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dan can you help us how best to use mileage for rental cars, especially in israel. also how to get around sales tax when shipping from internet sites to a state that doesn’t have a location of that particular store,i.e. dell, best buy etc.

Dan, I am a huge fan. Please focus on the issue of getting out of a ticket for free, as i think that is a problem that many people have and I still have not figured out a solution.

Is the Starwood card still behind on their 10,000 miles giveaway for signup, or have they corrected that?

I voted which one I want first, but Dan, we want them all!

Dan, Do you think AA is the next airline to go, because of the canceled flights last week?

BigTime: A”A is now back to regular. If you look and see why thy had the canceled flights, it wont harm it to much in closing it down. Unless people like you wont ever use them again cause thy dont realize what went on.

yes please let us know about getting around sales taxes when shopping online and shipping to New York, b/c amazon will soon be charging sales tax!

can either email me or post how google checkout checks if you have previous accounts when you sign up at buy .com to get $10 off? thanks.

how u can turn ur lg rumor into a modem (i still didnt figure it out)

how about getting high credit lines with 0% apr i think that is more worthwhile then the whole mileage game you do a balance transfer at 0 % for 12 months and you have a credit line of 50k just putting it in a Cd can get over 2k at the end of the year. I have been playing this game and I have 120k out now at 0% when the year runs out I pay it up and go to next credit card. Or apply for a new 0% from the same company that I have a high credit line with and just move over the credit line. Many of them still have no charge for doing the actual transfer….

starwoods has a 25% mileage bonus for purchases made after reaching the $750 threshold for the month between april 15 and may 15. just go to americanexpress.com/starpoints25 to sign up.

hey shlomo can we get some more info on how to do your deal with the CD’s????

Shlomo, I’m not sure how you are pulling this off without paying any fees. When you take a cash advance on nearly all credit cards they charge 3% of what you take out. Maybe you use the Clear Card from Amex which doesn’t charge any cash advance fee (they do charge the the standers APR from the day you take the money out) , but then how did you get 120k out?

Not cash advance I amtalking about balance transfers and some do charge 3% with no max which I stay away from. others like some citi discover BOA have no fee. others have a fee with a max of 200 so if your transfering 50k plus its just a dent in the bucket.

Yakov the 25% bonus starpoints is targeted I tried for a few accts worked on none of them.

# Check alliance-wide award ticket availability!

Shlomo, I understand that you are getting 0% APR for 12 months with out a balance transfer fee; those are not so hard to come by. My question is where do you get the initial cash from? Do you take it from the credit card by going to a ATM or other means of cash advances? Where is the original debt coming from before you transfer? Do you invest your income into CDs and live off your credit cards; it seems not because is so why then do you need a balance transfer? If you have a way of getting money out of a credit card with out incurring a fee, then you could also make money using the right credit cards that have rewards for the initial charge (cash advances don’t qualify).

When I signed up for a BOA checking account online they had a option to fund the account with a credit card. They didn’t mention on their website that their charge to the card may be classified as a cash advance. Maybe they classify it as a purchase and they get charged a merchants transaction fee but don’t pass it on to first time customers. I don’t know how it works, because I didn’t want to risk it, but maybe that how you did it.

I would like to know more about the AMEX Rewards Exec Bus card. Its half the price of the Plat. Are there ever any deals for it. How much more is it worth than the Bus Gold($125)? Even though it has a Starwoods Bus Prog w/ it, should I still get a Starwoods Bus card in case I don’t keep the Exec Bus & before the Star Bus fee increases(the Gold Delta Bus will go from $85 to 95 in May)?

To E V:
I think Sholomo is using balance transfer checks which come in the mail all the time.
Interesting about funding a Bank of America account. I had that opportunity also but didn’t think about it then. Perhaps someone can give it a try and post back if and how much they where charged.
Bank of America is currently giving free checking accounts online with no minimum balance: http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/index.cfm?template=check_myaccess

Hay “ev”
1st. you can make a balance transfer with out any money owed to anyone they send you balance transfer checks when you sign up or you can ask them to send you a check (“to pay off a few different bill’s”)
But be careful about transfer fee’s, There is the occasional offer with no balance transfer transaction fee
And if you use a business card it won’t show on your credit report

2nd. “fund the account with a credit card” sounds to me like cash advance changes

Hay DAN
Can you please elaborate on how to keep your credit report/score good in regards to keeping your charges below $25,000… and using more then half your credit line
with a personal and business credit cards and with a amex charge card??

You have a few options either you get a check, or some of them let you make a balance transfer to your checking acct and no it does not go through like a cash advance. Or option 3 ( little more time consuming) you make a balance transfer to a credit card even if it has no balance on it then you will get a negative balance on that card and they will mail you a check ( it may also take a solid 2 weeks till you have the cash) As far as funding acct with credit cards they usually only allow it for the first time and a max of 1k or 2k not worth the headache…

Great discussion on everyone’s part here!

Let me just add that playing games with maxing out your credit card limit will be extremely harmful for your credit score, and will also raise huge red flags for financial reviews which may wind up costing you all of your credit cards.

Plenty of people play this game, but with current interest rates as low as they are is the upside really worth the risk?

Dan good point. One way to play it is only use half your credit line on each credit card or if you have other accts with the same company and leave those free it will generally keep them from financial review (except for amex they look at each account by itself) as far as interest rates go you have a point but keep in mind there are still online banks which you can get between 4 and 5%. Also as far as credit score goes always borrow at one time then credit score goes down, pay them up all at once, credit score shoots up like crazy then apply for new credit cards and they give you high credit lines based on your good score!!

hay DAN
what about maxing your business cards and about how much can you use on an amex charge card without raising flags??