Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

Banks Are Cutting Credit Limits

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Apr 25 2020

A month ago I wrote that credit cards might soon become tougher to get as banks tightened lending standards. In a down economy there’s more risk that banks won’t get paid back, so it’s logical they’d become careful about extending credit. Already we’ve seen what appears to be a tougher approach to new small business cards at Chase.

When banks expect an increase in defaults, they take steps to limit their exposure. During the Great Recession we saw banks unilaterally cut credit limits, especially where cards were going unused or underutilized.

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Emirates Now A Citibank Transfer Partner, Becomes Transfer Partner Of All Major Bank Currencies

by Gary Leff

shower in plane
Apr 19 2020

Citi has added Emirates Skywards as a points transfer partner for its Citi Premier and Prestige cards. Emirates is now a partner of Citi, Chase, American Express and Capital One – this strikes me as a problem for Barclays which is rolling out an Emirates credit card in the U.S.

Emirates offers great award availability from a variety of U.S. destinations, however fuel surcharges (which depend on the destination flown) are often very expensive and premium cabin awards are priced at 2x coach for business class and 3x coach for first class.

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United and Delta Discussing Big Discounted Mileage Sales to Chase And American Express

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Apr 13 2020

In the years following 9/11, as airlines struggled, and again during the financial crisis airlines pre-sold miles to their credit card partners at a discount in order to raise cash quickly. United and Delta each pre-sold miles, the former for about $500 million and the latter twice totaling about $1 billion. American did it too with Citibank. These ‘cheap miles’ paved the way for banks to offer big bonuses to consumers both for acquisition and for ongoing spend.

These conversations have started again as a way to raise cash.

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How to Sanitize Your Credit Cards (That Clerk You Handed One To May Be Sick)

by Gary Leff

phone in case that cleans germs
Mar 30 2020

A year ago I offered advice on sanitizing credit cards. Since then I learned that your credit cards are actually dirtier than the bathrooms at New York’s Penn Station.

Now as we try to sanitize our hands, and everything we touch, especially the few times we go outside this has greater relevance than ever. Did you hand your card over to a store clerk? Did you stick it inside a card reader machine, and what was on the last card that was in there? I actually sanitized my cards, even before the current crisis.

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What Should You Do If The COVID-19 Economy Gets In The Way Of Earning A Credit Card Bonus?

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Mar 29 2020

Everything has changed. You may have opened a new small business credit card, and your business is temporarily closed under a ‘shelter in place’ order. Or you’re just pending less in light of uncertainty in the economy.

Maybe you’re stuck at home, buying groceries but you had planned for big expenses you’re putting off (like travel!). I’m sure there are many readers wondering how they’re going to meet the minimum spend requirement for those credit card bonuses.

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Apply For Rewards Credit Cards Soon, They May Become Harder To Get

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Mar 25 2020

A lot of people are becoming unemployed. To a credit card issuer that means late payments and eventually chargeoffs. The reason banks sometimes reduce credit lights, and tighten lending standards, in a down economy is because there is more repayment risk. This reduces their exposure to bad debt.

I’m still excited for the long term of rewards cards. Thanks to the government’s money printer go brrr right now the cost of credit to banks is unbelievably low.

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New Business Payment Solution TripActions Liquid Offers Rewards And Seamless Reporting

by Gary Leff

credit card wallet
Feb 25 2020

TripActions is a corporate travel management and booking tool that travelers seem to like a lot more than suffering through Concur. They’ve just announced their second product, which is a company credit card aimed at business travel and called Liquid. Companies using it in beta include Zoom, Lyft and letgo.

This isn’t a co-brand credit card, they’ve actually raised a $500 million debt facility to finance payments for the TripActions Liquid Visa themselves. This way they’re able to offer seamless integration between payments and travel without a bank getting in between booking, payments, reporting, and control.

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