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Credit Card Offers

July 28th, 2011 at 05:30 pm

I really need to start reading all the credit card offers that come in the mail (versus throwing them in the trash)!

My $300 cash or $500 gift cards from Citi will not come easy. I set aside the offer we got in the mail but didn't look at it until AFTER I applied for it. Doh! Lesson learned. Offer in mail waived annual fee. (Lord knows what other awesome deals have come through our mail that I never looked at. Seems if "available to everyone" offers are enticing, then direct mail ones seem to be even better).

Anyway, I thought we were doing very well on budget this month (sick and homebound for a week was a LOT of it). So was surprised to see the Citi credit card uptick $200. I was thinking we may spend $50 more this month - on gas and food. I wondered what on earth dh had bought, and quickly narrowed it down to $175 in fees.

Ugh!

Dh got my germs and he is sick - card is in his name. He is not up to calling them today! Maybe for the best. Citi is easy to deal with over the internet (good secure messaging, etc. - last time I had a Citi card I never once had to call them. I did a balance transfer online and then asked for a cash refund - did it all to invest the cash at 5% or 6%. SO EASY). So I sent them a message how I didn't appreciate being charged $175, after they told me over the phone a couple of weeks ago that they would charge me $0. $125 annual fee + $50 authorized user. I didn't catch the $50 authorized user part until after I applied (have NEVER been charged for that before). So dh asked them to take me off. They told him he didn't need to - was no charge. Of course they charged him anyway!

Since the credit card closed 7/25 or so - it won't affect my budget in the interim. I will just pay the 7/31 balance minus $175. Thus far, that is more than the balance on the 7/25 statement. So, phew. I'd usually be more insistent that they remove the charge from the statement they added it to, but this way I can just focus on getting it reversed. I don't really care when - as long as it is SOON.

I think this is a hassle factor we brought upon ouselves in some regard (applied for the lesser offer). I generally equate these one-time offers with "5 minutes to apply" and maybe "15 minutes to close the card." If that. Generally no hassle in between. Earning $200 or $500 for 20 minutes of my time? Seems like a steal for me.

This one - I just have to work a little harder for.

Lesson learned - I'll start paying more attention to credit card offers! I could kick myself for not checking the mail offer first and just applying under the "no fee" deal in the first place.

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