When I Looked Into It When It First Came Out, It Looked To Be A Ripoff.
Q: If anyone has a list of such "wondercards", please POST it! I'm looking for the best deal in a credit card right now. The Discover Card from Sears looks to be a good deal. No annual fee, and a standard grace period, but When I looked into it when it first came out, it looked to be a ripoff. This 1% cash back yearly was only realized if one always paid only the minimum balance (i.e. bought the most credit), and they tacked this 1% onto the interest rate they charged anyway.
A: -I also pay my balance each month. However, Discover doesn't give you much time to do so. While they claim the regular 25 day grace period, I usually don't receive the bills until more than two weeks into that period. Perhaps it's great if you happen to live near Delaware, but in California the time it takes to get to you makes it very hard to pay in time, especially if you're a pay-bills-twice-a-month type of person. Also, it just strikes me as fishy, since my bills from South Dakota and Maryland don't take anywhere near that long to show up. The other thing that I'll say about it is that I think the company is incompetent. I signed up for the card outside of a Sears store (they were giving away free six-packs to sign up, and I was really thirsty). About two months later I got a letter from them saying my application had been denied because I had no savings account and insufficient credit history. I thought this quite odd since I gave my savings account number on the application, and I have a reasonably long credit report (yes, I've seen a copy). Not wanting this rejection on my history, I sent them back a letter saying that their reasons for rejecting me were incorrect. Another two months went by before actually receiving my card. My fiancee signed up at the same time. She never got a reply, and had to call to find out she got turned down. Customer service didn't know why she was turned down, only that she was. She asked that a letter be sent to her stated which credit bureau was used so that she could request a copy of her history. Needless to say, she never got it. Summary: The Discover Card is next-to-useless, the service is terrible, and you'd be better off getting a Visa or MC from a local credit union. -Here (in Australia) we have what is known as the "Bankcard". It's a credit card with the following conditions. (roughly!) - annual interest rate currently about 24% (quite high) - a credit limit (eg $4000) - tens of thousands of stores, etc where they can be used (much more than American Express for example) - Point of sale access in many convenient outlets - monthly statements with three weeks to pay after it arrives - NO INTEREST CHARGABLE IF YOU PAY WITHIN THIS TIME!!!!! (except on cash advances :-( ) - The above condition can give you up to about 55 days CHARGE-FREE credit - No annual charges Boy, I must sound as if I sell the things! I use the thing always and then pay it off completely a couple of days before the payment is due. The last time I paid any charges on it was about 8 months ago when I overspent slightly. :-) We also have various VISA cards but I am not sure what the conditions for those are. They may be similar due to competition. Of course the conditions will probably vary from bank to bank. -I don't have the exact number handy right now, but I believe we got back around $20 on the 1% payback on our Discover Card last year. My wife and I use it for just about everything and always pay off the balance, so even subtracting the cost of mailing the payment in, we generally make a small profit by using the card. (Standard disclaimers - no affiliation with Sears) On another note, this new AT&T gold card looks very interesting. If someone has an 800 number to call for an application, I'd appreciate a quick note. One more comment/question remotely related to credit cards: I once came across a very nice offer for a gold VISA/MC that had no yearly fees, low interest, 25-day grace period (except for cash advances which, however, had no additional charges) and very high limits ($5k to $50k). The only problem was that I had to