topic Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard in Credit Cards

Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:27:51 GMT

I applied for the Sallie Mae World Mastercard and was approved for $10k.

I'm now trying to figure out what is the best way to use it.

We have been primarily using our Amex to run all the transactions through for my husbands business and really racking up the points and money back. However, I'm a little "ticked" at them for denying me a CLI at the 90 days and again 6 months. So, I'm going to switch to a different card.

How exactly does the Sallie Mae cc work? I know it says that you can earn cash back and pay down your student loans, but I really can't seem to find anything online that tells how the program actually works.

Do you just use the card and get 1% (on regular purchases, not gas and so on at the 5%) and you can elect to use the cash back to go toward your student loan? Or is it like any other cc that you get a credit statement?

Also, trying to think things ahead, if I was to pay back my student loan using my Sallie Mae card, I would earn 1% of it back correct? Therefore saving even more money on paying back the loan. Or will they let you do that? I'm just trying to plan ahead. I am not required to pay back the student loan yet, since I haven't graduated (and I think they give you 6 months after you graduate to start payments), but figured "why not?" if I could earn the cash back.

Any thoughts? Any way to explain how this works to me in "simple" terms.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

Involver — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:31:59 GMT

You can use the rewards towards the amount of the loan owed (not in lieu of your monthly payment) or you can use the rewards for statement credits.

So technically over the long term you will be saving yourself money on interest by applying the rewards to the principle of the loan.

If my loan was serviced by Sallie Mae I would be using the rewards for it.

Edit - and yes I suppose if you were to pay the loan with the card, you could earn 1% back on those payments, which you could then apply towards the principle again. I am not allowed to pay my loan with a credit card, can't speak for Sallie Mae.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

afinch1992 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:35:32 GMT

To my knowledge and experience, it is 5% on gas and groceries (for the first $250 per month) and 5% back on bookstores (including Amazon, for the first $750 per month). Anything above said limits or not in those categories will be 1%. This will essential be represented as rewards points with a value of 1 cent per point. The card is issued and managed by Barclays, so it will simply appears as another Barclaycard (I log in as I would for any Barclay account). I do not know if you can pay your loan with the card, but essentially it will just act as another credit card, so if you can pay it now with another card it will be the same process. Once upon a time it was backed fully by Sallie Mae, however it has since transfered its credit card activities to Barclays according to their agreement.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

celluloid17 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:49:52 GMT

The card is great if you don't spend a ton of money each month on food or gas (i.e. feeding a big family or consuming a lot of gas due to long commutes) or it works in tandem with another card like Amex BCE or BCP that can cover you for anything above $250. It's an ideal card for a single person or a young person who has no dependents. I don't think it would be a bad card to use as an everyday usage card, but it has limitations and other cards may generate greater rewards for more diverse spending habits.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 22:07:43 GMT

Use it for statement credit on the 5% categories, it is very good there. But, don't "punish" Amex for not giving you a CLI if by doing so you punish yourself! If you find that the Blue Sky points are worth more than 1c, use that card when Sallie Mae isn't giving 5%

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 21:36:47 GMT

@Involver wrote:

Edit - and yes I suppose if you were to pay the loan with the card, you could earn 1% back on those payments, which you could then apply towards the principle again. I am not allowed to pay my loan with a credit card, can't speak for Sallie Mae.

Hmm, ok. I guess I never thought of them maybe not accepting a cc as a form of payment. I'll have to check into that when the time comes. Thanks for the heads up.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 21:39:28 GMT

@afinch1992 wrote:
To my knowledge and experience, it is 5% on gas and groceries (for the first $250 per month) and 5% back on bookstores (including Amazon, for the first $750 per month). Anything above said limits or not in those categories will be 1%. This will essential be represented as rewards points with a value of 1 cent per point. The card is issued and managed by Barclays, so it will simply appears as another Barclaycard (I log in as I would for any Barclay account). I do not know if you can pay your loan with the card, but essentially it will just act as another credit card, so if you can pay it now with another card it will be the same process. Once upon a time it was backed fully by Sallie Mae, however it has since transfered its credit card activities to Barclays according to their agreement.

I had planned on using it for the gas and groceries, but have other cards that also offer this. I won't be purchasing any more books, so that won't help with use of money back on the card.

I do now remember something being mentioned about how things had changed since they were now backed by Barclays. So it's probably going to be pretty much a regular cc with the possibility of just using the money back to pay down my loan.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 21:41:56 GMT

@celluloid17 wrote:
The card is great if you don't spend a ton of money each month on food or gas (i.e. feeding a big family or consuming a lot of gas due to long commutes) or it works in tandem with another card like Amex BCE or BCP that can cover you for anything above $250. It's an ideal card for a single person or a young person who has no dependents. I don't think it would be a bad card to use as an everyday usage card, but it has limitations and other cards may generate greater rewards for more diverse spending habits.

Although I have a family of 5 here, we don't spend an absurd amount on groceries (since I'm in school and working, along with the rest of the family working different hours), we would probably get good use out of the 5% groceries. I don't drive far to work and my car is good on gas. I do have another 5% cash back card to use for gas purchases. I could probably use that one to suppliment this one.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 21:45:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Use it for statement credit on the 5% categories, it is very good there. But, don't "punish" Amex for not giving you a CLI if by doing so you punish yourself! If you find that the Blue Sky points are worth more than 1c, use that card when Sallie Mae isn't giving 5%

I'm not trying to "punish" Amex, I'm trying to get an increase, which they haven't been giving me. The only reason I can figure is because of the amount of money we run through that account, they might be a little leery of it. I figured if I could change to a different card and sparsely use the Amex, they might decide to give me an increase. There's obviously a reason they have decided to decline me twice. My scores are good, nothing negative, on time payments always and other cards don't have a problem giving me an increase or additional credit with decent limits. Just trying to plan wisely and maybe give them a break.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

09Lexie — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 21:55:31 GMT

@audia4 wrote:
I applied for the Sallie Mae World Mastercard and was approved for $10k.

I'm now trying to figure out what is the best way to use it.

We have been primarily using our Amex to run all the transactions through for my husbands business and really racking up the points and money back. However, I'm a little "ticked" at them for denying me a CLI at the 90 days and again 6 months. So, I'm going to switch to a different card.

How exactly does the Sallie Mae cc work? I know it says that you can earn cash back and pay down your student loans, but I really can't seem to find anything online that tells how the program actually works.

Do you just use the card and get 1% (on regular purchases, not gas and so on at the 5%) and you can elect to use the cash back to go toward your student loan? Or is it like any other cc that you get a credit statement?

Also, trying to think things ahead, if I was to pay back my student loan using my Sallie Mae card, I would earn 1% of it back correct? Therefore saving even more money on paying back the loan. Or will they let you do that? I'm just trying to plan ahead. I am not required to pay back the student loan yet, since I haven't graduated (and I think they give you 6 months after you graduate to start payments), but figured "why not?" if I could earn the cash back.

Any thoughts? Any way to explain how this works to me in "simple" terms.

I'd be careful running norhing but business transactions on a personal card.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

wineman — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 18:36:32 GMT

So I work as a customer service specialist at SallieMae and I think i can shed some light here.

How you may use your reward $ (also Upromise cash back) depends on what type of loans you have. You may not directly connect your reward balance to your FDLP or "direct" loan(s). You may connect it to FFELP or "private" (sometimes called federal) loans. If you only have FDLP loans then you can take the rewards as statement credit or have them swept into a high yield savings account which you can then use to pay down any type of loans.

Also, you may only use credit cards to pay the minimum payment due on your student loans at any given time. There are strict prohibitions on paying student loan debt, which is generally not dischargeable in BK, with credit cards which are dischargeable.

-wineman

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

Involver — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 23:08:49 GMT

Great info, thanks.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

Kenny — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 02:55:31 GMT

I think most people on here just use the statement credits. That's what I'd use as I have 0 student loans now.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:29:43 GMT

Actually, I'm now not even sure I have a "Sallie Mae" loan. I guess I just assumed they all were Sallie Mae for some reason. My loans are with Great Lakes Borrowers and I believe it comes up on my credit report as USDOE/GLELSI. Is this the same or not?

So you really can't use a cc to pay for your student loan each month? I wasn't talking about paying it in full. Just the monthly payment (or more each month) to earn rewards.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

Leadberry — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:33:39 GMT

@audia4 wrote:
Actually, I'm now not even sure I have a "Sallie Mae" loan. I guess I just assumed they all were Sallie Mae for some reason. My loans are with Great Lakes Borrowers and I believe it comes up on my credit report as USDOE/GLELSI. Is this the same or not?

So you really can't use a cc to pay for your student loan each month? I wasn't talking about paying it in full. Just the monthly payment (or more each month) to earn rewards.

Great Lakes is the servicer of your loan, not Sallie Mae.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:56:08 GMT

So that would mean that it's not a Sallie Mae account then? How do I know?

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

370Z — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 07:22:00 GMT

@audia4 wrote:
So that would mean that it's not a Sallie Mae account then? How do I know?

They are clearly labeled "Sallie Mae" on credit reports.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

Involver — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:38:03 GMT

Card finally came yesterday, a lot nicer looking than I expected. Was expecting just plain blue. Also happy with the 13.99 APR.

Re: Help me understand Sallie Mae World Mastercard

audia4 — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 17:05:46 GMT

@370Z wrote:
@audia4 wrote:
So that would mean that it's not a Sallie Mae account then? How do I know?
They are clearly labeled "Sallie Mae" on credit reports.

Ok. I guess that means that I don't have a Sallie Mae then. LOL I got this card thinking I did and would be able to pay off my loans with $$ earned from it. Oh well.