re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

Read through the last few pages of this thread and was convinced I'd get the CSR until I saw the 5/24 rule.

I'm fairly new to the credit card game and have opened 5 in the last 24 months (2 being store credit cards). One of them is Chase, I saw someone mentioned they make exceptions for certain Chase customers?

What kind of exceptions? I have the chase freedom card, but upgrading it to the CSR wouldn't allow me to take advantage of the sign up bonus.

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Thanks. Yeah, if I get the CSR I will definitely be getting rid of the CSP. So if I just cancel the Preferred in a few months then I should be good?

The Ink cards are definitely on my list for the future if for nothing else the 5% UR on cellphone, internet, and cable.

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Should be fine. Keep in mind 5/24. Ink is better to get due to long term potential.

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I'm fairly new to the credit card game and have opened 5 in the last 24 months (2 being store credit cards). One of them is Chase, I saw someone mentioned they make exceptions for certain Chase customers?

What kind of exceptions? I have the chase freedom card, but upgrading it to the CSR wouldn't allow me to take advantage of the sign up bonus.

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Apply then call in. Better yet, apply in branch so banker will help you. Chase will drop store cards a lot of times.

Only exception to 5/24 rule seems to be Chase Private Client customers. Need to have $250K on deposit with Chase to get invited for that. One day I'll have that

I'm pretty sure Office Depot and Staples both sell AmEx GCs in store. Not 100% sure of this though. At WM/Sam's club, limit is 4 swipes per transaction. Swipes can be any amount.

Cap on Ink+ is 5X upto $50K a year. 1x after that. So use Ink+ at office stores to buy GCs up until $50K, then simply use Freedom Unlimited to get 1.5x.

By "ordering codes online" I meant you could buy GCs online and get quick email delivery instead of having to drive to the store.

Question for YOU:

How do I get into the cigarette and candy selling business so I can spend millions per year at anything but a loss?

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How do I get into the cigarette and candy selling business so I can spend millions per year at anything but a loss?

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Haha buy a cheap store, they're all over the place.You can easily by a store for $100-150k and get into the business. They only get expensive with big name brands and when land is involved, business only is usually cheap. Im actually going to be selling all 5 of my stores in the next 24 months because Im wanting to get more into development on a few different pieces of land I have and so if you're serious we can talk more in the near future. Im in Houston fwiw and mine are name brand.

Considering you don't pay taxes on CC Rewards, how does that work for tax purposes and business transactions?


Seems like a good way to increase your margins by reducing tax liability

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dabigfella

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I only kid, my friend. Just wanted to point out you are in the ideal position to make use of the system.

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GenesChin

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How does CC reward reduce tax liability? Only thing is they don't add to it, but I don't see how they decrease.

As far as margins are concerned, the math is simple. You can easily increase your margin by at least 2% with a CB card like DoubleCash. Only thing is that this is a personal card.
If you like to travel and would spend the money anyway, you are simply pre-paying the 2% in opportunity cost to travel (in style).

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Honestly, it looks like I may not apply for the CSR after all. I don't think I would even spend enough in the 4 months to redeem the sign up bonus. Nor have I really started traveling yet.


What's the next best? Should I try to get the freedom unlimited for the 1.5% cash back and just use my basic freedom card for the 5% category? Or is there another great card other than something Chase offers that is good for cash back with no annual fee?

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Not much really. Most of your bigger bonuses have that $4k threshold for minimum spend. I didn't know if I could meet the minimum spend either, but I switched all my bills that I could pay with a credit card to my new CSR and began to use it for every purchase that made sense. I pay it off the day after I use it for every transaction so I don't get behind. I have already spent over $2,000 in just a month.

I am going to get Chase Freedom Unlimited card due to the 1.5% cashback.

Can I get my car payments, rent, and insurance all charged to a credit card for cash back purposes?

Honestly, I was kinda thrust into this business. My uncle passed away years back and had no kids so I was left a couple stores. I added a couple more on my own, but my background is in finance, its what I worked in before I got into this business suddenly. The reality is, this is a tough tough business. Its low margin, high employee turnover. Ive mitigated that alot by buying alot of cheap homes and renting them to my employees stabilizing them somewhat. Its allowed me to build a nice portfolio of high cap rate rental homes with easy rent collection, I simply take weekly pay out of their payments. Anyways its not really a passion of mine or anything and realistically I see electric cars being an issue in a much longer time frame.

I imagine gas stations were a good business before credit card fees but today, its just a war where you're fighting everyone around you and with the volatility in the market there's many times you lose ALOT on gas bc you buy a load and the price falls 10 cents over night then the guy across the street pays less and you have to lower to compete. Its just nasty and realistically with the land I have, I can get 8 figures total for all 5 branded stores. I make a great income, but the headaches are incredible, dealing with minimum wage employees is the worst thing you can ever imagine.

Ideally I own 4 properties in houston that are sizable( 25k,56k,77k, and 96k sq ft) and I have a good friend of mine who is a developer and we've discussed potentially building shopping centers, apartments, and just other options which would generate great returns without the 24/7 headache of the convenience store business. The business you'll notice has a lot of foreigners in it, and having gotten to know some other owners in recent years I understand why. These Indian/Arab families are very tight knight units. They all work in the store, it cuts labor costs and headaches out. Youll see the parents and kids and aunts and uncles all working there. You have no idea how hard it is to find employees. Everytime I post a job listing 90% of applicants have serious criminal history. I cant hire you to run a register if you're a convicted thief lol its just tough out there man. I respect those in the business but ideally you need much more help than I have and for me, that help is expensive management for each store vs having kids and a wife working with me.

A bit curious about this myself. So, get the Ink card, go to Staples and OD, buy a lot of Amex or Visa gift cards and collect the 5X, then what, go use the gift cards to make purchases at walmart, target, lowes?