April 17th, 2009
Contrary to what you may think at first glance, the Facecard Prepaid Mastercard has nothing to do with Facebook. Clever naming, though, since it’s essentially geared towards that market of young people who probably spend hours upon hours of their days buried on social networking and IM sites.
Since this is a prepaid card, you have to keep your eyes wide open for the fees. We’ll start with the things you can do for free, though: there’s no charge to activate the card, no monthly membership charges, no fees when loading via ACH and no charges for Facecard to Facecard fund sharing.
For the actions you’ll get charged doing, here’s the complete list: ATM withdrawals ($1.50), international purchases ($0.50), going zero balance ($9.95), negative balance ($9.95, per incident), mailed statements ($1.95), chargeback ($25) and inactive account ($4.50). If that sounds like a list telling you to essentially give your money away, you’re not alone - that’s how it strikes me too.
Fees notwithstanding, you’ll get the same charges out of pretty much any prepaid card in the market so there’s really nothing making this worse than any of the other offerings. Since, there’s no fees for ACH transfers, it’s actually pretty decent. Do note that the Facecard lacks an over-the-counter deposit feature. If you don’t have a bank account, you can’t load it with cash.
Like other prepaid cards, the Facecard Prepaid Mastercard is designed for convenience, not value. It also won’t help your credit-building efforts, like a secured credit card would. If you need one, this might be a good choice. Otherwise, just move along - nothing to see here.
November 24th, 2008
If you like booking your own travel arrangements, the Blue Sky Credit Card from American Express will be one of your most beloved companions, allowing you to get the best travel deals.
Getting The Best Travel Deals
Most travel reward cards require you to book flights and accommodations through their own in-house agents. While it’s a nice perk, you’re limited to whatever deals they have on offer. If nothing interests you or if the ones that do are too expensive for your current points, you have no choice but to either sit on your rewards or fork up some extra cash.
The Blue Sky offers a unique travel reward that allows you to book through any agency, hotel, car rental, airline, cruise line, online booking agents and tour operators that you prefer. There are certain limitations (non-industry compliant operations and back alley deals won’t count) but they are hardly restrictive. With this card, you can exhaust those points getting the best deals you can find on your own.
When redeeming your rewards, you will need to make your bookings first and pay for them using the credit card. You can then use the points to get a credit rebate back to your card. Every 7500 points get you a $100 charge-back (1.33%, which is better than the 1% offered by most charge-back rewards). For instance, when you book a $120 ticket and subsequently use 7500 reward points, you’ll $100 credited back on your monthly statement.
Other Features
The Blue Sky Credit Card has no annual fee with APR that starts from prime rate plus 4.99%. It also brings standard Amex benefits to cardholders, including travel insurance and various store discounts worldwide as well as exclusive Blue card offers such as discounts on numerous hotels, show tickets and music downloads.
November 20th, 2008
If you’re in the market for a cash-back credit card and aren’t intending to use it for business expenses, the American Express Blue Cash is one offer worthy of getting a closer look.
Rebates
The Blue Cash is the only credit card we know of (since the Citi Dividend and the Chase Cash Plus Rewards were discontinued) that offers a 5% rebate for all supermarket, gasoline and drugstore purchases. That’s a lot of cash returned for what are, essentially, daily expenses you’ll be buying anyway whether you have a credit card or not. For other purchases, they offer a standard 1.5 % cash back.
Like every offer that sounds too good to be true, of course, it’s not as sweet as initially sounds. The 5% and 1.5% rebates only take effect after you’ve spent at least $6500 on your credit card for the year. Prior to reaching the $6500 milestone, you only get 1% for supermarket, gasoline and drugstore purchases and 0.5% for everything else. Still, at a potential 5% for everyday items and unlimited rebates throughout the year, this card offers one of the best deals available anywhere.
Other Benefits
The Blue Cash brings with it a slew of other benefits including travel insurance (up to $100,000), access to select merchants worldwide who offer discounts to Amex cardholders, Purchase Protection Plan (which allows you to return damaged items within 90 days) and Buyers Assurance (extra warranty for all your purchases up to $50000 a year).
Fees And Rates
The card charges no annual fees and APR starts from prime rate plus 4.99%. You get 0% introductory APR for the first 12 months of use. It has a 20 day grace period for purchases.
