There are a number of threads that discuss the rewards benefits of credit cards. Now, with the latest legislation its possible that rewards benefits will be sharply curtailed. But very few (except for some old archived ones) that discuss the unique "non-reward" benefits. And now, its possible that the non-cash reward benefits will be the differentiator.
By unique, I mean benefits that are above and beyond the standard ones that all Mastercard, Visa, AMEX, etc cards carry
The purpose of this thread, via QuickSummary, is to to keep an updated list of cards that have valuable benefits that are not reward benefits
As benefits may change quickly in this environment, you probably want to call and verify if you are going to use an important benefit
Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Credit Card - member guide attached
- Purchase Replacement for damaged lost or stolen items within 90 days
- Price Protection coverage 60 days
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver 15 days US, 31 days international
- Warranty Manager Doubles the warranty up to 1 year
- Lost luggage reimbursement $3000 per trip maximum
- Common Traveler Accident Insurance $1M (accidental loss of life/limb)
- Concierge Services Locate tickets, flowers, etc
- Identity Theft Protection Contacts the credit bureaus for you
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Assistance reboooking flights, getting meds, etc
- Roadside Dispatch Calls tow truck, lock smith, etc
- Visa Signature Dining Zagat ratings access, access to special Fine Wine and Food events
I like Citi PremierPass for charging flights, as its one of the only cards to carry trip cancelation insurance free. Plus you get flight points.
I like most BUSINESS visa/mc because they have PRIMARY rental car coverage. Citi Professional is one of the best here because it gives 3% rewrds and primary insurance. IIRC Diners Club does too, or at least they used to/
I did an old thread here on the free insurance benefits of cards:
SUCKISSTAPLES said: I like most BUSINESS visa/mc because they have PRIMARY rental car coverage. Citi Professional is one of the best here because it gives 3% rewrds and primary insurance.
Whats the difference between Primary rental car coverage and the waiver that regular non-business CC have?
What happens if Visa/MC decide to ask for documentation of your business activities with the rental car if you make a claim? Couldn't they invalidate the coverage? I know a lot of people on FWF have biz cards and no legitimate biz. The terms of biz cards state they must be used for biz. I imagine they have a fraud department that might attempt to invalidate a large car rental claim.
personal cc rental coverage requires you to first file a claim with your auto insurer. of course you could lie and say you have no auto insurance and then they will be primary.
most "business" cardholders on fw consider their business to be something like eBay sales or IT consulting or something of that nature. As such, its extremely simple to ensure your trips have some business purpose - check on a potential client/vendor/item for sale etc.
SUCKISSTAPLES said: The only bad thing is I think we are going to see lots of changes/benefit reductions in the coming months.I know. That's part of why I did it. By putting it all in the QuickSummary it will make it easier for all of us to update it / keep it up to date
This is a great topic and in my case, quite timely. I have an upcoming trip to Europe and was looking at different insurance options until I realized that Citi PPE covers a lot of it already. In addition to some trip insurance benefits, the card also offers pricematch (but not on online purchases).
ThePessimist
Ancient Member
posted: May. 20, 2009 @ 10:29a
SUB said: This is a great topic and in my case, quite timely. I have an upcoming trip to Europe and was looking at different insurance options until I realized that Citi PPE covers a lot of it already. In addition to some trip insurance benefits, the card also offers pricematch (but not on online purchases). That reminds me that I consider Cap1's 0% int'l transaction/exchange fee to be a unusual benefit. I keep a Cap1 card purely for international travel.
ThePessimist said: SUB said: This is a great topic and in my case, quite timely. I have an upcoming trip to Europe and was looking at different insurance options until I realized that Citi PPE covers a lot of it already. In addition to some trip insurance benefits, the card also offers pricematch (but not on online purchases). That reminds me that I consider Cap1's 0% int'l transaction/exchange fee to be a unusual benefit. I keep a Cap1 card purely for international travel.
Schwab Invest First has the same feature and is better overall than CapOne
SUB said: That reminds me that I consider Cap1's 0% int'l transaction/exchange fee to be a unusual benefit. I keep a Cap1 card purely for international travel.
Schwab Invest First has the same feature and is better overall than CapOneAdded both to the QuickSummary. Doesn't have to be me though. All of you can do it too
SUB said: Schwab Invest First has the same feature and is better overall than CapOne The Schwab card is issued by FIA. FIA and Cap1 both suck, albeit in different ways. I wouldn't want to use either one regularly. If you're only using it for travel, and not daily spending, the differences aren't as important.
- event cancellation insurance (e.g., if you use it to buy a concert ticket, and the concert is cancelled, or you can't make it due to medical reason, the concert ticket is refunded) - free roadside assistance ($50@ I believe 4 times a year) - purchase return protection ($300)
edit: updated QS for this
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: May. 20, 2009 @ 2:24p
SUCKISSTAPLES said: personal cc rental coverage requires you to first file a claim with your auto insurer. of course you could lie and say you have no auto insurance and then they will be primary.
most "business" cardholders on fw consider their business to be something like eBay sales or IT consulting or something of that nature. As such, its extremely simple to ensure your trips have some business purpose - check on a potential client/vendor/item for sale etc.
My auto insurance has my name only and doesn't list my wife's name. Sometimes when we travel, I will use her name to rent a car (she does most of the driving though), and use her card to pay for the rental. In that case her card will carry primary rental coverage. There was a time we hit a pole while backing out from a lot and Visa paid the damage in full.
Of course when it's my time to rent I always uses my Citi Professional.
tazzy531
Senior Member - 4K
posted: May. 20, 2009 @ 2:25p
SUCKISSTAPLES said: I like Citi PremierPass for charging flights, as its one of the only cards to carry trip cancelation insurance free. Plus you get flight points.
I didn't realize that the PremierPass has Trip Cancellation Insurance. Has anyone tried it and what are the fine prints?
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: May. 20, 2009 @ 2:30p
ThePessimist said: SUB said: Schwab Invest First has the same feature and is better overall than CapOne The Schwab card is issued by FIA. FIA and Cap1 both suck, albeit in different ways. I wouldn't want to use either one regularly. If you're only using it for travel, and not daily spending, the differences aren't as important.
care to elaborate on the FIA part? I recently applied and got approved for the Schwab card to complement my Cap1 for oversea trips. Cap1 sucks because they often lock up my card even after I notified them of my upcoming travel.
If anyone is up for a hoot read through the details of the accidental death and dismemberment insurance in Ellroy's post (guide 7). Apparently each hand/foot/eye is valued at $500,000 each and to get the full million you must lose any combination of them. It goes into explicit detail as to what must be severed and in what anatomical location to get payment. In case you book your entire extended family on a one-way flying bus tour of the grand canyon, their liability is limited to $35 million.
*edit* Company will consider it a complete loss of hand or foot or thumb and index finger even if later reattached. This post should be moved into hot deals/free stuff!
SanGreal
Member
posted: May. 20, 2009 @ 3:58p
I didn't see this mentioned:
AMEX has an online service for car shopping with pre-negotiated prices. http://amexnetwork.zag.com/main.html
(It's really zag.com and its available from a few other programs like upromise as well)
Most AMEX cards have the Warranty Protection, not just the Platinum Cash Rebate card. I've been very happy with their service -- I called twice about < $100 electronic items that had died (cordless phone, DVD player) and in both cases they refunded the full amount without requiring me to send proof (the last time they just credited it back to my card). I had a co-worker who had a router died, and he tried to get Visa to cover it. They insisted on a repair estimate and they could not understand that you do not repair routers and no one will give you an estimate to do so.
SanGreal said: AMEX has an online service for car shopping with pre-negotiated prices. http://amexnetwork.zag.com/main.html
(It's really zag.com and its available from a few other programs like upromise as well)Does that work better these days than just showing up at the dealership with a pulse and saying you want to buy a car?
SUB said: Schwab Invest First has the same feature and is better overall than CapOneBut it takes at least 2 or 3 hard credit bureau inquiries to get the Schwab Invest First VISA fully set up to earn and redeem rewards. If someone already has a 1% or 1.25% Capital One CC, it is probably sufficient for that overseas vacation.
xoneinax said: But it takes at least 2 or 3 hard credit bureau inquiries to get the Schwab Invest First VISA fully set up to earn and redeem rewards. If someone already has a 1% or 1.25% Capital One CC, it is probably sufficient for that overseas vacation.Can you explain? I assume the 2nd is to open the brokerage account but what is the 3rd? Also, someone said in the main credit card thread that Cap One generally gives a low credit limit, which could be a problem for a vacation.
I know that some people in the original Schwab thread got 3 hard inquiries. The extra third was not typical and probably a Schwab mistake, but it was hard to dispute with the credit bureaus since you indeed had agreed to start a new lending relationship with Schwab's CC unit and brokerage unit. That being said, most people got just 2 inquiries.
If I did not already have a Capital One card, I would get the Schwab Invest First VISA. If my Capital One CC CL was not high, I would occasionally go online while on vacation, and pre-schedule a Bill Pay or online payment towards it. Of course, if I was a Hermes and Versacci shopper, this would not be sufficient.
Another benefit of the Schwab card is you can pay other CC bills with it (esentially a free balance transfer). I'm fond of this feature because I don't have to worry about making payments to my other cards and the cash gets to stay in the bank an extra month earning interest. I'm not aware of other cards with this feature so it's pretty unique and beneficial.
SegaRob said: I'm not aware of other cards with this feature so it's pretty unique and beneficialMany FIA/MBNA/BofA and BofA credit cards can do it too.
mttatkns
Thrifty Member
posted: May. 20, 2009 @ 8:17p
xoneinax said: I know that some people in the original Schwab thread got 3 hard inquiries. The extra third was not typical and probably a Schwab mistake, but it was hard to dispute with the credit bureaus since you indeed had agreed to start a new lending relationship with Schwab's CC unit and brokerage unit. That being said, most people got just 2 inquiries.
If I did not already have a Capital One card, I would get the Schwab Invest First VISA. If my Capital One CC CL was not high, I would occasionally go online while on vacation, and pre-schedule a Bill Pay or online payment towards it. Of course, if I was a Hermes and Versacci shopper, this would not be sufficient.Some people got 3 inquiries because they opened credit + brokerage + checking. They also applied for them individually, which triggered individual hard inquiries. At the end of the credit card application, they ask if you want to apply for the brokerage. If you click yes and apply for brokerage then, you should only get 1 inquiry. I only got 1 inquiry when I applied that way. If you apply any other way (e.g. apply for brokerage first, wait for card approval before applying for brokerage), you will get one inquiry for each account you open.
cyberkost said: mttatkns, did you apply for checking too?Yes. I applied for checking immediately after brokerage. There should be no additional pull for checking unless you open it some time from your brokerage application (though the people with 3 hard pulls obviously did get an additional pull for checking). The 2 hard pulls most people report are for the brokerage and credit card, since the credit card is handled by FIA (the inquiry will still show as Schwab, but your file is analyzed by an FIA employee) and the brokerage is handled by Schwab. When you apply for both together, it will pull once and send it to each analyst. Then for checking Schwab should already have your cr so they shouldn't pull again.
BTW here is the direct link for free Zagat reviews. Any Visa Signature cardholder is eligible.
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: May. 21, 2009 @ 12:58a
mttatkns said: cyberkost said: mttatkns, did you apply for checking too?Yes. I applied for checking immediately after brokerage. There should be no additional pull for checking unless you open it some time from your brokerage application (though the people with 3 hard pulls obviously did get an additional pull for checking). The 2 hard pulls most people report are for the brokerage and credit card, since the credit card is handled by FIA (the inquiry will still show as Schwab, but your file is analyzed by an FIA employee) and the brokerage is handled by Schwab. When you apply for both together, it will pull once and send it to each analyst. Then for checking Schwab should already have your cr so they shouldn't pull again.
I hear conflicting reports on the Schwab 2% card thread in FWF. Some said they avoided the multiple pulls by first applying for credit card online, then calling in after approval to do brokerage and checking together. Obviously it didn't work the same in your case (apply card+brokerage together = 1 pull, apply checking afterwards using existing pull)
mttatkns
Thrifty Member
posted: May. 21, 2009 @ 2:20a
busterbaxter said: mttatkns said: cyberkost said: mttatkns, did you apply for checking too?Yes. I applied for checking immediately after brokerage. There should be no additional pull for checking unless you open it some time from your brokerage application (though the people with 3 hard pulls obviously did get an additional pull for checking). The 2 hard pulls most people report are for the brokerage and credit card, since the credit card is handled by FIA (the inquiry will still show as Schwab, but your file is analyzed by an FIA employee) and the brokerage is handled by Schwab. When you apply for both together, it will pull once and send it to each analyst. Then for checking Schwab should already have your cr so they shouldn't pull again.
I hear conflicting reports on the Schwab 2% card thread in FWF. Some said they avoided the multiple pulls by first applying for credit card online, then calling in after approval to do brokerage and checking together. Obviously it didn't work the same in your case (apply card+brokerage together = 1 pull, apply checking afterwards using existing pull)I wouldn't call these conflicting reports. In both cases, the key is applying to multiple products at the same time. Pulls can be consolidated in more than one way, so there's no one procedure that you *have* to follow. However, I do believe my method is the only way it can be done entirely online. In any case, further discussion about this should probably take place in the Schwab thread...
ThePessimist
Ancient Member
posted: May. 21, 2009 @ 4:36a
busterbaxter said: care to elaborate on the FIA part? I recently applied and got approved for the Schwab card to complement my Cap1 for oversea trips. Cap1 sucks because they often lock up my card even after I notified them of my upcoming travel. If you look around there are many reports of truly awful FIA customer service and strange AA. Not surprising, given that BofA owns FIA. FIA and BofA share the annoyance of only being able to download transactions into Quicken or Money after a statement closes.
I don't know if it's true, but this thread suggests the Schwab card may be changing its forex benefit anyway.
Great thread. I do have something to add... Cap1 lets you put a picture on your card! Totally a unique non-reward benefit, although nothing to do with finance.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
