Saving 5% at Amazon & Lowering Our Auto Loan Rate [Day 3]

Money, Money, Money

Today was an admin day focused around financial planning for the build. We of course already have our budget, but there were a few tasks that we needed to do to get the ball rolling so we could start making large purchases!

Credit Card Applications

Cash Back Strategy Update

I did some more research and updated yesterday’s credit card strategy overview with what I learned today about the Amazon Household membership. Basically, we don’t actually have to pay for Amazon Prime in order to be eligible to apply for the card, since we have the option to borrow my in-law’s prime benefits via the Household program.

We also decided not to apply for the Lowe’s Advantage credit card right now, because there are other ways to get a 5%+ discount at home improvement stores, such as buying discounted gift cards, using competitor coupons, and purchasing coupons. I also didn’t want to be tied to just one store brand. As a travel hacker, credit card slots are precious. Opening more than 5 cards in 24 months will prevent you from getting approved for any Chase bank card until one of those slots opens. If we can achieve the same discount result without filling a card slot, that is the preferred strategy.

With that in mind, we applied for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card and were immediately approved. We called to try to get the card expedited, but it was impossible to get someone on the phone, so we will just wait the 7 to 10 days it takes for the card to arrive.

Rejected!

We also applied for the Amazon Rewards Visa, and were denied. Unfortunately, that means that we’ll miss out on the $70 bonus Amazon gift card. However, our plan to apply prompted me to figure out how to get ourselves free Prime benefits for free and fast shipping. This will be so useful since we will be ordering a ton on Amazon in the coming months.

Here’s what I think happened: It used to be that you could be approved for two Chase bank cards in the same day, and that was the preferred method to prevent two separate hard pulls on your credit (which causes a temporary decline of your score). Additionally, there are some data points to suggest that you will be denied for a second credit card if you apply for it within 30 days, unless you do it on the same day as the first card.

After the rejection, we tried to call the reconsideration line but were unable to get through to a representative (like before). We tried 3 phone numbers with no luck, I guess that Chase is low on staff during COVID. I did some googling and it seems like now in 2020, Chase auto-rejects the second application if you apply for two cards on the same day. Travel hacking credit card rules change constantly so it’s a good thing to stay on top of!

Getting 5% back at Amazon

Regardless, we are still able to get 5% back on Amazon purchases for the rest of the year. That’s because my Chase Freedom gets 5% back at Amazon in Quarter 3 and my Discover it card gets 5% back at Amazon in Quarter 4. Additionally, we won’t get direct cash back in Quarter 3, because the Chase Freedom card gives Ultimate Rewards points rather than cash back that can be applied to a statement credit. Ultimate Rewards points are more valuable when redeemed for travel such as airline tickets, rather than when they are redeemed for cash. So we’ll be saving those points and using them for travel at some point in the future. That does make our savings somewhat more difficult to quantify. Discover gives cash back that can be directly applied to the statement balance, so we will have direct savings in Quarter 4.

 

5% Cashback Categories

I looked into the current and upcoming 5% cash back categories for our Chase Freedom and Discover it cards.

Chase

Quarter 3 – July through September: Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market

Quarter 4 – October through December: Holiday (TBD)

Also, we will get the 5% cashback on groceries for a year with the new Chase Freedom Unlimited card.

Discover

Quarter 3 – July through September: Restaurants and Paypal

Quarter 4 – October through December: Amazon.com, Target.com and Walmart.com

The Walmart.com cash back will come in handy for the van build as well!

 

Want to know what travel hacking and cash back credit cards I use to save thousands on travel every year? Check out what’s in my wallet.

 

Van Loan Interest Rate Deduction

One way to save money on the van, and our monthly expenses on the road, is to reduce our monthly van payments as much as possible. First, we got financing through a credit union in order to get a low rate. While there was a bit of a debacle with the van being a commercial vehicle for personal use, But once they finally approved us, we were able to secure a loan for 4.99% for 48 months. We want to pay as little interest as possible, so bigger downpayment combined with a shorter loan term helped us do that.

Additionally, reducing the interest rate in any way possible will also help. Our credit union drops your interest rate by 0.5% if you set up a direct deposit of $500 or more into your credit union account each month. So today we made sure the set the direct deposit up so we can immediately take advantage of the new 4.49% interest rate. This will save us approximately $133 over the life of the loan, which lowers our payment by $3 each month. It’s not a million dollars, but over $100 is an amount I’m happy to save!

Comment if you’re interested in learning more about van financing, and how to avoid paying tons of interest.

Listing Clothing on LetGo

I had some clothing listed on LetGo from earlier in the year, and so I made sure to re-list all of it, since the listings had expired. I’m not sure if that moves them back up to the top though because when I searched for items in the categories I had posted in (shirts, for example), none of my listings showed up. But a brand new listing (that had never expired) was first on the search for that item. I will have to look into this more, and maybe completely re-post everything, but that would be a pain.

My prices might be a little high right now since I haven’t gotten any bites, but I listed 11 clothing items for between $9 and $15, 1 DVD, and 5 books (yesterday). I listed all the media items for $5 each, which is about the lowest price that would be worth selling something for (rather than donating it). I also cross-posted the van handle that I put up on LetGo yesterday to Craigslist. So far I have about $180 worth of items listed on LetGo, $550 on Craigslist, and $600 worth of textbooks that I still need to get listed on Amazon and Alibris. If everything sells at the price it’s listed for, that’s over $1,300 in income!

 

Summary:

8/27/2020

Build Day #3

Hours Worked: 4

• Austin – 2
• Becky – 2
• Total Project Hours: 46

Money Spent: $0

• Total Project Spending: $16,624

Tasks Complete: 2

• Credit card applications
• Direct deposit set up for van loan

Questions Googled: 0

• Nothing explicitly van-related today

 

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