The 10k $100 gift cards are now the best redemption option. If you don't have use for them, sell them. The best fixed rate (non-auction and non-trade) I've seen is $84 for an Amazon gift card or $80 for cash on Chili's gift cards through PlasticJungle. It's a bit more work, but both of those options have a higher yield than the new student loan rebate redemption rates. Of course, if you can actually use one of the $100 gift cards (there are 40 options valued at 10k points), then you're only losing CashBack on those transactions so at worst you're getting $95 net. If you use it online and get FatWallet or other CashBack on the value of the transaction, you can still break even or potentially make a profit, depending on the merchant.

wiredspider said:DiMAn0684 said:wiredspider said:zaxon said:if i get the $700 student loan rebate, will i get a 1099-misc for the amount.
last year i redeemed for $900 flight points and got hit with a 1099-misc for $900.

The CC points aren't suppose to be taxed since it's like a rebate on what you spent. However, the points from your banking relationship maybe taxed...

I remember reading that Citi sent 1099 to people who redeemed over $600 in TY points in a calendar year. Need someone to confirm the info.
I can CONFIRM I got a 1099, but it was due to the banking relationship...

I got 1099 and when I called and asked them they told me that it is because of points flights I used it for (~$900) no other banking relationship.
This time I asked about student loan checks, and CSR told me that shipping, and TAX are included.

Citibank has determined that it was no longer in their best interest to provide a reward for third party loan repayment checks with different redemption values. The definition of student loan rebate was a misnomer and due to security and system limitations could not validate student loan repayments versus other types when issuing third party checks. There are many types of student loan type (Perkins, Stanford, etc.) as well those stretching the definition (and valid) to credit cards as well as personal parent/family loans.

mttatkns said:The 10k $100 gift cards are now the best redemption option. If you don't have use for them, sell them. The best fixed rate (non-auction and non-trade) I've seen is $84 for an Amazon gift card or $80 for cash on Chili's gift cards through PlasticJungle.
Does TYN offer Amazon GCs? I don't see them under retail cards.

It's really too bad that some of the retailers my wife frequents often (e.g. Kohl's, Target) don't offer $100 GCs.

jfunk138 said:I believe you can still pay your DiscoverCard bill at Sears, does anybody know if you can use a Sears gift card to pay it? Since Sears gift cards are still 1 to 1 at the 100 point level this would be a creative way to still get 1 to 1 "cash" redemption.

GOOD QUESTION....

Not sure what the big deal is. Getting a $50 "student loan" check now costs 6400 TY points. With my mtvu Visa I get 5 TY points per $ at restaurants. With the $50 student loan check, that works out to a 3.9% rebate on restaurants. Find me another card with that kind of reward.

Devaluation? Yes. Enough to drive me away? Not even close.

AnEnlightenedGuy said:Not sure what the big deal is. Getting a $50 "student loan" check now costs 6400 TY points. With my mtvu Visa I get 5 TY points per $ at restaurants. With the $50 student loan check, that works out to a 3.9% rebate on restaurants. Find me another card with that kind of reward.

Devaluation? Yes. Enough to drive me away? Not even close.

I was bummed at first, but I'm in the same boat. My Citi Fwd gets me 5TY pts (Rest/Books/Movies) and my Citi Plat gets 5TY pts (Gas/Groce/Drug), plus another 3TY pts for everything else.

I'm still getting good overall return.

dpid said:Going forward, I agree that the 5TY points on restaurants is the best out there, and even at 3.9% as you said beats all CC's out there.

This month's discover more promotion is 5% cashback at restaurants. In july, I'll put the mtvU back in my wallet.

ivi555 said:wiredspider said:DiMAn0684 said:wiredspider said:zaxon said:if i get the $700 student loan rebate, will i get a 1099-misc for the amount.
last year i redeemed for $900 flight points and got hit with a 1099-misc for $900.

The CC points aren't suppose to be taxed since it's like a rebate on what you spent. However, the points from your banking relationship maybe taxed...

I remember reading that Citi sent 1099 to people who redeemed over $600 in TY points in a calendar year. Need someone to confirm the info.
I can CONFIRM I got a 1099, but it was due to the banking relationship...

I got 1099 and when I called and asked them they told me that it is because of points flights I used it for (~$900) no other banking relationship.
This time I asked about student loan checks, and CSR told me that shipping, and TAX are included.

Did you have any points manually added? My 1099 was for points from the banking relationship as far as I could tell (ie it was for ~$700-800 when my plane ticket was actually $1700, because only ~40% of the redeemed points were from banking and the rest were from CC)

And then take the citi professional out in july since discover more has 5% on gas in july, august, and september up to $400.