For about a month now I’ve been using my credit card to pay for everything. Generally, I used to put everything on my debit card except for major purchases but perhaps this was because I wasn’t so responsible with money, therefore, buying more than I could really pay for. Now that I’m more financially aware and mature about my personal finance, I am able to use my credit card for all my purchases and pay it off all of the statement balance at the end before the interest can be calculated. This way I get to take advantage of my reward points and build my credit at the same time.

However, using my credit card for everything means that my debit card will begin collecting dust and Keep the Change program, which is great, won’t be a factor anymore. But that’s OK since I have 2,394 point available right now on my AmEx Blue Sky. At 7,500 points, I can purchase any plane ticket up to $100. Assuming I charge $600 per month on Blue Sky, that’s already 7,200 points per year. My side goal for the future (in 10 years or so) is to have enough points racked up so I can use it all up on a trip to anywhere. Blue Sky isn’t American Express’ best airline rewards card, but it has no annual fees, no blackout dates, and especially, no expiration date for the points.

Also, I’m seeing rebates for my Citi Driver’s Edge card show up. I’ve made $109.07 worth of gas, grocery and drugstore purchases, and I am now seeing that I’ve earned 6.54 Driver’s Edge rebates. That’s about 5.996% rate on rebates, rounding up to 6%, on my first month of purchases. I’ve been reading all these stories about how people are earning huge rewards through smart rewards cards and I think I am finally getting a similar type of feeling. But on a smaller scale of course.

On Friday night, I was pretty bored at work so I decided to check out some customer features on American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, and Citi’s websites. For fun, I tried increasing the credit limit of all of my credit cards. Not that I need a higher credit line, but just to see what kind of issues I’d run into and how convenient and quick the process would be. I graded the four services on these categories, which were all rated 1 through 5:

Convenience: How easy was it to access the option? Were there any issues of any sort?
Quickness: How long did the request take to get approved? Were the request forms lengthy? How long did it take to complete the entire request?
Satisfaction: Was the specifically requested credit line approved? Was there a hard pull on your credit report?

American Express
One of the absolute easiest process I’ve gone through. Am Ex was the first service I went to and I was very happy at the end. Log in to your account, click on “See All Account Services” on the right hand side, click “Credit & Balance Transfer” on the left tab, and then click on “Increaes Your Line of Credit”. The next page will ask you to input the four digit number located on the front right side of your card, after doing so, you get to enter in the credit limit you want along with some extra information about your income and such. I asked for $7,500 ($2,600 originally); I wanted to do $10,000 but I got shy. After a few seconds of loading a new page, I was told that my request had been approved. It was very quick process that was easy. Also, I heard that a request under $24,000 is usually safe. There is no hard credit pull.
C: 4/5
Q: 4.5/5
S: 5/5

Bank of America
Another easy process that didn’t take any more than five minutes of my time. I logged in to my account, clicked on the credit card account, clicked on the “Services” tab, and finally clicked on “Request Credit Line Increase”. Filled out a quick form (which has a short blurb about how the review of your credit won’t impact your credit history) and submitted. Because my credit was recently increased to $3,400. I only asked for an increase of $2,000 more. It said that I’d be notified of the decision within a business day. So I checked back on Saturday and I noticed that my credit line had been increased $1,600 to a max limit of $5,000. Not too bad.
C: 4/5
Q: 4/5
S: 4/5

Citi
This is the easiest process. My Driver’s Edge card wasn’t qualified for a credit line increase because I haven’t had it for longer than six months. But I was able to do it with my Diamond Preferred card. Very simple: log in to your account, click on the “Manage My Account” tab at the top, then click on “Credit Line Increase Request”. If you already pre-qualify for an increase, you’ll automatically get a preset amount; which I did. If you don’t, then you’ll need to fill out a form of the usual stuff (desired limit, household income and bank information). I read that there is no credit history check if you are automatically approved, but there is a hard pull on your credit report if you fill out the form.
C: 5/5
Q: 5/5
S: 4/5

*This was rated only for the automatic approval. If it had been the form request, I would have graded it much lower.

Capital One
This took me about 20 minutes to complete over the phone since I couldn’t find the damn option to request an increase. But I didn’t even get a credit line increase because I hadn’t used my card in over a year. I explained that I didn’t want to use it because my APR was so high. I was then transfered from one sales representative to another. After some chit chat, my rate was lowered from 14.7% to 12.9% for two months, then I’m back on some weird APR I couldn’t understand. Even after talking to the supervisor, my credit line remained the same. She told me I had excellent payment history with them and had been a member since 2003, but that didn’t mean anything. Don’t use Capital One.
C: 1/5
Q: 1/5
S: 1/5

As with many people, the quality of customer service alone can influence someone enough to make a decision on whether or not the customer will stick with the service. Capital One is my first credit card, I’ve had good experiences with it, but the fact that they haven’t increased my credit line or lower my APR even when I was actively using the card makes me just want to hate them. They have really neat features such as the Card Lab, and their rewards are pretty nice, but their poor customer service drives me away. Am Ex, BofA, and Citi have been rather fantastic with the quality of their service.

I got $26 for basically nothing at all on Halloween:

1. I received a free burrito bowl at Chipotle, one of my favorite restaurants, for wearing a piece of aluminum foil on my arm on Halloween. I believe Chipotle does this every Halloween and even during other holidays. Also, if you are a student, you can receive a free drink by showing your student ID. So, keep it even after you graduate college.

2. Sharedreviews.com finally reviewed all five of my reviews and rewarded me with $10. I only reviewed five to see how things would go and now I’m liking it. Reviewing five things took me no more than 15 minutes. They must be extremely packed with other reviews since it took about eight days for my reviews to be approved. Here’s a link if you are willing to earn easy cash on the side: sharedreviews.com

3. FNBO Direct’s 5.05% APY earnd me nearly $10 on interest for the month of October. And speaking of FNBO Direct, they offer FNBO Direct ExtraEarning Visa Card to selected members. Here are the card’s features:

• 7.99% fixed APR.
• Earn cash back faster with 2% back for the first 12 billing cycles and 1% back after that directly deposited into your FNBO Direct Online Savings Account.
• Redeem your cash back by requesting a $25 deposit into your FNBO Direct account for every $1,250 in purchases on the card for the first 12 billing cycles after your account is opened. After that, rewards are redeemable in $25 increments for every $2,500 in purchases.
• No annual fee.
• 7.99% balance transfer APR.

Not too bad. I don’t think I will apply for this card though. The purchase APR is pretty good and the rewards are extra, but I don’t need it.

4. I have three subscribers now. I don’t know who you are, but thanks, guys!

Citi’s Diamond Preferred is going to royally screw me over after 10/31 when my introductory APR is finally over: 15.33% APR. What?!? I had specifically applied for this card because it had a lower purchase APR at the time. Look at this!

It’s finally time to shop around for a new credit card. You can visit any of the many money blogs to get an idea of what the best rewarding credit card is but the ones I’ve chosen to compare are specifically for my driving and other spending habits. Here are the cards:

On an initial glance, I personally think Open Road is better if you’re able to get the lower purchase APR. However, let’s take a look at the fine print for both cards regarding their rebate % restrictions and limitations :

Discover Open Road

Earn unlimited cash rewards on all purchases. Earn a full 5% Cashback Bonus on your first $100 in combined gas and auto maintenance purchases each billing period, up $1,200 annually. In addition, earn a full 1% on all other purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3,000; other purchases that are part of your first $1,500 earn .25% and other purchases that are part of your second $1,500 earn .50%. Combined gas and auto maintenance purchases in excess of $100 each billing period earn Cashback Bonus at the same rate as other purchases. Gas and auto maintenance purchases are those made at merchants we classify as gas stations and at stores that primarily sell automotive parts and services, such as auto dealerships, auto repair shops, tire stores and car washes. Warehouse purchases (those made at select warehouse clubs, discount stores and their affiliates) earn .25%. We do not include warehouse purchases or your first $100 in combined gas and auto maintenance purchases each month in calculating your total annual purchases to determine your tier level.

Citi Driver’s Edge

Get rewarded for the purchases you make:
•6% rebates on everyday purchases—at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations—for the first 12 months.
• 3% rebates at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations after your introductory 12-month period.
• 1% rebates on all other types of purchases.

Supermarkets are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily sell a complete line of food merchandise for home consumption. Drugstores are stand-alone merchants that primarily sell prescription and proprietary drugs and nonprescription (over-the-counter) medicines. Gas stations are merchants that primarily sell vehicle fuel for consumer use. Purchases not eligible to receive the 3% rebates (6% rebates for 12 months) include, but are not limited to, purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores. In addition, online, catalog, mail order and telephone purchases are not eligible to receive 3% rebates (6% rebates for 12 months) unless the merchants identify the transactions as being made at a supermarket, drugstore or gas station. We do not determine whether merchants correctly identify and bill transactions as being made at a supermarket, drugstore or gas station. However, we do reserve the right to determine which purchases qualify for the 3% rebates (6% rebates for 12 months). The 3% rebates (6% rebates for 12 months) offer applies only to new Driver’s Edge accounts.

You may earn a maximum of $1,000 in rebates each year under the Driver’s Edge Rebate Program based upon the date you become a Citi Driver’s Edge cardmember.

All of this reading can be confusing. Basically Open Road let’s you keep the 5% cashback bonus throughout the entire time you own the card. However, Driver’s Edge’s 6% rebate is only for 12 months, then it goes down to a 3% - which is definitely not comparable to Open Road’s 5%. So, I guess I’m going with Discover, right?

Not quite. Credit Card Flyers has a neat tool where you can compare different credit cards as well as calculate their rewards earnings. Take a look at both cards’ with only some food, gas, and travel purchases made: Open Road and Driver’s Edge. Total earnings anually for Open Road is $66.00, while Driver’s Edge’s is $232.80.

Within the first 12 months of using Driver’s Edge, I can earn $166.80 more than using Open Road. Even if I use the 3% rebate instead of introductory 6%, I will earn $137.40, which is still earn $71.40 more. The credit card company I want to get away from offers the best frequent drivers’ card. Go figure.