Archives for November 2006

I’ve written about those $15 checks that credit card issuers send you to try out their overpriced credit “protection” programs, so when I ran across this offer from Citibank for $100 in free gas rebate coupons for enrolling in a free 30-day trial, I was a bit suspicious.

I’ve gotten these before, but they were broken up into $10 rebates, one a month, and only valid if you stayed with the service. On top of that, they take months to fulfill, and if by the time they finally decide to stop stalling and process the rebate you’ve already cancelled, then oops! no money for you. In other words, it was a pain. Would this be similar?

Probably, but maybe not as bad – According to recent reports on Fatwallet, the rebate coupon they mail you is for $100 all at once. One catch is that you must submit gas receipts within 30 days of purchase. So if you can’t spend $100 on gas in 30 days, you may not get the full $100. Others suggested just picking up old receipts off the ground to satisfy the $100 requirement. I also asked if you still need to be enrolled for the rebate to process, and will update if I get an answer.

As will most of these credit protector trials, you are automatically enrolled after the initial period unless you call to cancel. For my own memory, the number to cancel is 1-888-592-7344. The program fee is 85 cents per $100 of your monthly balance. Thus, you should always try to sign up with an idle credit card with no balance. That way, even if you forget, you won’t be charged anything.

Thanks to Reader Paul who reminded me of this and also reports that you can’t use the Citi Professional Card, which a lot of people have from the $100 bonus, have to sign up. I tried too and it didn’t work. I did sign up successfully using another Citi card. I’ll try my best to remember to update here when I get the forms, and also post again in 30 days to remind people to cancel.

I hate it when I just plain forget to post things, which is I’m glad I did that survey 😉 One of the main reasons why I brought up the fact that anyone can apply for business credit cards is that you can take out 0% APR balance transfers (see my detailed posts on how I do this first) and because business accounts and balances don’t show up on your consumer credit report, it won’t dink your personal credit score. The only problem is that business credit card offers tend not to be as juicy as the best consumer card offers. Still, here are some of the better ones. Again, I’m looking for 0% APR for the longest time, applying to both purchases and balance transfers, no annual fees, and lowest balance transfer fees.

Advanta Platinum Rewards BusinessCard MasterCard – No annual fee, 0% APR fixed for 15 months on balance transfers, balance transfer fee of 3% (min $5, max $50). This probably the longest one I’ve seen. There is also a cashback program, but don’t use this when you have a balance transfer.

Chase Platinum Business Rebate Card – No annual fee, 0% APR fixed for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers, balance transfer fee of 3% (min $5, max $75). 3% Cash Back on for purchases at restaurants, gas stations, office supply stores, building supply stores, hardware and home improvement stores

Chase Business Cash Rewards Card – Similar to above; No annual fee, 0% APR fixed for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers, balance transfer fee of 3% (min $5, max $75). Somewhat confusing tiered cashback program up of to 5% back. May be worth it for big spenders.

CitiBusiness Card with ThankYou Network – No annual fee, 0% APR fixed for 12 months on purchases, see application for balance transfer fee detail. There is also a $100 Gift Card after you make $250 in purchases!