Look what I got in the mail today—heavy metal!

[Vort]

This is the HEAVIEST card around! Won't all your friends be jealous when you drag THIS monster out! Hurry and get yours TODAY!

Sheez. I should have been in marketing.

[Vort]

For the record, I'm neither rich enough nor stupid enough to pay five hundred bucks a year for a credit card. But they don't know that. What they DO know is that I really, really dig superheavy credit cards.

[anatess2]

So, 2 weekends ago, I went with a friend to Cosco so he can claim his $1,500 cash reward for using his Cosco credit card.  This card has a 2% cash reward on all purchases and is interest-free for a month and then charges 18% on the balance.  Now, for the math geniuses out there... 1,500 is 2% of a huge number ($75,000).  More than most people make in a year. 

So how did he manage to get $1,500 cash reward?  Well, quite genius actually, with a dash of a slight bit of elbow grease... his job requires him to travel a lot.  The company pays for everything - airfare, hotel, food, cab, etc.  The company offered him the option of either 1.) Taking a company credit card for convenience and then the company will go through the statement and bill him for things he charges on the card that is not company approved, or 2.) He charges everything on his credit card then fill out an expense form for reimbursement.  He realized that his company is very consistent on reimbursing his expenses within 1 week of him filing his expense form.  Option 1 is what everybody does because the company does all the work, you just swipe swipe swipe.  But my friend opted for the extra elbow grease of being meticulous about filling out expense forms and submitting them on time.  And so he got a Cosco credit card with a ridiculous interest rate but has the biggest cash reward he can find with a long enough grace period.  He charges everything on that card and pays it back before the grace period is up... and katching... cash back reward for him to keep.

[mordorbund]

@MormonGator can tell you that if it was truly "the Black Card" it would just have the company logo and would forgo the title. Same rule applies for the the White Card, though that was done by a different group.

[Vort]

8 minutes ago, mordorbund said:

@MormonGator can tell you that if it was truly "the Black Card" it would just have the company logo and would forgo the title. Same rule applies for the the White Card, though that was done by a different group.

You can be a white guy and still play the Black Card!

[Guest Scott]

46 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

So, 2 weekends ago, I went with a friend to Cosco so he can claim his $1,500 cash reward for using his Cosco credit card.  This card has a 2% cash reward on all purchases and is interest-free for a month and then charges 18% on the balance.  Now, for the math geniuses out there... 1,500 is 2% of a huge number ($75,000).  More than most people make in a year. 

So how did he manage to get $1,500 cash reward?  Well, quite genius actually, with a dash of a slight bit of elbow grease... his job requires him to travel a lot.  The company pays for everything - airfare, hotel, food, cab, etc.  The company offered him the option of either 1.) Taking a company credit card for convenience and then the company will go through the statement and bill him for things he charges on the card that is not company approved, or 2.) He charges everything on his credit card then fill out an expense form for reimbursement.  He realized that his company is very consistent on reimbursing his expenses within 1 week of him filing his expense form.  Option 1 is what everybody does because the company does all the work, you just swipe swipe swipe.  But my friend opted for the extra elbow grease of being meticulous about filling out expense forms and submitting them on time.  And so he got a Cosco credit card with a ridiculous interest rate but has the biggest cash reward he can find with a long enough grace period.  He charges everything on that card and pays it back before the grace period is up... and katching... cash back reward for him to keep.

That's what I do too.   I have a United Plus Select, the old card (better than Explorer, but you can't get the old card anymore-luckily I got it pre Explorer).   I have of out of town work expenses and I charge them all to the card.  I always get reimbursed before the payments are due and always pay the card off 100% every month, there for I never pay one penny in interest.    I chrarge up to $100K a year on the card so I get more rewards and plane tickets than I can use, even when I give them away to family members. 

I also stay in hotels for at least six months a year, (and sometimes a lot more than that!) so I get to keep those rewards too.   I currently have 42 free hotel nights. 

Unfortunately, I just don't have time to use all my rewards.   I'll probably have to split expenses into two different cards.

I used to use the REI rewards card and eventually I filled my garage with gear and had more than I could use.

For my next card, I was thinking of getting one that applies your rewards to your mortgage as some banks offer that.   Something like a Costco card would be good too.  

I used to like to travel a lot and still do in some ways, but since I'm out of town so much travelling for work, I don't have as much desire to do it when I'm not working.  

 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Scott