Which credit card do you use the most?

irvinehomeowner said:
qwerty said:
i am an accountant - the rebate is not income, just a return of money you already paid them and therefore not taxable as mentioned by PS9. the same goes for USCTrojans commission rebate that he gives his customers. The origin of the commission rebate is borrowed money (you are paying it back to the bank), not income and therefore not taxable
Bleh... the realtor I had *before* Scott 1099'ed me for my "rebate".
irvinehomeowner said:
qwerty said:
i am an accountant - the rebate is not income, just a return of money you already paid them and therefore not taxable as mentioned by PS9. the same goes for USCTrojans commission rebate that he gives his customers. The origin of the commission rebate is borrowed money (you are paying it back to the bank), not income and therefore not taxable
Bleh... the realtor I had *before* Scott 1099'ed me for my "rebate".
Apparently that realtor knows nothing about taxes.  All of the rebates that are made outside of escrow can be deducted on line item #2 on Part 1 of Schedule C as a return.  For buyers it is a reduction in your cost basis in the home.  You might want to file an amendment return if you showed it as income on your tax return.
 
USCTrojanCPA said:
buylowsellhigh said:
Capital one Spark card gives me 2% rebate on everything thats purchased, there are cards that give you 5% for food/dining on a consistent basis, there are cards that do 5% for fuel purchase on a consistent purchase... and of course, the Amex SPG card. If you stack your cards right, you'll always be getting some sort of discount. Lately I haven't been too fond of getting cash backs because my accountant is making me put them on the tax return essentially cutting cash back by 30%, so I've been putting mostly everything on the SPG card and gifting points to family members who cannot expense their hotel rooms and stuff.
Unless the credit card sends you a 1099, there is no reason you need to put the cash back on your tax return.

This one's because I use the card to run business expenses and if you cut expense by 2% via cash back, you're essentially needing to pay the ~30% income since reducing expense = increasing income.

So its why I use my points card more now, because points gained as result of biz expense isn't (yet) taxable, I just use it to get free upgrade, air ticket or hotel on personal non deductible stuff...

Just like traveling consultants... they rack up a LOT of charge (points and status) with various hotel chain/airlines... you can be sure they will still treat you like VIP even if you are not on business travel, and this "benefit" as well as redeeming frequent flyer miles for free air travel isn't taxable =)
 
USCTrojanCPA said:
Apparently that realtor knows nothing about taxes.  All of the rebates that are made outside of escrow can be deducted on line item #2 on Part 1 of Schedule C as a return.  For buyers it is a reduction in your cost basis in the home.  You might want to file an amendment return if you showed it as income on your tax return.

Its not so much of whether they give you a 1099 or not... in fact, you are technically supposed to give a 1099 if you write a check to a non-corporate entity thats over $700 or something in the neighborhood in one calendar year. But with 1099, it doesn't mean you need to report it as hard cash income... Like USC said, its how you document that 1099 in your return. Hell, he's a CPA i'm not so what am i talking about anyways... i just see my accountant print up a stack of 1099's every year lol.
 
buylowsellhigh said:
USCTrojanCPA said:
Apparently that realtor knows nothing about taxes.  All of the rebates that are made outside of escrow can be deducted on line item #2 on Part 1 of Schedule C as a return.  For buyers it is a reduction in your cost basis in the home.  You might want to file an amendment return if you showed it as income on your tax return.

Its not so much of whether they give you a 1099 or not... in fact, you are technically supposed to give a 1099 if you write a check to a non-corporate entity thats over $700 or something in the neighborhood in one calendar year. But with 1099, it doesn't mean you need to report it as hard cash income... Like USC said, its how you document that 1099 in your return. Hell, he's a CPA i'm not so what am i talking about anyways... i just see my accountant print up a stack of 1099's every year lol.
That $700 rule for 1099 is very gray and is more related to vendors and employees.  My rebate of commission is related to neither of these two things so I believe I do not have to issue a 1099 if I provide a commission rebate outside of escrow to my clients.
 
Just signed up for the REDcard at my local Target, 5% off all purchases, donate 1% of purchases to your favorite school, and my fav is the free no minimum shipping at target.com. 

My first purchase, bought a $2 circo shirt for my daughter from target.com, free ship and got $0.10 off (5% discount).  Love buying cheap stuff with free shipping. 
 
I love the american express blue preferred. I get 6% in groceries, 3% gas and department stores, no limit.
there is an annual fee but you get $150 upon signing up.
 
Amex the name sounds nice. We charge it whenever possible to save the hassle of managing all the credit card bills. Last year we got a handsome rebate and foolishly we included that in our taxable income. I got a copy of my tax transcript from IRS a few weeks ago and realized that we shouldn't have. Dang.
 
I have a AMEX Delta business card and Chase Business Ink card. If i spend $5000 in the first three months for my business expenses, I get 50,000 points which is equivalent to $500 Cash i can withdraw. I can leverage that 50,000 points and move it to Korean Air sky miles and buy a free ticket which is equivalent to about $1000USD. The Panda's family is going to Korea this summer and I need 4 tickets :) I am going to close the Chase Ink card once i get the 50,000 points and then going to repeat the process for another 50,000 points on another Chase Business Ink Card.

AMEX delta is cool as you get free baggage and is also part of the Sky team alliance with Korean Air. With 20,000 Delta miles and 30,000 Korean Air miles you get access to the Prestige Korean Air Lounge for 2 years. Also Delta's headquarters is in Atlanta. :)
 
Just canceled my SPG Amex card... switched to the Blue Cash Everyday instead of closing out the account and possibly damaging my credit score.  After almost a year of SPG, found it hard to use.. piled on a bunch of points.. but vacationing only at Starwood hotels is too limiting for us.  Found that nothing beats bidding on priceline (if you know what you're doing, biddingfortravel.com).. Had about 60,000 in SPG points which I was able to convert to $625 in Amazon gift cards and Starbucks gift cards.  So able to take advantage of the bonus points and still convert out to another program before the 1 year anniversary to avoid the annual fee. SPG is great for frequent business travelers.. but families with little ones.. kinda hard..

Now the Blue Cash Everyday card has no annual fee, gives 2% back at major dept stores (2% back at Macy's furniture!) and 3% back at regular supermarkets (Trader Joe's).. Statement credit redemption only.. but money in my pocket is money earned.
 
That's a good card and a great sign on bonus, it's usually 50k points.  I churn cards, so I don't have a favorite card, but the one I use the most is the one that gives me the most points for whatever category I'm spending it on.  I value Chase Ultimate Reward points very highly due to their high number of partners you can transfer their points to, especially United and Hyatt.  Anyone can get a business card.  I read this website frequently and he will explain how to get this business card as well as how to travel for cheap:

http://millionmilesecrets.com/

Also, flyertalk is a great forum to discover travel perks.
 
I know I'm bumping an old thread but I have been using the Citibank Double Cash Back CC since Oct.  You can 1% on purchases and then you get another 1% when you make payments.  Great card and nice 2% cash back rewards.  I still use my Chase Freedom card for small purchases ($10 or less) because I get 1.1% plus $0.10 per transaction and my PenFed card for my gas purchases since I get 5% off using that card.
 
USCTrojanCPA said:
I know I'm bumping an old thread but I have been using the Citibank Double Cash Back CC since Oct.  You can 1% on purchases and then you get another 1% when you make payments.  Great card and nice 2% cash back rewards.  I still use my Chase Freedom card for small purchases ($10 or less) because I get 1.1% plus $0.10 per transaction and my PenFed card for my gas purchases since I get 5% off using that card.

With all the big toy you've been purchasing, they should offer you a American Express Centurion Card by now. :) 
 
Thanks for the reminder, gonna ask Citi if they can change my old account to this CC.  Can't afford to apply for a new card, FICO's trending below 760
 
ps9 said:
Thanks for the reminder, gonna ask Citi if they can change my old account to this CC.  Can't afford to apply for a new card, FICO's trending below 760

What their explanation of the 760 score? 

Seems like credit reporting agencies are so temperamental.  It is as if they don't have an exact formula to calculate credit, they just make stuff up after a certain point. 
 
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