Citi AAdvantage card holder

Reading Time: < 1 minute(Update 02-10-2011) The previous link expired. Try this new link if interested. One difference is they requires one spend $4000 in first 6 months to get the full 75,000 miles. Good luck!

(Update 09-17-2010) I got the 75,000 AA miles.

(Update 8-19-2010) Received the Citi Platinum Select /AAdvantage Visa Signature card today, called and verified the “spending $1500 in first 6 months, receive 75,000 AA miles” is good.

(Original 8-16-2010) Got the offer from my AA membership letter. Choose one of the three cards:

Citi Platinum Select /AAdvantage Visa Signature card, Citi Select /AAdvantage American Express card, or CitiBusiness /AAdvantage Visa card.

Here is the link www.away5.citicards.com.

I applied the card before getting the mail, via another link. Today I received the letter says my card got approved. I hope the 75k miles offer applies to my application (and I got a free round trip ticket back to China 😀

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401k and Personal Finance

SPG Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX credit card special offer

Reading Time: 2 minutesFirst I want to thank everyone who used my referral enrolling in Ohio College Advantage 529 plan, esp. those of you who kept quiet after using my referral code. My daughter (although she can not understand what is college these days, being 3 months and 3 weeks old) and my wife also want to express their thanks.

Saw this Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX credit card special offer from dealsea.

SPG has a new promotion – free 30,000 Starpoints after you spend $1000 in 3 months. No annual fee for the first year (then $45). Offer expires 7/6/10.

Here is a review for the card. And another review which talks about points redemption. Quote:

Starwood Preferred Guest program was the first program that had no blackout dates, which meant that if they had a room, they will give it to you. You need 2,000 points for a weekday stay at a category 1 hotel and 3,000 points for a weekend stay. You could also use a combination of points and paying cash. For example, you can use 1,250 points and $25 for a category 1 hotel stay. Starwood also allows you to get a fifth night stay free at category 3,4,5 and 6 hotels. The minimum points required is 28,000 points for a category 3 hotel. Room upgrade requires a minimum of 1,000 points. You can also get 50% off regular rates by using just 1,000 points for any category hotel. Points can be used to redeem for an entire vacation – with hotel stays and flights as well.

Starwood hotels include brands like Four Points, Sheraton,Westin and W Hotels. It seems to me Starwood program is better than HHonors program (Hilton family hotels), and SPG points worth more than HH points. For instance, 3,000 points can get one free night stay at Four Points Daning in Shanghai. So I took the bait: applied the card just now, and got approved 😀

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401k and Personal Finance

Credit card series I: Amazon Visa Card

Reading Time: < 1 minutelink here. This is the new card I got this year. I got the $40 first statement credit, and am very pleased to get the extra points for my Amazon purchase (quite a bit after our new baby born).

With your Amazon.com Rewards Credit Card, you will earn points for every dollar you spend on the card.

Earn 3 points on eligible Amazon.com purchases
Earn 2 points on eligible gas, dining, and drugstore purchases
Earn 1 point on purchases everywhere else

This is probably the most straightforward reward card.

Sample rewards
2,500 points can get you $25.00 Amazon gift card;
5,000 points can get you $50 check;
……
90,000 points can get you an air ticket to any where in the world (disclaimer: worth about $1,600).

One point is roughly 1 cent ($0.01).

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401k and Personal Finance video

New Credit Card Rules by NY Times

Reading Time: < 1 minuteVia YouTube.

It seems the card companies are not happy. Today I saw a big drop of stocks of American Express (NYSE: AXP), Capital One (NYSE: COF). Are the golden days of credit card industry over? We shall see.

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401k and Personal Finance Business

My view on Credit Cards: from both sides

Reading Time: 2 minutes(Update 23Apr09) It seems Obama administration is going to make credit card more consumer friendly (marketWatch). So are they going to socialize the credit card: I mean, you and me (i.e., honest guys) pay the credit cards on time each month, will bail out the deadbeats, after we bailed out the Wall Street ??? We know the credit card companies (the wall street) are not charities. This thing looks more like dumber and dumber.

(Original) Yesterday I mentioned credit card when talking about recurring revenue. Credit card is the live blood of our consumer society. Like commerical paper for business, we (consumers) use (more precisely borrow from) credit card for our daily purchases. At the end of each billing period, we either pay off the whole balance or pay the minimum payment (not recommended from personal finance perspective, but so many people do this nowadays. The customers who carry balance (and pay >10% interest) also contribute the profit of credit card companies. But it appears now credit card companies started to upset their best customrers, amid the credit crisis.

Business
American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Citibank (NYSE: C) pay customer to go away

JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) charged monthly fee to customers, then gave refund under pressure from NY AG Cuomo (CNN Money story).

Continue reading “My view on Credit Cards: from both sides”
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China

Student Credit Card

Reading Time: < 1 minuteI got my first credit card, a Master card from Citi Bank, back in 1997 when I was a graduate student (and assistant) in Rolla. At that time I had part time job in school. I used the card to pay grocery, books (things I need to buy anyway), and I paid off the balance each month.

Continue reading “Student Credit Card”