Do you pre-pay everything?

[BNBR]

I feel like with 90% accuracy I could guess the cards you have.

 

Anytime I need to make a purchase of $1000 I always search to see if there is another attractive credit card offer. Generally the type of cards that trigger rewards at $1000 spend/3 months give rewards/miles/points worth about $100-200 in real value. This is not going to be news to you. The ones for $3000-5000 spend in 3 months rewards as a percentage of spend are usually lower than at the $1000 spend triggers.

 

I do take advantage of 12-21 month 0% financing if there is a large infrequent purchase I need to make.

 

Whenever there is a "deal" like the Amex $500; $100 rebate on carnival i only spend enough to hit the trigger; I have had that deal come up 2-3x a year and if I have a cruise booked far out I can use the same offer on the same trip again. Double dip at a 20% discount is nice.

 

Check out reddit.com/r/churning for more info on cards with deals, methods, etc.

 

There's a method to the madness; glad you have it nailed down.

 

You actually go through the effort of getting new cards simply for sign up bonuses?

 

Not to mention just because it's not technically against the rules, doesn't make it right....

[Warm Breezes]

You actually go through the effort of getting new cards simply for sign up bonuses?

 

 

 

Not to mention just because it's not technically against the rules, doesn't make it right....

 

 

 

If the banks didn't want the business of those who shop around for the best deals, they would have tighter restrictions on signing on. It may negatively affect your FICO score but other than that there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of the best deals being currently offered.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[SiraJoy]

We pre-paid everything we could. It was easier budgeting a monthly payment and purchasing other items over time rather than dealing with a big hit (and possibly debt) after the cruise. Aside from the cruise, we prepaid gratuities and 1 Carnival excursion. Our other 2 excursions we were only required to make partial payments on, so we did that because it won't be much extra to finish paying the day of. Except for pictures or a small souvenir, we don't plan to purchase much on board. We'll get some cruise cash ahead of time, and stay within that budget.

 

Blessings,

 

SiraJoy

[BNBR]

If the banks didn't want the business of those who shop around for the best deals, they would have tighter restrictions on signing on. It may negatively affect your FICO score but other than that there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of the best deals being currently offered.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Because they expect to entice you to their product with that deal. The reddit is called "churning" - which clearly means getting the bonus and dumping the card. That's a net loss for the business and really just abusing the programs. It's just kind of disingenuous to take advantage of these knowing from the beginning you have no interest in the product. You are just taking, greedy. I know a lot of people seem to have no issue abusing deals, coupons, etc.... but it rubs me the wrong way from an ethical standpoint. I have higher standards of conduct, I guess. To be clear, I have no issue with using coupons, I'm referring to the abusers who look for any wiggle room in the rules to abuse these programs. Maybe it's just the business owner side of me.... Also consider the more people that "churn" these programs, the more likelihood the data will suggest to the banks the programs aren't providing a net benefit... simply "people who take it too far and ruin it for everyone else."

[Woodfaerie]

Being self employed, its imperative that I get as much paid for in advance as possible. I have no vacation pay so I have to either make up for a loss of pay in advance or work my arss off when I get home from the cruise. The last thing I want is a bill to contend with in addition to a weeks loss of pay. Pre pay is the best route for someone in my financial situation, IMO.

[LMaxwell]

You actually go through the effort of getting new cards simply for sign up bonuses?

 

Not to mention just because it's not technically against the rules, doesn't make it right....

 

I get 3 to 5 offers a week; I just throw them all in a folder. When I need one I go through the folder and see what works best. Not much time or effort involved really.

 

How is it not right to sign up for an offer? The banks are betting I'll screw up and they will make money. I just happen to know they won't...

 

You can get paid thousands of dollars a year for being on time and having a good credit score too. It is not abuse or looking for loopholes, it is reading the terms of the offer and abiding by them. No negative impact to my score; no matter which bureau I look at any given month my score is between 790-810. \

 

I don't think there's any moral high ground to claim on your part here. There is no obligation on my part to partially pay, pay interest, not take advantage of the benefit, etc. You are essentially advocating poor personal finance skills and thinking that equals a high ground?

 

I never close the cards; I use them all past their sign up offer, but I only use them to the point that something else doesn't provide greater benefit.

[BNBR]

I get 3 to 5 offers a week; I just throw them all in a folder. When I need one I go through the folder and see what works best. Not much time or effort involved really.

 

How is it not right to sign up for an offer? The banks are betting I'll screw up and they will make money. I just happen to know they won't...

 

You can get paid thousands of dollars a year for being on time and having a good credit score too. It is not abuse or looking for loopholes, it is reading the terms of the offer and abiding by them. No negative impact to my score; no matter which bureau I look at any given month my score is between 790-810. \

 

I don't think there's any moral high ground to claim on your part here. There is no obligation on my part to partially pay, pay interest, not take advantage of the benefit, etc. You are essentially advocating poor personal finance skills and thinking that equals a high ground?

 

I never close the cards; I use them all past their sign up offer, but I only use them to the point that something else doesn't provide greater benefit.

 

I'm not sure you understand how credit cards work. The banks aren't betting you'll "screw up" - while carrying a balance and paying interest is extra revenue, they make money on the interchange charged to the merchant when you actually use the card, regardless of whether you carry a balance or not. The cards that offer higher rewards charge a higher rate to the merchant to cover those rewards AND their fee/profit on the transaction. They don't really care if you pay it off or not, it's your daily usage they make money on. Which is why they offer rewards points and ongoing benefits for that usage.

 

If you keep the cards and still use them regularly, then that's the idea. But you suggested a site that says you should churn the cards, which obviously implies getting the sign up benefits and closing the card - then moving on to the next sign up bonus. My point is simply that signing up for a card, grabbing the initial offer with no intention of ever actually using the card after is gaming the system. I'm not in any way arguing it's against the rules. But if you are just shopping for sign up bonuses and tossing the cards after, then yeah, that's slimy. I feel the same way about the "extreme couponing" clowns who just abuse the heck out of a promotion. It's obviously not in the spirit of the promotion to do that and taking it too far is in bad taste.

 

I don't think any of us know what the actual data looks like, but if enough people are churning the cards and ripping them off for sign up bonuses, it lowers their return on investment with specific offers. It's highly plausible that the rewards would be even higher for legit customers if others weren't gaming the system and taking advantage of it.

[Florings]

I prepay:

Gratuities

Excursions

Spa pass/treatments

Carnival Cash to onboard account

 

And on my upcoming cruise out of Port Canaveral, I can prepay the parking!! So I will do that too.

 

It's great to take a year to pay everything in full, then have no concerns except spending money. We come home with money in our pocket every year - which I promptly add to the next vacation!

[LMaxwell]

I'm not sure you understand how credit cards work. The banks aren't betting you'll "screw up" - while carrying a balance and paying interest is extra revenue, they make money on the interchange charged to the merchant when you actually use the card, regardless of whether you carry a balance or not. The cards that offer higher rewards charge a higher rate to the merchant to cover those rewards AND their fee/profit on the transaction. They don't really care if you pay it off or not, it's your daily usage they make money on. Which is why they offer rewards points and ongoing benefits for that usage.

 

If you keep the cards and still use them regularly, then that's the idea. But you suggested a site that says you should churn the cards, which obviously implies getting the sign up benefits and closing the card - then moving on to the next sign up bonus. My point is simply that signing up for a card, grabbing the initial offer with no intention of ever actually using the card after is gaming the system. I'm not in any way arguing it's against the rules. But if you are just shopping for sign up bonuses and tossing the cards after, then yeah, that's slimy. I feel the same way about the "extreme couponing" clowns who just abuse the heck out of a promotion. It's obviously not in the spirit of the promotion to do that and taking it too far is in bad taste.

 

I don't think any of us know what the actual data looks like, but if enough people are churning the cards and ripping them off for sign up bonuses, it lowers their return on investment with specific offers. It's highly plausible that the rewards would be even higher for legit customers if others weren't gaming the system and taking advantage of it.

 

I am very well aware how credit cards work, that's why I've never paid a cent in interest on one in my life.

 

Opening and closing cards with frequency is detrimental to your score. I have never closed a card by request (though I have had banks close cards with years of inactivity such as co-branded store cards).

 

I don't call asking for offers or put a gun to their head. If my spending habits did not fit their business model they would stop sending me offers.

 

If enough people had discipline and rigor in how they spend, what they spend it on, could budget appropriately, not spend beyond their means to service debt, etc. these offers would vanish entirely. They absolutely are betting that more people than not will be paying interest/finance charges, balance transfer fees, etc.

 

Now, if I were buying products and services and calling every week to dispute charges, argue for bonus points I have not earned or are not entitled to, etc. that would be slimy. I'm simply adhering to the rules of the program.

 

I have a known, not normal purchase of $1200 coming up. I can either get approximately 2% back on that and pay it off with my next statement, or I can open another card and get $200 back, or 16.66% rebate, plus have the flexibility to pay off over 14 months at 0% if I choose to budget it out. Not a hard choice.

[Warm Breezes]

Because they expect to entice you to their product with that deal. The reddit is called "churning" - which clearly means getting the bonus and dumping the card. That's a net loss for the business and really just abusing the programs. It's just kind of disingenuous to take advantage of these knowing from the beginning you have no interest in the product. You are just taking, greedy. I know a lot of people seem to have no issue abusing deals, coupons, etc.... but it rubs me the wrong way from an ethical standpoint. I have higher standards of conduct, I guess. To be clear, I have no issue with using coupons, I'm referring to the abusers who look for any wiggle room in the rules to abuse these programs. Maybe it's just the business owner side of me.... Also consider the more people that "churn" these programs, the more likelihood the data will suggest to the banks the programs aren't providing a net benefit... simply "people who take it too far and ruin it for everyone else."

 

I look at this from a consumer point of view. Businesses put out promos to lure the customer in. To keep the customer the business should continue to offer enticements or they risk losing them to a competitor with something better to offer. I have credit cards that I have had for years because of the continual enticements I get from the business to keep using their card. If a business can't keep a customer after they lured them in with their promo, then that is their fault, not the fault of the customer. Some of us are natural born bargain hunters. We search for the deals on any product we purchase. Don't blame the bargain hunters for taking advantage of the offers given by businesses. If a business wanted to close so-called "loop-holes" they could do so by adding restrictions on how long you needed to keep an account open, minimum purchases needed to receive the promo, etc. If they do not do so, you can not blame the customer for trying to get the most for their money.

[Cinders411]

We pre-pay everything we can ahead of time (ie excursions, drink package, pay restaurant). Then we just put a small amount on our account for extras. We like to do it this way as we never over spend.

[gigem_aggies]

On our cruise earlier this month, we pre-paid everything we could. Walked away with only $108 on our final bill. The financial advantage here was 1) we bought Kroger gift cards for the fuel points, then were able to fill up both of our vehicles (a truck and a mini-van) for $30 (normally closer to $100); 2) we did not have to look at our sail and sign account a single time to worry about how much we were spending--was free to drink/eat/spend what we wanted to because we had already pre-paid for many things!

[mikesteg]

I don't agree with this. The gift cards are absolutely not "factored into the price of the cruise."

 

I'm no mathematician, but let's take a look. So say the fare is $1000. Taxes/port fees/gratuities are $200. If I pay with gift cards, I will only need to pay $880 if I got them for "only" 10% off because taxes/port fees/gratuities can all be paid for with gift cards. You book through your TA at 11% off the $1000 which is $890 and then you must still pay full price for taxes/port fees/gratuities which is another $200. So I'm paying $1080 and you're paying $1090. So while it may not be a huge savings, it is still savings nonetheless.

 

And again, that's at only 10% off. I have gotten them for 15 and 20% so then my total out of pocket is $1020 and $960 respectively.

 

Someone please correct me if I'm doing it wrong. Math was never my strong point and it is super early in the morning.

 

In your example a person should use the discount TA for $1090, and also pay with GCs saving another ~$109 and making the total $981.

[firemanbobswife]

In your example a person should use the discount TA for $1090, and also pay with GCs saving another ~$109 and making the total $981.

 

That is true IF they use the gift cards. Didn't sound like the pp believed in doing so. But yes, I agree that is another option.

[mikesteg]

That is true IF they use the gift cards. Didn't sound like the pp believed in doing so. But yes, I agree that is another option.

 

Yes, just wanted to point out that they aren't mutually exclusive. And I also missed the 3 page of the thread so missed your and Warm Breeze's subsequent post when I posted my comment.