February 12, 2008
In my haze of coughing instead of sleeping at night, and working instead of resting during the day, I realized I have never had to pay taxes before. It’s always been a refund, large or small, and so I’ve never had to consider this question:
How should I pay my taxes?
As I mentioned before, I think it’s going to be a hefty sum. As a matter of principle, I hate to pay by check. Should I look into using a credit card and do they always charge a convenience fee? If they do, the only way it might be worth it would be to have a high percent of rewards (at least 5%) to offset the fee. Whatever the case, I’d like to make sure that I maximize this “purchase!”
In other news, this is one of the nastiest colds I’ve ever had. It’s been a week, and I think I’m getting worse. At least it’s not the flu!
January 29, 2008
As of yesterday, the 3000 bonus Thank You points and the 2500 American Air miles were credited to my rewards accounts. That brings the total in both accounts to 28 thousand and change, strangely.
I’ve gone ahead and cancelled the CitiBusiness American Air card because that annual $75 price tag is still not worth it, on second thought.
I’m pretty sure that I need to cancel my CitiBusiness Premier Pass card soon because that annual fee ($75) was just charged and I have another card with which to earn 2% back on all purchases for a year.
January 8, 2008
I’ve done the App-o-rama thing a couple of times now, but have never actually gone and canceled the cards that sprang from those efforts before. Annual fees were starting to roll in, so I had to bite the bullet and get it done. I’ve been procrastinating for at least five or six weeks … something else was always more important. And as with most chores, it really wasn’t so bad once I got to it. I was even pleasantly surprised a couple of times.
American Express Gold Business ($125 annual fee): four minutes. The annual fee charge will be removed and I don’t have to pay and wait for a refund. That would have been a waste of time.
Result: cancelled, good.
United Mileage Plus Platinum Business ($75 annual fee): five minutes. The CSR offered to change to a no-annual-fee, high rewards card. I dunno why I kept it. I had a weak moment? But really, no skin off my nose. I’ll just call and cancel later if the paperwork looks like a waste of time.
Result: kept it, good.
American Express Starwood Business ($45 annual fee): five minutes. They wanted to change it to another card like the Chase folks did, but I held firm this time. Poor Todd, he sounded so disappointed.
Result: cancelled, good.
CitiBusiness AAdvantage MC ($75 annual fee): ten minutes. I was offered an additional 2500 miles to keep the card for a while longer. The miles will be mine to keep whether or not I ended up canceling anyway, it’ll keep my AA miles active for another 18 months, and get 37 days grace period after the annual fee is billed to cancel and receive a full refund. The only downsides would be missing the cancellation window, and not receiving the miles in time.
Result: kept it, good. Not so good if I have to cancel to save my money before the miles come in.
CitiBusiness Platinum Select MC (no annual fee): seven minutes. I was offered 3000 bonus miles (or $25 cash, credited to the statement when I asked if that was his best offer) to keep the account open. Again, it’s already a fee-free card, so this is just bonus miles with no risk.
Result: kept it, good.
Citi Simplicity MC (no annual fee): fifteen minutes. The non-business card call took a lot longer to accomplish approximately the same things as the business card calls. I just wanted to move this credit line to a card that I’m keeping, and close this account. To do those two things, in that order, she said it would take 7-10 business days. Instead, she offered to consolidate the accounts which accomplishes the exact same thing, and could be done immediately. I have no idea what the difference is, except getting what I want now, and getting it in two weeks. Now, please! 🙂
Result: closed, mediocre.
Citi Diamond Preferred (no annual fee): seven minutes. I intended to just close this account as well, because I have too many cards. I was offered an additional point per dollar spent on regular purchases for twelve months. That’s not bad, the only way I get two points per dollar is from my CitiBusiness PremierPass, and that’s only because I have a backlog of flight points earned from the Vietnam trip and a couple other short flights. I may promote this to replace the PremierPass card and avoid the annual fees on that one!
Result: kept it, good.
Not bad for a little under an hour’s work, wouldn’t you say? 2500 miles, 3000 bonus points, and a replacement card for a 2% reward card.