Tag Archives: credit card

Time to find a new credit card

I’ve been fortunate enough to have used the Schwab Invest First Visa credit card the last few years. (Schwab stopped offering the card and transferred its management to FIA Card Services back a little more than a year ago. Incidentally, FIA Card Services has been owned by Bank of America since 2006.) It was 2% cash back on everything with the cash being deposited, regardless of the amount, to your brokerage account each and every month. There was no talk about accumulating points or only being able to receive the cash back in increments of $25. It was perfect. I had auto-pay set up so I never had to remember to pay (just had to make sure I had enough cash to cover the balance!). As an example, if I spent $405.23 in a month, $8.10 would be automatically deposited at the end of the billing period. Sure, a little amount, but still, I’d rather have that $8.10 earning interest for me. With my old Citi 1% cash back card, that $8.10 would just sit there until it reached $50 exactly. I’d then be able to receive a check for the $50 and anything over that would accumulate until it again reached $50. However, the Citi card was great in that you actually got true cash back rather than points that you redeemed for cash. With the true cash back the company can’t suddenly say: ‘by the way, that $50 that you have…it’s now only worth $25.’ With points, however, I have a feeling that something like that could more easily happen.
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