Carnival Sea Miles Card

[trock]

I do have the seamiles card, but I don't use it often because I have other cards that give me better rewards.

 

My suggestion would be NOT to close the card and here is why. If a card is costing you NO ANNUAL FEE and you don't owe anything on it than it is only helping your FICO score.

 

About 1/3 of your FICO score is based on how much of your available credit that you are using, for example... If you have 2 credit cards with a $5000 limit on each, you have one that is maxed out at $5000 and one that is empty, well you are 50% maxed out, if you were to cancel the other one you would all of a sudden be 100% maxed out and your FICO score will plummet. So the more available credit that you have the better, and the less that you use the better, keeping balances below 30% of your total available credit will keep your FICO score healthy.

 

Many think that closing credit cards will help your credit score, but this is not true at all, even when you close a card yourself you often loose FICO points for a while. If you are someone who has trouble with controling your spending and will likely let balances get out of hand, then maybe closing accounts is a good thing, but otherwise it is better to keep them open.

 

I have 9 credit cards, I don't carry a balance or pay interest on any of them, I have 2 that I use often and the others get pulled out for an occasional online purchase, just to keep them active.

 

Hope this advise helps

 

MAC

 

I went thru an identity theft situation last year. (Joined Lifelock, recommeneded)

I was told that if you had, lets say, 3 credit cards with $10G credit each, they are considered $30 grand of debt even with zero balances. That you actually have to use them to garner a credit worthy score??:confused: :confused:

[bakechef]

I went thru an identity theft situation last year. (Joined Lifelock, recommeneded)

I was told that if you had, lets say, 3 credit cards with $10G credit each, they are considered $30 grand of debt even with zero balances. That you actually have to use them to garner a credit worthy score??:confused: :confused:

 

That is very bad information that you got. The info that I gave can be found on the FICO website. Any lender that would consider available credit as debt should be avoided, a lender should only consider how responsible you are with your credit, and when they look at your credit report and see that your balances have been low compared to your limits, should be a very good sign to them.

 

Most cards report both your balance and your limit, there are a few cards that don't report your limit and this can be a damper on your credit score(because you can look maxed out), usually these are business cards, but they are rare.

 

It is good to give all of your cards some use, even if it is just a tank of gas here and there.

 

I would not recommend LifeLock, the service that they provide can be done by you for free, all you have to do is call all 3 of the bureaus and request that your account is frozen, so that extra steps need to be taken when applying for credit. Did you know that the founder of Lifelock is a former Identity theif? He resigned when his history was made public! I don't think that you are in any immediate danger, and if it gives you peace of mind than I think it is worth the fee. i personally use a credit monitoring service, I can pull new reports any day, and they will e-mail me when an inquiry for credit shows up (these are almost instant).

 

MAC

[trock]

That is very bad information that you got. The info that I gave can be found on the FICO website. Any lender that would consider available credit as debt should be avoided, a lender should only consider how responsible you are with your credit, and when they look at your credit report and see that your balances have been low compared to your limits, should be a very good sign to them.

 

Most cards report both your balance and your limit, there are a few cards that don't report your limit and this can be a damper on your credit score(because you can look maxed out), usually these are business cards, but they are rare.

 

MAC

 

 

Thank you so much!!! I was concerned about that .. Much appreciation!:)

I like the 'insurance' policy with lifelock.. and its very reasonable.

You dont even want to know what the identity case cost me

[bakechef]

Thank you so much!!! I was concerned about that .. Much appreciation!:)

I like the 'insurance' policy with lifelock.. and its very reasonable.

You dont even want to know what the identity case cost me

 

It stinks that you had that happen, but at least now you are being pro-active, so you are a big step ahead of most!

 

MAC

[S.S.Oceanlover]

That is very bad information that you got. The info that I gave can be found on the FICO website. Any lender that would consider available credit as debt should be avoided, a lender should only consider how responsible you are with your credit, and when they look at your credit report and see that your balances have been low compared to your limits, should be a very good sign to them.

 

Most cards report both your balance and your limit, there are a few cards that don't report your limit and this can be a damper on your credit score(because you can look maxed out), usually these are business cards, but they are rare.

 

It is good to give all of your cards some use, even if it is just a tank of gas here and there.

 

I would not recommend LifeLock, the service that they provide can be done by you for free, all you have to do is call all 3 of the bureaus and request that your account is frozen, so that extra steps need to be taken when applying for credit. Did you know that the founder of Lifelock is a former Identity theif? He resigned when his history was made public! I don't think that you are in any immediate danger, and if it gives you peace of mind than I think it is worth the fee. i personally use a credit monitoring service, I can pull new reports any day, and they will e-mail me when an inquiry for credit shows up (these are almost instant).

 

MAC

 

I was never aware of this until maybe 2 years ago. You are very much correct from what I've been told. Part of your FICO score is based on your debt/credit ratio so the more available credit you have helps you.

 

Very good advice Mac.

 

Bill

[98Charlie]

First off, we're not cruise line loyal. We've sailed Carnival, Celebrity, NCL, Princess, and RCCL and enjoyed them all. The line that has the best value (ship, itinerary, price, etc.) is the one we will be using.

 

When we first started cruising in Dec 2002 we soon realized that we should be taking advantage of one of the credit card reward programs.

 

We decided on the NCL Mastercard. It's a flat 3% towards the price of the cruise, 4% of any NCL purchases like your shipboard account or any payments not paid for by certificates.

 

You make your best deal with your TA, NCL or whoever so you are not stuck with having to go through a special agency or the cruise line if you don't want to. Apply for the certificates in increments of $500 and that's it. I really haven't a clue what the interest rate is since we just don't carry a balance. If you are carrying a balance on any reward card you are probably spending more in interest than you are getting back in rewards anyway.

 

Maximum per year is $1000 back which is why DW has her own account and I have mine. Since we opened the new account, we are averaging $1500 in cruise credits per year.

 

If you are Carnival loyal (and there's nothing wrong with being loyal to any single cruise line) it's obviously not for you.

 

Just my 2¢

 

Charlie

[LHP]

Actually believe it or not, this is very common practice among even the "best" credit card companies, every one of them will do this to you, so you have to be very careful. They call it the "default rate" and will often hit you with 28% or higher, so as bad as 22% was it could have been worse, they can go up to 35%.

 

I frequent a credit forum, and see this happen to people every day. These rate jacks also happen if someone's credit score drops for some reason, even if they have never been late or over the limit.

 

AMEX is an excellent card, but they are very strict, one day you could see your account frozen, and will require you to go through a financial review to make sure that you are still worthy of their card.

Good Luck

 

MAC

 

????

 

This statement confuses me. I have had an American Express card of some kind for 30 years and I have never gone through that process.

 

Of course, we have never carried a balance on any credit card and have no debt. House, new cars etc. are all paid for with cash.

[bakechef]

????

 

This statement confuses me. I have had an American Express card of some kind for 30 years and I have never gone through that process.

 

Of course, we have never carried a balance on any credit card and have no debt. House, new cars etc. are all paid for with cash.

 

You are one of the lucky ones, I believe that never carrying a balance and having no debt has helped you. From what I have read it often happens when someones score drops or they apply for a bunch of credit cards, AMEX is just making sure that they are not running into trouble.

 

Keeping your credit clean, and debt very low probably keeps the financial review from happening. This is most likely the reason that AMEX has the lowest occurance of default among major credit card issuers.

 

MAC

[NYCFOD]

The process by which credit card companies (including in my experience American Express and Bank of America) periodically evaluate your credit report and adjust interest rates and limits is called universal default. This means that if you are late on a utility bill and the utility report it to a credit agency, your other lenders may increase your interest rate or decrease your limit or both. They will also adjust based on a decrease in your credit score. This is now being eliminated by the mandate of Congress.

 

In my view, you need to take a quite mercenary approach when it comes to applying for and using credit. Airline points can be easier to accumulate and use (if you pay the extra points for the anytime flights) than rewards on cruise cards. Hotel points are also reasonably easy to redeem. I have never found a points deal, time share plan or anything else that can beat a TA or online TA for a cruise fare.

 

Personally, I find the American Express member rewards program most beneficial for me. I have had a charge card since 1989 and this really boosts my credit score, even though Amex don't report a limit for my charge card. I also have an Amex Blue and my company gives me a Corporate Amex, all of these contribute points to my member rewards account. I have used Amex points to buy points on Continental, which were then used to buy flights on Delta. I've also used them to buy merchandise and hotel points.

 

I will sometimes apply for a particular card with the intention of getting the bonus points for signing up, to get a particular reward, but then to dump the card before the next annual fee is due. This is possible because I don't carry a balance. I make the decision that the reward I want is worth the annual fee if any, and the 20 point ding on my credit score. For example, I applied for the Continental Airlines mastercard and got 20,000 points after making a purchase. I already had 39,000 points on CO, I also transferred 31,000 points from Amex to get a total of 90,000 points which I used to buy the two first class tickets from NY to New Orleans. The tickets would cost $2600 if purchased online, but cost me $79 for the annual fee and the points. The CO points were getting close to expiring so it was use them or lose them. I did take a slight ding on my credit score, but it was not much of a ding.

 

To increase your FICO score you need to retain your oldest cards and to keep the balance on each card at one third or below of its limit, and a to make all payments on time every time. I find it easiest to set up automatic payments, but not all credit companies make this facility available.

 

The best source of information on what does and does not improve your credit score is the Fair Isaacs Company itself, do a web search on FICO.

[bakechef]

The process by which credit card companies (including in my experience American Express and Bank of America) periodically evaluate your credit report and adjust interest rates and limits is called universal default. This means that if you are late on a utility bill and the utility report it to a credit agency, your other lenders may increase your interest rate or decrease your limit or both. They will also adjust based on a decrease in your credit score. This is now being eliminated by the mandate of Congress.

 

In my view, you need to take a quite mercenary approach when it comes to applying for and using credit. Airline points can be easier to accumulate and use (if you pay the extra points for the anytime flights) than rewards on cruise cards. Hotel points are also reasonably easy to redeem. I have never found a points deal, time share plan or anything else that can beat a TA or online TA for a cruise fare.

 

Personally, I find the American Express member rewards program most beneficial for me. I have had a charge card since 1989 and this really boosts my credit score, even though Amex don't report a limit for my charge card. I also have an Amex Blue and my company gives me a Corporate Amex, all of these contribute points to my member rewards account. I have used Amex points to buy points on Continental, which were then used to buy flights on Delta. I've also used them to buy merchandise and hotel points.

 

I will sometimes apply for a particular card with the intention of getting the bonus points for signing up, to get a particular reward, but then to dump the card before the next annual fee is due. This is possible because I don't carry a balance. I make the decision that the reward I want is worth the annual fee if any, and the 20 point ding on my credit score. For example, I applied for the Continental Airlines mastercard and got 20,000 points after making a purchase. I already had 39,000 points on CO, I also transferred 31,000 points from Amex to get a total of 90,000 points which I used to buy the two first class tickets from NY to New Orleans. The tickets would cost $2600 if purchased online, but cost me $79 for the annual fee and the points. The CO points were getting close to expiring so it was use them or lose them. I did take a slight ding on my credit score, but it was not much of a ding.

 

To increase your FICO score you need to retain your oldest cards and to keep the balance on each card at one third or below of its limit, and a to make all payments on time every time. I find it easiest to set up automatic payments, but not all credit companies make this facility available.

 

The best source of information on what does and does not improve your credit score is the Fair Isaacs Company itself, do a web search on FICO.

 

 

 

Great advise!

 

While that first paragraph is true, that the wording of "Universal Default" is disappearing, the reality is that the credit card companies still have the terminology in their contract that they can raise rates for any reason. With the mortgage meltdown, they are doing just that, people are using credit cards to live on having mortgages that have adjusted to a payment that they cannot afford and property values that have plummeted so they can't sell, so credit card delinquencies are skyrocketing.

 

That means that those who are responsible and pay on time , but carry a balance are the ones that are paying for this mess.

 

My word of advise..... DON'T CARRY A BALANCE, and if you need to carry a balance, make it a priority to pay it off as quickly as possible, because the credit card companies are going after those who carry debt, and pay their bills because it is almost guaranteed money.

 

MAC

[ruskatab]

We have been looking for a new credit card for the travel rewards and im so confused as to which is the best. There were so many suggestions. Is there a website to compare credit cards for the rewards. We bank with Chase and saw Chase mentioned. I will go to the bank tomorrow and check it out. Also can you use the reward points with an interline discount? If the reward points are more I guess we can just not use the discount

[LuckyStar]

MaryZ, ICAM. I hate Discover as well. They work really good for some people though. I got a AMEX Blue Sky about six months ago and love it! I got 37500 points for opening the account. I had to wait until I had made $1000 in purchases before I could redeem but you can get points redeemed very easily. I held onto my points and redeemed the $500 toward my cruise and air fare in November. Sweet!

 

Jenny

[bakechef]

We have been looking for a new credit card for the travel rewards and im so confused as to which is the best. There were so many suggestions. Is there a website to compare credit cards for the rewards. We bank with Chase and saw Chase mentioned. I will go to the bank tomorrow and check it out. Also can you use the reward points with an interline discount? If the reward points are more I guess we can just not use the discount

 

Your absolute best bet overall is a cash back card, so you can use the cash along with your interline discount without any hassle what so ever. Chase has a "Chase Freedom Signature VISA" that gives you 3% back on your 3 largest spending categories (which can change from month to month, this card adjusts automatically) and 1% on everything else.

 

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?partner_dir_name=category_rebate&page=index

 

You can go to a site like creditcards.com and compare cards by category.

 

It is fun to know that you are earning cash towards a cruise just by spending money that you had budgeted anyway.

 

My advise is to use these cards only for budgeted expenses, and pay in full every month, it makes no sense to earn 3% in rewards and pay upwards of 15% in interest (rewards cards often have higher interest).

 

Good Luck

 

MAC

[trock]

Good Morning!

I just want to Thank you Mac, again for all your advise and insight!!

You are a great asset to this board!!

 

The things you can learn on CC are amazing!!!!!!!!!:D

[bakechef]

Good Morning!

I just want to Thank you Mac, again for all your advise and insight!!

You are a great asset to this board!!

 

The things you can learn on CC are amazing!!!!!!!!!:D

 

No problem, glad to share. At one time I really messed up my credit, and it was a long journey to fix it, I learned so much along the way, and am glad to share when I can, especially in these uncertain financial times.:)

 

MAC

[ruskatab]

Your absolute best bet overall is a cash back card, so you can use the cash along with your interline discount without any hassle what so ever. Chase has a "Chase Freedom Signature VISA" that gives you 3% back on your 3 largest spending categories (which can change from month to month, this card adjusts automatically) and 1% on everything else.

 

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?partner_dir_name=category_rebate&page=index

 

You can go to a site like creditcards.com and compare cards by category.

 

It is fun to know that you are earning cash towards a cruise just by spending money that you had budgeted anyway.

 

My advise is to use these cards only for budgeted expenses, and pay in full every month, it makes no sense to earn 3% in rewards and pay upwards of 15% in interest (rewards cards often have higher interest).

 

Good Luck

 

MAC

 

Wow good advice, then I can get the cash and the discount. We never carry over a balance, its the law in this household! I normally use my debit card for everything and the rewards on the one we have is terrible.

 

Thanks so much!

[papadave]

When I originally got the Seamiles card I was lured by the prospect of redeeming for a free cruise. I can't seem to find any information that would actually lead me to believe this is still the case. Has anyone been able to redeem for a free cruise lately?

[Theresa522]

I have the mbna RCL credit card and have had NO problems with it. Will be saving $850 on my cruise next year

[MIZZ_K]

We have the American Express Blue something or other (Sky I think)

 

You can get $100 off for every 7,500 points. We have had it for almost a year and they gave us 30,000 points ($400.00) just for joining...which we

have already used.

 

You can use it for 'anything' related to travel...cruises, airfare, hotels, car rentals...no blackout dates...no hassles at all!!!

 

You simply charge your travel....then apply the points and pay the balance.

EASY!!!

 

I don't know if you can run a balance or not...we always pay off our credit cards in full every month.

I just got this card about 2 months ago, you do not need to pay in full each month.

[Julienatul]

We have the seamiles mastercard and love it!! We have taken two 5-day free cruises on Carnival and have gotten $250 off twice on 2 other sailings including one RCL. We use it for everything and pay it off every month. The point value to sail for free is much lower in the fall. It takes us maybe 2 yrs to get up enough points for a free one but hey, the card costs us nothing and we pay it off so free is free (well almost free we pay about $200 in port fees total)

 

Julie

[Puddleshuttle]

Wow! I guess no one here has ever heard of Dave Ramsey, LOL. FICO is an "I love debt" score. http://www.daveramsey.com

[aggieastrosfan]

I think I know which credit board bakechef is frequenting, if it's the same one I live on these days.

 

I have the Sea Miles, and have accumulated almost 70k points in just over a year. But I'm about to "sock-drawer" it in favor of another card. Plus I'm hoping it'll convince them to give me a credit increase to use the card again - I'm tired of having to make mid-cycle payments to free up more credit to keep using the card.

 

My interest rate is horrible - 18.24%. It's actually gone down, though, it was over 19% when I first got the card. I pay in full each month, though, so I don't really care about the interest rate.

[Rockee4055]

I am so glad I read this thread. I have been thinking about it for a while now and wondered if it would be worth it's weight in gold.

 

I can see that it would be a waste of time since i would have been giving up a card with cashback options on it.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

After reading this thread, now I'm disappointed I fell for the trap. I got my 5K free miles for joining and double points for the first month I think. Got my first statement and have almost 11K points which equates to $75 off a cruise. My plan was to keep using this card to pay for my gas purchases and groceries each month and pay it off when I got the bill to rack up my points and redeem the points in about 2 years when I want to take an Alaskan cruise. Posters on this thread seem to be against the card so should I just quit using it? I didn't know I had to book the cruise thru the rewards program. I want to be able to book a cruise thru my regular TA and apply the seamiles credits to it. I can't do that?

 

I don't want to cancel the card cuz I've been told by my creditors that it hurts your credit score to close out your charge cards. They look at it as money you can use to live on if you fall on hard times so the more "available" credit you have, the better. My AAA visa got cancelled due to inactivity so I wondered if that hurt my credit score but I got my Carnival seamiles card with $17.5K available and 16% interest. Thats the worst interest on a card I've had in years - with a 750 FICO score, it should be better than that :rolleyes:

[aggieastrosfan]

I don't want to cancel the card cuz I've been told by my creditors that it hurts your credit score to close out your charge cards. They look at it as money you can use to live on if you fall on hard times so the more "available" credit you have, the better. My AAA visa got cancelled due to inactivity so I wondered if that hurt my credit score but I got my Carnival seamiles card with $17.5K available and 16% interest. Thats the worst interest on a card I've had in years - with a 750 FICO score, it should be better than that :rolleyes:

 

Definitely don't close the card - just take it out once in a while and put a tank of gas on it, or set up a recurring charge that occurs every month or every other month.

 

And, yes, you have to use their TA - all the stories I've heard on here about "discounts" on higher prices means I'm just trying to get enough points to get a cheap 4 or 5 day cruise out of Galveston. I'm getting close.