Best Credit Card

[Nemo2]

(*) One exception was Home Despot when we needed $10k worth of building supplies for a reno. I used their card just for that and then cancelled it. I hope the hassles of opening and closing a credit card were worth it as much to them as they were to me

LOL...we did the same thing in Ottawa with them when we had carpeting installed.......and to top it off we won a BBQ in a draw they had for new account holders.

[Taggart]

(*) One exception was Home Despot when we needed $10k worth of building supplies for a reno. I used their card just for that and then cancelled it. I hope the hassles of opening and closing a credit card were worth it as much to them as they were to me

That was how we got $50 off our new fridge from Home Depot, but that was well over a year ago. Better delivery and installation service than what was offered by Sears, so their loss even though we went to them first. Still have the Home Depot credit card, but haven't used it since. Heard rumours that cancelling a credit card affects your credit score, but can't verify that for sure, which is probably why I kept it.

Anyhow, Big Brother's everywhere. Kind of hard to escape the spying, governments, even airlines or at my regular bank or doing a Google on the internet etc. etc.

[Shine]

I decided this week to change from Aeroplan credit cards to simple cash back cards. The older I get and the more annoying flying becomes I can't justify collecting any more air miles - as well one can never use them anyway if one is dealing with Air Canada.

I received a letter earlier this week from Aeroplan informing me that if I don't complete one "qualifying transaction" either by earning or redeeming miles, my account will expire in May 2012. Of course they never explained what is a "qualifying transaction". I have about 120,000 air miles in my account.

It is time to either turn the miles into gas cards or donate them to the "kids wish" program.

[Peculiar_Investor]

I received a letter earlier this week from Aeroplan informing me that if I don't complete one "qualifying transaction" either by earning or redeeming miles, my account will expire in May 2012. Of course they never explained what is a "qualifying transaction". I have about 120,000 air miles in my account.

Swipe your card at Esso during a gas purchase and your are qualified. Do you know about Air Canada Aeroplan - FlyerTalk Forums for all things Aeroplan?

[Taggart]

I decided this week to change from Aeroplan credit cards to simple cash back cards. The older I get and the more annoying flying becomes I can't justify collecting any more air miles - as well one can never use them anyway if one is dealing with Air Canada.

I received a letter earlier this week from Aeroplan informing me that if I don't complete one "qualifying transaction" either by earning or redeeming miles, my account will expire in May 2012. Of course they never explained what is a "qualifying transaction". I have about 120,000 air miles in my account.

It is time to either turn the miles into gas cards or donate them to the "kids wish" program.

Last year I redeemed my Aeroplan points for an Esso $100 gift card. A couple of weeks ago I redeemed for a $50 Esso gift card. Gives me a few free car washes. I save the gas fill ups for the Canadian Tire Gas Bar where I get a better return on my money (at minimum a 6% discount).

[flywaysuzy]

Well, I'm going to sign up for the sony mastercard through td. 5 puchases before May and they give you a sony ereader. Everybody keeps babbling about the ereaders, so might as well try one out!

[pmj]

If you apply via Great Canadian Rebates you'll get the e-reader and a $60 cash rebate http://greatcanadianrebates.ca/

There's also 15% in it for me if you let me refer you...

[Bylo Selhi]

I received a letter earlier this week from Aeroplan informing me that if I don't complete one "qualifying transaction" either by earning or redeeming miles, my account will expire in May 2012.

Were it not for that recently-certified class action lawsuit you wouldn't have gotten the letter. Your first clue that your miles had vapourized would have come when you tried to redeem the 120k AP miles you thought you had.

Swipe your card at Esso during a gas purchase and your are qualified.

A qualifying transaction is also as little as a $2 purchase at Home Hardware. Make sure they swipe your card. A qualifying transaction automatically delays Aeroplan's ticking time bomb by a year.

[flywaysuzy]

Sorry Peter-just finished it. It does come with 2000 bonus points to spend on sony stuff. Maybe somebody else needs an ereader? See Peter!

[izzy]

I received a letter earlier this week from Aeroplan informing me that if I don't complete one "qualifying transaction" either by earning or redeeming miles, my account will expire in May 2012.

Were it not for that recently-certified class action lawsuit you wouldn't have gotten the letter. Your first clue that your miles had vapourized would have come when you tried to redeem the 120k AP miles you thought you had.

Swipe your card at Esso during a gas purchase and your are qualified.

A qualifying transaction is also as little as a $2 purchase at Home Hardware. Make sure they swipe your card. A qualifying transaction automatically delays Aeroplan's ticking time bomb by a year.

Also a puchase at Sobey's supermarket (you have to join their loyalty program and opt for loyalty points to be transferred to Aeroplan) or a purchase from Pharmaplus (Rexall) pharmacy.

[adrian2]

A qualifying transaction automatically delays Aeroplan's ticking time bomb by a year.

There are two, separate, ticking Aeroplan time bombs:
1. you need at least one transaction per year
2. regardless of #1, you need to use your earned miles in a 7 year period following the date of their earning.

An Esso / Home Hardware transaction, as described earlier, helps with #1, but not with #2.

[Bylo Selhi]

2. regardless of #1, you need to use your earned miles in a 7 year period following the date of their earning.

Yup. It will be interesting to see what happens next year as the detonation timer on the first, presumably largest, tranche of AP miles reaches zero.

Will AC find extra seats so that those loyal customers can redeem their miles in time?

Will AC further increase their add-on fees, e.g. fuel surcharges, so as to extract almost the price of a seat-sale ticket out of those loyal customers who thought they'd been saving for a "free" ride?

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes in the AC soapponzi opera.

[adrian2]

Will AC find extra seats so that those loyal customers can redeem their miles in time?

I'm afraid AC does not see us as loyal customers, but as a balance sheet liability which they are keen to get rid of.

[Bylo Selhi]

I'm afraid AC does not see us as loyal customers, but as a balance sheet liability which they are keen to get rid of.

Just as I see AC and AP miles as a liability which I'm keen to get rid of

My remaining ~60k AP miles will be used to fly to Europe on Star Alliance partner LH or OS. Thereafter I'll be flying (outside NA where there are certain destinations where I have no viable alternative) on AABAC.

[ig17]

Speaking of time bombs... it appears that CIBC defused one.

I had about $25 Driver's Edge dollars that were supposed to expire at the end of 2011. My January/February statements show that CIBC didn't deduct them. I think CIBC reset the 5 year timer when they purchased Citibank credit card business.

[adrian2]

I had about $25 Driver's Edge dollars that were supposed to expire at the end of 2011. My January/February statements show that CIBC didn't deduct them.

The upcoming annual fee will be more than that.

[westinvest]

My remaining ~60k AP miles will be used to fly to Europe on Star Alliance partner LH or OS. Thereafter I'll be flying (outside NA where there are certain destinations where I have no viable alternative) on AABAC.

You may want to avoid LH and OS for Aeroplan awards, Aeroplan has started to add fuel surcharges for both Lufthansa and Austrian (and many other Star Alliance carriers). The only carriers without the surcharge on AP right now are UA SK LX TK CA MS SN SQ. Swiss out of Montreal to Zurich is a popular option to Europe these days.

Also, LH has stopped making premium seats (Business or First) available for reward travel until 2 weeks prior to flight time, so it can be a little hard to plan

[ig17]

The upcoming annual fee will be more than that.

I called and complained about the fee. They said: call us again in the summer when you get the notice in the mail. We will see what we can do to address your concerns. Wink wink nudge nudge.

[iluvnascar]

There are anumber of advantages with the CIBC Mastercard versus the Citibank Mastercard. I hate the idea of an annual fee.....but the major offset is the elimination of a cap on the number of points ($$$) that you can earn in a year; the availability of a significant number of merchants where you earn Bonus Rewards (an extra 2-5%). For example, I just got an EXTRA $58.76 on a jewelry purchase.

[Taggart]

Hearing that you can pay of your other credit cards with a Canadian Tire CC and get cash back of 1%. I wonder how long that will last.

[gouthro]

Sears credit card. for me now qualifies as the worst credit card. A couple of years ago I took a Sears credit card because i would get money back ( in terms of re purchasing power) on a few large purchases i was making at the time. A couple of years later, try to get the money--not there! Perhaps it was written in the fine print, i don't know. But, that was my money. That is the end of Sears for me.
joe

[FinEcon]

Hearing that you can pay of your other credit cards with a Canadian Tire CC and get cash back of 1%. I wonder how long that will last.

Total arbitrage opportunity and it wont last long at all. Here's why:

1) transfer cash to savings account X with a Visa check (which is a cash advance)
2) immediately cover cash advance to Visa account with CTC MC account via bill payment and rack up rewards on CTC MC
3) pay CTC MC with bill payment from account X
4) repeat as soon as both bill payment transactions settle

If you have 10k of limit room on both a CTC MC and another Visa you could rake off $100 every few days. Even Canadian Tire is not that stupid. And this doesn't even get into stuff like paying off multiple family members CTC MC in a chain:

1) Cash advance trick on Junior's Visa to account X
2) Dad pays Junior's CTC MC with bill payment from his CTC MC
2) Mom pays Dad's CTC MC with bill payment from her CTC MC
3) Junior pays Mom's CTC MC with bill payment from his CTC MC
4) pay CTC MC with bill payment from Junior's Visa
5) settle Visa with cash from account X

[CROCKD]

9 cash back credit cards compared

[ukridge]

Going back to the CIBC drivers edge card discussions, I cashed out my credit on the purchase of a new car. (2012 Ford Fusion, as a matter of interest). I intend to cancel the card after the rebate comes through.

Before I do that, let me ask:

- anyone else in the same situation?
- did anyone have luck with getting the yearly fee waived?

I *may be* able to talk them into waiting the fee for the first year, but who knows what they will do in the future, such as reduce the benefits, cap the redemption and so on.

ukridge.

[Arby]

Ukridge, I have a similar viewpoint as you. I also cashed out my Drivers Edge points last week for $2,300 on my new car purchase. I had a similar rebate on my previous car purchase 5 years ago. I like the 2% rebate, the relatively long 5 year points expiry, and that it can be used for any new or used car purchase. But I won't pay an annual fee. I'll be cancelling the card when I receive the cash, unless CIBC agrees to waive the annual fee for 5 more years.