(I can move this into OT later. Kind of a “borderline” issue.)
Received an offer to apply for “Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card” today.
If I understand correctly …
(1) No annual fee?
(2) 2% cash back on all purchases?
(3) 0% interest on all purchases until November 2025?
(Doesn't state a credit limit at this point.) Sounds too good to be true. What an I missing? And, importantly, can you pay off the balance in part or in full anytime you want to?
I’m planning a home related infrastructure project for late summer that will top 15K. And the provider says he accepts credit cards. Geez - that kind of $$ interest free for 18 months certainly has appeal, if I understand this correctly.
Comments
I used to be a primarily cash person also, but I now find it very handy and useful to have a record of purchases at your finger tips. I also have a MM with Capital One and use that transfer feature to pay off the card monthly, fwiw.
@hank, are you on Credit Karma? There are a bunch of options there for new cards based on your credit score, fwiw. Most with about the same benefits as the Fidelity card you describe. Many will give you a bonus as I described.
I've had the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card for several years.
It has no annual fee and it offers 2% cash back on all purchases.
Foreign transaction fees for international purchases were removed last year.
My current APR for purchases and balance transfers is 19.24%.
I pay off the monthly balance in full.
I’d rather not name my current Visa provider. Been with the firm 20 years. Large well known financial services company. But they will no longer accept “travel notes” ahead of domestic travel. So … after ending up stranded out of state in the early AM hours in January due to a flight delay, they declined a purchase for food (as “suspicious”). And the food / delivery provider would only accept credit at that time of night.
I do have a debit card tied to my Fido cash management account. And, thankfully, they allow you to leave travel notes, as I would expect their signature credit card would.
Thanks for the thoughts folks. I was thinking maybe there’s a hidden fee with the Fido card? Or maybe they’ll low ball me by offering only a small initial credit limit? Won’t know until I apply. Offer’s good until some time in July.
(You can obviously do this manually, but automating it is kind of cool) This card can also have the cash back redeemed into a Fidelity account (mine goes into my son’s account minor brokerage account) every month. Just an added feature/benefit. Plus I think there may not be a cap on cash back.
I use Identity Guard following an identity theft over a decade ago. And, using IG I keep my credit files locked. Probably reason I get so few offers. Fido is obviously reaching out because I have assets invested with them.
BTW - The offer does mention a 19.24%+ APR on unpaid balances. Obviously that’s after the introductory term. And 29+% on cash advances (thought Jesse James was dead).
When travel requirement was in place, once I forgot to notify & had it denied. Good that I had another card.
Year ago, when first issued, Schwas ATM/debit had no limit. I called to add limit, but they said that it was backed fully by the brokerage a/c & I shouldn't worry about fraud as there was a max $50 liability. But it worried me & I didn't carry it me except when going to ATM for withdrawal.
In 2016, Fidelity changed bank providers from BofA (FIACardServices) to Elan. Do a little web searching and you will find many less than kind things said about Elan's customer service. If you don't run into a problem with the card, that isn't a big deal.
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/OcLG5wTmofuC0d1S2BiROA2
If you had a Visa Signature Card before that switch, it paid only 1.5% until you hit $15K of charges in a year, then it paid 2%. When Fidelity switched to Elan, it didn't automatically up the rebate to a flat 2%, you had to ask for it.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/fidelity-changing-over-product-change-fidelity-1-5-fidelity-2-card/
In order to get the full 2% back, you need to have a Fidelity account into which the rebates can be deposited. Not an issue for @hank who opened accounts there, but still it is used as a hook to reel in customers.
Personally, another gotcha is that I've got enough Visa cards in my wallet already. If Fidelity offered this as a MC, I might look into it. (There are still some vendors, like Costco, that take one brand of card but not others.) That's specific to me, though.
Everyone is moving more and more to automation. Humans are too expensive. I suspect that’s where this travel-notes change stems from. Carrying extra cash in your sock or wherever doesn’t work very well at 2:30 AM and you’re stranded somewhere ordering food online.
I carry 3 debit cards counting the Fidelity C/M card. Just one real CC.
My plan: Keep the current Elan for what I use it for. Call Fido to get a specific dollar offer before applying for their card. If it’s close to the 15K the planned infrastructure project will require, I’ll be glad to put that on their card, invest the money elsewhere, and pay them back a year later. (And maybe pocket the extra 2% as well).
And - Oh. Thanks for the help everyone.
1. Elan is a real pain to deal with if you ever have a problem with an incorrect charge or, say, a refund that does not go through. I have had such issues on several cards and, in spite of an ultimately successful resolution, Elan was by far the most difficult to deal with.
2. You likely know this already, but in case somebody is not aware: even though they are offering this as a 0% APR promo, it will still count as a CC balance which may cause a larger hit on your credit report than other loan types.
@msf Citi is running a 75K mileage promo on their AAdvantage Platinum Select MC w $0 fee for the first year (spend $3,500 over the first 3 months). Depending on which estimate you believe, this is a $915 to $1,275 value. After the first year, you can switch to Citi AAdvantage MileUp MC, which - unlike most mileage cards - has $0 annual fee. (The conversion is free, preserves credit limit, and does not go on the credit report.) If you fly American Airlines only occasionally, any activity on these cards stops AAdvantage miles from expiring.
Look into HELOC for home improvement loans.
A hard pull can stay on your record for two years. Even if you abort an application before completing it. (I suppose one could contest that part of one's credit file, but what seems to matter is the fact that a credit inquiry was made, not so much whether it was justified.)
So I'm not too inclined to play the credit card application bonus game. If there's an offer on a card I wouldn't consider holding long term, I'll usually pass.
I did not trackIt did not go on the other two).Experian recently (2023) wrote: "While a hard inquiry will stay on your credit report for two years, it will usually only impact your credit for up to a year, and usually by less than five points."
Likewise, FICO writes: "In general, credit inquiries have a small impact on your FICO Scores. For most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO Scores."
That doesn't seem to match the experience you had. If Experian got the size of the impact wrong (or at least wrong for you), can one expect Experian's estimate of the duration of the impact to be any more reliable? All these "usually" statements from the industry seem designed more to calm critics than to provide actionable information.
There's a thread on MFO now about how fast insurance rates are going up. I'm disinclined to throw another variable (credit score) into the mix. As you wrote, it's a personal choice.
https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/car/rates-by-credit-score/
The best simple card deal I know, if you're a Verizon wireless customer, is their Visa card, which lets you apply 4% of all food / dining purchases (3% gas and maybe some other things) toward your wireless bill. Some months we pay 1990s-level totals for three cellphones, or even lower.
But little is free in life. And there are the risks mentioned (mainly a possible hit to my insurance premiums) plus the unknown risk of assuming next year would be a better year to pull the IRA funds than this year. At 5% compounded, 15K would net something north of $750 over a year. Not a big deal in the whole scheme of things. Possibly, I might max the card out and pull the funds monthly to repay. When you’re mostly fully invested all the time as I tend to be, pulling money in stages is a bit easierl
Fortunately the project is 1-3 months away. No start date yet. Labor shortage here as has been for many years now.
Yuppers - As someone noted, some merchants (including one of my physicians) charge a fee for using credit cards. I’d be willing to bet that’s the case with this company. Just displaying credit card symbols on its webpage doesn’t mean they won’t charge a fee.
This “deal” is fast losing its luster.
It all depends on timing. Fidelity had offered a MasterCard paying 1.5% and an Amex card paying 2% through FIA Card Services. Somewhere around 2015 Fidelity switched from MasterCard to Visa. That Visa, still with FIA, paid 1.5%.
When Fidelity moved to Elan in 2016, it upped the Visa rewards to 2% for new accounts and for accounts where the customer requested the better rate. Only then did I switch my Fidelity Amex account (paying 2%) to the Fidelity (Elan) Visa card (also paying 2%).
The "getgo" for the Fidelity Visa card was not long before the move to Elan, so it is quite possible that you only started with Fidelity Visa after that. Or you might have converted cards as I did. Or ...
If you’d rather deal with another bank than Elan, there are other similar cards and offers including:
Citi Double Cash: 2% back, $200 bonus, 18 months zero interest
Wells Fargo Active Cash: 2% back, $200 bonus, 15 months zero interest
I wouldn’t worry so much about the hit to your credit score. As an semi-irregular credit card churner, I can say that your score might drop a few points but bounces back pretty quickly.
And here I was hoping Fidelity thought I was someone special
Like hank's current card, BofA does not let you record travel notices. This has concerned me ever since BofA denied a $300 car repair charge. Best guess is that they flagged it as suspicious because I was having repairs done at a gas (service) station. Who charges $300 worth of gas?
At least I could call the bank from the service station. It's more of a problem internationally, though BofA lets me clear these holds online. Nevertheless, it's a reason I keep an eye out for a backup card (preferably MC) with no foreign transaction fee and decent cash back/no fee.
I may just have to go along with Meat Loaf here:
Roger what @Tarwheel posted. Everybody is fast at detecting theft charges. In fact the previous record with us for quick serial fraud charges was with Amex, 2-3 replacement cards needed within a couple of months.
Sorry to deflate your balloon @msf. Go ahead and use your “special offer.” I don’t think I want any part of this.
I'm looking for a backup card for foreign travel. Backup means it won't be used frequently but reliability is important. It seems that QuickSilver (Capital One) changed from Visa to MC a couple of years ago. It checks all my boxes.
It pays only 1.5% cash back, but for an infrequently used card a half percent difference isn't important. What does matter is that it has no annual fee or foreign transaction fee. And MC means it complements the Visa card I use for foreign travel. A modest signup bonus ($200) is a small plus. Not to mention half off coffee drinks in their cafes.
Obviously, each person's criteria are different. The Fidelity card works nicely for many.
I joined Penfed 15-20 years ago, (anyone can) and have 2 cards
1) 5% cash back on all gas stations, you must fill at the pump. I use it only for gas. It also pays 3% for supermarkets, food and more. But Walmart and Aldi where I shop are not included.
2) 2% cash back worldwide on everything.
Both cards have a real zero fee worldwide and good customer service. You can dispute online in minutes.
Last year they helped me with a tough case against a car rental in the Netherlands, I got all the money, they canceled the card and got me a new one so the merchant could not charge me again.
Wow, I just talked myself out of using the Fidelity CC.
See it at https://www.penfed.org/credit-cards
Other than that I'm not interested in points and/or limited cards and/or gradually increasing cards. Give it to me simple.
Thanks. I’ve saved the link to penfed. Just wondered … Do they have 24-hour live phone support? Easy to call? How well do they treat clients who call with inquiries, issues, etc?
I don’t think the live support at Elan is as good as it was a few years ago. I had a Citibank MC up until about 2005. Not only was the support lacking, but back then they besieged you with promotions. Can’t remember the exact nature of these. But it was annoying to call in. There may have been some “hard-sell” tactics by the phone reps trying to sell you unwanted services. Can’t remember the details. But that was the main reason I moved to Elan.
I appreciate that many people are reaping profits in the form of cash back, bonuses, travel points, etc. Never been my goal. Just good service w/o pressure tactics is what I’ve always cared about. And, of course, I pay balance off at the end of each cycle.
Not sure about the hours, maybe 8 to 8.
Cashback is the easiest way to have an ongoing reward based on how much you spend...why not use it?
I didn't want to play games with rotating categories, travel rewards, or some other BS.
Show me the money!
I found two good cash-back credit cards years ago (newest is >6 yrs. old).
I haven't had customer service problems with the corresponding card issuers
and plan to hold these cards long-term barring any unforseen circumstances.