2% General Spend Card

[Anonymous]

So Citi is still 2% if one takes the credit as a deposit into one's bank account. Citi also offers far more benefits from a recognizable, long standing bank.

Fidelity requires an account with them to put the funds into. While PenFed isn't possible for most people without paying to join, and getting a banking account with them.

Blispay is from a new company, if it goes under, your card becomes a piece of decorative plastic. Blispay also pays off the financing end of things first when there are 2 months left on the financing purchase. So if you pay $300 and you have $500 in financing and a $75 statement balance, you get $200 in financing and $75 still due. Therefore getting you to receive interest on the $75. Because of that small print on the T+C, I won't be getting one as the card is complicated if I use it for both purchases. Besides, I have a DC and my 1FBUSA card gives 2% back too.

The Alliant card is interesting to me too. But none of my cards have a 10K limit, so I don't think I'd get approved. Besides, I don't spend 12K a year on all my cards, let alone one, to justify the card over using my 2% cards. Though it would be a great card for everyday spending if I travelled alot, especially out of the country. I do wonder if the Alliant card supports PIN...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So Citi is still 2% if one takes the credit as a deposit into one's bank account. Citi also offers far more benefits from a recognizable, long standing bank.

Fidelity requires an account with them to put the funds into. While PenFed isn't possible for most people without paying to join, and getting a banking account with them.

Blispay is from a new company, if it goes under, your card becomes a piece of decorative plastic. Blispay also pays off the financing end of things first when there are 2 months left on the financing purchase. So if you pay $300 and you have $500 in financing and a $75 statement balance, you get $200 in financing and $75 still due. Therefore getting you to receive interest on the $75. Because of that small print on the T+C, I won't be getting one as the card is complicated if I use it for both purchases. Besides, I have a DC and my 1FBUSA card gives 2% back too.

The Alliant card is interesting to me too. But none of my cards have a 10K limit, so I don't think I'd get approved. Besides, I don't spend 12K a year on all my cards, let alone one, to justify the card over using my 2% cards. Though it would be a great card for everyday spending if I travelled alot, especially out of the country. I do wonder if the Alliant card supports PIN...

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Care to share these "far more benefits"? The only benefit I can really think of is Citi price rewind, which is really a gamble as to whether or not anything you buy ends up being reimbursed later, and you have to register the purchase in the first place.

Penfed is possible for everyone, there are zero holdbacks that would prevent any American from joining and dropping $500 in a free checking account to stay eligible for 2% back forever, plus it has no foreign transaction fees so you can use it worldwide.

[Anonymous]

Blispay limits are smaller, generally speaking.  The max I've seen I believe is $10k (and very few).  The average SL for Blispay seems to be around $5k with some coming in at $2k-$3k and others coming in around $7500.  There is also zero ability to receive a CLI with Blispay.  What you get is what you get.

I think The Citi DC card has better perks since it's a far bigger company.  Take the Price Rewind, for example.  People have reported saving a lot of money with Price Rewind, in some cases more money than the rewards they've received on the card.  If you look at it from that angle, the 2% CB could really end up being more like 4%, 5% or even more depending on how many times you have success with that feature.      

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Blispay limits are smaller, generally speaking.  The max I've seen I believe is $10k (and very few).  The average SL for Blispay seems to be around $5k with some coming in at $2k-$3k and others coming in around $7500.  There is also zero ability to receive a CLI with Blispay.  What you get is what you get.

I think The Citi DC card has better perks since it's a far bigger company.  Take the Price Rewind, for example.  People have reported saving a lot of money with Price Rewind, in some cases more money than the rewards they've received on the card.  If you look at it from that angle, the 2% CB could really end up being more like 4%, 5% or even more depending on how many times you have success with that feature.      

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When I ran the numbers a few months ago, I was averaging 16%.

[Anonymous]

Citi Price Rewind, Citi Private Pass, late fee pass, car rental insurance, travel protection, extended warranty, and theft and damage protection.

Fidelity offers the car rental, travel, lost luggage, extended warranty, and theft and damage protection.

Penfed offers car rental and travel accident insurance according to their website on a guide to benefits. They don't mention any other benefits in the guide like price protection or extended warranty.

Blispay doesn't offer any insight or guide to benefits. But I did forget it was a Visa, so it should have some benefits. But I can't confirm this, so I'll expect no benefits unless I got paperwork with the card. Don't expect anything not shown on an application/product page and you can't be disappointed when you don't have a benefit people expect to come with it.

[Kforce]

Citi Double Cash

The Good :

2% Unlimited cash back, all purchases.
Price protection (Citi Price Rewind).
Ability to pay on the statement date and have it credit "NOW", allowing full control of how much is left on the statement.
I had fraud on my card and they did a rush delivery of new card (No Charge).
Only 25$ redemption threshold.
Extends manufacturer warranties by 24 months
Citi Private Pass
Late fee pass
Car rental insurance and travel protection
Fast refund of rewards via ACH to checking
Every 6 months, soft pull CL increases are usually offered

Free Fico-8 Credit-Card Score

The Bad

3% -- FTF
Front-line customer service agents are from a foreign country
Starting Limits are lower than average for most people
CL Increases are lower than many other providers
if you want to get a Direct Deposit for your cash back, you need to establish history (and continue history) by making payment from your bank  account via Citi's online system. (and not through your bank's bill pay).

Other:
If you PIF before the statement cuts, you get the whole 2% at once, rather than 1% one month and 1% the next.

[Anonymous]

I think Citi is more predictable in who gets approved and who doesn't. 600 score gets approved for Blispay, 800 score gets denied, that sort of thing.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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When I ran the numbers a few months ago, I was averaging 16%.

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Wow, that's fantastic!  If you wouldn't mind sharing some of your Price Rewind success stories that would be cool.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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When I ran the numbers a few months ago, I was averaging 16%.

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Wow, that's fantastic!  If you wouldn't mind sharing some of your Price Rewind success stories that would be cool.

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The critical thing to understand is that the program is a disorganized, illogical madhouse. A lot of that 16% comes from prices I'm convinced aren't real. It's very much a gamble.

For example, I saved 30% on a TV. I bought it at Costco (where I was comfortable with the warranty and return policy). Citi claimed they found it from a slightly less reputable merchant for less, but when I looked on that merchant's website the day after Citi said they found the lower price, I couldn't find it, even as an "out of stock" item.

The PR search found a laptop battery from an etsy-type website for 75% less than the manufacturer.

A DVD is mid-search and projecting a 100% refund.

The value comes from a mix of getting random, unexpected savings (when I've tried to get something cheaply) and being able to buy things from the most convenient merchant (and often save something).

I bought a lot of hiking gear and was able to try out equipment in an REI store with some staff guidance. I paid full retail at checkout, but I had what I needed on short notice. I didn't have to worry about shipping or getting the wrong size, and later ended up with several rewinds.

[Chris679]

Blispay is issued by First Electronic Bank, Utah.

Enough said in my book.