Speaker 1: Welcome to Had of Money. I'm Joel, and I am that,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing unique and delightful credit card benefits.
Speaker 2: Delightful credit card benefits, indeed, you know, I feel that,
Speaker 2: I feel like delight like. That's a word that you
Speaker 2: use to describe people that's Oh, he's got a delightful personality.
Speaker 2: It's not often that we use that term to describe
Speaker 2: different financial products that are out there, but we truly
Speaker 2: do think that there are some of these different benefits
Speaker 2: that are that are going to surprise you and they
Speaker 2: might even delight you. That is what we're going to
Speaker 2: be talking about today. It's almost like a laundry list
Speaker 2: that we've got to cover. He's true, I probably haven't
Speaker 2: heard about this, this, this, this, this and this, and
Speaker 2: even if like two or three apply to you, and
Speaker 2: you say, wait a second, I didn't know that existed,
Speaker 2: not know that was bringing into your life, it could
Speaker 2: be shocking but also rewarding. You want to maximize the
Speaker 2: benefit you're receiving from those cards. So somewhat related, I
Speaker 2: guess speaking of getting a deal, specifically getting a deal
Speaker 2: when it comes to summer camps. So Joel, our oldest
Speaker 2: girls our oldest daughters, Selma for you, Heavy for me.
Speaker 2: They are both currently away at their first overnight sleep
Speaker 2: away camp. Yeah, based on the pictures, seems like they're
Speaker 2: having a stinking blast. So in the midst of them
Speaker 2: having a ton of fun, they're at camp. Did you
Speaker 2: notice did you get an email from the camp talking
Speaker 2: about early registration? Because that showed up in my inbox,
Speaker 2: this warning. I was just like, oh, snap, they want
Speaker 2: to ride that momentum into the next year, exactly right.
Speaker 2: And but the thing is, that's what happens.
Speaker 1: By the way, every time we go to FINCN the
Speaker 1: Money media conference, they send an email out the very
Speaker 1: next day and they're saying, do you have a good time?
Speaker 2: Didn't you have a blast?
Speaker 1: Sign up now? And by the way, this offer only
Speaker 1: lasts for three days, but you get the best rate
Speaker 1: of people are.
Speaker 2: So, speaking of getting a deal, what are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on that when you commit to going to a camp
Speaker 2: or a conference like this a year out, a year
Speaker 2: in advance, if that means that you get the best rate,
Speaker 2: if you're able to snag that deal, all right, I
Speaker 2: think a couple of things. How would you approach it?
Speaker 1: I think one, I like a good deal, So I
Speaker 1: am prone to sign up, and maybe that's why they're
Speaker 1: sending it because they know that.
Speaker 2: But two, you have to.
Speaker 1: Like look at your schedule and look at what's the
Speaker 1: likelihood that you're actually going to follow through, that you're
Speaker 1: actually going to go on that trip, that you're actually
Speaker 1: going to go to camp, that you actually want to
Speaker 1: go back to that conference. And then three how bigs
Speaker 1: a discount? Is it thirty bucks off or is it
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars off? Like is it is it ten
Speaker 1: percent off? Or is it or forty percent off? I mean,
Speaker 1: those kinds of questions I think would help me.
Speaker 2: Numbers matter realize.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, and then would you be okay if you
Speaker 1: ended up not going? Is there any sort of refund
Speaker 1: or would or would you think that would you be
Speaker 1: devastated by how much money on? I think that's the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. So as far as looking ahead, well with
Speaker 1: you know, with fin Con, we were thinking, okay, are
Speaker 1: we going to have a podcast next year?
Speaker 2: Uh? All signs points to yes, I hope. So I
Speaker 2: think so I shook the magic eight ball or not
Speaker 2: funny to stop this anytime soon. But I think digging
Speaker 2: into the fine print is what's really important, because I
Speaker 2: woult to have a contingency, like the ability to back
Speaker 2: out for me at least, I think that needs to
Speaker 2: be available and well, specifically with camp, I would be
Speaker 2: willing to sign up for a discount if I knew
Speaker 2: that either I could get all my money back that's great,
Speaker 2: or even at least being able to transfer like a
Speaker 2: deposit to a different week or something like that. And
Speaker 2: so yeah, you know, I think the moral of the
Speaker 2: story is definitely consider some of these different discounts and
Speaker 2: offerings that are provided by conferences or camps. Yeah, dig
Speaker 2: into the fine print, figure out what recourse you might
Speaker 2: have if you were to pull the plug.
Speaker 1: Okay, that makes me think of one more thing. If
Speaker 1: you're looking for for like summer travel and you're trying
Speaker 1: to get a beach house or something like that, the
Speaker 1: further ahead you look, the more availability there's going to be,
Speaker 1: the better chance you're going to find a cooler spot
Speaker 1: at a better price. So just put that on people's radar. Two,
Speaker 1: start looking in August or September for junior July the
Speaker 1: next year. That I think that's gonna potentially save you
Speaker 1: money and gets you better accommodations. I know, sometimes I've
Speaker 1: waited too long. The oh yeah, pickens get slim Yep,
Speaker 1: it stinks.
Speaker 2: It stinks. It stinks knowing that, oh man, we could
Speaker 2: have such a better place for the same amount of money.
Speaker 1: Or which we did this year, Like we go on
Speaker 1: our annual all Guard family vacation and we got the
Speaker 1: dopest beach house we've ever rented for not much more
Speaker 1: money than we typically spend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm sure we'll talk more about this once
Speaker 2: we actually experienced the house, but it was because it
Speaker 2: was a new listing and we were willing. This is
Speaker 2: another kind of weighing the you know, the pros and
Speaker 2: the cons, weighing the odds. There's three reviews, do you
Speaker 2: trust them or not exactly? But in this case, it
Speaker 2: seemed like we did a little more digging and we're
Speaker 2: able to find that house elsewhere. But we'll report back
Speaker 2: as to whether or not that house was worth it
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 1: But for now, Matt, let's mention the beer we're having
Speaker 1: this one is called Jammiest Bits of Jam by Sour Sellers. It's,
Speaker 1: of course a sour fruited beer. We'll give our thoughts
Speaker 1: on this one later on in the episode. But let's
Speaker 1: get onto the subject a hand. Let's talk about unique
Speaker 1: and delightful credit card benefits that we think that had
Speaker 1: a money community needs to know about. And Matt, this
Speaker 1: made me think, I've mentioned that a tree fell through
Speaker 1: our house, right and how painful it's been.
Speaker 2: How about an update folks want to know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so basically, the construction has started, or the reconstruction
Speaker 1: has started, which is great, but it's going to take
Speaker 1: a couple of months. We're out of the house and
Speaker 1: we're actually spending like half the summer in the Atlanta
Speaker 1: area half the summer down in Florida. So get an
Speaker 1: extra extra vacation.
Speaker 2: Out of it.
Speaker 1: That's like partially paid by paid for by insurance, which
Speaker 1: is But this episode kind of made me think about
Speaker 1: something in this process where a company went above and
Speaker 1: beyond to delight me, and it was the company that
Speaker 1: removed the tree from our house. Like the first step,
Speaker 1: which is to remove the tree, it felt like construction
Speaker 1: was going to start soon thereafter, but no, it's been
Speaker 1: weeks and at least a month.
Speaker 2: But did they remove the tree and then leave mints
Speaker 2: on your pillow?
Speaker 1: Not quite that great? Not fight that great, but they
Speaker 1: actually had They tarped the roof after they were done
Speaker 1: removing the tree, and the tarp job left something to
Speaker 1: be desired. They charged me like five hundred plus dollars
Speaker 1: for the tarping part, and it literally was like they
Speaker 1: stapled one blue tarp like I could have done. It
Speaker 1: should have been like twenty dollars, right, And so there
Speaker 1: was still a lot of water coming in. And the
Speaker 1: guy who runs the company, he actually called me and
Speaker 1: he said, hey, how is the experience. We pride ourselves
Speaker 1: in delivering five star service? And I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I will say, actually, there's a lot of water coming in.
Speaker 1: And that was the one thing. You guys were fast,
Speaker 1: you were on it. The job was done well except
Speaker 1: for this one part of it. And so he sent
Speaker 1: his crew out immediately. They tarped like a mofo, and
Speaker 1: he refunded every single dollar that they build me for
Speaker 1: tarping and more and so like, would it have been
Speaker 1: better if the job was done right?
Speaker 2: Initially?
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably, But I'm honestly actually more loyal to this
Speaker 1: company now considering he called me directly, he asked me about,
Speaker 1: you know, how the service went, and then he made
Speaker 1: it right and went above and beyond and making it right.
Speaker 1: So I just think that sort of response is rare.
Speaker 1: It put a smile on my face. And yeah, today
Speaker 1: I think maybe some of these these credit card parks
Speaker 1: were going to talk about you might not know about it.
Speaker 1: They might put a smile on your face because it
Speaker 1: might be something where you're like, you found money in
Speaker 1: a place you didn't know it was hiding.
Speaker 2: That's kind of how it feels. It's like that hidden
Speaker 2: twenty in the pocket from winter. You're like, I wasn't
Speaker 2: even expecting this. Well when I said mint on your pillow,
Speaker 2: that actually made me think about like, if you go
Speaker 2: to a nice reste, I'm not gone into my bedroom,
Speaker 2: all right, Yeah, that's just creepy. So like fancy restaurants,
Speaker 2: like they'll bring out I think they're called it like
Speaker 2: a mouse de bouche, a mooz boosh, a mooz booch,
Speaker 2: something like that. Clearly we're very cultured. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: even know how to say it right, but I love
Speaker 2: it when they bring out these little things that you
Speaker 2: didn't even order. But it's something that the chef prepared specifically.
Speaker 2: Between these two courses, I've only ever experienced that like
Speaker 2: twice in my entire life, but every time it happened,
Speaker 2: it was the coolest thing ever. It was a delight.
Speaker 2: And I'm not necessarily going to equate the two, but
Speaker 2: it is similar when it comes to credit cards, right,
Speaker 2: Like everyone out there knows of the standard benefits that
Speaker 2: you get with credit cards, like cash back, Yeah, heard
Speaker 2: about it. I know about that. But when you're able
Speaker 2: to score a reward or a benefit that you were
Speaker 2: not expecting at all, like that is when the delight
Speaker 2: kicks in. So sort of like you were saying about
Speaker 2: the tree company, like everybody pretty much expects the company
Speaker 2: to show up on time, right, to do a good
Speaker 2: job when it comes to clearing the tree out of
Speaker 2: there your yard. I went back there later that day.
Speaker 2: It was spotless. I was like, man, did the yard
Speaker 2: guy also come and cut the grass? Because it looked
Speaker 2: great except for the whole. But I guess a lot
Speaker 2: of times you expect them to do the things that
Speaker 2: you are paying them for, but it's that unexpected action
Speaker 2: that they took to satisfy you as the customer, Like
Speaker 2: that is what took them to the above and beyond status.
Speaker 2: And you know that piece of plastic in your wallet.
Speaker 2: It has similar abilities to delight you, but you got
Speaker 2: to know what they are in order to benefit.
Speaker 1: Yes, of course, we always, always, always have to discuss
Speaker 1: proper use of credit cards, Matt. Every time we talk
Speaker 1: about this is the disclaimer. The disclaimer, Yes, it always
Speaker 1: has to exist in any sort of time we're talking
Speaker 1: about paying with plastic because we need to make sure
Speaker 1: that you know where we stand with credit cards and
Speaker 1: how to use them. They are not for everyone. And
Speaker 1: so if you've had an issue us in the past
Speaker 1: with overspending and not paying your statement off on time
Speaker 1: and in full, then seriously, you might want to just
Speaker 1: like not listen to the rest of this episode because
Speaker 1: I'm flying with that. That curiosity even might might not
Speaker 1: play out well. Right, you might start like, oh, look
Speaker 1: at all these amazing little things that they're dangling in
Speaker 1: front of me. But if you can't use the credit
Speaker 1: card in the most basic discipline way that we talk about, well,
Speaker 1: the rewards you get are not in any way going
Speaker 1: to make up for the interest that you pay, and
Speaker 1: you'll still come out a loser in the end, So
Speaker 1: there's no benefit is worth slipping back into unhealthy financial
Speaker 1: habits because if you're not taking the most basic measures
Speaker 1: of paying off that balance every single month, you are
Speaker 1: going to outspend the rewards that you're earning by a
Speaker 1: wide margin, and might an even wider margin now, Matt,
Speaker 1: because interest rates have gone up. So I think the
Speaker 1: average credit card interest rate is something like twenty four
Speaker 1: percent now, it ten years.
Speaker 2: Ago well over twenty percent.
Speaker 1: Years ago is like twelve percent, and so that's a
Speaker 1: massive difference. And yeah, two percent cash back going to
Speaker 1: come anywhere close, right, even with these other perks, is
Speaker 1: not going to come anywhere close to making credit cards
Speaker 1: a smart purchasing method for you.
Speaker 2: If you retain a balance, that's right. And by the way,
Speaker 2: the pressure washer that was just outside our window to
Speaker 2: actually just ran out of gas. So it's nice not
Speaker 2: to have that. If you were wondering, what is that
Speaker 2: annoying sound in the background, You know what, We live
Speaker 2: in the real world here, and sometimes the house next
Speaker 2: door is getting pressure washed. But we're not denying the
Speaker 2: fact that, like, not everyone who uses credit cards are
Speaker 2: going to come out ahead. And a recent study actually
Speaker 2: found that.
Speaker 1: Rich bar the way, can I just say that makes sense?
Speaker 1: Because the banks aren't going to lose money. They're not
Speaker 1: going to offer you reward exactly and then not find
Speaker 1: any way to pay for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But so the reason study I was gonna mention
Speaker 2: a quote from that is that reward cards tend to
Speaker 2: induce more spending, leaving naive customers with higher unpaid balances.
Speaker 2: The study estimated that an aggregate annual redistribution of fifteen
Speaker 2: billion dollars from less to more educated, from poor to
Speaker 2: richer folks. That is a lot of money that is
Speaker 2: changing hands, fifteen billion dollars. Then something close to fifty
Speaker 2: percent of credit card users carry a balance, and that
Speaker 2: is how that money is changing hands. So some folks
Speaker 2: out there are they're deluded into believing that this actually
Speaker 2: helps their credit by carrying a balance. This is not
Speaker 2: the case. It only hurts your bottom line because you're
Speaker 2: paying money. Yeah, I forget the exact number, but there's
Speaker 2: a a not an infantetially small number of people who
Speaker 2: think having that balance actually boost their credit score when
Speaker 2: the opposite is true. Absolutely. Yeah, but if you are
Speaker 2: in that naive camp, you would be far better off
Speaker 2: using cash or even just using your debit card instead
Speaker 2: of continuing to use credit cards. For the bulk of
Speaker 2: your spending.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it pains us to say that because there
Speaker 1: are so many benefits in so many perks, not just
Speaker 1: the perks we're gonna mention, but even other things that
Speaker 1: we talk about, just protections that you have, federal legislation
Speaker 1: that protects your money. More that we talked about I
Speaker 1: think some in episode six twenty nine about how using
Speaker 1: a credit card when you spend is going to offer
Speaker 1: you superior consumer protections. But still it's worth foregoing those
Speaker 1: if it's going to ruin your finances, right, And I
Speaker 1: guess that brings up the question, Matt, does this make
Speaker 1: credit cards predatory?
Speaker 2: We don't think so.
Speaker 1: But Aaron Lowry, the broke millennial who I like her,
Speaker 1: I like what she does. She made this allegation actually
Speaker 1: in a recent Bloomberg article. But the thing is, no
Speaker 1: one is forcing us to use credit cards. It's a
Speaker 1: personal choice, right, And so Yeah, Granted, we'd love to
Speaker 1: see more personal finance education on everything ranging from credit
Speaker 1: cards to every kind of debt for high schoolers so
Speaker 1: that they don't end up learning the hard way. But
Speaker 1: I think a similar argument can be made that the
Speaker 1: only reason savers are earning something like five percent on
Speaker 1: the cash or stocking away now is because other people
Speaker 1: are taking out car loans at ten to fifteen percent
Speaker 1: interest rates. And so I just think that the credit
Speaker 1: card itself shouldn't be the scapegoat. And some people want
Speaker 1: it to be the scapegoat and want to make it
Speaker 1: sound like credit cards are the devil, like Bobby Bouchet's
Speaker 1: mom and the water Boy or something like that, right,
Speaker 1: But I just don't think that's true. And yes, some
Speaker 1: people end up losing in the proposition. That's why we
Speaker 1: need more personal finance education. That's yes, the answer isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily to wipe credit cards from the face.
Speaker 2: It's not to ban them, but to get more folks
Speaker 2: participating and using them the right way. And if that
Speaker 2: and if that means that over time the rewards like
Speaker 2: that the proposition changes, then so be it exactly. But
Speaker 2: the fact is, like, these are the rules of the game,
Speaker 2: and we're going to play by the rules that exist
Speaker 2: because that, yeah, that is our goal with the podcast
Speaker 2: is to spread the knowledge so that everyone knows how
Speaker 2: to properly use a credit cards.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, if if eighty five to ninety percent
Speaker 1: of people stop carrying a balance. Overnight, things would change,
Speaker 1: Rewards would dramatically decrease, and a lot of the things
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about would become vaporware almost overnight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I totally agree to say that, like, oh, credit cards
Speaker 1: are all the problem. Well, it's almost like saying that
Speaker 1: like paying interest or like compounding interest, that that is
Speaker 1: something that shouldn't exist, and it's like, well, no, it
Speaker 1: it's just a fact, Like it's just a rule, and
Speaker 1: you just want to make sure that you are on
Speaker 1: the receiving end of compound interest, not on the paying end.
Speaker 1: And so until the banks change some of those rules
Speaker 1: and what it is that they're offering, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: all we can to take advantage of it and make
Speaker 1: sure that everybody out there knows that they can take advantage.
Speaker 2: Of it as well.
Speaker 1: One minor thing I'll mention here, there's legislation being introduced
Speaker 1: right now and to rein in some of the fees,
Speaker 1: the visa MasterCard charge, which I'm not gonna lie, that
Speaker 1: is kind of a problem and they probably should be
Speaker 1: rained in, and that in and of itself would probably
Speaker 1: impact the credit card rewards that we all receive. We'll
Speaker 1: see what happens there, and I'm sure we'll end up
Speaker 1: talking about it on a Friday flight if it comes
Speaker 1: to fruition. But you know our stance now, Using credit
Speaker 1: cards in an educated and disciplined way can get you
Speaker 1: significant rewards and a slew of really cool benefits that
Speaker 1: you might not be aware of. And so we're gonna
Speaker 1: discuss a bunch of those. We're gonna get to that
Speaker 1: laundry list of killer rewards you need to know about
Speaker 1: right after this.
Speaker 2: Right we are back, and we are talking about these
Speaker 2: delightful credit card benefits that we don't think that you
Speaker 2: know about. And we kind of mentioned this early on,
Speaker 2: but you know, everybody knows about the big things out there,
Speaker 2: the sign up bonuses. They can be honestly rich, as
Speaker 2: I'll get out equally like eight hundred bucks, even one
Speaker 2: thousand dollars when you get approved and meet a spending threshold,
Speaker 2: when you're able to kind of translate that into travel rewards.
Speaker 2: But just the straight up cash back on every single
Speaker 2: purchase that is also fantastic. But this is also the
Speaker 2: obvious stuff, and we're not gonna talk much about that.
Speaker 2: We want to focus on the lesser known glories that
Speaker 2: your credit card has to offer. And so we'll start
Speaker 2: with a few of the lesser known travel benefits before
Speaker 2: we get into even more obscure territory. But you can
Speaker 2: rack up rewards with airlines and hotel specific cards, or
Speaker 2: you can opt for other cards that allow for even
Speaker 2: greater flexibility. But some of the travel perks that you
Speaker 2: might not be familiar with are things like rental car insurance.
Speaker 2: If you rent cars enough, the primary coverage that you
Speaker 2: can get from a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred
Speaker 2: is pretty sweet. So what that means is that if
Speaker 2: you are or in an accident in that car, well, Chase,
Speaker 2: they're going to act as your primary car insurance company
Speaker 2: before your normal insurance that you have on your private vehicle.
Speaker 1: And it just means every time when you're asked for
Speaker 1: that insurance and you're like sweating and sweating bullets and
Speaker 1: you're like, what if I.
Speaker 2: Get an accident, well, you gotta wry about it. You
Speaker 2: can turn it down with these you've used the right
Speaker 2: card and unfortunately we didn't have this card, Joel. This
Speaker 2: this sort of come in handy when we were in Scotland.
Speaker 2: We haven't talked about this on the show, neither you
Speaker 2: or I had the Chase Sapphire Preferred or any car
Speaker 2: that had the primary insurance carver.
Speaker 1: One of my cards used to have it, and they
Speaker 1: stopped carrying it as a perks, and.
Speaker 2: I like to the way I take advantage of the
Speaker 2: different benefits with credit cards. Meant that I actually couldn't
Speaker 2: apply for another Chase card, and so what that meant
Speaker 2: was that we actually opted for the coverage. And specifically,
Speaker 2: the lady was like, well, you know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of potholes on the roads around here, and specifically we
Speaker 2: were going to the Isle of Sky in Scotland and
Speaker 2: the roads are terrible there and the rental cars don't
Speaker 2: have any spare tires in there, and so she said
Speaker 2: that if you get a flat tire a blowout, you're
Speaker 2: on your own. And I thought that sounds terrible, and
Speaker 2: so we opted for the insurance, which also included a
Speaker 2: little collision that took place.
Speaker 1: Because it was good because you beat that thing up.
Speaker 2: So we had pulled over on the side of the road.
Speaker 2: We were looking at a lock.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone go in reverse faster than you did.
Speaker 1: I think went into reverse and I couldn't see scale
Speaker 1: or hard junior side.
Speaker 2: There's like this concrete metal rigging lobby intelligence on the
Speaker 2: ground that I couldn't see in the rear view, and
Speaker 2: I kind of crunched into that thing.
Speaker 1: So the insurance was helpful, but if we didn't.
Speaker 2: Ended up being totally fine. But the reason we had
Speaker 2: to get that, we felt the need to go ahead
Speaker 2: and get that was because we didn't have the sweet
Speaker 2: perks that came with a card like the Chase Safire,
Speaker 2: but we were short of that in mine because when
Speaker 2: we were booking the car, we were like, we just
Speaker 2: don't have enough time to get the credit card before
Speaker 2: we had to book the Going back to booking the
Speaker 2: booking vacation rentals, give yourself more time, because if we
Speaker 2: had more time, I think we could have maybe found
Speaker 2: another car that offered that that benefit. So this is
Speaker 2: a good into stuff. Do as we say, not as
Speaker 2: we do, and in the future sometimes we mess up,
Speaker 2: we will do we human according to this advice. But
Speaker 2: there are other great travel perks too, right besides something
Speaker 2: like primary rental car insurance are the and and by
Speaker 2: the way, there's a different Some credit cards offer secondary
Speaker 2: car insurance and others offer primary Yeah, and the primary
Speaker 2: is far superior. That's what you want. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 2: you want. That's the ideal, that's the good stuff exactly.
Speaker 1: That means you don't have to sweat it at all
Speaker 1: and that you don't have to really involve your insurance company.
Speaker 1: The credit card is the stand in well. Lounge access
Speaker 1: is another perk that some of our favorite travel credit
Speaker 1: cards offer.
Speaker 2: I don't really care about that personally. Well, because your sister,
Speaker 2: so she's got the last Yeah, and she pays you know,
Speaker 2: we'll get to fees later on this episode, but that's
Speaker 2: it comes with a hefty fee. But they travel a ton,
Speaker 2: her and her husband, and they guessing that's something that
Speaker 2: she takes oh massive advantage of.
Speaker 1: Yes, that is one of those things where if you
Speaker 1: like to be fancy and you like to travel fancy,
Speaker 1: this is one of the cheapest ways to travel fancier.
Speaker 1: So usually you have to have one of the credit
Speaker 1: cards with the more expensive annual fees in the four
Speaker 1: to seven hundred dollars range. But if you're let's say,
Speaker 1: in the airport twenty five thirty five days a year,
Speaker 1: and you're taking advantage of that lounge accell or it
Speaker 1: could be well worth it.
Speaker 2: It makes me think, okay, again, going back to our
Speaker 2: Scotland last Scotland reference to this episode, you don't want
Speaker 2: to have too many of them, you know. In one episode.
Speaker 2: But when we're flying out of Atlanta, we were in
Speaker 2: the International terminal, which it's not great. I'll just or
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. The food offerings aren't. Oh yeah, the food
Speaker 2: was bad. I was like, the terminal was fine, but
Speaker 2: some of the like the other concourses or whatever, I
Speaker 2: think it was concourse, fuh is the International some of
Speaker 2: the other ones have amazing restaurants. There's actually some really
Speaker 2: well known restaurants in there in f Like literally, we're
Speaker 2: at some crappy taco place right and they had a
Speaker 2: terrible marguerite that was bad. And I was looking across
Speaker 2: the way and like the seating, We're just sitting at
Speaker 2: this tiny little table. And then you looked across the
Speaker 2: way and you see the fancy folks wheeling their bags
Speaker 2: into the special club the lounge access over there, and
Speaker 2: I thought, Okay, I get it, Like I understand why
Speaker 2: folks opt for cards that have access to those different
Speaker 2: lounges or even you know, when sometimes folks will pay
Speaker 2: for that access. Yeah, but that's expensive, and so why
Speaker 2: not get a card that includes that access.
Speaker 1: I think when our kids are older, this is definitely
Speaker 1: a park I'm going to take advantage of because I
Speaker 1: think we'll be traveling a lot more when when my
Speaker 1: kids are double digit ages all of them or something,
Speaker 1: and we're all taking trips together or Emily and I
Speaker 1: are able to get away on more trips like without
Speaker 1: the kids too, when it to be just a little
Speaker 1: bit nicer, well like a date as opposed to just.
Speaker 2: Totally slumming it like you look you did in our
Speaker 2: early twenties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so again, this is something we don't really take
Speaker 1: advantage of, but I think it's a park worth mentioning,
Speaker 1: and it's a huge one for a whole lot of
Speaker 1: people who are like travel fanatics. Another one in the
Speaker 1: travel spheres. If you live near an airport or Southwest flies,
Speaker 1: you can spend enough on that card to snag a
Speaker 1: companion pass that can be an incredible perk, which the
Speaker 1: companion pass basically means for a year plus that companion
Speaker 1: that you identify gets to travel for basically free, just
Speaker 1: kind of the fees, taxes and fees which are or
Speaker 1: minimal trip cancelation, interruption coverage. That's another perk specifically the
Speaker 1: Chase Sapphire Preferred and some other cards offer as well,
Speaker 1: which can be a nice benefit not having to pay
Speaker 1: extra for that that just comes standard. Lost luggage reimbursement
Speaker 1: is another perk that some of the nicer travel cards
Speaker 1: offer certain customers or offer all their customers. And then
Speaker 1: free global entry and TSA pre check, which is going
Speaker 1: to help speed you through airport security. That's another one.
Speaker 1: I got pre check one time, Matt. This is a
Speaker 1: long time ago, but again I don't travel much anymore,
Speaker 1: so I don't care as much about these perks. But
Speaker 1: that is a good one for people who travel too,
Speaker 1: because it just speeds you through that security line sometimes
Speaker 1: thirty to forty five minutes more quickly, saving you time
Speaker 1: time sometimes keeping you from missing that flight altogether. Exactly,
Speaker 1: it ends up costing you even more money. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I saw the Chase Sapphire Reserve. They actually they
Speaker 1: have like one hundred dollars credit that goes towards some
Speaker 1: of the pre checks in every single year. But let's
Speaker 1: get even deeper into some of the different unique benefits
Speaker 1: out there, and we're going to kind of run through
Speaker 1: a bunch of these, but we'll make sure to link
Speaker 1: to just a ton of the specific cards and resources
Speaker 1: in the show notes for this episode so that you
Speaker 1: can find what you need. But cell phone insurance, this
Speaker 1: is an incredibly valuable one that few folks advantage of.
Speaker 1: And so what that means if you are clumsy, if
Speaker 1: you're prone to dropping your phone. First of all, the.
Speaker 2: Cheapest thing you can do is put a case on it,
Speaker 2: case the screen protector. But next consider paying with the
Speaker 2: right credit card in order to score some basically free
Speaker 2: insurance in the event that you were to put your
Speaker 2: phone through the ringer, dump it through the toilet, a
Speaker 2: raccoon runs off with it. You never know, I don't yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know if the raccoon thing will actually fly.
Speaker 1: Sometimes like stolen, you got to prove it stolen or
Speaker 1: lost accounts too, So where's the police report?
Speaker 2: That's right, that's what they say. But the built car
Speaker 2: this is a great credit card for renters because you
Speaker 2: can actually, by the way, be Ilt b Ilt, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you can actually earn points, earn rewards by actually paying
Speaker 2: your rent with this car's credit card. Up. It's kind
Speaker 2: of doing that yeah, but it also has great cell
Speaker 2: phone insurance that comes with it, the Chase Freedom Flex.
Speaker 2: It's actually another great option, and it offers eight hundred
Speaker 2: dollars per claim with just a fifty dollars deductible. And
Speaker 2: the bonus here is it does not have an annual fee,
Speaker 2: so you don't have to pay out the nose. You
Speaker 2: don't have to pay additional fees in order to have
Speaker 2: access to some of these sweet, delightful benefits.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just from know what the fine print is. Like
Speaker 1: with the built card, I think you have to make
Speaker 1: five transactions a month or something to qualify, and one
Speaker 1: of those needs to be paying your cell phone bill.
Speaker 1: So look and see what the fine print is before
Speaker 1: you say, oh great, I have this perk. Wait, it
Speaker 1: turns out I was paying my cell phone bill with
Speaker 1: a different credit card and now I don't qualify. So
Speaker 1: those are the kind of things you need to know
Speaker 1: to maximize and to actually get to use and qualify
Speaker 1: for these rewards. Let's talk about ride share and food
Speaker 1: delivery apps. Like, if you like taking ride share or
Speaker 1: ordering food delivery, your credit card can help you score
Speaker 1: a discount or even free services on that front. And
Speaker 1: you and I were not really fans of food delivery apps.
Speaker 1: We actually kind of rake them over the coal on
Speaker 1: the Friday flight last week because they're so expensive.
Speaker 2: It's so expensive, But somewhat recently you're even talking about
Speaker 2: how you might even consider it because I forget grocery delivery.
Speaker 2: I said, grocery delivery. Oh yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, that's right, that's.
Speaker 1: Right, which is in my mind. It's still more expensive
Speaker 1: and not ideal, but given kind of all the things
Speaker 1: we've had going on, like far superior than having take
Speaker 1: door dashes where you're just like we literally all you.
Speaker 2: Have to do is go pick up the food exactly.
Speaker 2: It's not like you have to walk through the restaurant
Speaker 2: and hunt for it, right and then make it or something.
Speaker 1: And the fees are astronomical, like we like we discussed
Speaker 1: on Friday, and so you're paying an armor leg But
Speaker 1: if you make that purchase with let's say the Chase
Speaker 1: Afire preferred, you'll get Instacart Plus and door Dash benefits,
Speaker 1: and same thing with Diskounded Lift and Uber Rides. Basically
Speaker 1: basically a certain credit towards what you spend with those companies.
Speaker 2: And so a lot of them have like a it's
Speaker 2: like a fifteen dollars per month credit that goes towards
Speaker 2: those services exactly. And so if you're addicted to getting
Speaker 2: food deliveredy you haven't shaken your pandemic way of having
Speaker 2: stuff just sent to you instead of you actually going to.
Speaker 1: And if you're one of the people who says convenience,
Speaker 1: Trump's money on this front. And I'm still saving, I'm
Speaker 1: still putting money in a wrath and in my four
Speaker 1: to one K guys, don't worry, but this is a
Speaker 1: splurge I make. Well, maybe you can make that splurge
Speaker 1: just a little more intelligently with with one of these
Speaker 1: cards that kind of gives you at least some sort
Speaker 1: of credit or discount for when you do use those apps.
Speaker 2: Again, reading that fine print, checking the back end of
Speaker 2: your favorite credit card in order to see what the
Speaker 2: kind of because we're not going to run through everything here,
Speaker 2: but to see what special little benefits that they offer,
Speaker 2: especially if it's a service or a product, or like
Speaker 2: a restaurant like fast food, for instance, that you already frequent.
Speaker 1: Your Forreign Buffett and you're listening right now, you could
Speaker 1: get your morning McDonald's meal ten percent cheaper the Chase
Speaker 1: Sapphire Preferred. Specifically, they offer ten percent back at a
Speaker 1: bunch of different fast food restaurants. We know, he listens,
Speaker 1: he just hasn't been willing to be a guest yet.
Speaker 1: He's going to go to these days.
Speaker 2: Ah, he's kinding. I would love to have them on
Speaker 2: but McDonald's, but also Subway, Little Caesars, along with just
Speaker 2: a bunch of other random discounts. Again, you only really
Speaker 2: find these by just snooping around in the my account section,
Speaker 2: and you might be surprised to see some random retailer
Speaker 2: that you happen to use and you're missing out on
Speaker 2: a discount because you're not using that particular card.
Speaker 1: Like I saw recently, MX Blue Cash Preferred had I
Speaker 1: think it's expired now, but they basically had almost the
Speaker 1: full rebate of the cost of Google one storage for
Speaker 1: a year, And so I logged into the back end
Speaker 1: to see, well, what are the discounts that they have
Speaker 1: right now? There was a Levi's discount like thirty bucks
Speaker 1: off one fifty or something, and then Fubo, which is
Speaker 1: one of those streaming services that has just a bunch
Speaker 1: of like live sports as well. It was like thirty
Speaker 1: bucks off a month for the next three months if
Speaker 1: you pay with that credit card.
Speaker 2: So very nice.
Speaker 1: These are the kind of things that you have to
Speaker 1: Every credit card is different, but most credit cards offer
Speaker 1: something like this and a laundry list of these things.
Speaker 1: Really like seventy eighty or ninety of these discounts, and
Speaker 1: so it's worth checking in there. Or am I planning
Speaker 1: to make a purchase at Levi's this month? No? Okay,
Speaker 1: forget that. Yeah, but if you were, Bam, that's an
Speaker 1: extra thirty bucks off that you wouldn't have had otherwise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the trick making sure that you don't participate
Speaker 2: in spending that you weren't already planning to do. Like,
Speaker 2: don't look on there and be like, oh, look, thirty
Speaker 2: percent off edible arrangements. Never done that before, but now
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go do it. But that card, specifically, the
Speaker 2: Amex Blue catsch Preferred. Hey those are romantic, Hey baby,
Speaker 2: how about some of this kind of though? The AMX
Speaker 2: Blue catch Preferred also offers return protection, which is really cool.
Speaker 2: This is something a lot of folks might not be
Speaker 2: aware of. And so the way this works, even if
Speaker 2: the retailer you buy something from doesn't take returns, or
Speaker 2: if the clock runs out on your ability to make
Speaker 2: that return within the window, well you can return that
Speaker 2: item to Amex within ninety days of the purchase. So
Speaker 2: there's a limit. It's up to three hundred dollars per item,
Speaker 2: and they limit you to one thousand dollars per year.
Speaker 2: But even still that's a lot of money. That's a
Speaker 2: big perpose, especially for forgetful folks. It can be really helpful. Agreed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's yeah, that's quite to say. Let's say
Speaker 1: you forgot to return some AirPods and you're like taking it.
Speaker 1: I'm out two hundred bucks and I don't really like
Speaker 1: these things, and we'll guess what AMEX will will be
Speaker 1: the apple for you on your behalf, and we'll give
Speaker 1: you your money back. And so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1: On that same note, extended warranties are kind of the
Speaker 1: cousin to return protections, right, and so the Points Guy
Speaker 1: has a great list of the credit cards that offer
Speaker 1: the best extended warranties like and oftentimes that's an extra
Speaker 1: year or two of the manufacturer's warranty that they'll tack
Speaker 1: on and the credit card will just kind of eat
Speaker 1: it if your item goes bust. That's a way to
Speaker 1: avoid the really expensive like protection plans and stuff that
Speaker 1: they want to sell you. At best Buy, you could
Speaker 1: confidently say no, that's okay, I got the manufacturer's warranty.
Speaker 1: And because I use this card, it doubled that I've
Speaker 1: got plenty of free coverage.
Speaker 2: I don't need your expensive stuff. Yeah, okay, So I
Speaker 2: just saw too that we were talking about the Platinum
Speaker 2: card from Amex specifically when it comes to travel, but
Speaker 2: it also includes a Walmart Plus membership, which I think
Speaker 2: is pretty cool. And you know, this one stands out
Speaker 2: in my mind because more of our shop, like literally
Speaker 2: my family family shopping, we do it online, and it
Speaker 2: seems like Amazon has becomeing sort of the default option,
Speaker 2: not only for us, but I think for a lot
Speaker 2: of folks out there, and they're obviously there's nothing wrong
Speaker 2: with what Bezos is offering.
Speaker 1: But if you're making retired living on a yacht, al right,
Speaker 1: this is jassy. Okay, this is jassy, now, that's true.
Speaker 2: But like, if you're making purchases online without considering other retailers,
Speaker 2: without considering other sites and what their prices are, then
Speaker 2: you could most definitely be overpaying if you are sort
Speaker 2: of a Beholden customer, Beholden audience. And so if you've
Speaker 2: got a card that comes with that membership, which includes
Speaker 2: free shipping, then that could be the last hurdle keeping
Speaker 2: you from doing some proper comparison shopping. So, yeah, maybe
Speaker 2: you do your standard search on Amazon and oh, there's
Speaker 2: a product I want, here's how much is going to cost.
Speaker 2: But you're already logged in to Walmart Plus because you've
Speaker 2: got that account now, and then you can easily pull
Speaker 2: that price up and you're comparing apples to apples. And
Speaker 2: also it's worth mentioning there are store specific cards as well,
Speaker 2: So if you are a frequent buyer at items of
Speaker 2: items at Amazon or Target, it might be worth considering
Speaker 2: getting their store specific cards because they're oftentimes offering a
Speaker 2: very high rate of bonus rates, you know, percent for
Speaker 2: everything you buy. Yeah, either one of those stores with
Speaker 2: those cards exactly. So it's just like if you live
Speaker 2: some pertial discount. It targets like your everything store, Like
Speaker 2: you go there not only for groceries, but also for
Speaker 2: beauty supplies or well, you know, stuff for the yard,
Speaker 2: stuff your baby that kind of.
Speaker 1: Stuff groceries even right, A lot of people exactly the
Speaker 1: Target for groceries now too.
Speaker 2: And then five percent card could make a ton of
Speaker 2: sense for you there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we got the Amazon card actually when they had
Speaker 1: a two hundred dollars sign up bonus, and typically there's
Speaker 1: no sign up bonus for that card, so that was
Speaker 1: part of what propelled me to get it. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: three two hundred bucks and five percent back on everything
Speaker 1: we buy in Amazon with no annual fee. I think
Speaker 1: it made sense. So h but we don't have a
Speaker 1: Target card because we don't shop there enough. Although I
Speaker 1: don't know, I guess I'd have to run the numbers.
Speaker 1: My wife actually shops a Target a decent bit, so
Speaker 1: maybe it would make sense to get that one too,
Speaker 1: especially never go to Target again, no annual fee. But
Speaker 1: that's the only place you would want to use those cards.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't use your Target or Amazon card literally anywhere else.
Speaker 1: You would only use them for purchases at those retailers.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's talk about another kind of interesting perk
Speaker 1: that most people don't know about. It's only offered by
Speaker 1: one credit card company that we know of, and that
Speaker 1: is Privacy protection. So this is this definitely fits in
Speaker 1: the unique category. And basically, by turning this feature on
Speaker 1: with Discover, if you have a card from them, they'll
Speaker 1: proactively work to remove your personal information from those people
Speaker 1: search websites, those annoying websites that list out your name,
Speaker 1: your address, your phone number, stuff like that, and they
Speaker 1: will kind of pull back some of that privacy back
Speaker 1: into your life, which could potentially lead to fewer spam
Speaker 1: and fraudulent phone calls, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I've got a financial benefit maybe, but it's
Speaker 2: more like a peace of mind benefit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I kind of like that because credit card perks have
Speaker 1: over the years proliferated and they've gotten even more interesting and
Speaker 1: even even more unique and different. Credit card like they're
Speaker 1: competing on this front for customers, and I love to
Speaker 1: see that. Discover is like, Hey, what if we have
Speaker 1: had some some like privacy conscious customers and we can
Speaker 1: literally do some work on their behalf in order to
Speaker 1: bring back a little privacy that they used to have
Speaker 1: into their lives.
Speaker 2: I think that's a that's a cool it's a fun
Speaker 2: one totally. And So another standout benefits are some free
Speaker 2: entertainment options that some of the different cards offer specifically.
Speaker 2: And I get that new Apple headset for free. That's
Speaker 2: not entertainment, that's a productivity device. I was just gonna
Speaker 2: watch immersive TV. That's what's gonna what it's going to
Speaker 2: be used for. No free museum visits Bank of America entertaining. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they can get into museums around the country without paying
Speaker 2: a dime the first full weekend of every month. This
Speaker 2: is one actually wasn't aware of until we dug into it.
Speaker 2: But check to see what's available where you live, because
Speaker 2: this could be a killer perk that could save you
Speaker 2: massive amounts of money if you actually take advantage of it.
Speaker 2: But there are different cards. I mean again, we're not
Speaker 2: gonna mention them all, but I saw the Capitol one
Speaker 2: Saver card. If you are into live music or live
Speaker 2: sporting events, they offer eight percent cash back, which nobody
Speaker 2: ever offers that much. That's it's a whopping eight percent.
Speaker 2: And so if you are into again in the realm
Speaker 2: of entertainment, going out there and attending events like that,
Speaker 2: that could be a card that makes a lot of
Speaker 2: sense for you. Yeah, And on a somewhat related note,
Speaker 2: Visa Signature they offer the benefits, Like there are something
Speaker 2: like fifty wineries that participate that are Visa signature wineries
Speaker 2: I guess or whatever. But it's Bogo. You pay for
Speaker 2: one tasting and you get another one for free. So
Speaker 2: if you, I mean, we love craft beer, that's the show.
Speaker 2: I love it. Like I want there to be a
Speaker 2: card that takes up the how to Money challenge and
Speaker 2: accepts our challenge and is going to offer like a
Speaker 2: buy one beer, get one beer free at participating breweries
Speaker 2: across the country. But if you're really into wine, that
Speaker 2: could totally pay off. If you and a friend or
Speaker 2: a significant other love to check out some of the
Speaker 2: different wineries, check out that card and see if there
Speaker 2: are wineries near you that you would attend all the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and by the way, that the Bank of America
Speaker 1: card Museum thing is pretty cool, Like the list is
Speaker 1: pretty robust in the Atlanta area. There's some great museums
Speaker 1: I haven't been to. And I'm like, Okay, if that's
Speaker 1: like thirty bucks a pump or let's say you're taking
Speaker 1: a family of four or five, I mean that really
Speaker 1: could time.
Speaker 2: Six, dude. I know that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's it really like a high Museum of Art free entrance,
Speaker 1: and the Civil Rights Museum, stuff like that, which I
Speaker 1: still somehow have not been to.
Speaker 2: Got to get to. Might have to get a card
Speaker 2: so I can get it for free. You have you
Speaker 2: been to the uh so there's a local museum here
Speaker 2: and on Sundays it's free. Oh yeah, I've heard about that. No,
Speaker 2: I haven't been. You I got check that on. Okay,
Speaker 2: I gotta check that one out, all right. One One.
Speaker 1: Another perk that we feel is worth messing is referring
Speaker 1: other people to one of your favorite cards, and you
Speaker 1: can snag meaningful money back for telling your friends about
Speaker 1: your favorite card, sometimes seventy five hundred dollars a pop.
Speaker 1: I do not suggest spamming your friends, no, but if
Speaker 1: you feel like that card will be helpful to them, yeah,
Speaker 1: send them a link. I literally sent a link to
Speaker 1: a friend the other day about the Matt Propane East.
Speaker 1: We call propane Taxi but now it's called Cinch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And one of my friends was asking about it and
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, it's great, and it literally costs
Speaker 1: a dollar more than going to Kroger and they'll just
Speaker 1: like pick it up and replace your tanks for you know,
Speaker 1: about the same price, and yeah, I would get twenty
Speaker 1: five bucks on Amazon if he signs up for it,
Speaker 1: be in my link. There's no shame in that game, right,
Speaker 1: And so you can do the same thing with credit
Speaker 1: cards where if yeah, if you and even if you
Speaker 1: just have a significant other and they don't have that
Speaker 1: card yet, well you don't have to necessarily put them
Speaker 1: on your account, give them the referral link, let them
Speaker 1: sign up for their own. That way, they maybe get
Speaker 1: a sign up bonus and you get the referral credit
Speaker 1: at the same time.
Speaker 2: So you got to look at all the different ways
Speaker 2: that you can score benefits with credit cards, not just
Speaker 2: the official I mean, I guess you know. The referrals
Speaker 2: are something that a lot of cards offer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of things, a lot of different
Speaker 1: ways you can play this cable. Don't usually think about it,
Speaker 1: but you can start selling your friends and family on
Speaker 1: your favorite credit.
Speaker 2: Cards and make a bundle exactly. But you know, it's
Speaker 2: not all rainbows and butterflies though. There are some downsides
Speaker 2: to credit card use, and we want to make sure
Speaker 2: that we cover those specifically as they pertain to trying
Speaker 2: to take advantage of some of these different benefits that
Speaker 2: cards offer. We will get to all of that right
Speaker 2: after this.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, let's keep going talking about credit cards.
Speaker 1: And yes, of course, there are a lot of unique
Speaker 1: benefits we just mentioned. I'm sure a lot of those,
Speaker 1: or at least a few of those many of our
Speaker 1: listeners had no idea about, like the wine thing or
Speaker 1: the museum thing. And those perks can be meaningful, right,
Speaker 1: and especially, like we said at the beginning, if you
Speaker 1: handle credit cards in a discipline manner, these are it's
Speaker 1: sugar on top of the reward you're already getting the
Speaker 1: ones that are posted everywhere and on the commercials about
Speaker 1: the cash back and the percentage you get when you
Speaker 1: use that card.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: I think one last perk I feel like it's worth
Speaker 1: mentioning is that you can you build up a great
Speaker 1: credit score when you use your credit card well. And
Speaker 1: I think everyone.
Speaker 2: Knows this is like the broccoli and carrots breefits. Not
Speaker 2: as sexy as some of those other ones, but but boys,
Speaker 2: it good for you.
Speaker 1: It is over the long home, of course. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think everyone knows that handling credit well is going
Speaker 1: to be a boost to your score. But that includes
Speaker 1: credit cards. When you when you use your credit cards,
Speaker 1: when you keep that utilization low, when you pay it
Speaker 1: off on time and in full every month, you're building
Speaker 1: a solid score which helps you out in your the
Speaker 1: financial arena in a bunch of different ways over the
Speaker 1: long run. Whether it's applying for an apartment to live
Speaker 1: in and boy, you got this like seven to ninety
Speaker 1: credit score and they say yes immediately because your credit
Speaker 1: score is so great, or whether it's getting that lower
Speaker 1: interest rate when you're buying a home, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But I think that's one of the things that deserves
Speaker 1: mentioning as well. But now, now let's get to the
Speaker 1: cons and like kind of what you have to wade
Speaker 1: through really in order to score some of these perks.
Speaker 1: They sound great on their face, and they are. I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot that are worth taking advantage of
Speaker 1: and worth considering. But at the same.
Speaker 2: Times, right, these delightful perks, Yeah, so we get to
Speaker 2: take advantage, they don't necessarily they don't make it easy always,
Speaker 2: that's right. Yeah, Unfortunately, there's always a catch. And the
Speaker 2: biggest one of all, you know, I think is the
Speaker 2: fact that a lot of these cards that offer these
Speaker 2: incredibly attractive benefits come with an annual fee. It's going
Speaker 2: to cost you anywhere from like ninety five bucks to
Speaker 2: six hundred and ninety five dollars. I think that's the
Speaker 2: biggest annual fee that we came across, depending on the
Speaker 2: card that you're considering. And here's the thing. This is
Speaker 2: regardless of whether or not you actually take advantage of
Speaker 2: those benefits, once you get that new card, you can
Speaker 2: expect that annual feed to show up on your first statement.
Speaker 2: So don't let that catch you off guard. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be there. And some of these perks can be had
Speaker 2: from cards that don't levy an annual fee, but you're
Speaker 2: gonna pay at least a little bit for some of
Speaker 2: the best perks that we mentioned.
Speaker 1: You want those airline lounges, you can expect to fork
Speaker 1: over a minimum of three ninety five a year.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't think that they doesn't see any
Speaker 2: access for any less than that. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I not that I saw, but I could be wrong,
Speaker 1: and maybe if I am our listeners, I'm sure again
Speaker 1: it will. We'll send us, we'll send us emails letting
Speaker 1: us know. But that's the thing. Yeah, for the best
Speaker 1: benefits for the biggest benefits for the stuff that is
Speaker 1: like even more rarefied, you are going to you know,
Speaker 1: likely it'd have to get one of those cards that
Speaker 1: has an annual fee. If you want the primary car
Speaker 1: rental insurre. It's still a bargain. I would say the
Speaker 1: Chase Sapphire preferred annual fee is ninety five dollars. That's
Speaker 1: not terrible to get a perk like that along with
Speaker 1: the other perks they offer, but be aware of that
Speaker 1: and if you're you're not taking advantage of the perks
Speaker 1: to the degree you thought, well, the annual fee just
Speaker 1: might not be worth it. And unfortunately, most cards aren't
Speaker 1: going to give you the Costco membership money back guarantee, right,
Speaker 1: so you can't try it out for a year and
Speaker 1: then say, hey, actually, now it wasn't my jam and
Speaker 1: then they'll pay. They'll they'll give your money back and
Speaker 1: they throw in a Rotissey chicken just because they're kind.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know if they actually do that, but
Speaker 2: yeah maybe, I don't know. If you get a particulary,
Speaker 2: get that on the front end for the sign up
Speaker 2: offers that sometimes yah Costco has actually yes, here's a
Speaker 2: case of water, a hot chicken, and a swifter's totally random.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have had those, like sign up bonuses back
Speaker 1: and they they're rare though they're.
Speaker 2: Hard to come back. I haven't seen them as much recently.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, they don't really need to. They have so
Speaker 1: many members and it's a desirable place to be more
Speaker 1: crushing it. But you just can't cancel a couple of week,
Speaker 1: twelve months get your money back. That's not how it works.
Speaker 1: You can, though, try and contact the credit cards customer
Speaker 1: retention line to see if you're able to get the
Speaker 1: fee waived or reduced. And that is a worthwhile thing.
Speaker 1: Like that's asking for a discount, which is something we
Speaker 1: talk about on the show regularly. Especially if they wave
Speaker 1: the first year's fee, there's a chance they'll discount it
Speaker 1: at least in order to keep you happy. And it's
Speaker 1: always worth of the shot. It's always worth asking because
Speaker 1: the worst thing they can say is no.
Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, well, and don't forget too if you
Speaker 2: are an active member of the military. So it's the
Speaker 2: service Member's Civil Relief Act that passed in the early
Speaker 2: two thousands. But this means that card issuers have to
Speaker 2: give certain benefits to active service men and women, and
Speaker 2: most banks, most card issuers go above and beyond and
Speaker 2: they just fully waive the annual fees. So if you
Speaker 2: are an active military member, realize that you don't have
Speaker 2: to pay eighty fees and there's nothing but upside.
Speaker 1: For you, specifically for active military members, Like why not
Speaker 1: get the American Express card that has the six hundred
Speaker 1: and seven hundred dollars anually.
Speaker 2: If there is a temptation to overspend, right And like,
Speaker 2: that's just one of the other cons is that. And
Speaker 2: we kind of touch on this earlier, So I'm not
Speaker 2: going to spend too much time on this. But if
Speaker 2: you are, yeah, if this is a slippery slope for you,
Speaker 2: or if you've dealt with overspending in the past, this
Speaker 2: isn't something that we want you to take advantage of because, like, honestly,
Speaker 2: the biggest requirement of managing some of these different benefits
Speaker 2: is to stay organized and to know what it is
Speaker 2: that you are seeking after, right, Like, it takes the
Speaker 2: right kind of person to be able to keep up
Speaker 2: with the different offerings that the banks are dangling out
Speaker 2: there in front of us. And so even if you're
Speaker 2: not tempted to overspend at all because you've always used
Speaker 2: a credit card. It takes someone who is able to
Speaker 2: stay organized and just keep up with how much you've
Speaker 2: already spent and then how much more you need to
Speaker 2: spend in order to score that sweet bonus. For instance.
Speaker 2: I think some folks are able to just wing it,
Speaker 2: you know, they can do the math in their head.
Speaker 2: But others might want to dedicate a little bit of
Speaker 2: time to at least keeping a spreadsheet with a running
Speaker 2: total how much they have left to spend in order
Speaker 2: to snag that benefit. But something keep in mind if
Speaker 2: that is not your in your wheelhouse, Like if you
Speaker 2: haven't even started budgeting yet, then taking advantage, for instance,
Speaker 2: of credit card offers, it's probably not something that you
Speaker 2: are probably ready for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're not ready for Depcon two when you have
Speaker 1: achieved Coon one, right, But I think it's also important
Speaker 1: to mention and note that offers change and that credit
Speaker 1: card benefits are changing all the time. Especially during COVID,
Speaker 1: we saw a lot of travel cards start offering pulling
Speaker 1: back on some things and offering better benefits in other areas,
Speaker 1: and we mentioned this. I don't know a few months ago,
Speaker 1: but Costco their City credit card, for instance, they stopped doubling.
Speaker 1: The manufacturers weren't speaking of Costco, which is a bummer,
Speaker 1: right for any anybody who holds that card and found
Speaker 1: that perk to be helpful. Like I enjoyed that perk, right,
Speaker 1: It gave me peace of mind when I was making
Speaker 1: a big purchase, like Okay, cool to buy a fridge
Speaker 1: at Costco. I've got four years worth a warranty versus
Speaker 1: one year at home Depot or something like that. But
Speaker 1: that no longer exists. So you've got to kind of
Speaker 1: stay up to speed and say, Okay, does this cards
Speaker 1: still offer this benefit that I value or have they
Speaker 1: kind of changed the rewards that they offer customers and
Speaker 1: especially Matt those ones we were talking about when you
Speaker 1: click my account in the back end of you know,
Speaker 1: your credit card sign in page, credit card dashboard, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you'll see like those are always changing and they'll say
Speaker 1: this is twenty four days left on this offer, or
Speaker 1: this one expires at the end of next month, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, if you make the purchase with that card
Speaker 1: outside of the dates that that reward is available, like
Speaker 1: it just it go poof, it goes away. It vanishes
Speaker 1: and so you don't have access to it anymore.
Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, I mean, bottom line, we just don't
Speaker 2: want rewards to go to waste. Research shows that a
Speaker 2: quarter or nearly a quarter of credit card users haven't
Speaker 2: redeemed any of the rewards in the past twelve months,
Speaker 2: and we don't want you to be like them. And
Speaker 2: one of the reasons is because the rewards that you
Speaker 2: earn become less valuable over time, and so saving them
Speaker 2: for a rainy day is the wrong tactic to take.
Speaker 2: It's one of the reasons. So I've got with Capital
Speaker 2: one I think they have. I guess it's I assume
Speaker 2: it's on all the different diferent cars they offer. But
Speaker 2: you can automate the rewards and so once it hits
Speaker 2: a certain threshold, it automatically gets applied to your account.
Speaker 2: I love that because it takes the onus off of me,
Speaker 2: and that's one thing I don't have to worry about
Speaker 2: where it is automatically being redeemed. But like what we're
Speaker 2: talking about today, though, like all the different benefits, they
Speaker 2: aren't something that you have to accrue. It doesn't build up.
Speaker 2: But you don't have to build up these dollars or
Speaker 2: these points in order to use them. These are things
Speaker 2: that are available on day one. It just takes again,
Speaker 2: like Joel said, like digging into the fine print, logging
Speaker 2: into the back end, and seeing what benefits are available
Speaker 2: to you that you just aren't taking advantage of it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good idea to have a redemption
Speaker 1: strategy in mind for travel points you're accruing, or for
Speaker 1: cash back, hopefully automatically redeeming that right with every statement
Speaker 1: period or something like that. But then again, with all
Speaker 1: these secondary these other perks that we're talking about, these
Speaker 1: unique offers that the credit card companies have, make a
Speaker 1: plan to use them. So if it's the free museum thing,
Speaker 1: it's the first, you know, weekend of every month. Put
Speaker 1: it on the calendar and be like, cool, we're going
Speaker 1: to hit up at least three.
Speaker 2: Museums this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that way you're actually taking advantage of the
Speaker 1: things that you say you're going to and make a
Speaker 1: note kind of whether it's writing on the physical card
Speaker 1: itself or having a little piece of paper in your
Speaker 1: wallet or your purse, they kind of reminds you, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the card I used when I book a
Speaker 1: Lyft because I get fifteen dollars a month or twenty
Speaker 1: dollars a month towards my lyft right.
Speaker 2: Rabbits, sharpy right it directly on there.
Speaker 1: Make sure you're using the right card for the right things,
Speaker 1: because if you're not, you're not actually getting the awards
Speaker 1: that you're hoping to get or you thought you were
Speaker 1: going to get when you signed up for that card,
Speaker 1: because you're using the wrong one. It's a really important thing,
Speaker 1: and it's something that I think it's a basic mistake
Speaker 1: that a lot of people could make. Matt and one
Speaker 1: other thing, Like I don't know how long ago, this
Speaker 1: was maybe six eight months ago. On the show, we
Speaker 1: talked about our super Chill credit card optimization strategy, and
Speaker 1: we basically what we pointed people to was a basic
Speaker 1: three card approach that we thought made sense for a
Speaker 1: whole lot of people. You don't have to overthink it,
Speaker 1: you don't have to overdo it, and just having three
Speaker 1: cards and using them appropriately will garner you a whole
Speaker 1: lot in terms of cash back, and we'll probably lead
Speaker 1: to you earning hundreds and hundreds of dollars in cash
Speaker 1: back on credit cards every single year. This implementing some
Speaker 1: of these deeper rewards and trying to maximize these these
Speaker 1: other more unique benefits you can get. It might lead
Speaker 1: people to bringing more than just three credit cards into
Speaker 1: their lives. So I think there's like probably a happy balance,
Speaker 1: But like you said, you've got to stay organized, right,
Speaker 1: And so I think.
Speaker 2: You depends on your personality, depends on what you're what
Speaker 2: you're capable of, like what you're down for, because I
Speaker 2: think there are some folks out there who could go
Speaker 2: the I'm going to get fifteen different cards in each
Speaker 2: every single like I'm only going to use them for one,
Speaker 2: you know, one kind of purchase only. I think that
Speaker 2: could work for certain individuals. But you got to know
Speaker 2: yourself and for all those folks out there, you know
Speaker 2: who I'm talking about, right, I'm talking to you know yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And there's no need to go a whole hog, right,
Speaker 1: or you don't have to do that. But I think
Speaker 1: some probably like a happy medium is great. Like if
Speaker 1: you're doing the three card optimization thing, that's great, that's
Speaker 1: a great strategy, and maybe you incorporate you pull in
Speaker 1: one or two other cards over time that have some
Speaker 1: of the favorite secondary benefits.
Speaker 2: That we mentioned today, who say, oh, yeah, now I
Speaker 2: really am going to get a lot of use out
Speaker 2: of the rental car coverage or when it hit up
Speaker 2: those fifty win winery Right yeah, fine, those get those
Speaker 2: specific cards bring that into your life, the ones where
Speaker 2: you feel like that's going to be the best returning investment,
Speaker 2: and particularly specifically if it's a credit card that.
Speaker 1: Has no or a low annual fee but has like
Speaker 1: a high return when it comes to the value you're
Speaker 1: going to get from from those secondary rules.
Speaker 2: Right yeah, as long as you are able to again
Speaker 2: use that credit card properly and you are not caring
Speaker 2: a balance and you are not paying any additional dollars
Speaker 2: on top of that annual fee to the credit card
Speaker 2: company where they are making bank. And by the way,
Speaker 2: we'll also link to our credit card tool because that
Speaker 2: can be sometimes folks don't want to read an entire
Speaker 2: article and you just want to click some sliders. Our
Speaker 2: credit card tool allows you to do just that, where
Speaker 2: you can sort different credit cards based on some of
Speaker 2: the different benefits that they offer. Yeah, we'll make sure
Speaker 2: to link to that in the show notes, but it's
Speaker 2: just also how toomoney dot com forward slash credit card tool.
Speaker 2: Joel is that it for credit cards? Were going to
Speaker 2: get back to the beer, Yeah, let's do it all right.
Speaker 2: This one was the jammiest bits of jam and I'm
Speaker 2: glad I got to say it this time because you
Speaker 2: said it at the beginning. I love this title. This
Speaker 2: is another beer that we got to enjoy from Sour Cellars.
Speaker 2: What were your thoughts on this one?
Speaker 1: Okay, so very jammy, which I love like I love
Speaker 1: it when it's a sour beer. But it's also got
Speaker 1: like some thickness. It almost tastes like there's like parade
Speaker 1: fruit in the beer, which is my jam.
Speaker 2: It carried no pun intil It certainly carried a little
Speaker 2: bit of sediments as well, so it's like, oh, they're
Speaker 2: using real.
Speaker 1: Bits of fruit. Oh this well, this one was for real.
Speaker 1: And this one was made with boison berries. I'm more
Speaker 1: of a strawberry fan, but I actually think I like
Speaker 1: this boison berry beer a little more.
Speaker 2: Have we talked about boys and berries before in the show.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I've ever had just straight up
Speaker 2: boison berry before. I prefer sn I wasberries, but I
Speaker 2: guess because of the color with a purple, it kind
Speaker 2: of reminds me of grape like it almost has like
Speaker 2: a grapey jam urns. Yeah, like a current, but super
Speaker 2: I would say it's a little less aggressive than the
Speaker 2: last Sour Cellars beer that we had this. I guess
Speaker 2: it's because of maybe more the fruit that's in this
Speaker 2: one that brought along some more sweetness not quite as tart,
Speaker 2: not quite as tart, which I'm all about so certainly
Speaker 2: enjoyed this one. Glad we got to enjoy yet another
Speaker 2: beer from Sour Sellers from or out of Rancho Cucamonga,
Speaker 2: Rancho Cucamonga.
Speaker 1: I am totally going to go to Rancho Cucamonga someday
Speaker 1: one of these days and try more Sour Sellers beers
Speaker 1: because they're killing it. This is, I mean, right in
Speaker 1: my alley of favorite style and they're making a couple ones.
Speaker 2: For sure. I don't know how I'd never heard of them.
Speaker 2: It kind of reminds me of, Man, what's the last
Speaker 2: time you had a cascade? They a sour By cascade,
Speaker 2: but it kind of reminds you of them. The format similar,
Speaker 2: It's a larger bottle, a lot of fruit, pretty aggressive.
Speaker 2: They certainly I wouldn't be surprised if maybe there's a
Speaker 2: little bit of cross pollination going on even between those
Speaker 2: two guys. Yeah, no, if they made a collab, I'd
Speaker 2: totally drink it for sure, absolutely, But yeah, we'll make
Speaker 2: sure to link to the different resources we mentioned during
Speaker 2: this episode up on the website at how to money
Speaker 2: dot com and you can do a sport slash credit
Speaker 2: card Toool if you're looking for that. But Joel, that's
Speaker 2: going to be it for this episode, buddy. Until next time,
Speaker 2: Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,