Speaking of Scams

I don't know what was happening with the unauthorized charges, but the story is old. It goes back to at least 2019. The story above is from April 2022.
 
We pay for EVERYTHING (except monthly utilities) with a credit card and I pay the balance every Saturday morning. The charges are all checked and then I check my bank account against any register entries, which are only the credit card payments and monthly utilities. Doing it this way, everything is fresh in my head and it's easy to remember what we've done in the past week. I don't want to go through a month's worth of charges and try to remember everything.
We also have notifications set up for every time the card is used, it notifies us within a couple of minutes via text.
In this day and age, not staying on top of any account that can be charged or houses your money on a weekly basis is crazy IMO.
 
Use credit cards, get cash back of at least 2% on everything you buy. We get mostly 5%
Any unauthorized charges, a simple click of your mouse or touch on your touch screen takes care of it, not your problem.

NEVER use debit cards and never allow autodrafts from a bank account because that can become your headache and problem that will at some point get worked out. With credit cards, it's the credit card company headache and problem.
 
alarmguy said:
Use credit cards, get cash back of at least 2% on everything you buy. We get mostly 5%
Any unauthorized charges, a simple click of your mouse or touch on your touch screen takes care of it, not your problem.

NEVER use debit cards and never allow autodrafts from a bank account because that can become your headache and problem that will at some point get worked out. With credit cards, it's the credit card company headache and problem.
Click to expand...
What gets you 5% Holmes? wanna know!
 
Pablo said:
What gets you 5% Holmes? wanna know!
Click to expand...
:):):):)
2% everything on Citi all year*
5% on highest category on my wife's Citi all year**

Then for the ones below-
Current quarter; April, May, June
5% at gas stations and home improvement stores on Discover
5% at Amazon and restaurants on Chase Freedom
**5% on all groceries which we will be using wifes Citi card mentioned above for the quarter

More or less whatever 5% category isnt covered on my Chase and Discover for any given quarter we use my wife's 5% highest category for that. She gets 5% on whatever category she spends most for the month. Any major purchases will go to my wife's as she will get 5% at the sacrifice of lessor things like groceries for the month and groceries will to go AMEX 3% at lessor amounts. Assuming that major purchase isnt already covered under 5% on my Chase or Discover for the quarter.

*The 2% Citi I have covers anything else which would be a much lessor category anyway.
Also at any given time, posted below AMEX offers 3% but we do not use it much as there isnt much need.
  • 3% Cash Back on Groceries at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%).
  • 3% Cash Back on U.S. Online Retail purchases, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%)
  • 3% Cash Back on Gas at U.S. gas stations, on up to $6,000
@Pablo as you may know, then also, with electronic payments, the balance of the bills sit earning interest @ 5% in our savings account until the last minute of the month that they can be paid. I am sure you are not much different but when I look at the year ends statements on what we charge, using their money to collect interest is another bonus. *LOL* Im kind of surprised how much those statements show. I know not as much a big deal to you and some of the other very wealthy in here. I am certainly not struggling in anyway and far, far from what people would think "cheap" but I like doing stuff like this as a hobby, my wife too.
I look at it as taking money back from the corporate world that I give my money to as they do the same.
 
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That beats the 4% for the Costco Citi card in some/most respects. Which is 1% or everything BUT I had to ask them:

" Earn 4% cash back on eligible gas and eligible electric vehicle (EV) charging transactions worldwide, including gas and EV charging at Costco, for the first $7,000 per year in gas and/or EV charging purchases, and then 1% thereafter.

Any gas station that is not one of the following should be eligible: Ahold, Albertson's, BJ's, Canadian Tire Corp Ltd, Carrefour, City Market, Food 4 Less, Food Giant, Fred Meyers, Fresh Food Centers, Fresh Market, Fry's Fuel, Giant Eagle, IGA INC, Ingles Markets, King Soopers, Kroger, Loaf N Jug, Loblaw, Meijer, Piggly Wiggly, Ralph's, Ralph's Fuel, Safeway, Sam's Club, Smith's Fuel, Supervalu, Target, Tesco, Von's Fuel, Wakefern Food Corp, Walmart, and Winn-Dixie.

Unfortunately, we do not have a list of gas stations that are eligible, because any other gas station is eligible.

Earn 3% cash back on restaurants, including fast food.

Note: Certain nonqualifying purchases you will only earn 1%, not 3%. These purchases are made at bakeries and certain restaurants or cafes inside department stores, grocery, or warehouse clubs.

Earn 3% cash back on and eligible travel purchases worldwide, including travel purchases booked directly through Costco.
Travel booking sites such as Airbnb, Expedia, Travelocity, and Priceline are considered travel agencies and would earn 3% in rewards.
You will only earn 1%, not 3%, for the following;
Purchases made at timeshares, campgrounds, and bed & breakfasts.
Purchases of train and commuter travel.

2% cash back on all other purchases from Costco and Costco.com.

1% cash back on all other purchases, including the non-qualifying purchases listed above.

For your kind information, here are the merchants that are excluded from earning 4% cash back.

Ahold
Albertson's
BJ's
Canadian Tire Corp Ltd
Carrefour
City Market
CND Tire
Food 4 Less (any variation such as Food4less)
Food Giant
Fred Meyers (any variation such as Fred M)
Fresh Food Centers
Fresh Market
Fry's Fuel (any variation such as Frys-Fuel)
Giant Eagle
Giant Fuel
IGA INC
Ingles Markets
King Soopers
Kroger
Loaf N Jug
Loblaw (any variation such as Loblaw Companies LTD)
Meijer
Piggly Wiggly
Ralph's (any variation such as Ralph’s Fuel)
Ralph's Fuel
Safeway
Sam's Club (any variation such as SamsClub)
Smith's Fuel (any variation such as Smithsfuel)
Supervalu
Target (any variation such as Target Corp)
Tesco
Von's Fuel
Wakefern Food Corp
Walmart (any variation such as Wal*Mart or Wal-Mart)
Winn-Dixie."

Fidelity Elan Visa is 2% for everything but runs special deals for gas and other vendors
 
"Google" doesn't show up in any of my statements, fortunately. I made a conscious decision when I got my first Android phone that Google would never get my credit card numbers. App store purchases have only been made with pre-paid Play Store gift cards. I also don't do online banking on my phone.
 
For cashback without having to deal with the ridiculous rotating categories you need to sign up for each quarter, the Costco Citi card is the best value.
 
zzyzzx said:
Set up alerts on all accounts. Any time a charge is made I get an email.
Click to expand...
Same here, also alerts from the banking app. Every time I swipe I get all kinds of bings and bongs it's nuts, especially through the Taco bell drive through when connected to Bluetooth lol.

Needless to say, if there is a charge, I'll either hear it or see it as a notification. Still good practice to manually check though.
 
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