Sallie Mae

[Anonymous]

I'm curious about this sallie Mae card that everyone is talking about. First of all, who is sallie Mae? I know it's issued by Barclaycard, and has some of the best rewards out there. What are the requirements?

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm curious about this sallie Mae card that everyone is talking about. First of all, who is sallie Mae? I know it's issued by Barclaycard, and has some of the best rewards out there. What are the requirements?

---

There's tons of information already in this site about the card.  The search engine is very useful and usually you can find your answers there.  Here's a recent thread that discusses the card

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/What-s-the-big-deal-with-the-Sallie-Mae/td-p/3822082

[Anonymous]

Thanks

[Anonymous]

its a good card if you spend a certain amount on a category. but it is capped.

[Anonymous]

I see that. Looks like if you have the Quicksilver, Discover It, Sallie Mae, and Amex BCE, you'll pretty much be well rounded as far as rewards go.

[I-think-I-can]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I see that. Looks like if you have the Quicksilver, Discover It, Sallie Mae, and Amex BCE, you'll pretty much be well rounded as far as rewards go.

---

I totally agree! Sallie Mae and AMEX are soooo on my wish list....fingers crossed for summer of next year when all the tattered remnants of 2009 are finally gone

[Anonymous]

I agree, I have two baddies left to fall off my reports by August. And one paid judgment will be left. I only know my EX FICO is 608. So I definitely have some gardening and improvement to do.

[Themanwhocan]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I see that. Looks like if you have the Quicksilver, Discover It, Sallie Mae, and Amex BCE, you'll pretty much be well rounded as far as rewards go.

---

BCE never gains more cashback than Sallie Mae in Grocery and Gas categories. I suppose its OK if you have additional spend in those categories, but you can try to get a second Sallie Mae via instant approval after about 6 months. BCE is good if you want a high limit AmEx card, using the SP CLI requests.

[Anonymous]

Sounds pretty sweet, thanks for sharing that cash back table!

[Anonymous]

I'm sure you've reviewed the linked thread, etc, but the big unadvertised benefit to the Sallie Mae card is the bookstore benefit.  It's 5% cash back at bookstores up to $750/month but the beautiful thing is that Amazon codes as a bookstore.  That in a way means you have a 5% "general spend" card (to a point) assuming you do shopping at Amazon.  It also has the $250 monthly 5% cashback at grocery stores and gas stations, and a lot of Target locations code as grocery stores so there's that (your mileage may vary on this, though, because not every Target codes that way).

And to answer your question in your OP, Sallie Mae is the common name for SLM Corporation, which is a federal student loan servicer.  The Sallie Mae card actually allows you to use your cash back towards paying these student loans if you choose to, but they also allow statement credits which is what the vast majority of the people here use it for. 

She's one of my goal cards.  I can't wait to have the lady in my pocket.