topic Re: USB Cash+ in Credit Cards

USB Cash+

MakingProgress — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 13:58:21 GMT

I am considering getting the USB Cash +. The biggest appeal to me is the 5% catagoreis, specificaly Utilities and Cell Phone. Under cell phone it states the following.

Cell phone payments made under a bundled plan may not qualify.

Anyone have any idea what they mean by bundled plan? Do they mean if it is bundled with other services such as AT&T bundled with Direct TV, or are they talking about Family plans with your cell providor?

I would alos apprecieate any pros/cons to this card.

Re: USB Cash+

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:01:25 GMT

@MakingProgress wrote:

I am considering getting the USB Cash +. The biggest appeal to me is the 5% catagoreis, specificaly Utilities and Cell Phone. Under cell phone it states the following.

Cell phone payments made under a bundled plan may not qualify.

Anyone have any idea what they mean by bundled plan? Do they mean if it is bundled with other services such as AT&T bundled with Direct TV, or are they talking about Family plans with your cell providor?

I would alos apprecieate any pros/cons to this card.

They certainly pay out for family plans. I assume that they mean bundled with other services, so it doesn't clearly show up as a cell phone service. I used to have Verizon OneBill (where landline and cell appear on, you guessed it, one bill!) and I had to remove it to get the 5% on Cash +

Re: USB Cash+

xaximus — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:10:28 GMT

I believe as long as it's a cell phone service provider, you should be okay. The merchant code should say something related to cellular phone service provider or something along those lines. I would check out the merchant codes to verify this. Also, an FYI on the utilities, a decent amount of utility companies charge fees for making payments through CCs. I would definitely review if it's worth making the payment on it. It may be worth it to make a bulk or large payment to offset the CC surcharge.

Re: USB Cash+

MakingProgress — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:21:35 GMT

@xaximus wrote:
I believe as long as it's a cell phone service provider, you should be okay. The merchant code should say something related to cellular phone service provider or something along those lines. I would check out the merchant codes to verify this. Also, an FYI on the utilities, a decent amount of utility companies charge fees for making payments through CCs. I would definitely review if it's worth making the payment on it. It may be worth it to make a bulk or large payment to offset the CC surcharge.

My electic company charges a 3.95 fee to use your CC. On my avg. electric bill I might make .05 after the fee. My gas bill does not charge a fee as long as it is autopay. So the real value there is the gas bill.

Re: USB Cash+

dlister70 — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:39:12 GMT

@MakingProgress wrote:

I am considering getting the USB Cash +. The biggest appeal to me is the 5% catagoreis, specificaly Utilities and Cell Phone. Under cell phone it states the following.

Cell phone payments made under a bundled plan may not qualify.

Anyone have any idea what they mean by bundled plan? Do they mean if it is bundled with other services such as AT&T bundled with Direct TV, or are they talking about Family plans with your cell providor?

I would alos apprecieate any pros/cons to this card.

As an example, you can get phone service through Comcast along with your cable. But Comcast does not bill as a cell phone company, so you don't get the 5% cashback. The cell phone bill must code as 4814 "Telecommunications Service" in order to get the 5% back. There may be another code too, but that's the one that my cell phone bill fell under and I got the 5% back. I use an MVNO called Boom Mobile, which no one has ever heard of when I mention it, and I still get the 5%. I don't think that it matters who the service is through, as long as they code as 4814.

I spend more on the fast food category, so I don't use the cell phone category much. But when Discover had their restaurant quarter, I switched Cash+ to cell phones to maximize the cash back. It's nice that I can switch it when I have a rotating card that overlaps the benefits.

As for utilities charging fees, you need to make sure that it's worthwhile for you to use a credit card to pay them. Ameren power company charges me a flat $2.35 as a convienience fee, but even if the bill is only $100, I'd still come out ahead (albeit no longer at a 5% rate). I have one bill (I think it's sewage) that charges $1.50 per $50 charged. The 5% is still greater than that, but it's cutting into the 5% again so that I'm getting $1 instead of $2.50 back. The sewage bill is typically only $10-$15, but I pay $50 and then the next couple bills come out of the extra, and I pay $50 again once I get a bill where I actually owe money. My water bill is only ever $20-$30, but I pay $100 or more at a time and just pay ahead because the fee is a couple bucks (I can't remember the exact figure right now as I haven't actually paid them in a few months because I was so far ahead). Republic trash is the only utility that I have that doesn't charge a fee, so I just pay the normal bill with them and don't worry about paying ahead.

Re: USB Cash+

dlister70 — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:50:12 GMT

@MakingProgress wrote:
My electic company charges a 3.95 fee to use your CC. On my avg. electric bill I might make .05 after the fee. My gas bill does not charge a fee as long as it is autopay. So the real value there is the gas bill.

I would be tempted to just pay a flat $200-$500 or whatever you can afford to the electric bill, and let the extra get credited to your electric account. Then they'll take next month's bill out of the account credit, and when your account credit runs out and you actually owe them money again, pay the $300-$500 again and repeat. This way you would get more than 5 cents after the fee, and you're spreading the $3.95 fee over several bills instead of paying the fee each month.

Edit: This is all assuming that you're paying the card off each month, of course. If you're paying interest, then cash back doesn't really matter anymore as the interest eats it all up. I assume that you're paying yours off, but just in case someone wanders in from Google and finds this thread, I figured it'd be worth mentioning.

Re: USB Cash+

MakingProgress — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 03:46:53 GMT

@dlister70 wrote:
@MakingProgress wrote:
My electic company charges a 3.95 fee to use your CC. On my avg. electric bill I might make .05 after the fee. My gas bill does not charge a fee as long as it is autopay. So the real value there is the gas bill.
I would be tempted to just pay a flat $200-$500 or whatever you can afford to the electric bill, and let the extra get credited to your electric account. Then they'll take next month's bill out of the account credit, and when your account credit runs out and you actually owe them money again, pay the $300-$500 again and repeat. This way you would get more than 5 cents after the fee, and you're spreading the $3.95 fee over several bills instead of paying the fee each month.

Edit: This is all assuming that you're paying the card off each month, of course. If you're paying interest, then cash back doesn't really matter anymore as the interest eats it all up. I assume that you're paying yours off, but just in case someone wanders in from Google and finds this thread, I figured it'd be worth mentioning.

PIF all my cards except 0% which will be paid before 0% ends.

Re: USB Cash+

Gmood1 — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 04:01:47 GMT

My ATT is bundled and US bank gives 5%.

On the Alabama power bill I eat the $2.xx fee and pay the max allowed on one charge through the payment service ($600). Just time the charge after the statement cuts. That gives you nearly two months before it needs to be paid.

Re: USB Cash+

Credit-hoarder — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 05:03:36 GMT

@dlister70 wrote:
@MakingProgress wrote:
My electic company charges a 3.95 fee to use your CC. On my avg. electric bill I might make .05 after the fee. My gas bill does not charge a fee as long as it is autopay. So the real value there is the gas bill.
I would be tempted to just pay a flat $200-$500 or whatever you can afford to the electric bill, and let the extra get credited to your electric account. Then they'll take next month's bill out of the account credit, and when your account credit runs out and you actually owe them money again, pay the $300-$500 again and repeat. This way you would get more than 5 cents after the fee, and you're spreading the $3.95 fee over several bills instead of paying the fee each month.

Edit: This is all assuming that you're paying the card off each month, of course. If you're paying interest, then cash back doesn't really matter anymore as the interest eats it all up. I assume that you're paying yours off, but just in case someone wanders in from Google and finds this thread, I figured it'd be worth mentioning.

Interesting idea about paying a large amount with one fee. My avg. utility bill runs about $75 to $110 depending on the time of the year--and they charge $5.95 for cc payments. So I might try paying $300 or $400 and be ahead for at least a few mos. + have that $5.95 fee once up front averaging $1 or $2 per. month + collect any rewards from my card. I get tired of paying that bill every single month anyway!

Re: USB Cash+

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 05:27:31 GMT

@Anonymous go fetch me the garden club cattle prod. We got a runner.

Re: USB Cash+

Gmood1 — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 12:36:19 GMT

@Credit-hoarder wrote:
@dlister70 wrote:
@MakingProgress wrote:
My electic company charges a 3.95 fee to use your CC. On my avg. electric bill I might make .05 after the fee. My gas bill does not charge a fee as long as it is autopay. So the real value there is the gas bill.
I would be tempted to just pay a flat $200-$500 or whatever you can afford to the electric bill, and let the extra get credited to your electric account. Then they'll take next month's bill out of the account credit, and when your account credit runs out and you actually owe them money again, pay the $300-$500 again and repeat. This way you would get more than 5 cents after the fee, and you're spreading the $3.95 fee over several bills instead of paying the fee each month.

Edit: This is all assuming that you're paying the card off each month, of course. If you're paying interest, then cash back doesn't really matter anymore as the interest eats it all up. I assume that you're paying yours off, but just in case someone wanders in from Google and finds this thread, I figured it'd be worth mentioning.
Interesting idea about paying a large amount with one fee. My avg. utility bill runs about $75 to $110 depending on the time of the year--and they charge $5.95 for cc payments. So I might try paying $300 or $400 and be ahead for at least a few mos. + have that $5.95 fee once up front averaging $1 or $2 per. month + collect any rewards from my card. I get tired of paying that bill every single month anyway!

Credit-pimp, this is how I've been paying mine for the last two years. Once you start and become accustomed to it. It will be hard to go back to once a month. With discipline you can cut the payments down to 3 or 4 times a year. You'll also begin to build up a little credit on it.

That will snow ball and take the bill even further out. As of now, I won't pay another electric bill till May 2019.

Re: USB Cash+

MakingProgress — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 21:25:42 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
@Anonymous go fetch me the garden club cattle prod. We got a runner.

Briney I resisted the urge. This card is on my list for a planned escape in March.