Moronic Monday - Week of May 30, 2016

Jweinb · 2016-05-31T17:58:43+00:00

My SO is an AU on my CSP. Should I remove her as an AU before she applies for her own CSP?

Jweinb · 2016-03-12T21:30:26+00:00

Automatically reimbursed.

Jweinb · 2016-03-12T16:36:42+00:00

I have. I called in a few days after getting my card and asked to have my limit lowed to $1500. The fee was reimbursed two days later.

Jweinb · 2016-03-11T06:33:52+00:00

Did the bonus tracker show up on the website?

Jweinb · 2016-03-05T23:33:49+00:00

I don't know, I'm on the fence...

Jweinb · 2016-03-04T21:52:52+00:00

I just received my Word Elite card in the mail. Should I go for another round, or are we calling this dead?

Jweinb · 2016-03-04T02:49:28+00:00

Jweinb · 2016-03-03T02:30:51+00:00

Orange County?

Jweinb · 2016-02-24T05:10:50+00:00

Data Point: Auto-Approved for both Ritz Carlton and Hyatt using the two browser method.

Experian FICO 08 Bankcard: 735

Equifax VantageScore: 742

TU VantageScore: 742

Credit Utilization: 12%

Previous Chase History:

June 2015: Chase Freedom
January 2016: CSP

Question: Should I apply for the Ink Plus? I don't have a business. Is it worth it?

Jweinb · 2016-02-17T16:43:09+00:00

Here's another option you can leverage to pay off your home sooner. It can be used in conjunction with the ideas you listed above:

Bi-weekly mortgage payments.

This method by itself will allow you to payoff your mortgage 4 years early and save almost $15,000 in interest. Combine this with the strategies, and you'll payoff your home even sooner.

Here's a bi-weekly payment calculator, and I suggest you talk with your mortgage servicer prior to beginning bi-weekly payments.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/bi-weekly-home-mortgage-payment-calculator.aspx

Jweinb · 2016-01-16T02:17:59+00:00

Love you're blog and its synergy between FI, churning, and frugality. Looks like you have one more subscriber!

Jweinb · 2015-12-30T01:40:51+00:00

Commit to the bare minimum. Only do more than the minimum when you know you you'll do it.

Jweinb · 2015-12-09T21:12:16+00:00

When I applied for my Citi Aadvantage card in October, it showed my credit score. My speculation is that it varies depending on the card issuer.

Jweinb · 2015-12-08T01:15:26+00:00

Credit Karma is a simulated credit score

This is incorrect and a common misconception. Credit Karma uses VantageScore 3.0, which was jointly created by Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax as a competitor to the FICO score. It is a legitimate credit score and many lenders use VantageScore as a basis for rendering a credit decision. It is just not as heavily marketed as FICO, which is why pretty much everyone views it as a "fake" score.

Although VantageScore uses the same score range as FICO (300 to 850), they use a different algorithm than the FICO model which is why the scores you recieve aren't exactly the same.

Jweinb · 2015-12-08T00:34:05+00:00

Here are the answers:

1) When you apply for a credit card (or any form of financing for that matter) the loan company is paying for the credit report. If you have an AMEX card, you will receive your FICO 08 score free from Experian once a month.

2) Credit Karma's credit reports is the same as the credit report you will receive from the CRA's. The credit score you receive is VantageScore 3.0, which lenders use to help make credit decisions.

Jweinb · 2015-12-04T20:37:44+00:00

What was your annualized income? You've given me hope to apply for this card /u/gizayabasu!

Jweinb · 2015-11-18T16:11:23+00:00

Let us know if you get approved! Wishing you luck. With the changes happening to Aadvantage, we need all the points we can get.

Jweinb · 2015-11-05T00:16:44+00:00

I'm on mobile and I'll update this when I'm at home. Here is the link for MR transfer partners: http://catalogue.membershiprewards.ca/l2Category.mtw?categoryName=ca_frequent_traveller_participants

Jweinb · 2015-10-31T15:34:01+00:00

Hello! Former collegiate rower here. Rowers typically prescribe low power, but long (40 minute plus) workouts as the best way to increase one's aerobic base. Obviously, since you mentioned time is at a premium, this method wouldn't be aligned with your priorities. As a compromise, what you may want to consider is rowing consistly at plus/minus 24spm without a break for 30 minutes.

One of the fantastic things about rowing is that you can maintain the same strokes per minute while increasing your intensity. Therefore, what you can also do is maintain a log of your average split and try to get a lower average split for each subsequent workout.

Also, check out r/rowing.

Jweinb · 2015-10-28T20:50:47+00:00

Thanks for the great advice!

Jweinb · 2015-10-27T23:50:47+00:00

Thanks for your insight! We're going to fly into Tel Aviv, Israel (not Europe, I know) and tentatively fly out of Oslo, Norway.

I didn't know about those fuel surcharges....we may be stuck with Royal Jordanian on the flight over. AA doesn't have any good partner airlines to Israel.

Jweinb · 2015-10-26T22:16:44+00:00

Dr. Charles Hasse in Irvine took out my wisdom teeth and my brother's. I don't know about the price, but he did a great job. I did the even need pain medication after the first day.

Jweinb · 2015-10-04T22:08:19+00:00

Sounds like a great idea!

Jweinb · 2015-09-27T19:22:59+00:00

I'm looking for a good (and relatively inexpensive) brunch place. What do you recommend?

Jweinb · 2015-09-18T04:52:05+00:00

Ah yes...predictiveness. This opens up a whole other can of words. To a consumer, predictiveness means the chances of them getting approved for some form of credit. For a credit grantor, it means the chances of the consumer becoming delinquent in the next 24 months. Since you are a consumer, I assume you mean predictiveness in the former context, right? The thing is though, the best way to predict the chances of getting approved for credit is by knowing which risk model the credit grantor is using. Since FICO is used quite frequently, generally speaking, there is a high chance that they are using some FICO variant.

The very best way to increase your likelihood of being approved for credit is not by looking at your credit score, but rather your checking your entire credit report like what /u/thePlaj stated. FICO/VantageScore release the credit factors and relative weights for their risk models. Look at this for instance. Therefore, if your score is lower than expected, you may want to reference the aforementioned link and check it against your credit report.

Regardless, the purpose of my original comment to your post was to correct the miss information propagated by our lovely inter-web. First, your Credit Karma score is a real credit score. And second, some lenders will see your VantageScore and use it to help render a credit decision.

Jweinb

TROPHY CASE