Wal-Mart, Amex take on banks with Bluebird debit card
Feb 13, 2013, 11:44 pm
#7351
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX/SNA
Programs: AA, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,887
Feb 14, 2013, 12:08 am
#7352
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: whatever comes with CCs
Posts: 1,082
The Citi Dividend Platinum offers 5% cash back right now at drugstores. In some ways better than Freedom b/c you can max out the entire $300/year limit on 5% rewards in one quarter whereas with Freedom you're limited to $75 in cash back/7500 UR points. Obviously, UR pts may be worth more in transfer partner accounts, but $300 for $47.40 in VR fees is not to bad either 
I vaguely recall reading about another citi TYP card that had 5% at drug stores for the whole year. That sounds too good to be true anyway.
I like you're Club Carlson idea too. Hoping to get that card in a few months. Hopefully VRs are still available then! However (please correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstanding something), buying 50,000 Club Carlson points will only get you 1 night in a top tier hotel b/c you actually have to have 100k in you're Club Carlson account to get 2 nights even though you will only have 50k deducted.
Mintcilantro clarified in his follow up that this is NOT manufactured spend, he uses the BB to simplify his wife's spending. Kinda like that Wallaby service i signed up for and never heard back from, 8 months ago...
In this specific case he's right, since he could give his wife the 2% fido card, he's both giving that up and paying $3.95 per load. Everyone's situation is different, it's not for us to judge.
In this specific case he's right, since he could give his wife the 2% fido card, he's both giving that up and paying $3.95 per load. Everyone's situation is different, it's not for us to judge.
Thanks for understanding, I put a worst case scenario out there. I'm manufacturing a lot of spend with the BB although I use it for other transactions like costco. Previously I used to buy their GCs online as they allow visa/mc online. Now it's much easier. I don't have any amex cards yet so I don't want them blacklisting me in any way. Hope to get an amex card like spg in 6 months. I wanted to be a bit safe and use BB everywhere to keep my account safe. I haven't seen any account closings yet so maybe I'm too paranoid.
Now I realize that with OD shutting down VRs, there is no one magic card. The card you use depends on your own redemption/min spending goals. Thankfully I can buy the beans on my way to work. It's not much extra work.
That wallaby sounds good in theory.. I haven't heard from them again either.
Feb 14, 2013, 2:56 am
#7353
Suspended
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 233
Moving to sfo for a shortwhile from an area sans beans, cvs or friendly wallys. Are beans hard to find in sfo like lax? Friendly pm would be appreciated.
Feb 14, 2013, 7:13 am
#7354
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: NW OH
Programs: DL PM/KM, AC *G, AS MVP-100K
Posts: 829
Feb 14, 2013, 7:45 am
#7355
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Atlanta (most of the time)
Posts: 285
Have people had any success finding the VRs at Valero gas stations?
I've been to a few in the Atlanta area and have not seen any.
-Sam
I've been to a few in the Atlanta area and have not seen any.
-Sam
Feb 14, 2013, 7:51 am
#7356
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 86
You know it sucks when you hit your $5k VR load limit and its only the 14th of the month!!
CVS does have Ice Cream in Huntsville, AL, but it appears to be melting quickly!
CVS does have Ice Cream in Huntsville, AL, but it appears to be melting quickly!
Feb 14, 2013, 7:55 am
#7357
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New England
Programs: DL PM, HH Gold, the rest come and go
Posts: 313
Feb 14, 2013, 8:42 am
#7359
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 13,644
Might be referring to the fact that you're theoretically giving up the opportunity to earn 2% on a cash back credit card. I don't think that really comes into play here though, since for most people this is additional spend that they wouldn't be doing otherwise; it would be different if I needed to make a $10,000 purchase at Amazon and was choosing between 2% cash vs. some points-earning card.
I've thought a lot about that point in the past, particularly as it pertains to valuing miles during the US Airways Grand Slam (i.e., do I have the opportunity cost of points that I earned solely for the promotion). Ultimately, it comes down to question of whether they have no opportunity cost (If a VR exists in CVS and nobody buys it, does it have an opportunity cost?) because you wouldn't have bought them anyway or, in fact, do you have to count the OC because you did end up buying them and thus gave up the opportunity to get your 2% for them, even if you wouldn't have bought them in the first place just for the 2%. Then my head starts to hurt and I go on to do something useful with my day.
Mike
Feb 14, 2013, 8:45 am
#7360
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Programs: Airline Free Agent, Fairmont Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,041
Feb 14, 2013, 8:52 am
#7361
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Long Beach
Programs: HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 1,171
Italics mine:
I've thought a lot about that point in the past, particularly as it pertains to valuing miles during the US Airways Grand Slam (i.e., do I have the opportunity cost of points that I earned solely for the promotion). Ultimately, it comes down to question of whether they have no opportunity cost (If a VR exists in CVS and nobody buys it, does it have an opportunity cost?) because you wouldn't have bought them anyway or, in fact, do you have to count the OC because you did end up buying them and thus gave up the opportunity to get your 2% for them, even if you wouldn't have bought them in the first place just for the 2%. Then my head starts to hurt and I go on to do something useful with my day.
Mike
I've thought a lot about that point in the past, particularly as it pertains to valuing miles during the US Airways Grand Slam (i.e., do I have the opportunity cost of points that I earned solely for the promotion). Ultimately, it comes down to question of whether they have no opportunity cost (If a VR exists in CVS and nobody buys it, does it have an opportunity cost?) because you wouldn't have bought them anyway or, in fact, do you have to count the OC because you did end up buying them and thus gave up the opportunity to get your 2% for them, even if you wouldn't have bought them in the first place just for the 2%. Then my head starts to hurt and I go on to do something useful with my day.
Mike
we all should be ahead at least 60.50 per month and compare the value we get from buying vr's wiht ohter cards to that standard gain
Feb 14, 2013, 10:09 am
#7362
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: South NJ
Posts: 263
I think the opertunity cost of a VR is 1.2% since if you bought them for 2% but paid .8% in fees you only net 1.2 %. so if you buy 10 cards per month your opertunity cost of buying said cards would be 5000*.02=100-39.5=60.50
we all should be ahead at least 60.50 per month and compare the value we get from buying vr's wiht ohter cards to that standard gain
we all should be ahead at least 60.50 per month and compare the value we get from buying vr's wiht ohter cards to that standard gain
Feb 14, 2013, 11:10 am
#7363
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Fishers, IN
Posts: 105
Has anyone done this yet? CardCash.com has Visa GCs for $495 for $500 (1% off) and no load fees.
http://www.cardcash.com/buy-discount...ft-card-1-off/
http://www.cardcash.com/buy-discount...ft-card-1-off/
Feb 14, 2013, 11:33 am
#7364
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 731
Slightly off topic, but when you guys are shopping at CVS, consider using the checkpoints app to get some extra checkpoints which can be redeemed for American, Delta, and Alaska miles.
I figure might as well try to snag up some other points so I don't completely leave CVS empty handed.
See checkpoints conga and thread here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m...-aa-miles.html
I figure might as well try to snag up some other points so I don't completely leave CVS empty handed.
See checkpoints conga and thread here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m...-aa-miles.html
Feb 14, 2013, 11:33 am
#7365
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 114
Then, if you choose to move the spending to a card that gives you 1 mile per dollar instead, you're giving up the $200 in cash back in exchange for earning the 10,000 points instead. So, your trade is $200 for 10k points, since if you didn't earn the points, you would have earned the cash back.