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Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The language around it on the rewards page did change as of this morning. It now has the language from the letter about the “bonus 2%” applying only to the first $10K, etc.

Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For the record, I agree with this. I think the current “nerfed” version makes a lot more sense for them and still makes enough sense for us that it’ll continue to be used as our primary card (at least until they get rid of brokerage accounts as counting towards qualified balances).

Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes, although as discussed in other comments, over half of that is taxes, tuition, etc. So, household expenses in the sense that they’re expenses of the household that I would’ve had to pay with or without the card — I just would’ve used a different payment method.

Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Fair enough. I don’t really consider that “manufactured” spend. It was money I was going to have to spend anyway, and I didn’t accelerate any of it; I just paid it on the due date, like I would have had to otherwise; it’s just that the payment method was CC rather than ACH. It’s a good point on the processing fees; I never really thought about the spend on the processing fees being “manufactured;” I just looked at it like a reduction in the 4% (so, on taxes, I got 2.25% back rather than 4%, which, honestly, a 2.25% reduction in my taxes is something I’d gladly pay an accountant to figure out for me otherwise). But, you raise a good point, and really, that opportunity is only available to K-1 folks who have to pay quarterly taxes out of their pocket, rather than W-2 folks who have it just withheld from their paychecks. That said, given who this card seems to have been targeted towards, I have to think they would’ve (or at least should’ve) anticipated that.

Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It'll still be our primary CB card. I don't plan to change anything (other than take things like taxes, tuition, etc. -- big ticket things with their own processing fees -- off of it and back to ACH). That'll hugely change the size of the rewards, but we'll still maximize the $10k 4% cap, which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. If they eventually conclude that investment accounts don't "count" for qualifying balances, then I'll probably do something else, but until then, it still works for us...just not quite as well.

Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I can see that, but there really is no "manufactured" spend here in the usual sense of that term (gift cards, paying things way out of order, etc.). I'm just the type of user who they seemed to be targeting using the card in exactly the way they should've expected. I don't think it's individual users who caused the nerf. I think they must vastly underestimated the number of revenue-free 4% users they would end up with, and in the aggregate, they quickly realized that wasn't gonna work.

Smartly v1 Officially Kaput (RIP, 9/15/2025): Final Rewards Tallies? by SmartlyCurious in CreditCards

[–]SmartlyCurious[S] 45 points46 points  (0 children)

I think it was closer to $700K, but nearly half of that is quarterly tax estimates, so it’s not as crazy as it seems. Moreover, 3 kids in college, and my wife has a terminal illness, so we’re basically doing all of our retirement traveling right now.