Credit (Cards & Score) $Weekly Money Check-In$

momofcatan

Part I: If you have a savings goal, how is it going? Hit any roadblocks this week? Any success you want to share?

Part II: Do you use credit cards? Why or why not? Do you have a great credit card to recommend? Have you ever signed up for a credit card to only get the bonus rewards aka “credit card churning”? Do you know your credit score? Can you suggest a good way for others to get it?

momofcatan

Part I: Waiting to hear back from my interviews this week. I'm still keeping an eye out for more opportunities. October was a 5 paycheck month, but only about 1/2 of the extra paycheck went to savings. Not bad, but not great.

Part II: I use credit cards like debit/cash. There are a lot of benefits, points, extended insurance or warranty, as long as you can control your spending and pay of your balance every month. My parents taught me to avoid using a debit card as much as possible because you dont' want to risk compromising your actual money in your bank account. When fraudulent charges are put on a credit card you can dispute them before you pay your bill.

My current card is straight 2% cash back through points which is the best value I could find with a no annual fee card. I'm seriously considering applying for the PC MasterCard becasue I'll get $40 for groceries and then just letting the card sit (because it is not any better than my current card).

I have not looked up my credit score. Someone on working moms recommended  creditkarma so I think i will try that today. ETA obviously doesn't work because I'm Canadian. :-w

Lizzybizzy80

1. I'm doing pretty well, I want to buy new running shoes this weekend. I've doubled my $100 doing dietbets and that covers buying the jawbone up24. I hope to make enough this month to cover the new shoes.

2. I haven't used credit cards in about a year and don't miss them. Our debit card has zero liability fraud protection and I monitor the spending on mint.

daffy2k

1 - we've been doing pretty well with our budget, and I've done awesome with Christmas shopping so far. We bought a new truck yesterday, and because of the situation in which we bought it (through a friend of my dad's who got us a really great deal, but works for a leasing company not a dealership) we couldn't finance without paying a lot of interest. So we depleted a good portion of our savings to buy it with cash. I'll really have to tighten the bootstraps to build that nest egg back up.

2 - we use credit cards for basically everything.  We have the RBC Avion card, which I like, but it does come with an annual fee.  You have to spend a fair bit on it to make up your annual fee and then see a better return in points than with a free card.  We use this card for all our business purchases/expenses so it gets a fair bit of use and makes the fee worthwhile.  @momofcatan I've been considering the PC Card as well.  I've also been considering the New Aeroplan visa (I think it's with TD?). I know Aeroplan points are tougher to use, but I'm irritated since Avion changed their flight points structure.  I need 5,000 more points than I used to (and 10,000 more than aeroplan) to fly to Montreal to visit our family.  I'm going to play with the aeroplan website a little more and see.  If it just takes a little bit of forward planning I'll do it.  If I need to book a year in advance then nope.

momofcatan

@daffy2k If you like the RBC then I would all them up and tell them you are thinking about cancelling and ask if they can eliminate or reduce the annual fee. The card I use (MBNA) technically has an annual fee but I don't pay it.

PC is basically 2% cashback value (in PC points) at PC stores, 1% everywhere else.

FWIW my dad loves Aeroplan, they have been using it as their main card for years, but he also plans travel at least a couple months in advance. Because we don't travel that much I stick with direct cash back. My brain hurts when I think about trying to figure out the value of all these travel point X_X. It is something I need to figure out in the future because I'm sure there is a lot of value, especially with the "welcome offers".

daffy2k

@momofcatan‌ that's a great idea! I will call today. My dad has always used Aeroplan too, but he is the one who has complained a lot as of late about having all these points and never being able to use them (unless he buys the seats at a higher rate). It's the main reason he was hesitant to follow Aeroplan from CIBC to TD, and the only thing holding me back from doing it as well. If RBC hadn't uped the points I wouldn't even be considering it.

kh59

Part I: Still chipping away at the student loans with any extra income.  H doesn't make as much in the winter with his freelance work, so progress is getting slower at this point.

Part II: we have an AmEx card that gets 6% back for groceries and 3% back for gas, so we use it for those two things and then pay off the balance in full.

momofcatan

@sympkin So exciting about the move. Have you found place yet or are you looking?

If you do a lot of groceries at a PC store their card is good. I am a fan of MBNA for straight cash back. Their smartcash card is OK (it used to be amazing). I have this one (basically 2% cash back) but when I signed up for it their waved the annual fee. Either way I suggest you get 2 card for the same account that way you and the spouse can be collecting the same points/rewards.

daffy2k

@Sympkin‌ we don't have the PC Card yet either, but like @momofcatan‌ mentioned, the rewards are decent. And it's free. MIL uses it all the time for fuel and groceries and she collects a lot of points annually. I've also heard good things about the Scotiabank cashback card, but I don't know if it has a fee.

I really like Avion for travel rewards, aside from the fact that they bumped up the North America long haul points to 35,000.  But it's easy to book and that's the only change in terms I've noticed.  I am taking @momofcatan's advice and I'm going to try and eliminate the annual fee on that card because so far it really is getting us the best value.  We travel a lot anyways, so it's not as if we are trying to find ways to spend the points unnecessarily