Shopping for a new credit card

ScottM

ScottM

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iBazinga!
I have had it with Capital One turning my credit card off because I do something so unusual with it, like buy gas in Nevada on Friday and then purchase some more in Illinois on Saturday. Geesh!

So I am in the market for a new card. Any BoA card is not wanted at all. I hate BoA and their credit card products. I have great credit, do not need a balance transfer. I need something that will let me charge $2k to $5k each month with a balance payoff right away. I care not about rewards, but want a VISA of MC as Amex is not accepted everywhere.

Anyone know of any good credit products these days?
 
ScottM said:
I have had it with Capital One turning my credit card off because I do something so unusual with it, like buy gas in Nevada on Friday and then purchase some more in Illinois on Saturday. Geesh!

So I am in the market for a new card. Any BoA card is not wanted at all. I hate BoA and their credit card products. I have great credit, do not need a balance transfer. I need something that will let me charge $2k to $5k each month with a balance payoff right away. I care not about rewards, but want a VISA of MC as Amex is not accepted everywhere.

Anyone know of any good credit products these days?
Click to expand...

Scott your a former Military officer right? How about USAA Savings Bank MC or Visa?
 
We use Citibank cards, I suppose because she likes the AA miles but don't really pay any attention since we just use it as a bookkeeping service anyway. Anyway, they are Semper Fi to the hilt regarding my annual month-long golf trip to California, and I usually get at least one purchase declined until we talk about mom's birthday and my HS mascot.

I typically have a somewhat prickly conversation with them (go figure) during which my farking golf trips to the same farking place for the past 9 farking years are mentioned along with why they can't figure that out by now, and in which I offer to review everything in the grocery basket that I have just purchased at Ralphs.

So last week the missus was preparing for her annual trip to somewhere in Mexico that I can't pronouce, spell or find on a map. She remembered the problem with Citi, so she called to tell them in advance about her upcoming trip. It was the damndest Q&A I've ever heard, and I would have told them to go pleasure themselves at about question #3, but she hung in and answered them all. The good news is that I don't have to remember anything about her agenda, all I have to do is call M/C and they can tell me everything about it.

Bottom line is that I'm no help but now I get to ***** about it too.

ScottM said:
I have had it with Capital One turning my credit card off because I do something so unusual with it, like buy gas in Nevada on Friday and then purchase some more in Illinois on Saturday. Geesh!

So I am in the market for a new card. Any BoA card is not wanted at all. I hate BoA and their credit card products. I have great credit, do not need a balance transfer. I need something that will let me charge $2k to $5k each month with a balance payoff right away. I care not about rewards, but want a VISA of MC as Amex is not accepted everywhere.

Anyone know of any good credit products these days?
Click to expand...
 
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I had to read Wayne's missive before responding, because it's too much fun not to.

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I'll echo the USAA recommendation; they give the same type of service to the credit card customers as they give insurance customers. They are excellent.
 
Why oh why are you using Capital One? That's about the worst CC company out there, and they mainly cater to sub-prime customers.

I would have suggested the Amex SPG, which is currently the best rewards CC out there. Since you don't want Amex, I'd look at some of Citi's Thank You points-earning CCs. Personally, I save about 10K a year just by using some of these CC rewards, and since that doesn't cost me anything, I would never consider not using those cards. It's free money.

-Felix
 
USAA!

PenFed also. If you are eligible for USAA you should qualify for PenFed too. 5% rebate on all fuel purchases which is nice.
 
Deal with your local credit unions.
 
Is anyone as friendly with international travel as Capitol One? I pay zero international transaction or currency fees with them and they eat the VISA transaction fees too. Yes they are a bit aggressive with their fraud protection but I've yet to find a better deal (I never carry a balance.)
 
sba55 said:
I would have suggested the Amex SPG, which is currently the best rewards CC out there.
Click to expand...

I've had more trouble with an airline affinity AmEx declining during travel, including a tank of avgas in Tennessee somewhere after I'd bought gas in Virginia earlier that day. "what part of you're a travel and entertainment card, and I'm traveling don't you understand?"

Tom-D said:
Deal with your local credit unions.
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Most of those have sold their credit cards to the big guys.
 
alaskaflyer said:
Is anyone as friendly with international travel as Capitol One? I pay zero international transaction or currency fees with them and they eat the VISA transaction fees too. Yes they are a bit aggressive with their fraud protection but I've yet to find a better deal (I never carry a balance.)
Click to expand...
Gawd I hope no one is an "friendly" with international travel as Capital One. That is one of my complaints about them. Each time I go overseas and try to use the card they block it and I have to call them to get it unlocked. Annoying as hell! In this day in age they should know my profile has me doing frequent overseas travel and let the charge go through.
 
ScottM said:
Gawd I hope no one is an "friendly" with international travel as Capital One. That is one of my complaints about them. Each time I go overseas and try to use the card they block it and I have to call them to get it unlocked. Annoying as hell! In this day in age they should know my profile has me doing frequent overseas travel and let the charge go through.
Click to expand...

Interesting. That's about all I use my Capital One card for - personal expenses outside the US. And I haven't had any problems with it. All over the place last summer, may have used it in Germany in February, probably will use it this week in Milan, used it in Cancun in April. "No hassels".
 
I have used a Visa and an MC card, originally issued by a local bank (no longer have an account there) for decades now... It appears to me that both Visa and MC consider ME the customer not the issuing bank - so I think that it matters not who the issuing lender is ... Let me give a strong second to doing business with a credit union and getting a V/MC card issued from them...

I have predictable habits and between the business and the personal cards we charge significant amounts per month.... We do not carry a monthly balance forward (my grandmother who had young children during the Great Depression endlessly preached at me, neither a borrower nor a lender be)...

What I have found helpful is to give the CC company a heads up if we are going to do anything out of the usual (for us)... As long as we do that we do not get urgent cellphone calls questioning why I bought hundreds of dollars of avgas in Saginaw and repeated that in Chattanoga 4.5 hours later... Actually, I appreciated their concern...

I have also at times arranged for a single use CC number when I want to make a purchase over the internet and did not want them having my permanent CC numbers... I have found both these CC companies to be customer oriented and they are accepted almost everywhere...
 
The problem isn't the issuer of the card. It's the processor they are using for Fraud control. For the Credit Union Issued cards it will probably be either Co-op Financial Services or PSCU.

I supposes Capital One could have their own system and even be big enough to offer it as a service to smaller issuers I don't know.

All credit transactions are run through a computer set of rules based on how to detect normal versus fraud activity. The goal is to stop ~90% of the fraud after the first or second transaction. So anything out of the normal for the masses would rather be stopped and force you to verify than wait for a second or third possible fradulent transaction.
 
wsuffa said:
I've had more trouble with an airline affinity AmEx declining during travel, including a tank of avgas in Tennessee somewhere after I'd bought gas in Virginia earlier that day. "what part of you're a travel and entertainment card, and I'm traveling don't you understand?"
Click to expand...
I've had more problems with AmEx being declined than any other card too. Gas stations are particularly bad in Canada. I have stopped even trying at the mom and pop stations but sometimes even major brand gas stations will deny it. I've found that most people have never heard of Discover up there either.
 
Everskyward said:
I've had more problems with AmEx being declined than any other card too. Gas stations are particularly bad in Canada. I have stopped even trying at the mom and pop stations but sometimes even major brand gas stations will deny it. I've found that most people have never heard of Discover up there either.
Click to expand...

AmEx has the highest fee to the merchant so that is why many places don't accept them.
 
I have a VISA through my Credit Union, best rate and service I have ever had.
 
So...I can't help but ask again...

For me, the vig you pay for using a US credit card outside the country, to both the issuing institution AND either VISA or MC, can be much more of an annoyance than having to call them about travel plans (but hey that's just me I guess)...

So does anyone come back from a
trip with NO foreign transaction fees on their bill, whatsoever, besides Capitol One holders? That too is why I switched. That, and double miles and no annual fee.
 
I've used my Visa debit card around the globe without fail. I keep just enough in the checking account to cover charges. If more is needed, I just use my cell phone to transfer funds from the money market account. This method prevents someone getting the card and fraudulently spending me into the poor house.
 
alaskaflyer said:
So...I can't help but ask again...

For me, the vig you pay for using a US credit card outside the country, to both the issuing institution AND either VISA or MC, can be much more of an annoyance than having to call them about travel plans (but hey that's just me I guess)...

So does anyone come back from a
trip with NO foreign transaction fees on their bill, whatsoever, besides Capitol One holders? That too is why I switched. That, and double miles and no annual fee.
Click to expand...


Here's the problem: some companies don't honor the pre-call routine. Some say they'll only honor it AFTER they block a transaction. And some wait until the next business day. I had one tell me that it was great that I called but it wouldn't guarantee that they wouldn't block the card..
 
kevin47881 said:
I've used my Visa debit card around the globe without fail. I keep just enough in the checking account to cover charges. If more is needed, I just use my cell phone to transfer funds from the money market account. This method prevents someone getting the card and fraudulently spending me into the poor house.
Click to expand...
I can't speak to the laws internationally, but in the US you don't necessarily have the purchase protection with a debit card that you do with a credit card. Your issuing bank/CU may choose to extend it to you, but there's no legal requirement that they do so, at least last time I saw.
 
ScottM said:
Yes. My AMEX does not charge me exchange fees.
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The only AMEX card I have is my company travel card. After an experience with them 15 years ago with my own card I won't have an account with them again. Fraudulent charges to a card that hadn't been used and it was like pulling teeth to get them to fix the mess. Never again.
 
wsuffa said:
I've had more trouble with an airline affinity AmEx declining during travel, including a tank of avgas in Tennessee somewhere after I'd bought gas in Virginia earlier that day. "what part of you're a travel and entertainment card, and I'm traveling don't you understand?"
Click to expand...
True. Sadly, that seems to be a systemic problem.

I've had very few problems with my Amex cards. Sometimes, you do spend a few minutes on the phone with them, but a couple thousand $ a year are worth a few minutes a year to me....
 
ScottM said:
For those of you with the USAA card, is there anyway to get it without being a USAA member?
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If you have an IRA with them you're a member.

You do pretty much need to be a member, but membership is easy if you're a current/former military officer or you're a family member of one. Some enlisteds now qualify, too.
 
i just have a visa through my credit union. but i dont travel all over the world or charge 2-5K a month. usually 1K a month MAX and pay it all off right away.
 
I didn't realize that non-members could have certain accounts either. Appreciate the info.
 
wsuffa said:
Are you eligible for USAA?
Click to expand...

I like my USAA cards, but I've had them turned off occasionally for traveling to much in one day. The last time was 4-5 years ago though. A phone call corrected it quickly. I guess it looked like a stolen card.

Barb
 
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