gardengirl

I agree with you gpapadop. We paid off our DTW home (15 year mortgage) about 5 years ago. It's a terrific feeling!

I know the bank will be trying to sell us their goods. Won't hurt to listen. No pre-determination if we'll change our current plan. The email did say that regardless of the term we should benefit with another refinance. Going to a 30 year mortgage doesn't sit well with me mentally. After paying off the house we put our efforts in cleaning out the mortgage for what I affectionately call our "lake house". It's definitely a luxury and we're still deciding whether we want to keep it or get rid of it. Corporate leasing and selling are on the list but we're holding out in case son wants to live there when he returns to the States next year. Amortizing the closing costs over the life of the mortgage and deducting them hasn't been discussed yet .

It bothers me too to see the momentum for churning built by all the internet chatter. Bloggers are just one portion of this. Didn't the travel blogging craze get it's start as a spin-off from FT? My concern is for the young adults new to holding credit cards.

Our kids are adults now with good jobs. Neither are in the cc churning game and that's fine with me. The 32 yo currently works outside the US and travels a lot internationally. Builds status the good old way by flying. Very disciplined but cc churning doesn't fit into his life right now. 25 yo got into a small bit (just $1-2K) of cc debt during college. When she graduated and moved out-of-state we cleaned that up for her so she could see how debt free felt. I told her she'd become very protective of that feeling. She has. She flies Delta and USAir to come home. I mentioned the Delta card for the miles and she quickly came back with "I don't want a cc!" As I said, that's fine with me. . .one of the reasons I pad ff accounts is in case I need to book her some award travel. It's much easier for me to do this and I can keep it within reasonable bounds.


Thanks for the reminder. I have a renewed determination to get rid of this mortgage one way or another.

Fast tracking the mortgage and playing the game of building miles is having your cake and eating it too IMO. There's satisfaction to getting the debt out of the way. There's a satisfaction to flying my family in business and first to nice
vacations and knowing I didn't pay $1,500 - $5K for the seats.

brownie20

thanks so much!

Happy

CC is not evil. It is lack of self-discipline that does people in when they spend above their means.

You may want to educate your 25 yrs old to learn how to handle her finance responsibly instead of taking the path of avoiding CC. It is advisable for young folks to build their credit history via responsible spending, such as having credit cards but pay off the bills every month... Unless you intend to shelter her for the rest of her life, she would eventually have to face the reality - that this society is built on credit, not on cash. That is just Econ 101. Money has to have velocity to produce wealth. Credit is an important way to generate that velocity. Using credit is not a bad thing - actually using credit judicially is a SMART thing. Using credit recklessly is a totally different matter. Avoiding credit is not the solution. She needs to learn how to handle credit and actually needs to carry 2 or more credit cards - charge them regularly and pay them off timely, so to demonstrate that she is a financially responsible person. This is important if she ever needs to apply for a loan - be it a mortgage or a small business loan when she grows older... I am saying the above from the angle of a former CPA and CFP. Such was my previous life. Even though our mortgages were gone more than 2 decades ago.

Now once again, back to our normal programming.

rdaven2003

There is no beans in the SEA since the OD dried out. I have been working the bullseye card now. We do not have the CVS well here and have not found a walgreens that will cough them up.

dabomb75

Should I be worried about having bought vanillas with an AmEx?

I went the staples route, bought 5 visas for $1k total to get the $150 in-store rebate, then was magically able to find a CVS that let me unload the 5 GCs into 2 ice creams. Was planning on buying ice creams directly with my SPG once a month until I started learning more about FRs and it's gotten me worried using an AmEx to play the ice cream game.


Also, whoever mentioned going to "the other side of the tracks" was spot on. In my city of retired rich old people, no CVS would take any credit cards. Went to the "ghetto" city next door and with only a couple hitches, was able to use gift cards to buy the gift cards

caGALINDO

I bought 1k with HH before I had known details and probability of such FR from Amex. There are a handful of reports of actions like this correlating with getting a FR, thats enough for me since I probably won't make it past a FR. If you aren't worried about passing the FR then just send in the form and it simple as that, nothing to worry about. I can't wait for time to pass to know I'm good and didn't get selected. I'm sticking to Visa for this.

amolkold

I bought 1 VR (along with another item at CVS) for my new HH AMEX. Have since met the first threshold with some online Black Friday shopping (Amex purchase protection?). I want to see if the points credit properly before going any further. .

If anything, the spending requirement is very minimal of this HH Amex -- $750 in 3 months, $3000 in 6 months. No need to rush it. I'm waiting for my new Ink to come in so that I can start with that higher spend req.

samnc0

I saw that wal-mart has AMEX giftcards that (I think) had the vanilla logo on it...I am assuming they can be loaded to BB.

Has anyone done this? Can't you put these AMEX giftcards on a credit card?

ThereYaGo

The answer is in this thread (and every blog) Seek and you will find.

gpapadop

gardengirl: Your "I don't want a credit card" daughter was the main person amex targeted for the bluebird market:-)

Happy is right. Credit is good, credit is not bad, using credit irresponsibly is bad.

Happy said "It is advisable for young folks to build their credit history via responsible spending, such as having credit cards but pay off the bills every month"

So true. And I bet you this age demographic is a substantial portion of credit card holders who fall behind and continue to make this a profitable activity for all (banks/affiliates/bloggers). And for us too who are milking the system in what is essentially free miles/travel. What a country lol. Yikes. I wrote about this very issue in my blog today!

Zamboni Driver

The poster above me is correct, but I'll save you from searching anyway... They cannot be loaded onto BB.

gardengirl

You're right here Happy. And the readers of this thread would be smart to read it again. Especially the word JUDICIALLY.

It's been mentioned in the cc churning threads many times. . .begin slow. I know the girl. Paperwork and accounts aren't her strong suit. You and I might love to play with numbers, not her. Life and death are what she's into. She has a lot on her plate as an ER charge nurse. She was excellent in math but too much accounting and desk work and she gets overwhelmed.

Timing is another factor. She's just into the job for a year. Lots of adjustments with moving away from home by her own decision to prove to herself and the rest of the world she could make it on her own. Found 2 other sensible young women in same ER for roommates. Big step in maturity there. Her aging car developed a costly repair so she looked into a new one while it still had a decent trade in value. My thought would to be for her to get a newer used one but she had her eye on a new one. Other than a modest rent it would be her only payment. Sometimes they just have to get a purchase like that out of their system. Called to thank us for financial help and guidance because she was thrilled with her credit score of 800.

Sheltered? Yes, to a point. But there's not much shelter with someone who spent 2 years as a nurses assistant on the neuro floor and now in a very busy ER.

Next step is travel nurse position. More life changes. The ST () Delta card was a new one for me so I'm planning to research it a bit to talk to her about it when she comes home for holidays. She uses debit cards and I don't know what kind of points hers gets. Credit cards can wait until the time and comfort level she's ready for them.

My sister, sweetest woman ever, never did get a handle on using cc's. DD has seen me help her out of trouble more than once. It was a life lesson that told her to be cautious and I think rightly so. People have to know their limits to managing debt and the accounting skills that go into playing with the cards. You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run.

jatink129

How many days did you guys have to wait for the permanent card from the day you applied for it?

I won't be in town to receive it. What happens if I don't activate it for more than 2 months?
Any ideas?

EL3V3N

can you happy and gardengirl get a motel room or something? This is about bb churning.

EL3V3N

thanks for the heads up but im sure they gotta be somewhere. If I have to go store by store and drive them insane i will.

how 'bout 7/11?