Well well, it looks like we finally have the return of a long lost cash back favorite from a year or two ago… the coveted 5% cashback on supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations credit card in the form of the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card.

A few years ago, there were a dozen of these types of cards. In the last year, that number dropped to zero. Those that did exist only offered it on gasoline and imposed ridiculously low limits such as the Discover Open Road card (gives 5% on gasoline but only up to $5 a month!). Back in the heyday, each were vying for “share of wallet,” the industry term for how much of your spending gets put on their card. They often earn a couple percentage points per transaction so the hope is that you use the card for more than the 5% categories, which is a loss leader for them (this ignores the finance charges, fees, and other charges they impose for a variety of reasons).

Looks like they’re making a come back with the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card is leading the way.

Any catches? Yes, there are a few. Like all Citi cards, the cashback now comes in the form of ThankYou Network points rather than straight up cash. Those with student loans can convert the points into “cash,” making it a truly 5% cashback card. If you don’t have student loans, you’ll have to take it in the form of gift cards to get a full percentage value. You can always sell the gift cards and still get close to 5% cashback in the worst case.

Another catch is that the 5% promotion is for the first 12 months. I normally don’t like promotional offers (with the exception of when the Citi CashReturns had 5% cashback on everything) but right now this is the only card that offers 5% on the “everyday shopping” category (which includes supermarket, drug stores and gas stations). There are a couple alternatives if you’re looking for a gas cashback credit card, but none exist (to my knowledge) for supermarkets.

Finally, the only limit on cashback is an annual limit of 75,000 ThankYou points - it’s unlikely you will reach that limit ($15,000 in spending in the 5% categories!).

Some other features that may be of interest: 12 month 0% APY balance transfer, no annual fee, 1% cash back on everything else. The 12 month 0% APY balance transfer is nice but it has a balance transfer fee of 3% with no limit, I’d pass on that. The no annual fee is standard and the 1% cashback on everything else is also pretty standard.

Overall, I think this card is a good option if you’re looking for a way to shave 5% off your supermarket and gas bills.

Update: Other 5% Cashback Cards

Since writing the post, I’ve received numerous emails about two other credit cards that offer cash back in this category: Blue Cash from American Express and the Chase Freedom card.

Blue Cash from American Express. The Blue Cash from American Express offers 5% cashback at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations with no limit whatsoever. The card also offers a 0% balance transfer for 12 months with a 3% transfer fee capped at $99.

Chase Freedom. The Chase Freedom card is a slightly different type of cashback card in that it gives you 3% cashback in your top three spending categories (which can change based on your spending each month). It’s not a 5% card, despite what some people claim, but I mention it because it’s better than 1% and they offer $50 cashback after your first purchase.

This morning I did a little credit card cleanup, reducing the number of Citi credit cards I had from four down to two. I had these open credit card accounts as a result of my balance transfer arbitrage days but they’ve since lay dormant. (In fact, Citi Professional, one of the cards I closed, even has a $100 gift card with first purchase promotion that made the balance transfer arbitrage deal even sweeter)

Why Consolidate?

Having open credit card accounts that you have no prospect of using them is really dangerous for a variety of reasons. First, if you aren’t using it then you probably aren’t carrying it. If you still are carrying it but never use it and you lose your wallet or purse, that’s one more headache you have to deal with. If you leave it at home, you’re likely to lose track of it (I hid all my unused credit cards, now I can’t find them!) so the best option is to get rid of that line of credit. The bottom line is that you don’t want to keep any credit cards you aren’t actively using, so now the decision is how to get rid of them.

To get rid of it you have two options, cancel the card or consolidate that line of credit into another card (thereby canceling it). Canceling a card may damage your credit score because it reduces your amount of total credit and increases your credit utilization. Credit utilization is a calculation of how much of your credit you are currently actively using. If you have $10,000 and you’re using $5,000 of it, your utilization is an even 50%. The lower the utilization, the better. Consolidating retains your total credit utilization, reduces your number of open lines, and is overall a better decision.

Consolidation with Citi

Citi was great to work with. Since I didn’t have the cards (yep, I “lost” them somewhere in our house), I called up their number (1-800-347-4934), told them what I wanted to do, answered some security questions and just rattled off some four digit numbers. They can track all your lines of credit by your social security number alone so the four digits easily identified which cards were being consolidated and to where. The whole transaction took less then ten minutes and now I’m two cards lighter.

Why Not Down To One?

In theory I could’ve but the two cards left at the Citi mtvU card, which is a card I actively use, and a Citi MasterCard that is carrying a 0% balance transfer that is set to expire in a few months.

Remove Cards From Your Account Online

Once the card the removed it should say “Account Alert: This account has been converted to a new number or was closed at your request. If you have any questions regarding your account, please contact our Customer Care Center.”

• If you are signed up for All-Electronic, cancel that first (if not, skip to the next step). Switch to your card, then to to Manage My Account, Paperless Statements, then Cancel. You will have to Cancel your All-Electronic before you can remove the card from your account.
• Next, go back to Manage My Account in the navigation bar, drill down into Update Personal Profile, and select Remove an Account. Select the card from the list and click submit. Confirm that you wish to remove the account and you’re done.

Winter credit cleaning at its best!

Credit card companies are just like every other business. There are essentially three concepts to understand when dealing with a business, especially credit cards:

• They exist to make as much money as possible,
• They have relatively well documented rules and operating procedures,
• They’re willing to break #2 in pursuit of #1.

So, to that end, here are 7 unwritten and often forgotten credit card tricks or “secrets” (I hate the term “secrets” because how much of a secret can they be if I know it?) that may save you a few bucks someday. If you don’t learn a single secret or you have a secret of your own, please let me know! Secrets are better when you tell everyone!

1. Just ask: Lower interest, reduce or eliminate fees

This is truly the best tip of the bunch, hence the top billing, and everything else looks like chopped liver compared to this bit (despite how popularized it’s been of late). The credit business is extremely competitive, take advantage of it by asking for what you want. If you made a late payment and were assessed a late payment fee, call them up and request that they take it off. If your interest rate is too high, call them up and request that they lower it. If they decline, simply tell them that you want to cancel the card or that you’ll take advantage of a new offer that you just received in the mail. They make so much money from you when you spend (they charge the merchants a processing fee) that the piddly late fee pales in comparison to the riches they will reap by keeping you as a customer. If they don’t budge, punish them by taking your business elsewhere.

2. Roll credit limits of the same issuer onto fewer cards

This is a popular one with 0% balance transfer junkies because Citi has a “not so often spoken” rule of limiting a cardholder to at most three lines of credit (without regard to the actual dollar limit). This stinks for balance transfer arbitragers because they want to keep rolling that 0% balance from card to card to card and that gets dicey if they can only have three. One way of getting around this rule is to ask that you roll the credit limits of one of the cards into another one of the cards. They are generally willing to do this because the alternative is that you cancel the card and they lose the business. Since they were willing to give you the total limit in the first place, putting it on two cards instead of three hardly makes a difference to them. This has an added benefit for you from a credit score perspective - you reduce the number of open lines of credit while keeping your credit utilization and total credit limit the same. Double win!

3. Request an increase to the credit limit without a credit pull

I’ve written about how you can request a credit limit increase in the past and not get a credit pull but I wanted to repeat it in a post like this because it’s something not a lot of folks know. What you basically do is, through your online account management portal, go through the normal process of requesting a credit limit or line of credit increase. Sometimes, based on how long you’ve been with the issuer and your credit worthiness, they may offer you an increase on the spot without a credit inquiry. Do not bother trying this within the first six months or first year with the card, they generally won’t offer this without a credit pull so you’d just be wasting your time.

4. Capital One & Discover don’t have a foreign transaction fee charge

When you purchase something overseas, your credit card will often charge you a foreign transaction fee to handle the foreign exchange process for you. In fact, part of that fee is imposed by Visa and MasterCard itself, so any Visa and MasterCard that charges you less than 1% is actually eating the fee. Capital One and Discover are the only two companies that do not charge a foreign transaction fee; Capital One actually pays the fee for you and Discover, since it’s not on the Visa or MasterCard network, just doesn’t charge for it. As I wrote in the other article, if you want to pick between the two then I’d go with Capital One because Discover isn’t as widely accepted overseas (Capital One cards are Visa or MC).

5. Change your card to a different type or rewards program

Do you have a Citi Platinum Select card and you would instead prefer to have a Citi Professional card? Just call up and ask; they’ll probably honor your request. If they don’t, just ask to cancel the card and retentions will probably do it for you. This will only work if they’re the same class of cards, so if you want to change from a Citi mtvU card (student) to a CitiBusiness card (business), that will probably be impossible (but still worth asking). They figure that you can always cancel and apply for the new card anyway so they might as well reduce their overhead by just shifting it over for you. It’s all about lowering costs for them and retaining the customer, converting cards is hardly a chore.

6. Most cards double manufacturer’s warranty

Most credit cards will cover purchases on that card to double the original manufacturer’s warranty, up to an additional year. This comes at absolutely no cost and it’s offered because most people never take advantage of it. Part of the reason is that you often forget this is something that is even offered in the first place (because most people think of manufacturer’s warranty first and then straight to repair or replace) and the credit cards only mention this when you’re buying.

7. Most cards offer auto rental liability insurance

This particular “secret” has been documented quite a bit lately, the fact that many credit cards offer some form of rental car insurance (collision and loss) if you use that card to pay for the rental. What it doesn’t cover your personal auto insurance may also cover so between the two you often don’t even need the insurance (really it’s a waiver) from the rental company in the first place. Some cards, such as American Express, have programs where you can pay extra to have additional coverage.

(Photo by mike hipple)

Do you have a Capital One credit card in your wallet? If you said yes, you’re probably in the minority (at least of the people that I know personally). I don’t have a Capital One credit card and those commercials with the barbarians aren’t really convincing me that I really want one of those credit cards in my pocket. Their flagship card, the Capital One No Hassle Rewards, really isn’t much to write home about!

What you get with that card is 1% cashback followed by a 25% annual cashback bonus. Don’t let the 25% number fool you, 25% added onto 1% is exactly a whopping 0.25%. There are no earn caps, the rewards don’t expire, and there is no-hassle. Whooopeee!

That’s awesome, except my current credit card system leaves Capital One in the dust. When I eat out or go to the movies, the Citi mtvU card gets me 5% cashback. When I buy gas, Discover Open Road gives me 5% cashback. When I make travel purchases, my Costco American Express TrueEarnings card gets me 3% and 1% on everything - no caps. Where does that leave a 1.25% cashback card? No where, I’m not slipping a fourth card into my wallet so I can get an extra 0.25% - even if it never expires.

The only advantage that I see with a Capital One card is the fact that Capital One does not charge foreign exchange fees (for when you use your card overseas) and they actually eat the 2% fee that Visa/MasterCard charges them, which is a nice gesture.

Capital One - Give better rewards if you want to be what’s in my wallet.

There are five finance related accounts in the personal finance world that I think every single person must have and they should get it as soon as possible. They run the gamut of the obvious, an accessible checking account, to the not so obvious, a high yield savings account (as surprising as it sounds, this is not obvious to most people because they are amazed when I tell them you can get 5% from a regular savings account). So, please enjoy this list of five accounts you absolutely must have and three that you absolutely must avoid.

These Five Accounts You Absolutely Must Have

1. High Yield Online Savings Account
Number one definite must have account is a high yield savings account getting you at least 4%, at the very very least. If you assume inflation at around 3%, anything less and you’re losing money. Take your pick of ING Direct, HSBC, Emigrant Direct, Citi, and you’ll get over 4%. My recommendation is that if you have a Citi or an HSBC bank account, go with one of them because your transfers will be instant between accounts. If you don’t, I use Emigrant Direct but both they and HSBC offer 5.05% APY.

2. Savings and/or Checking Account at a Credit Union
A relationship with a credit union is an absolute must for anyone looking to ever get a loan for anything. The typical rate for a 5 year loan on a new car from Tower Federal Credit Union (some local credit union in my area but I do not have an account there) is 5.74% (currently they have a promotion where the rate is only 5.34%) and for a used car it’s 6.19%. Compare that with a Bank of America rate of 5.89% for new and 6.54% for used. While the difference isn’t all that great, for the typical rates, why pay more than you have to? Also, the interest rates on your savings and checking accounts will typically be higher as well.

Why are the rates low on loans and higher on savings accounts? It’s because the basic premise of a credit union is that it’s there to pool the collective resources of its members and work for its members. It’s a not-for-profit so it’s not looking to earn money off you, at least as its primary focus, and so that’s why the rates are always so much more favorable than a regular bank. Whereas a bank is FDIC insured, credit unions are covered by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSI) administered by the National Credit Union Administration, so you’ll see NCUA-insured on the placards (also up to $100k).

3. Retirement Account (Roth IRA, 401k or equivalent)
If you have a job and your employer offers a 401k, with or without a match, you should be participating in your 401k (or an equivalent depending on your employer). If you can, budget-wise and income-restriction-wise, definitely participate in the Roth IRA as well. Just as how squirrels save away nuts for the winter, you should be doing the same through a tax-advantaged retirement account. The 401k will let you save pre-tax money but it will be taxed when you take payments in retirement. A Roth IRA will let you save money post-tax but it won’t be taxed when you take payments in retirement. It’s important to use both so that your retirement assets are tax diversified.

4. Accessible Checking Account (Ubiquitous ATMs)
I think that most checking accounts are pretty much the same and it really doesn’t matter which bank you go to, with several exceptions and the biggest one is the location of its branches and ATMs. I chose to do my main banking with Bank of America because they have a branch near my home and my work place plus they have ATMs everywhere. In fact, BoA has 16,000 ATMs and 5,700 branches, so that I can probably find one anywhere I go and I can avoid those stupid ATM fees everyone hates.

5. Credit Card Account
If for nothing else other than to have a safety blanket, having a credit card builds credit and will pay dividends down the road. You can leave it out of your wallet or purse and it’s still building you some solid credit because it’s lengthening your credit history. Don’t ever carry a balance either.

These Four Accounts You Absolutely Must Avoid

1. Store Branded Credit Card Accounts
We’re talking department store credit cards, the ones where they offer you 10% off today’s purchase if you’re approved, and you should avoid these because the APR on these babies are usually pretty high and the payoff, the 10% off, is usually not worth it. If you want free cash for credit cards, here’s a list of credit cards with sign-up promotional offers that you can take to the bank and spend the rest at the store.

2. Finance Accounts From a Dealer, Store, or Anywhere That Isn’t A Reputable Bank
Buying a car? Buying a TV? Avoid the financing from the auto dealer or the electronics store unless it’s a 0% APY for a year, or something great like that. Also be aware that if you do get that offer, it’s likely that once it ends, all of the interest that was deferred during that period will come due (read about how 0% financing offers work). It’s a very insidious practice but one that’s well documented but not well explained to borrowers. If you need a loan, try to get it from your bank or credit union either before you buy or immediately afterwards. If you can get some sort of discount or promotional offer for using their financing, you can always use their financing and then secure your own afterwards.

3. More Than One Checking or Savings Account
This one isn’t that big of a deal but you really should consolidate your banking for a few reasons. First, it’s always better to simplify your life and deal with as few things as necessary. There’s no sense trying figure out which account has what because you’ll start to go crazy. Secondly, you want to consolidate balances so that they’re higher and you can avoid any low balance fees if your bank has them. Lastly, the fewer accounts you have the fewer opportunities there are for your information to be compromised, either by the bank or by you on accident. Simplification is crucial.

4. Reward-less Credit Card Accounts
Your credit card is charging each merchant you deal with somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3% for each transaction, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get kicked back a little piece of that. It takes about thirty seconds to apply for a card that will give you 1% cashback on all of your purchases, which is an automatic 1% discount on everything you buy. I use a variety of cards but I like my Citi mtvU card for 5% cashback at restaurants, movies, and bookstores; a Discover Open Road card for 5% cashback on gas purchases; and an American Express Costco TrueEarnings card for 1% cashback everything else with no annual limit.

Every year around this time, I don’t re-evaluate my reward credit cards but since a whole bunch of other bloggers do, I figured I might as well do the same. My basic strategy is that I don’t really want to use more than three or four credit cards and each one of the cards has to serve a distinct purpose in order to make it into my wallet. Here are the three that currently make the cut and why:

1. Citi mtvU Platinum Select - For Movies & Restaurants
Usually a points credit card is a deal breaker for me, I prefer cash all the way, but I can convert Thank You Reward Points into payments towards my student loan debt so for the benefits I let this one slide. I chose the Citi mtvU card because it offered 5% cash back on bookstores (Amazon.com included), restaurants, and movies. The mtvU card also has the added benefit of giving me points for good grades and paying my bill on time.

2. Discover Gas Card - For Gasoline
I wish the Citi Platinum Select MasterCard still offered 5% on gasoline and supermarket purchases but they don’t so we’ve resorted to using the Discover Gas Card in order to earn the 5%. At least the card looks cool, the card faces are this dark gray and the sides are a bright orange… giving it this slick new glow. Also another added bonus is that at some malls you can get a $20 gift card for ever $200 in receipts (where you paid with a Discover card) you turn in.

3. Citi Platinum Select MasterCard - For Supermarkets
Speaking of the Platinum Select card, I keep this in my wallet because it still offers 2% on supermarkets and drugstores (better than nothing I suppose) and because there really is no reason to cancel the card.

4. American Express TrueEarnings Costco Card - For Everything Else
I shop at Costco when I can and the only cards they accept are debit cards and their own American Express. This card doesn’t have an annual fee if you’re a Costco member (I don’t see a reason why you’d get it if you weren’t) and it gives you 1% on everything payable annually. It’s really just my catch-all card when I don’t get bonuses on anything else.

One of the great things about the Citi mtvU card is that you get Thank You points for good grades. One of the bad things is that in order to get the form, you need to scour the web to find someone who has scanned it or you call them up and they fax it to you. This post is as much for me as it is for anyone else, I’m tired of looking for the form so after I found it on Fatwallet, I’m posting it here.

mtvU Card’s Grade Points Redemption Form (PDF)

Here’s what you get for what grade:
Earn up to 2,000 ThankYou Points twice a year for having a good GPA
GPA = ThankYou Points
2.50 - 2.99 = 250
3.00 - 3.49 = 500
3.50 - 3.99 = 750
4.0 = 2,000

The Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card I applied for about a week ago came in today and along with it a directory of services. The card itself is part of the ThankYou Network program that Citi runs where you get points, instead of straight cash back, and it comes with a few perks you don’t usually see with a student card but I don’t know if I really like it…

PS. While this was a student card, I had to provide no verification that I actually was a student at Johns Hopkins though I don’t know if they called the registrar (I highly doubt it).

I mentioned last week that you get points for doing well in school, the official breakdown is:
GPA 2.5 - 2.99 = 250 points/semester
GPA 3.0 - 3.49 = 500 points/semester
GPA 3.5 - 3.99 = 750 points/semester
GPA 4.0 = 1,000 points/semester

Let’s say you’re a consistent 3.5 student, you would earn 1,500 points plus 300 on-time payment points automatically each year. That’s worth a $10 gift card each year to almost anywhere in the ThankYou Network just for using that card.

Now, you can get 5% points at a lot of various places (notably, movie theaters and bookstores) but you have to trade them in on a rate of 1,500 points to basically a $10 gift card. That means you conversion from dollars spent to actual gift card dollars is $150 to $1, or 0.66% “cashback.” So it’s a terrible card for anything you can get 1% back on a regular cashback card. At 5% cashback, you’re looking at a 3.3% rebate rate in the form of a gift card which is only 0.3% better than my American Express True Earnings Costco card.

Did you sign up because you’d get 5% back from Amazon? Go with an an Amazon card instead if you don’t mind getting Amazon gift certificates because you get a $30 coupon and 3% from purchases on Amazon anyway.

I suppose I can always just keep the card and get a $10 gift card each year… almost not worth the hassle of keeping it around.

Update: I take it back, I didn’t realize or know that you could get $25 towards your student loans for 2,500 points and since I have a lot of student loans, this puts the card back on track for 5% cashback. Thank you Miller and Brian.

In my wallet sit two credit cards that I use: AT&T Universal Cash Rewards card that gives me 5% at gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores; and an American Express Costco card that gives me 3% at restaurants and 2% for any travel purchases. Welcome Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students with 5% back on “restaurants, bookstores, record stores, movie theaters, and video rentals.” It’s a student card but I’m a student at Johns Hopkins so I hope that qualifies me. The best part is that Amazon.com is considered a bookstore so you get 5% on those purchases too, better than Amazon’s own credit card!

Here are some of the specifics:

Through the reward program, cardholders earn one point for general purchases and five points for every dollar spent at restaurants, bookstores, record stores, movie theaters, and video rentals. The program also awards 25 points when payments are made on time and spending does not surpass the credit limit. Twice per year, anywhere between 250 and 2,000 points may be awarded dependent on the student’s GPA (beginning at 2.5). These points can be redeemed for gift cards, CDs, a VIP mtvU Spring Break Pass, tickets to the MTV Video Music Awards, and airline tickets. There is a 75,000 yearly limit to the number of points that can be earned, and points will expire in five years. (more details)

No annual fee too (a pre-requisite for all credit cards nowadays).