Thursday, November 03, 2011

New investment minded Visa Credit Card - Goodbye Schwab and hello Fidelity Investment Rewards

Our household buys almost everything on a credit card. We pay it off every month. This works great in all sorts of ways, but most of all with the rewards we garner.

But we just lost our favorite goto Visa card: Schwab Invest First. Lots of PF folks loved/had this card. Schwab actually cut ties with it months ago. The card is issued by FIA Card Services, a subsidiary of BOA - Bank of America. They kept the card going, and continued to match the 2% cash back that got deposited into our Schwab Brokerage account monthly. From there I'd transfer the money into either a IRA or Roth IRA. And then into one of the Schwab Index funds we have. I never enjoyed a cash back card more than I did the Schwab. No silly need to login and request check or gift cards, like our Chase Visa card requires. Schwab made it very east with everything being automatic each month.

So I had been on the look out for some replacement, that had an investment angle in mind. And the choice was spartan to say the least. In fact, there was only one choice: Fidelity Investments Rewards. (in either Visa or Amex.) We stuck with Visa. 1.5% cash back into a Fidelity investment account. After spending $15,000 the rate bumps up to 2%. The Amex started at 2%, but we felt more comfortable with a Visa.

End of October marked the termination date of the Schwab card, which is getting rolled into a regular BAC blended cash back Visa. The new Fidelity Visa arrived last week and I made the first purchase shortly thereafter. Nice to know we have rewards again that will continue to feed our retirement accounts in a slow, methodical manner. And I like that the new card is green and cooler looking than the old one. So long Chuck....

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