Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience? [Now a "no annual fee" card]

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sunny_socal
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by sunny_socal »

Haven't been notified about the $99 annual fee.

Still plan on keeping the card. The breakeven point is $20k spend/year compared to a no-fee 2% card.

Those who don't mind carrying several cards and using targeted categories will likely do better.
tj
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by tj »

The website shows the $99 fee. They haven't notified anyone. Who knows if they will. I'm cancelling before the next fee hits next month.
Liam Friend
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by Liam Friend »

I received a notification email of the new $99 annual fee yesterday, April 12. Will likely keep it at least for a while.
Value52
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Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by Value52 »

[Thread merged into here --admin LadyGeek]

I just noticed that apparently Alliant will be limiting their 2.5% cash back on only the first $10k in spending per month. I know this card is popular around these parts. I’ve had the card for about 6 months and this is a disappointment. Still worthwhile for my regular spending but I was planning to run quarterly tax estimated payments through this card which now won’t make sense.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/alliant- ... -14th/amp/
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by sunny_socal »

Bummer! I put everything aside from restaurants & gas through this card.

Still, 10000*12*0.025=$3000/year in cash back

I'll use my fidelity card for anything beyond that
UpperNwGuy
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by UpperNwGuy »

I wonder if USAA will put the same limit on its 2.5% cash back credit card (the one that is no longer available for new applications). To the best of my knowledge, the Alliant and the USAA cards are the only 2.5% cash back cards out there.
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by RevFran »

Perhaps check out BOA cash back— 3% on whatever category you select, though with a 2500/quarter cap. And significantly higher than 3% if you keep a large balance at BOA - Merrill Edge (lots of threads on this).
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by MikeG62 »

I applied for this card two years ago. They wanted a copy of my full tax return to approve the application (I am retired). I told them to cancel my application. I’d like to have gotten the additional cash back over my Fidelity VISA (for general CC spend), but not enough to share my tax return with them.

Getting back to the OP’s post, for most people (>90%), this cap won’t have an impact.
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

Lots of cards limit cash back by either month or by quarter (like discover).

If you live in an area where you can go into the branch, Citizens Bank has a Visa where it's normally 1.8% back with no limit and until the end of March it will add another 3.2% after the promo period ends (total 5%). I've used it to pay 2 college tuition payments and am looking right now at my property tax bill which I'll have to pay a 2.75% convenience fee, but will still make out on the deal. You have to go to a branch to apply.
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BW1985
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by BW1985 »

Who here is spending more than $10k a month on their personal credit card though? I would guess very, very few people.
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by snailderby »

If you have >$100K to park in a Merrill Lynch investment account, Bank of American's Premium Rewards card will give you 3.5% cashback on travel and dining and 2.625% cash back on all other purchases, with no caps. It has a $95 annual fee, but that's comparable to the Alliant Visa Signature.
Last edited by snailderby on Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

BW1985 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:52 am Who here is spending more than $10k a month on their personal credit card though? I would guess very, very few people.
People who manufacture spend do every month.
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by BW1985 »

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:03 am
BW1985 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:52 am Who here is spending more than $10k a month on their personal credit card though? I would guess very, very few people.
People who manufacture spend do every month.
Right but how many people here are actually doing that? I think it's a non issue.
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leonidas
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by leonidas »

For the most part its not an issue. I pay almost every bill with this card and that comes to a few thousand a month. I may go over when I pay to finish a portion of the basement or pay for vacation but not by too much.
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Re: Alliant Visa now limiting cash back

Post by Pu239 »

Is Alliant's 2% card affected? If not, it would make more sense if the 2.5% card dropped to 2% for monthly purchases above $10k instead of 0%.
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phisher4
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by phisher4 »

Recently received notification of a cashback cap at $10,000 of purchases. It seemed like a new policy, rather than targeted.

Anyone else?
streetsahead
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by streetsahead »

My understanding is that the $10,000 cap is per statement cycle.
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by jriding »

streetsahead wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:30 pm My understanding is that the $10,000 cap is per statement cycle.
Yes, per the Alliant website:

"Maximum cash back earnings will be $250 ($10,000 in qualifying purchases) per billing cycle."
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by jaj2276 »

Alliant changing their cash-back card again, doing away with the $10k/month charge cap ($250/month cash back limit) and the annual fee.

Now there are two tiers for rewards.

Tier 1 gets you 2.5% on first $10k of monthly charges and 1.5% for all charges above $10k. Need to be eligible for, maintain, and meet monthly criteria for an Alliant Checking Account.

Tier 2 gets you 1.5% on all purchases.

Everybody gets Tier 1 for Q3 of 2021. Starting Q4 of 2021, eligibility starts to matter.
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anon_investor
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by anon_investor »

jaj2276 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:00 pm Alliant changing their cash-back card again, doing away with the $10k/month charge cap ($250/month cash back limit) and the annual fee.

Now there are two tiers for rewards.

Tier 1 gets you 2.5% on first $10k of monthly charges and 1.5% for all charges above $10k. Need to be eligible for, maintain, and meet monthly criteria for an Alliant Checking Account.

Tier 2 gets you 1.5% on all purchases.

Everybody gets Tier 1 for Q3 of 2021. Starting Q4 of 2021, eligibility starts to matter.
Looks like you have to keep minimum of $1k daily balance in their checking account in order to qualify for Tier 1 (2.5% on first $10k of charges).
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by jaj2276 »

anon_investor wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:10 pm
jaj2276 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:00 pm Alliant changing their cash-back card again, doing away with the $10k/month charge cap ($250/month cash back limit) and the annual fee.

Now there are two tiers for rewards.

Tier 1 gets you 2.5% on first $10k of monthly charges and 1.5% for all charges above $10k. Need to be eligible for, maintain, and meet monthly criteria for an Alliant Checking Account.

Tier 2 gets you 1.5% on all purchases.

Everybody gets Tier 1 for Q3 of 2021. Starting Q4 of 2021, eligibility starts to matter.
Looks like you have to keep minimum of $1k daily balance in their checking account in order to qualify for Tier 1 (2.5% on first $10k of charges).
In addition to the $1k minimum, you need to also have one electronic deposit to said checking account per month.
have at least one monthly electronic deposit posted to your checking account in each calendar month. An electronic deposit is defined as a
direct deposit, payroll deposit, ATM deposit, mobile check deposit or transfer from another financial institution.
So it seems like I could always write a check once a month from my primary checking to this checking account via mobile check deposit.
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Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by sunny_socal »

[Thread merged into here --admin LadyGeek]

I've had the Alliant 2.5% credit card for years and it has been my go-to card despite the annual fee.

Alliant just announced that it is now 'free' to own. :beer
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ThereAreNoGurus
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by ThereAreNoGurus »

Thx for posting this.

I will apply for the card.

I especially like that the card has no annual fee, has cash back AND has no foreign transaction fees.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by HawkeyeJD »

There is a bit more to it though. From the member agreement on their website:

"EFFECTIVE AS OF THE START DATE OF THE JULY 2021 BILLING CYCLE:

You will be automatically placed into Tier One Rewards for qualifying eligible purchases made with your Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Card duringyour July, August and September 2021 billing cycles. Your qualifying eligible purchases up to $10,000 per billing cycle will earn 2.5% cash backrewards, and your qualifying eligible purchases above $10,000 per billing cycle will earn 1.5% cash back rewards.In order to earn Tier One Rewards for the fourth quarter billing cycles of 2021 (October, November and December 2021), the Primary Cardholder must:

meet the requirements for an Alliant High-Rate Checking account*each month of the third calendar quarter (July, August andSeptember of 2021),

AND

maintain an average daily balance of $1,000 or more in their Alliant High-Rate Checking account for the last two months of the calendar quarter(August and September of 2021).If you have not both met (1) the requirements for Alliant High-Rate Checking in July, August and September of 2021, and (2) you do not maintain anaverage daily balance of $1,000 or more for August and September of 2021, you will earn Tier Two Rewards – unlimited 1.5% cash back rewards on allqualifying eligible purchases – for the billing cycles ending October, November and December of 2021."

The rules also change in 2022, which require a checking account, paperless statements, and a certain number of direct deposits each month. See https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/imag ... sition.pdf
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ThereAreNoGurus
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by ThereAreNoGurus »

Thx for posting that!

Glad I did not go through the credit unfreeze process.

Their "FAQ" mentioned none of those requirements, although there were lots of footnotes... haha
https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank ... d#features
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by UpperNwGuy »

My pension only permits two allotments in addition to my direct deposit each month, so I have to make choices as to how I use those allotments. For me to add an allotment to Alliant, I would have to stop one of the other two allotments. I'm not sure this Alliant card justifies my reconfiguring my funds flows.
Last edited by UpperNwGuy on Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
j9j
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by j9j »

That’s a lot of fine print. Sounds like they will introduce more hoops in 2022 to qualify for 2.5%.
Louis Tully
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by Louis Tully »

I've had this card for several years and have really liked it. I didn't know about this new tier system. Looks like I will be finding a new card by October. What other cards are comparable strictly for cash back?

I have the basic chase freedom which I use only for the categories.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Pu239 »

This card is now dead to me. So many changes over just a few years makes me doubt its future. Points devaluation, like they tried earlier in the year for their Platinum Visa 2% card, is not out of the question. Time for me to move on.
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by gregw »

Louis Tully wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 3:19 pm I've had this card for several years and have really liked it. I didn't know about this new tier system. Looks like I will be finding a new card by October. What other cards are comparable strictly for cash back?
I had the same initial reaction and started looking into the Citi Double Cash & Fidelity Visa, which are both 2% cards. I initially chose Alliant over both of those since I spend enough that getting 2.5% back more than covered the $99 annual fee. It occurred to me, though, that by leaving $1,000 in their checking & setting up a $1 recurring transfer from my main bank (I didn't see any minimum requirement on monthly deposit/transfer amount) that I could continue getting the 2.5% and would save the $99 every year! There's no way that $1,000 would earn $99 over the course of a year, so unless I'm missing something that seems like an even better deal to me!
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by sunny_socal »

So yes there are now some more 'hoops' to jump through. But the reward is still pretty high and the requirements easy to meet:
- I direct deposit $10 per pay period into the checking account
- Keep $1k in the checking account
- Sign up for e-statements

After those steps the program is on autopilot. I spend like I normally do, pay my bill, and once a month I go to collect my fat rebate. I send it to my Savings account at Alliant. I've been making about $2500/year through this card, well worth it IMO. :beer
Value52
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Value52 »

Disappointing. For years this was a 2.5% unlimited cash back card with a relatively modest annual fee. Then came the $10,000/month limit and increased annual fee. Now it sounds like it is turning into a no annual fee 1.5% card unless you jump through all the hoops. No thanks, there are better options. I guess there is a reason the 2.5% unlimited card w/ no strings attached isn't offered by anyone else, it must be a money loser for the bank.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Nate79 »

Lol, sounds like a joke to me. You can get 2% with none of these absurd hoops.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Mountain Doc »

I’m happy to see these changes, because I use their checking account anyway. That is basically what they are asking you to do in exchange for dropping the $99 annual fee. It’s a good checking account, and their savings is also competitive. I think this trio is top notch for those looking for simplicity.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by anon_investor »

Nate79 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:53 pm Lol, sounds like a joke to me. You can get 2% with none of these absurd hoops.
What's the current free 2% favorite?
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Speckles »

The Keesler Federal Credit Union Visa card has some attractive elements.

* 2% cash back on all purchases
* As low as prime + 2.99% interest rate on balances carried over to the next month
* No annual fee

They’ve had attractive rates on CDs in the past too. Those out of their service area have been able to get membership in the credit union by a small donation (<$20) to the local cancer society.

The downside is they have only average-to-poor customer service and web site functionality.

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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Stinky »

anon_investor wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 7:16 pm
Nate79 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:53 pm Lol, sounds like a joke to me. You can get 2% with none of these absurd hoops.
What's the current free 2% favorite?
For me, Citi DoubleCash. No hoops to jump through, 2% on everything, excellent website and mobile app.

I've been with them for about 5 years now. No problems.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Escapevelocity »

Stinky wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:06 pm
anon_investor wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 7:16 pm
Nate79 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:53 pm Lol, sounds like a joke to me. You can get 2% with none of these absurd hoops.
What's the current free 2% favorite?
For me, Citi DoubleCash. No hoops to jump through, 2% on everything, excellent website and mobile app.

I've been with them for about 5 years now. No problems.
Citi double cash is in effect a 3% card if you convert your double cash to thank you points since thank you points are conservatively worth 1.5 cents per point.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by sabhen »

Citi double cash is in effect a 3% card if you convert your double cash to thank you points since thank you points are conservatively worth 1.5 cents per point.
Why is that? I get a lot of "nudges" from Citi to convert. I prefer cold hard cash to points to redeem for stuff I don't need.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by jriding »

Mountain Doc wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:00 pm I’m happy to see these changes, because I use their checking account anyway. That is basically what they are asking you to do in exchange for dropping the $99 annual fee. It’s a good checking account, and their savings is also competitive. I think this trio is top notch for those looking for simplicity.
+1. I will come out ahead as a result of these changes.

But I won't recommend this card to friends and fellow Bogleheads going forward. I agree with the other posters that it is a lot of hoops to jump through if you don't already have Alliant checking with monthly direct deposit and average $1,000 balance.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by CliveStaples »

I bank primarily with Alliant (competitive savings and checking account interest rates with other high yield savings accounts) and they have an easy to use online and app interface. I've used them to dispute charges, do same day wire-transfers, and other uses of their customer service and found them to be easy to work with. The only inconvenience I have ever experienced with Alliant Credit Union is that my city's local CU is not a part of their ATM deposit network, so while I have plenty of ATMs I can withdraw cash from surcharge free, I have to travel 30-45 minutes if I want to deposit cash, which is something I need to do maybe once a year anyways.

As this credit card stands, the update is simply a positive from its previous iteration. Now I save 99 dollar per year, achieve the same 2.5% cashback rewards on up to 10k worth of spending per month, and now can get 1.5% cashback above that (previously was 0%, but is essentially a nonreactor as spending more than 10k in a month isn't something I have ever done before). The requirement of a checking account and once a month direct deposit are a nonfactor for me, since I already do this anyways.

The credit hard is the highest cash back on any purchase one can achieve, next to only Bank of America's Premium Rewards Credit Card, but this would require keeping 100k in an institution giving me 1/10th of the interest on my savings, wiping out the additional cash back in my opinion. Consider me a happy Alliant customer today :happy
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience?

Post by lstone19 »

OTOH, as Alliant is also our primary checking account, this is a big win for us. Annual fee is gone and we have always more than met the checking account requirement (due to the volume we move through the account each month, average balance is more like $5,000 which at current interest rate difference between checking and savings is a mere $12 per year - and for that little, it's not worth it to me to try to manage the checking account balance tighter).
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Escapevelocity »

sabhen wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:29 pm
Citi double cash is in effect a 3% card if you convert your double cash to thank you points since thank you points are conservatively worth 1.5 cents per point.
Why is that? I get a lot of "nudges" from Citi to convert. I prefer cold hard cash to points to redeem for stuff I don't need.
I should have mentioned that the 1.5 cents per point assumes you are transferring your points to airline partners. It’s fairly easy to find airline ticket redemptions of 1.5 cents value per point or more. If you’re using points for statement credits then double cash is a flat 2% card.
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by dillrob »

Anyone know if Alliant will be refunding half of the annual fee?
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience? [Now a "no annual fee" card]

Post by LadyGeek »

I merged sunny_socal's thread into the ongoing discussion. I also retitled the thread to show the "no annual fee" update. The combined thread is in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (credit card).

(Thanks to the member who reported the post and provided a link to this thread.)
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by sunny_socal »

Nate79 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:53 pm Lol, sounds like a joke to me. You can get 2% with none of these absurd hoops.
Sure you can get 2% - but you can't get 2.5% :wink: Is it really absurd? If everyone carried this card and paid their bills on time the bank would lose money, that's a pretty big bonus. For those of us who enjoy this card the new setup is better than ever.

We both spend 100k a year, you get $2000. I get $2500. For zero ongoing effort I make another $500.

FWIW I don't use this card exclusively. My approach:
- Costco card for gas & restaurants (3% and 4%, I forget which order)
- Alliant card for almost everything else, 2.5%
- Fidelity Visa for both my teenage kids, that's a simple 2% card that many Bogleheads have in their wallet

I easily get $3500 in tax free cash per year. I send everything through the cards, my insurance, utilities - you name it.
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience? [Now a "no annual fee" card]

Post by tj »

Thanks for the tip. Just called Alliant to convert my sock drawered Platinum Rewards card (which I converted some years ago from Signature CashBack when they jacked up the fee) back to the Signature cashback card.

I already have estatements and monthly deposits going into Alliant and I keep more than $1k in the checking account, so now I might move my $100k at Merrill Edge to somebody else because 2.5% is close enough to the 2.625% that BofA offers and I'd rather the credit union receive revenue from my spending than a big bank.
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience? [Now a "no annual fee" card]

Post by sunny_socal »

tj wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:51 am Thanks for the tip. Just called Alliant to convert my sock drawered Platinum Rewards card (which I converted some years ago from Signature CashBack when they jacked up the fee) back to the Signature cashback card.

I already have estatements and monthly deposits going into Alliant and I keep more than $1k in the checking account, so now I might move my $100k at Merrill Edge to somebody else because 2.5% is close enough to the 2.625% that BofA offers and I'd rather the credit union receive revenue from my spending than a big bank.
And that is exactly the elephant in the room - BofA has a great card but it requires that 100k nest egg to activate it. Compared to that the Alliant 'hoops' are not burdensome at all.

The only other better deal in the recent past was the USAA credit card that was killed. It was only offered in a few states for a limited time, I'm sure a few lucky people still have it. The Alliant 2.5% is the undisputed cash-back king if you don't mind having $1000 in cash sit there. (And I thought Bogleheads had a 6-12month supply already standing by for their Emergency Fund, shaving off $1k should be no problem :wink: )
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Re: Alliant 2.5% Credit Card now has no annual fee

Post by Mudpuppy »

sunny_socal wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:48 am We both spend 100k a year, you get $2000. I get $2500. For zero ongoing effort I make another $500.
That's a highly simplified example. I doubt many people are putting 100k a year on their credit cards. Most people don't even make 100k a year, and the biggest expense category for most people is rent/mortgage which is harder to pay by credit card.

Scale that credit card spending back to 30k a year, and now you're talking $600 vs $750. It's still $150 more, but the margins are much narrower at a lower annual spend rate. At some point, the hoops aren't really justified by the differential, and if one were inclined to jump through hoops, sign-up bonuses would be a bigger gain.

So this might work for some people, but for others, having to track one more checking account and monthly activity requirements to eek out 0.5% more for their typical annual spend is not really worth it.
iamblessed
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Re: Alliant 3/2.5% card - any experience? [Now a "no annual fee" card]

Post by iamblessed »

What kind of limits are you getting on the card vs. income?
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