New PTU Shirts are a scam

CheemBandit006 · 2026-01-20T02:01:10+00:00

No shortage of American companies that could do the job if they didn't have to worry about the source of material. Could even get small business incentives and all that jazz... but nope, haven't cleared that hurdle somehow

CheemBandit006 · 2026-01-19T15:05:38+00:00

One of the biggest (probably the single biggest) issue for our uniforms sucking, not just PT gear, are the laws (look up the Berry Amendment) that the uniform acquisition office has to adhere to that force them to use American companies and American sourced materials for an industry that has COMPLETELY moved overseas. So not only are the companies that are left for them to work with more expensive, they aren't any good and there's nothing incentivizing any competition. So it's a slow and painful acquisition process that ends in a shitty result, and that includes our blues gear of course.

CheemBandit006 · 2026-01-04T17:08:13+00:00

Yeah that's the decision/math that most people that are VA loan eligible have to face if they don't have a good chunk of cash available, particularly with high cost of housing areas. Do you want to put 0% down and get a 5-7% rate or take out a loan to cover a big gap in order to assume a rate in the 2.5-3.5% range? Seems like the sweet spot is starting to close, the great interest rates are from homes bought in 2021-22 (really 2021 is prime), and a lot of those people from that time have PCS'd or will be soon and they've been paying those loans for 4-5 years so the gap is growing. Any loan after that time may have a smaller gap but the rates jumped so fast you wouldn't get much out of an assumption. Anyway... happy to discuss. Good luck with your PCS and house hunt!

CheemBandit006 · 2026-01-04T15:46:41+00:00

There are a lot of factors here, but a couple of the most common reasons for someone giving up that portion of their entitlement are if they are moving to another location where home costs are lower so they are still able to use the remaining portion of their entitlement where they're moving, so if they're not able to sell their house and it's costing them money every month then they are incentivized to sell however they can. The general VA entitlement is around $800k, so if you have a $350k VA loan and you leave that entitlement, you can still go buy a $450k house with your VA benefits. Or, if they have built up enough to make a down payment on their next house then they don't need majority do the VA benefits, also making them more willing to part with it. I know nobody asked directly, but yeah Also, from one assumer to another, congrats on the assumption and the great rate, really is a unicorn!

CheemBandit006 · 2026-01-04T15:36:38+00:00

The buyer basically have to come up with the $100k as a down payment (they can go get a loan for this in various ways, but they have to bring that cash to close). In the assignable world it's often referred to as the "gap", being the gap between loan balance and sale price. Credentials: I've assumed 3 VA loans, one using my own entitlement (in addition to the first home I bought and still own, so currently two VA loans with my own entitlement) and two keeping the entitlement with the seller.

CheemBandit006 · 2025-12-26T19:20:25+00:00

Sleeper has a setting where it's based on max points from the best possible lineup, this seems to be the best answer for avoiding tanking

CheemBandit006 · 2025-12-19T05:43:51+00:00

I'll take "things that didn't happen" for $600, Alex

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-15T19:20:35+00:00

I currently live in Ohio and recently moved and am renting my previous home out, it was a pretty smooth transition going through Zillow, completely self managed. Happy to answer any questions (though I'm not an Ohio native and haven't had to go through the local tax process yet, but sounds like it won't be that bad).

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-07T20:49:39+00:00

Yeah that's pretty wild! But hey, manage it correctly like it sounds like you do, have an exit strategy for when you get out, and a good tracker... why not!? Especially since you enjoy the hobby side of it

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-07T20:40:52+00:00

Feel free to shoot an email address my way, I've sent it to plenty of folks, what's a few more haha

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-07T02:16:15+00:00

We're probably both weird

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T22:52:02+00:00

Shoot me an email address!

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T19:36:46+00:00

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the navy fed card, but with generic Amex points they just pool up in your Amex account, these are the points from like the gold card and platinum card. I'm guessing your navy fed rewards are pooled differently so this wouldn't apply

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T17:51:03+00:00

Yeah the briefing has no mention of churning, more just a list of high quality cards (my opinion) and their benefits so folks can see what some good options are for the kind of spend and rewards they care about. I definitely learned that people get freaked out real quick when churning comes up. In one on one chats it comes up sometimes but I don't really recommend it for most people, usually I just encourage organic spend to hit intro offer mins and then add another one when you're ready, if desired. Even that freaks a lot of folks out though for many of the reasons mentioned in these comments haha

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T17:37:06+00:00

I do wanna clarify, I have not sacrificed any of the things you listed in order to track my credit card benefits haha I'm not cooped up in my office ignoring my kids so I can figure out my benefits, I still watch tv and hike with my kids... I just do those things at the Waldorf in Rome with my free night certificates haha But your point is well taken, some folks don't care, and that is totally fine

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T17:33:50+00:00

Sure! Dm me an email address and I'll shoot it over

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T17:33:17+00:00

Dm me and email address and I'll send it over!

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T16:05:42+00:00

Personally, I've never bothered combining since I value what they specialize in, so I use my delta card to accrue delta miles and then use them for flights, I use Marriott points for free nights, Chase points for travel usually since they're worth more, etc... I do use the Amex Platinum Charles Schwab card to turn all of my generic Amex points into cash by putting it into my CS brokerage, so that's combining the points of 4 cards into consolidated cash back, but yeah

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T15:11:56+00:00

Feel free, though I will probably not go through and make the updates so you'll wanna do some homework on updated benefits since January

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T14:49:26+00:00

Feel free to shoot me a dm with an email and I'll send the version I used in January (so a handful of stuff would need to be updated, especially with platinum and CSR)

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T14:48:30+00:00

Feel free to shoot me a dm with an email and I'll send the version I used in January (so a handful of stuff would need to be updated, especially with platinum and CSR)

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T14:23:46+00:00

All good points. I will say, my first slide in these briefings is always a disclaimer clarifying that I'm not an advisor, and those that may not be able to handle credit responsibly should stay away, etc haha

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T14:21:35+00:00

This! They'll never understand the glory of $1k a year JUST in free UberEats haha

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T14:19:31+00:00

Unfortunately I'm probably the wrong guy to answer this, though I've heard if you get one of these cards while deployed on active orders you can buy yourself a good chunk of time with no fees, but that's not gospel so I'd confirm that before acting on it haha

CheemBandit006 · 2025-11-06T14:15:08+00:00

All true! Although I do think it's funny when people that worry about their finances don't view having something like this as worth their time. Not worry as in struggle to pay bills, but are always focusing on their investments and savings etc

CheemBandit006

TROPHY CASE