So I have a duplex and rent the bottom floor and it needs constant upkeep and maintenance (I guess all houses do). I was at Lowe's for it today and decided to check on the consumer store card they have, 5% off was worth it to me since I seem to spend a lot of money there through out the year anyway. So I decided to look into it when I got home.
Turns out the Lowe's Business Card is also 5% back, but it is an actual Amex card not a store card, and it also gives 3x points for Restaurants, Wireless, and Office Supply Stores, 2x at Lowe's, and 1x everywhere else. It has NO Annual Fee. The rewards from Amex on this card in particular are really straightforward, can be redeemed at .01 for Amex or Lowe's Gift cards, so 2x points is a straight up 2% cash back (2500 points = $25 gift card). This would make it a total of 7% off purchases at Lowe's. I didn't have a Restaurant card yet, and I pay a Cell phone bill every month, and I'm kind of computer nerd and I bet Computer Microcenter counts as an Office Supply store, and all of those categories would effectively be 3% cash back...
Applied and got approved for $5k.
In case anyone was wondering, I applied as a sole proprietor and they pulled my personal credit history for the approval. My Fico is 750 or so. Not sure which bureau they pulled from. I do run a small side business fixing computers and renting the downstairs unit.
One thing I read in the agreement was that the 5% can't be combined with ANYTHING. No coupons, promos, other discounts, nada. That was the only downside I could find with the card.
Haven't seen this one talked about much on here (but then again I've only been around a few months), and hope to get the word out, maybe other people can find it useful.
*edit - spelling*
Thanks for the heads up on the Ink, might need to take a closer look at that one!
So as per your advice I did take a look at the Chase Ink cards. I knew that I couldn't really justify the $95 AF for the Preferred, I don't use those categories enough =( You talking about UR points had me look into that a little more. I didn't realize how the Chase Sapphire Reserve point redeems at 1.5x if used for Travel, so with 3x points for dining/travel it would be 4.5% cash back in those two categories. Issue is that the AF is $450....really only $150 after travel credit.
I spend $100 a month on cell phone/internet and the free Chase Ink Business Cash (with no AF) card will give 5% back in those categories, transfer those to CSR and redeem for 1.5x and its 7.5% cash back in those categories. I benchmarked it against the USAA Limitless which I'll likely get when it is available, which is 2.5% cash back on everything. So the Chase Ink Business Cash will save me 5% of $100 a month, or about $5 a month, or $60 a year. That reduces the part of the CSR AF that I can't get out of from $150 to $90. 3x points for restaurants/travel on CSR and 1.5x redemption for travel means those categories are worth 4.5%. USAA Limitless is 2.5%, so CSR is 2% better in those categories. To off set $90 over the year with 2% savings is about $4500 a year in travel/restaurants, or $375 a month. But honestly the trip insurance that comes with CSR (and that I always get, have had to use it twice) will likely make up for it. And this is really no joke, but I know that I won't want to leave the $300 travel credit on the table any year and will get out and schedule a trip, I am pretty bad about scheduling vacation/travel even though I love to do it.
I was approved for the CSR last night, and will wait until I am done with the minimum spend for that one before I apply for the Ink Cash so I can also get minimum spend on it and snag the $300 (30,000) points.
I checked on Micro Center and its not an Office Supply story =( Those are pretty particular actually, only big ones are Staples and Office Depot.
Thanks again guys!