Activate Your Rewards Categories from Top 10 Ways to Squeeze More Rewards Out of Your Credit Cards
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If you’re suggesting to close the account after an year since it has an annual fee, then it is not a good move for your credit score.
Might as well go for some other card which gives you less bonus points for signing up but same points (compared to Chase Sapphire) for all other purchases without any annual fee. Eg. BoA Travel rewards card.
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Sort of related: Because of the new Freedom Unlimited card (1.5% cash back on all purchases, no annual fee), it finally made sense for me to pay my federal taxes via CC (I’m self-employed). The cheapest processing fee you can find is 1.87%. As an example, on a $1,000 tax bill, you’ll pay an $18.70 processing fee. That’s $1,018.70 on your credit card, or 1,528 points on the Freedom Unlimited. With a premium Ultimate Rewards card, such as the Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer those points into UR instead of taking the cash back (which would be a bad deal). Depending on who you ask, UR points are worth around 2-2.1 cents a piece. Worst case, they’re worth 1.25 cents a piece if redeemed for travel through the UR portal (20% discount). At 1.25 cents a piece, you’d get 1,528 x 1.25 = $19.10. You’ve made 40 cents. Who cares, right? But the real power of UR points are when transferred 1:1 to a partner airline. If you moved those 1,528 points to United, for the right deal, you could get 2 cents (sometimes way more) per mile/point. At 2 cents/mile, that’s 1,528 x 2 = $30.56. You’ve made $11.86, or 1.186%. Not a bad deal at all. You can even even find better mile redemption value, sometimes in the 5 cent range.
TL;DR If you have a Freedom Unlimited and a Sapphire Preferred, you can’t lose by paying the 1.87% processing fee to pay your federal taxes. Worst case, you come out a hair above even (redeeming for travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal at a 20% discount). Best case, you come out over 1% (transferring your UR points 1:1 to a partner). If you carefully seek out the best value for your miles, you could even earn over 5%.
Comments
If you’re suggesting to close the account after an year since it has an annual fee, then it is not a good move for your credit score. Might as well go for some other card which gives you less bonus points for signing up but same points (compared to Chase Sapphire) for all other purchases without any annual fee. Eg. BoA Travel rewards card.
Sort of related: Because of the new Freedom Unlimited card (1.5% cash back on all purchases, no annual fee), it finally made sense for me to pay my federal taxes via CC (I’m self-employed). The cheapest processing fee you can find is 1.87%. As an example, on a $1,000 tax bill, you’ll pay an $18.70 processing fee. That’s $1,018.70 on your credit card, or 1,528 points on the Freedom Unlimited. With a premium Ultimate Rewards card, such as the Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer those points into UR instead of taking the cash back (which would be a bad deal). Depending on who you ask, UR points are worth around 2-2.1 cents a piece. Worst case, they’re worth 1.25 cents a piece if redeemed for travel through the UR portal (20% discount). At 1.25 cents a piece, you’d get 1,528 x 1.25 = $19.10. You’ve made 40 cents. Who cares, right? But the real power of UR points are when transferred 1:1 to a partner airline. If you moved those 1,528 points to United, for the right deal, you could get 2 cents (sometimes way more) per mile/point. At 2 cents/mile, that’s 1,528 x 2 = $30.56. You’ve made $11.86, or 1.186%. Not a bad deal at all. You can even even find better mile redemption value, sometimes in the 5 cent range. TL;DR If you have a Freedom Unlimited and a Sapphire Preferred, you can’t lose by paying the 1.87% processing fee to pay your federal taxes. Worst case, you come out a hair above even (redeeming for travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal at a 20% discount). Best case, you come out over 1% (transferring your UR points 1:1 to a partner). If you carefully seek out the best value for your miles, you could even earn over 5%.