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.
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. 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.Staples is great for cashing out GCs. Almost every week there is something FAR or better. The only problem is that their GCs don't work online which is really lame.
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.
JYX
Happy Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 9:26a
It appears that the conversion rates in QS are not accurate. For instant, $100 asks for 12,700 pts, instead of 14,500 pts, which is better than we suspected.
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.
zoop76
Addicted Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 9:30a
QS updated.
ThePessimist
Ancient Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 10:00a
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.
mttatkns
Thrifty Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 10:03a
ThePessimist said: 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.No TYN does not offer Amazon GCs (though I believe they used to). What I am saying is you can sell a Chili's gift card and receive an Amazon GC in exchange.
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....
amenluo
Addicted Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 12:29p
Are you serious?
Can you explain more detail or offer a link to verify?
Thankyou
AnEnlightenedGuy
Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 1:03p
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 agree with you, but I think the spirit of this thread is to warn about the devaluation and maybe merit enough to use the points you already have to get the best bang for your work.
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.
On my ended, I had ~8k sitting in my account. I used 7500 to get $75. From now on, I might just get gift cards and deal with sub-par redemption rates, but i know that going into it.
Heffer
Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 1:35p
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.
quiznut1
Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 3:42p
Whew. I'm glad I redeemed my points a couple weeks ago. I just got $150 worth of checks today for the ol' 15,000 points.
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.
It does make the Citi Cards go from "easily the best cards available" to "I have to weigh my options a bit".
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)
WEAK...I didn't see this thread until today (June 5th). Oh well.
SegaRob said: Staples is great for cashing out GCs. Almost every week there is something FAR or better. The only problem is that their GCs don't work online which is really lame.
You can place an online order using the in-store kiosk, then pay at the register using your gift card.
SethKinast said: 154 points short of the next tier and rep wouldn't do anything for me
Still, pulled $150 out before the change. Thanks OP!
My rep was also surprised at the volume of SLR check requests and mentioned that the systems were slammed.
called yesterday to redeem 5000, had check made out to BoA after a short pause, real nice rep.
saw tonight that some people were getting bumped up to the next tier..figured i'd tell them my statement was closing next week or so and that i'd have more points coming in. csr rochelle confirmed the date of tonight being the last day, but when i asked about the points she immediately informed me that she "can't justify" giving me the 67 points i needed for another $25 because they'd just given me the bonus points for signing up, and the ones for keeping my account in good standing. no sympathy, or desire to help me whatsoever; sounded like she'd had a long day and just wanted to go home. suppose it's time to shop around for another card for all my non-bookstore/movie/music purchases..
PhrostByte
Member
posted: Jun. 6, 2009 @ 1:01a
I redeemed $100. This is terrible news... 5% cards are dying quickly.
mttatkns said: ThePessimist said: 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.No TYN does not offer Amazon GCs (though I believe they used to). What I am saying is you can sell a Chili's gift card and receive an Amazon GC in exchange.
They used to, you had to search for them as they didnt appear as regular items. Too bad they took them off they were the best redeption.
mercutio34
Member
posted: Jun. 6, 2009 @ 9:52a
Shoot. I missed it! I was about a week away from cashing in for a $250.
I do not have any student loans but have redeemed thousands of dollars in SLR. I get the check in my bank's name (Wachovia) and deposit it in my checking account. They never gave me any problem whatsoever .
hguy229 said: I do not have any student loans but have redeemed thousands of dollars in SLR. I get the check in my bank's name (Wachovia) and deposit it in my checking account. They never gave me any problem whatsoever .
good for you, some of us actually have student loans
madcowdisease said: WEAK...I didn't see this thread until today (June 5th). Oh well.
SegaRob said: Staples is great for cashing out GCs. Almost every week there is something FAR or better. The only problem is that their GCs don't work online which is really lame.
You can place an online order using the in-store kiosk, then pay at the register using your gift card.Yeah, but that doesn't save me a trip to the store. Besides that, I've never seen an in-store kiosk in any of their NY stores.
catanpirate
Senior Member
posted: Jun. 6, 2009 @ 3:37p
So it's 6-6-2009. What I'd miss for the past few days?
Thanks for the heads up. Redeemed $100 on the last day before the cut off. This may be the end of TYP for me, since my Citi card stopped giving me 5% grocery/gas rebates a couple of months ago. It is all flat 1% now. It was a great ride while it lasted.
that outlines the CashBack percentage value you get for each dollar spent on a Thank You card
(e.g. you can see that a 3x TY points card nets you a 1.8-2.4% max return if you are going for straight cash).
Of course, you get 1 for 1 dollar values back on flight points and (after a certain point level) gift cards. However, those suck because that means you sacrifice the rewards you would have gotten by charging it onto a credit card.
Caveat - Don't EVER use the ThankYou points for iffy travel plans. One of the beautiful benefits of charging a plane ticket onto a credit card is if the airline goes bankrupt (and this has happened), you have a lot less hassle getting your money back. An extreme example, but there are others, of course. In any case, you're giving up leverage in airline disputes if you use ThankYou points.
that outlines the CashBack percentage value you get for each dollar spent on a Thank You card
(e.g. you can see that a 3x TY points card nets you a 1.8-2.4% max return if you are going for straight cash).
Of course, you get 1 for 1 dollar values back on flight points and (after a certain point level) gift cards. However, those suck because that means you sacrifice the rewards you would have gotten by charging it onto a credit card.
Caveat - Don't EVER use the ThankYou points for iffy travel plans. One of the beautiful benefits of charging a plane ticket onto a credit card is if the airline goes bankrupt (and this has happened), you have a lot less hassle getting your money back. An extreme example, but there are others, of course. In any case, you're giving up leverage in airline disputes if you use ThankYou points.
Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for building that chart. It was really helpful.
chimmy826
Member
posted: Jun. 9, 2009 @ 10:20a
Very very cool spreadsheet. I have the Sunoco Rewards MasterCard from Citibank which gives me 10 TY Points per dollar for my third and subsequent fill-ups at Sunoco stations each billing period. So on those purchases, I'm getting just over 8% Cash Back. That's awesome!
that outlines the CashBack percentage value you get for each dollar spent on a Thank You card
(e.g. you can see that a 3x TY points card nets you a 1.8-2.4% max return if you are going for straight cash).
Of course, you get 1 for 1 dollar values back on flight points and (after a certain point level) gift cards. However, those suck because that means you sacrifice the rewards you would have gotten by charging it onto a credit card.
That's only 5% at most, and really more like 2% if it's somewhere like Staples. That's much better than the cash options.
czarandy said: That's only 5% at most, and really more like 2% if it's somewhere like Staples. That's much better than the cash options.
Have to agree with you on that. Here's an example.
Suppose I have the following cards: - a 5x ThankYou card that I only spend on 5x stuff (e.g. MTVU card for restaurants) - a 5% CashBack card for Bed Bath & Beyond - a 3% CashBack card for Macy's - a 1% card for everything else
If I wait to cash in my ThankYou points for a $750 check, my actual TY CashBack percentage is 3.99% (not 5%)
If I cash in for a $100 Bed Bath & Beyond gift card, then my actual TY CashBack percentage is 4.75%
If I cash in for a $100 Macy's gift card, then my actual TY CashBack is 4.85% (higher than Bed Bath & Beyond since I am giving up less potential rewards points)
If I cashed in for some other retailer's $100 gift card (that I'd normally only get 1% CashBack on using the 1% CashBack card), then my TY CashBack percentage is 4.95%
Note: I picked these retailers at random to use as examples.
Xeon852
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jun. 16, 2009 @ 4:46p
Just cashed out $650 two weeks ago. Guess I got lucky. Looks like it will be $100 gift cards from now on, which won't add up that fast since all I use is mtvU for food and Amazon.
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.
