Credit Cards and International Travel, Part 1

By: Jason Steele

12/30/2009

Many people are traveling around the country during the holidays to see their family. For many Americans, visiting family entails traveling to other countries. In the rush to finalize travel arrangements and pack your luggage, it is easy to forget about some important travel considerations regarding your bank and your credit cards.

When You Plan Your Trip

Hopefully, you are planning your trip some months in advance. It is at that time that you need to think about your method of payment when traveling overseas. For me, all of the reasons that I do not like to have cash when I am at home are even greater when I am traveling. Let’s face it, when you are in a foreign country, you stick out like sore thumb as an American tourist. This can make you a great target for theft and fraud. When possible, I like to travel with as little cash as necessary. Nevertheless, I always carry my ATM card with me. Ironically, the banks many foreign countries are less likely to charge you service fees at ATMs than banks in the United States. It is always a good idea to check your bank’s policy on overseas transactions just to make sure. If they impose a lot of fees, you may consider opening another account at a bank without such fees, if only for the purposes of the trip. A benefit of this strategy is that you may protect your main bank account from the possibility being compromised in any way.

When it comes to credit cards, almost all cards charge a large foreign transaction fee, typically 2-4%. These fees are pure profit, and from my perspective, a pure scam. Do yourself a favor and take this opportunity to apply for a Capitol One, Schwab Bank card, or one of a handful of other credit cards that do not charge these fees. Only use that card when traveling in other countries as few rewards are worth a 3% negative cash back. While your fee free card will be your primary card, keep some others as backups, preferably in a separate location.

A Week Before Departure

Contact your banks to tell them which countries you will be visiting and the dates of your visit. Be sure to include any countries that you may step foot in, even if you are just changing planes. The last thing you want is to have your card canceled because you bought lunch at the airport, or had to check into a hotel following a flight cancellation. You also may want to include any countries that you may enter along a border region that you are visiting. I just wouldn’t want to worry about my card being canceled should I make a quick day trip across a border. Interestingly, American Express claims that they no longer need notification as their system is set up to account for foreign travel.

Banks have collect call lines for contacting them from outside the United States in an emergency. Write down all of these numbers somewhere safe, just in case.

Finally, make note of your statement closing dates and payment due dates. You don’t want to miss a payment because you never got your bill. If a payment is due while you are away, learn how to log into your bank’s web site and make a payment from the Internet.

Tomorrow, I will fill you in on some tips for when you are on your trip.

Visa Finally Takes Action Against Credit Card Scams

By: Jason Steele

12/28/2009

Hopefully, by now, we all know how this works. You call in response to a “free trial” of something on late night television. You opt in or fail to opt out to a free offer at the end of a transaction. Sometimes you have no idea what you did. Either way, the results are the same: you continue to see a charge on your credit card and you have no idea how it got there. Worse, contacting the offending company and getting them to stop charging you is nearly impossible.

These scams have been around almost since credit cards were invented. Unfortunately, the credit cards themselves have very little interest dealing with this problem. They make money off of interest and merchant fees no matter what.

Now comes word that Visa is kicking off over 100 merchants for flagrant violations of their rules.

What You Need To Know

The article I linked to is full of vague generalities that give you the impression that the problem is under control. Worse, the article is full of nonsense about dealing with the Better Business Bureau. By the time you are at that point, it is too late. You have to think of these scammers like spammers that charge you money. Complaining to the BBB is like telling a mugger that robbery is not nice.

1. Always scrutinize your credit card statements. If you are like me, you charge everything to your card in order to maximize reward points. The downside is that it is easy to receive a statement that is several pages long, filled mostly with smaller transactions.

2. If you notice something unusual, investigate. Don’t assume everything you don’t recognize is fraudulent. Sometimes a legitimate charge shows up with a merchant name that you don’t recognize, especially when you make purchases over the Internet. Google the merchant name and see if you remember the charge. If you are still coming up blank, try calling them and asking about your purchase. They should be able to tell you what you bought and when.

3. If the story doesn’t check out, make one attempt to get a refund. Don’t spend all day on hold, don’t put up with the run around, and don’t jump through hoops. If the company is not a scammer, they should pick up the phone in a reasonable amount of time, say less than 15 minutes. Then, they should quickly reverse the charge. Many scammers are “soft scammers” that are hoping your don’t call, and will quickly reverse the charge when you do to stay off of the credit card processor’s radar.

4. Contact your bank and ask for a chargeback. Unfortunately, not all scammers are “soft scammers”. Some are “hard scammers” and will make life difficult for anyone who tries to get a refund. Don’t play their game, just go straight to your trump card, a credit card charge back. The burden of proof is on the merchant to prove that you authorized the charge. Tell your credit company that you did not authorize the charge, and they should remove it from your bill quickly.

5. Make sure all charges are reversed It is likely that you may have been charged many times by the same “merchant”. Remember to ask you bank to tell you of any instances of this merchant charging your credit card. Any action you take should be against all charges the scammer issued.

Credit cards are a great tool, and Visa made a positive step by kicking off so many scammers. It is up to you to use your card responsibly, and be vigilant in the face of so many people out there who want to steal your money.

Which Credit Card To Get For South America Tickets?

By: Mr Credit Card

My house is being remodelled. I’ve already paid 50% of the cost of kitchen cabinets and would like to use the opportunity to charge the balance (i do have the cash to pay it off upon receipt of the bill but would like to earn miles)….The place doing the kitchen work only takes Visa or Master unfortunately. Any card you advise me to apply for considering I would like one that gives miles for travel to South America, particularly to Peru?

Marga De Loayza

Answer – Marga – most US airlines require 50,000 to 55,000 miles for a round trip economy class ticket to South America on a Saver Award ticket. A saver award ticket typically requires less miles, but have more capacity restrictions and blackout dates. For regular standard awards, it will take about 100,000 miles to fly to Peru or anywhere in South America. So depending on how much is your total kitchen renovation, with bonus miles or points, you could very well get enough points for a supersaver award to South America.

Almost all US airlines have similar requirements. I checked some international airlines like Mexicana Airlines and they have about the same point requirements. So assuming you would want to get an airline credit card, that would leave out Delta Skymiles credit card since American Express issues them. Starwood is also out since they are also issued by Amex. That leaves Continental, US Airways and United as the major carriers that fly international.

You could get either one of their credit cards as they are either MasterCard or Visa and you should be able to get some nice sign up bonuses. Or if you are picky over paying annual fees or if flying to Peru may be a one time thing, then you might want to consider either the Chase Freedom&#174 Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back or the Chase Sapphire Card because they allow you to transfer points that you have earned to Continental and United miles (Chase Freedom allows you to transfer only to Continental while the Chase Sapphire Card allows you to transfer to both Continental and United on a one for one basis). This is one way to earn miles without having to pay an annual fee on your credit card.

The TOP 5 Budget Busters: Start Saving $200 a Month Today

By: Mr Credit Card

12/27/2009

This guest post is brought to you by Selena, a writer for The Digerati Life, a site which covers a wide variety of financial topics from the best credit cards for rewards spending to the top online stock brokers around.

We all want to save for a rainy day, but we just cannot seem to find the money when the time comes to save it. Why? Well, it is because we are actually spending it. All of us have the capability of saving. We just have to learn to live well below our means. With that being said, here are the top 5 budget busters that prevent us from saving and building wealth.

1. Credit Cards — It’s unfortunate that many people won’t be able to qualify for a balance transfer credit card. They’re a great tool if you’ve got good credit and can pay off your card balance quickly during the intro period where you’ll pay 0% for a limited time. That would be one quick way of getting out of credit card debt. However, if you are sending payments out to credit card companies each month, and you are paying only the minimum, your balance amounts will barely budge. This is especially the case if you continue to charge on your card. If you’re unable to control your credit card debt, you will have a hard time building your savings. If you are paying 12%-18% interest on a credit card, you are already in the hole (so to speak) when it comes to savings. My suggestion? Take all the extra money you have and chunk it towards your credit cards first to get them paid off as quickly as possible. Think about your savings after you get out of this hole. Once your debts are paid off, you’ll free up a lot of money which you can then channel towards a high interest savings account.

2. Eating Out — Eating out is one of the largest drains on budgets. We choose the convenience of a drive through or restaurant over cooking a home cooked, healthier meal at home on most days. If you can cut your eating out completely or at least limit it to once a week, your budget and your waistline will thank you. A great way to do this is to plan your meals each week. Every two weeks, I sit down and plan what I am going to eat for the next two weeks. I create a menu and purchase the groceries I need to accomplish this meal plan. This saves time in deciding what to eat. It also allows me to eat healthier and save a tremendous amount of money from my food budget. I withdraw $20 from the ATM for eating out with friends and try to limit it to coffee, desserts, and appetizers. This way, I can make my money stretch, and also enjoy some social time with friends. When the $20 is gone, it’s gone.

3. Car Payments — I lived for 5 years without a car payment, and it was fabulous. I did drive an older car, but it got me where I needed to go and in the long run, it was much cheaper. Why? My taxes and insurance on an older car are usually lower because the value of the car is lower. Taking out an auto loan on an expensive car may not be the best idea. Having a car payment of $200 can put a major strain on a family that functions under a tight budget. Moreover, you are paying interest on an item that is actually depreciating each year, which is not really a great investment! It is far better to a cheap car, save your money and later pay cash when you decide to upgrade to better cars. This way, you can earn interest on your money instead of paying interest on your money. The whole point is to make your money work for you rather than you work for your money. If you take the $200 you are paying for a car payment each month and invest it in a mutual fund for 5 years at 12% average returns, you will eventually end up with $16,334. You could take half of this money and a pretty decent car with cash, and allow the remainder of your money to keep growing. Having no car payments is the way to go.

4. Cell Phones — As a financial counselor, I see many budgets from clients on a weekly basis. I have noticed that many have cell phone bills that are well over $100. What on earth are these people doing that they end up with a cell phone bill that is over $100? When cell phones originally came out, they were used for emergencies only. Now, we view cell phones as a necessity. They are not a necessity (well, unless you work in a field that needs you to stay connected for 24/7)! A lot of people have gotten through life without being easily contacted 24 hours a day. If you want an extra $50 to $100 a month, then ditch the cell phone. If you cannot ditch the cell phone, then search for a better plan. Many companies now offer unlimited minutes for a flat fee. Two great ones are Virgin Mobile and Straight Talk.

5. Gifts –- Despite what we think, we chunk a lot of change into gifts on a yearly basis. We do not really pay attention to this expense because it is not a regular monthly expense on our budgets. It is more of a sporadic expense that pops up now and again. How much do you really spend on holiday gifts? What about birthday gifts? Instead of treating these costs as last minute expenses, try to set a budget for these items each year and divide that yearly amount by 12. Then, put aside that amount of money each month to pay for gifts. Another way to do this is to purchase the gifts in advance. If you see something that you know someone will love and it is on sale, go ahead and it. I have created a treasure trunk where I keep all the gifts that I in advance. When that person’s birthday rolls around, I already have it ready to go. This is a great way to save and stay within your budget.

Inside The Deal, My Interview With Jason Wagner Of TrackItBack

By: Jason Steele

12/24/2009

I have told you about the US Airways Dividend Miles promotion, and how one could purchase miles for an effective rate of as little as .5 cents each. The end result could be a first class ticket to Europe for about $600 on any Star Alliance partner. I later followed up with information here, here, and here.

Today, I called TrackItBack, to follow up on my order, and I had the opportunity to speak with Jason Wagner, the founder and President of the company.

The Merchant’s Point Of View

Imagine you come up with a good idea, and start a company. You pour your heart and soul into it for years, and you meet with some measure of success. Then one day, orders start arriving in huge quantities, seemingly out of the blue. You are delighted, but also curious as to why all of the sudden interest. Ultimately, your hear that there are these frequent flier nuts who have come up with a hairbrained scheme to accumulate frequent flier miles by purchasing your product during a US Airways promotion.

I had known of Mr. Wagner from his participation in the discussion of this promotion on FlyerTalk. He wisely chose to directly engage his customers, who were speculating on the details of his product and the US Airways promotion. Mr. Wagner was familiar with my writings in this blog as well. Nevertheless, it was a surprise when I called TrackItBack on Christmas Eve and Mr. Wagner himself answered the phone.

As he explained to me, he had generously sent nearly all of his employees home to enjoy the holidays with their family, while he himself manned the telephones. While my large TrackItBack order had a glitch in the shipping details, Mr. Wagner was more than happy to resolve the situation to my satisfaction, while refunding the shipping costs that I had already paid. Mistakes will always happen, but if all companies handled them so well, we wouldn’t consumer affairs reporters.

After we had resolved the details of my personal order, Mr. Wagner was kind enough to answer some of my questions regarding his company and this promotion. Mr. Wagner founded the company six years ago. TrackItBack sells a service that seeks to reunite people with their lost articles such as keys, luggage, and portable electronics. Customers receive an orange label or sticker that they can attach to just about anything. The label directs the finders of lost articles to contact TrackItBack, who then arranges its return at no cost to the parties involved, and even offers a reward He is very proud of the proven 85% recovery rate that his company has demonstrated.

How The Deal Came About

He explained that in his efforts to promote his products, his company had an agreement with Sony to include the TrackItBack service with their laptops. In the past, he also had an agreement with Delta Airlines to offer SkyMiles to his customers, but that agreement did not survive their merger with Northwest Airlines. Later, his company had an agreement with US Airways to offer their Dividend Miles with a purchase of the TrackItBack system. Initially, they offered 20 miles per dollar, but that number has since increased to a generous 40 miles per dollar spent.

It came as a surprise to Mr. Wagner when US Airways began it’s holiday partner promotion to offer up to a 250% bonus of Dividend Miles for purchases made between November 23d and December 30th, 2009. We speculated on how US Airways could justify this vast multiplication of it’s already generous mileage bonus. He felt that they were trying to increase loyalty among it’s frequent travelers. I thought that they were trying to increase their exposure of their Dividend Miles shopping partners, while shoring up their cash reserves. We both agreed that the publicity generated by the TrackItBack offer alone justified the promotion. As he explained, “I could pay a million dollars for television advertising, but this promotion is probably more effective.” I agreed, as I had not heard of his product before this promotion, and now I am telling others about it. I plan to utilize much of my purchases in the future, while donating a large amount of the surplus to charity to realize a tax deduction.

In Conclusion

Human creativity is a wonderful thing. Mr. Wagner invented a creative solution to help resolve the problem of lost articles. US Airways developed a creative holiday promotion to showcase TrackItBack and other Dividend Miles Shopping partners. The US Government’s tax code employs a creative tax deduction to encourage charitable donations. Finally, travel bloggers and FlyerTalkers discovered a way to tie the three ideas together in order to generate a fantastic deal for all of the parties involved. In the end, my purchase of the TrackItBack product was only limited by the knowledge that great deals will continue to be created as long as the human mind seeks to generate new ideas.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at AskMrCreditCard!

How I chose My Rewards Credit Card for My Honeymoon?

By: Mr Credit Card

12/23/2009

This is a guest post by Miss M from M is for Money. Miss M recent chose a credit card to earn miles and points for her honeymoon and in today’s post, she will take us through her decision process. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from her. She has got a very interesting blog going, so please check it out and consider subscribing to it.

I have quite the assortment of credit cards, everything from store cards to rewards cards. But there was one popular type of card I did not have, a travel rewards card. These are the credit cards that reward you in airline miles or hotel stays for your spending. I didn’t have much need for one since I rarely travel beyond visits to family. But a recent event has pushed travel into my plans – I got engaged.

Suddenly a honeymoon is in my future, it’s an excuse to take a nice vacation. We’re a frugal couple and don’t typically travel just for fun. So we’re due a nice escape, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend more that I have to. Being frugal means making the most of the money you have. Rewards cards are a way to get something back, a return, on money you’ve already spent. As long as you don’t fall into the trap of spending more than you can afford, credit cards are an acceptable money management tool. So how did I decide which travel rewards card was right for me?

Travel Rewards Cards 101

First you need to understand how these cards work. The details vary from one program to the next, but all have some conversion system for the money you spend. A dollar of spending equals a certain number of miles or points, often on a one to one basis. This means you could be building up airline miles while ing the weekly gas and groceries. You often get extra miles or bonus points when you use the card to pay for travel, perhaps a thousand bonus miles when you pay for a flight.

Next you have to research the different types of programs and their redemption policies. General travel rewards cards usually give you a credit on your monthly statement for travel expenses. Airline and hotel rewards cards typically reward you in travel vouchers, i.e. accrue 25,000 miles and get one free round trip ticket on that airline. Another thing to look for – do they have blackout dates? These are common around the times you most want to travel! But the most important information to find out: how many points or miles are needed to claim a reward? How many miles do you need for a free round trip domestic ticket? How many points are needed for that free hotel night? Some reward levels are set so high it’s not likely you will reach them. What rewards can you realistically expect to receive in the course of a year?

Finally, searching for the right rewards cards requires asking yourself some important questions:

-Where do you plan to go?
-What is your spending style?
-How often do you travel?
-What style of travel do you prefer?

With the wide array of available rewards cards, these questions will help you focus in on the right card for you. Some cards are specific to one airline or hotel chain while others can be used towards any type of travel. Look for the one that suits you best.

My Own Search

I went through this type of decision making process while searching for my own travel rewards card. Beyond gathering information on each program of interest, I asked myself and my fiancée where we wanted to go for our honeymoon and what we wanted to do. Since we haven’t gone on vacation together in several years, we want to go somewhere special, most likely overseas. I would prefer Europe, Mr. M is leaning towards Tahiti. Unfortunately, the number of miles required to earn a free round trip international ticket is higher than we are likely to have at honeymoon time. We simply don’t spend enough, so an airline miles card would not help us. On the other hand, anywhere we go we need a place to stay, so I started to look at hotel rewards cards. The points needed for a free hotel night were within our reach and most had attractive bonus offers we could take advantage of.

I went with the Starwood Preferred Guest Card by American Express. There were several factors behind this decision. First, although I have many credit cards none are Am Ex cards (useful for those Costco trips). Second, the Starwood chain has hotels in every country we are interested in visiting. Their line has every level of accommodation, including some very nice resort properties. Finally, I was tempted by their bonus offer. You receive 10,000 bonus points with your first purchase. Spend $15,000 in the first 6 months and you receive an additional 15,000 bonus points.

Well with a wedding, home repairs and the holidays, reaching that reward will be no problem. That means we’ll have at least 40,000 points come honeymoon time, good for at least a few nights wherever we go. Free nights start as low as 2,000 points, although you need quite a bit more for destinations like London or Paris. With the bonus points, I calculated that the Starwood card would give us the best return on our spending while providing a useful reward. Under different circumstances, the choice might change. Also, the SPG card has one unique benefit, you can turn your points into miles and use them at many partner airlines. You aren’t limited to hotel rewards. For our circumstances, the Starwood Preferred Guest card is the right choice.

A word from Mr Credit Card – I enjoy reading Miss M’s blog. Below are some of her more interesting post which you should check out.

Multi Generation Households

The Ethics of Regifting

Year End Tax Moves for 2009

The Winners!

By: Jason Steele

12/21/2009

This has been a fantastic contest with over 120 responses!

In cases where great ideas were submitted by more than one person, I tried to choose the first person to post it.

It was difficult to choose the winners, but here is what we came up with:

Ernest S. one points for finding ways to maximize his reward card take by charging things that his company reimbursed him for! I have always been a big advocate of using your credit card for other people’s spending that they reimburse you for, be it at dinner or for company expenses. Creative use of reward cards is a big winner in my book!

susan g wins for early purchases of Christmas gifts and decorations. How early? December 26th of last year. The point is that when you pay your cards off in full every month, and don’ t pay interest, you can save money in ways like these. The difference is prices between the 24th and the 26th is far greater than what your money earns in the bank, yet far less than what you would pay in interest on your purchases over the course of the year. I try to my snow tires when they are hugely discounted in the spring, for example.

eric starker came up with the idea of using the Bing cash back rewards, which are as much as 20%. There is a lot of buzz about Bing rewards, if not the service itself. If Microsoft wants to pay you to use their search engine, why not? I don’t know all the rules, but the promotion is that when you find stuff on Bing and later purchase it, a lot of it is eligible for big discounts. A lot of people have been saving big money this way on EBay.

mike wins for using his credit card to gift cards at the grocery store, where he gets 5% cash back on all purchases. Of course, he could the gifts himself with the gift cards, but either way 5% is 5%. The point is, you can maximize your rewards by ing gift cards at categories of stores that offer higher reward percentages.

matt wins for selling stuff on EBay and Craigslist. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have too much stuff and not enough cash. I like to collect all of my stuff to EBay and take pictures and list it at once. If all goes well, I only have to make one or two trips to the post office to get rid off all of it.

Bre’ wins for mentioning many of my favorite savings tips. High value coupons, rebates, and my favorite, never carry a balance. I am a big fan of high value coupons. You won’t catch me clipping ten cents here or fifty cents there, but I will jump at two for one dinners at a good restaurant. Then, she even gives away free sample products as gifts. Good stuff!

Peter wins for having some great travel and EBay tips. He saved big time on his Disney World trip, and minimized souvenir purchases by pre-ing his kid’s stuff on EBay. One of my biggest pet peeves is ing overpriced souvenirs at tourist traps. I understand that kids will always love Disney, but ing your souvenirs there will never be a bargain.

MommyMel wins for using her Transit Flexible Spending Account through her employer. If you don’t know, they work just like health savings accounts. She seems to be using it both to save on taxes and as an informal savings account that she withdraws from during the holiday season.

GeorgeB wins for utilizing some of the frequent flier travel tricks that I am always uncovering. He figured out that you have to book anything near the holidays way in advance when using reward tickets.

pat wins for taking a holistic approach to online shopping. pat points out that free shipping isn’t always the best bargain, you have to take prices and taxes into account. The promo code trick seems to work on almost every web site. Finally, there is the ship to store option that most people don’t consider. When ing large or heavy items, store pickup is a great way to go.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to American Express Charge Cards and Membership Rewards for helping us with this contest!

We will be getting in touch with the winners as soon as possible to arrange the shipment of your new Flip Video Cameras!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who participated.

MommyMelMo

How I Got My Discover Card Approved in 60 Seconds!

By: Mr Credit Card

Today, we’re presenting a guest post from Manshu from One Mint, a personal finance blog that covers a wide range of topics like gold ETFs, bank interest rates, gift cards, and other stuff that affects your money. If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to his feed.

I recently applied for a Discover credit card, and was intrigued by their promise of giving a response within 60 seconds. Their tagline says – “Apply in minutes. Get a response within 60 seconds.”, and I was not disappointed. I think I really did get a response within 60 seconds (it felt quick, but I didn’t time it).

The process is really seamless and simple, but I think they can provide a little more information to make it clearer. The application process confused me at least a couple of times: once it was because of what they said, and the second time because of what I expected.

Let me explain. I applied online and the first thing you do when you apply online is provide standard personal information, your address, SSN, contact details etc. — and then click “Submit Application”.

At this point you receive an email from Discover card telling you that your application has been received, and at the same time, — the webpage where you made the application is still loading, telling you to wait for a decision.

Most people would be happy to wait for an answer, but, being an email addict, I quickly scanned through the email from Discover, and was a bit surprised to see that it said: “Please allow up to 30 days for your application to be processed.”

Actually I was half expecting that this email contained my approval or rejection, so I was a bit disappointed to see it mention 30 days there. And I still can’t figure out why it had a link for me to become Discover’s fan on Facebook?

Anyhow, by the time I scanned through the email, my application was processed by Discover, and I saw a page that told me that I had been approved, and I expected another email with credit limits, when the card would reach etc.

This time I got no email, and to me this was a bit confusing too. I think they should send an email after approval to tell you that you have been approved, and what you should expect next. I had half a mind to call the toll free number and ask them what happens next, but I decided I will wait a few days. I think they can cut down on this confusion and a few phone calls to their call centers — by sending an approval email along with steps on what to expect next.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the 60 seconds idea is great, and overall the process is quite smooth too, but communication is important, and in this case, the email they send is more or less useless, and the email they should send never get sent!

I did receive another email a couple of days later, which told me the card was on its way, but I came to know about my credit limit only when the credit card actually came in the mail.

I think they can make a good process, — a great process by communicating more, and letting people know what to expect, when to expect, and how to go about registering to their website etc.

The Ethics Of Reward Card Deals

By: Jason Steele

12/18/2009

I was a philosophy minor in college, so therefore I feel I have the right to lecture my readers on the ethics of the deal. I am in the business of being an expert on reward credit cards and their related loyalty programs. I also consider myself an honest and ethical person.

After much consideration, I have concluded that there are four kinds of deals out there, and I will list them in order of their ethical value:

Win Win Deals

These are deals where all parties come out ahead, and there are no moral or ethical problems whatsoever. I would definitely put the US Airways/TrackItBack deal in that category. Any doubt that this was a great deal for everyone involved vanished when the founder of TrackItBack, Jason Wagner, joined FlyerTalk and expressed his opinion that this promotion has been an “overwhelming success” for his company. Finally, I just spoke with some non-profits who will be accepting much of my TrackItBack purchase, and they are as thrilled to receive the donation as I am to get the tax write off.

Many promotions involve loss leaders that are designed to acquire new customer relationships, such as credit card sign up bonuses. It is not your fault if you choose not move your business to the credit card that gave you a bonus. These days, many credit card sign up bonuses have a minimum spending requirement, assuring the bank that they will receive at least some merchant fees in return for the miles or points given. Remember, these companies these miles and points by the tens of millions for a fraction of what you might think, if they don’t just issue the points themselves at no cost at all.

I will gladly share all of these deals with you as I find them.

Taking Advantage Of Loopholes

These are deals that probably were not anticipated by the people who created the promotion, but don’t violate any documented company rule or law. A good example would be the people who are bought travelers checks or coins with their credit cards to earn points. Clearly, these products were not offered for that purpose, however customers were not technically breaking any rule, and were certainly not breaking the law. Ethically speaking, I have no problem with these deals. When the loopholes favor the merchants or the banks, the customer is usually hung out to dry because they didn’t read the fine print. I have no problem holding banks and merchants to the same standard.

When I find these, I have to balance my desire to share them with the natural tendency to keep them in the dark so they are not closed. Another factor is the risk to you the reader. One of the last things that I would ever do would be to advocate any behavior that would be financially risky if not carefully executed, as many of these loopholes are.

Deals That Are Against The Rules

Ultimately, the US Mint notified customers that it was not their intention to offer One Dollar coins to customers who were going to deposit them in the bank, rather than put them in circulation. When that happened, this deal went from being a loophole to being against the rules. One could argue whether or not depositing coins in the bank puts them in circulation, as several bank tellers have told people that they are glad to receive them to meet customer demand.

This is where things get really murky from an ethical standpoint. For example, most airlines consider it against the rules to purchase a round trip ticket and not take the return flight. People have been known to do this when the round trip is cheaper than the one way flight. Most airlines (not Southwest) feel that they can dictate your behavior to such an extent that they will actually claim that you are breaking their rules by not using their product! I would not loose any sleep over breaking such an absurd rule, yet other rules are not as clear. Take, for example, the US Mint again. They now say that it is against the spirit of the program to deposit coins in the bank. On the other hand, money is money and why wouldn’t I deposit any extra in the bank?

Everyone has to make their own judgment call here, but I will not advocate deals that break the rules.

“Deals” That Are Against The Law

This is pretty simple and there is no “judgment call”. Under no circumstances will I participate in or even mention any deal that breaks any law. In fact, I will always err strongly on the side of caution against any deal that comes anywhere close to breaking a law. There are all sorts of ways to defraud banks using credit cards if you think about it. It is also one of the stupidest crimes you could perpetrate, as you leave a pretty broad electronic trail leading right back to you and your family.

We live in a society of laws and we are all bound to obey them, even the ones we disagree with. If that is not good enough for you, think of it this way: No amount of frequent flier miles is worth a criminal record, fines, or jail time.

PNC Bank Visa Check Card

By: Mr Credit Card

pnccheckcard The PNC Bank Visa Check Card is a check card (or debit card) that is issued to folks who have a checking account with PNC bank. Let’s find out more about this card.

From what I can tell from their website, there are a few features that are worth noting about this card:

Visa PayWave – This check card has the Visa PayWave techonology embedded in it so you can simply pay your bills at the checkout counter by waving your card over a “paywave enabled” device (if the store has one).

Visa Protection – This check card offers some decent protection for non-PIN purchases made from your checking account (PIN based transaction means you simply choose “credit” and not debit when you swipe your card. You’re not responsible for verified unauthorized purchases should your card be lost or stolen. You also have Visa protection in case of a merchant dispute or fraud.

PNC Rewards – Perhaps, this is the most interesting feature is that PNC actually has a reward program for their check card. But how good is it? Let’s find out.

The PNC rewards actually lets you earn more than one point for every dollar that you spend depending on the type of expense it is. Below is a screen shot that shows you all the category of expenses that will earn you extra points.

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I took a screen shot of the gas expense as an example. When you use the card as a Non-PIN transaction, you will earn double points for every dollar you spend on gas. If it is a PIN based transaction, you earn 25 points per transaction. And they also show that if you have an actual PNC credit card with the PNC rewards, you earn 4 points for every dollar you spend on gas (charged to your card).

So it appears that at first glance, this reward is great for earning points. How then, how many points does it take to redeem rewards? Let’s find out.

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When I looked across the different categories on how many points it takes to redeem rewards, I was a little disappointed. The benchmark I use is the standard 1% (ie 100 points gets you about $1 worth in rewards). If you look at the screen shot with cash back page. To get $15 in cash rebates, you need 7,500 points! Yikes – most programs will require only 1,500 points! I then looked at the gift card section and I saw the same thing. A $10 gift card requires 5,500 points! The best programs like Membership Rewards require only 1,000 for a $10 gift card. Even programs like Citi’s ThankYou which has devalued their rewards a little require 1,500 points for a $10 gift card. Then, I checked out the travel section. For a $250 flight discount, you need 100,000 points! Outrageous!

PNC will probably point out that you can earn extra points with more categories than other check cards. That is true. And there is also no annual fee (which many other check cards have – especially those with rewards).

Verdict – While the PNC Visa check card allows you to earn more than one point for every dollar that you spend on more categories of expenses, you need heck of a lot more points to redeem rewards compared to regular credit card reward programs. But is that a fair comparison? Probably not. Reward programs for debit cards are typically less generous than regular credit card programs. So my opinion is that if you love PNC and bank with them, and you are not the sort of person that uses credit cards, then I guess using this card is better than a regular debit card that has no rewards. But do not get too excited because you need a lot of points to redeem a similar reward compared to credit card reward programs.

If you have lots of money in the bank and use your debit card a lot, then you are leaving “reward points” on the table. It would be interesting to see how the PNC Rewards treat their credit card holders. But that will be another review for another day.