Last Reviewed: 8/14/2010
PlasticIQ has some serious issues it would like to levy against these evil denizens of the consumer ecosystem. Since PIQ is in the business of helping people maximize the value of the rewards, of which redemption of points for gift cards is a common option, it’s vital that we educate our readership.
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Last Updated: 8/8/2010
Capital One has a table on their website with guidelines for how they determine an individual’s credit worthiness—-which in turn impacts which card offers you are eligible for.
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Last Reviewed: 7/23/2010 Read the rest of this entry »
While this card ranks 2nd out of the 32 cash back credit cards that PlasticIQ currently tracks in our ranking engine, if the Blue Cash card is used properly and in a disciplined manner, it can easily be the top dog—-with potential to earn an affective cashback rate of 3% or even more.
Last Reviewed: 7/17/2010
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The Discover Escape credit card (aka Escape by Discover) masquerades as a travel credit card, but is really a cash-back credit card with restrictions on how the cash back can be redeemed. Restrictions aside, this piece of plastic is a heavy hitter, and is PlasticIQ’s top-ranked cash back credit card when examined over a 3-year usage period.
Last Reviewed: 7/26/2010
Important note: Around 3/31/10 Schwab stopped offering this card for new applicants (though current users of the card are grand-fathered in for the time-being). This is a loss of the plastic community:( I’ve let my full original review below for those wanting to see what they’ve missed.
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Last Reviewed: 7/13/2010 Last Revised: 8/21/2010
If you just read some random Chase Freedom promotional materials, the Chase Freedom credit card probably seems like an amazing offer, paying a whopping 4% bonus cashback (on top of the base 1% cashback!) on rotating spend categories each quarter.
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Quite simply, in almost all cases, non-cash awards (such as store gift cards, frequent flyer miles, hotel points, etc) are not as valuable as the same cash-equivalent award. For example, would you rather have a $100 Amazon gift card, or $100 in cash. Aren’t they worth the same? The answer is a firm NO.
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The Citi Platinum Select Mastercard does not offer any sort of rewards program, so it’s not of much interest to PlasticIQ, except for potential balance transfers.
The Chase Freedom card comes in several different flavors of rewards programs. According to one of the more competent CSRs that I spoke to at Chase, the Ultimate Rewards program is the direction that Chase is moving in. Read the rest of this entry »
The Hilton Honors Card from American Express earns points good towards free hotel stays at Hilton Family properties worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »
