Traumnovelle
Member
https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-have-29-credit-cards-youre-probably-a-millennial-1490972634
This article is insane. There is no way this won't be disastrous for most.
EDIT: Pasted parts of the article down below.
When Kyle Allen gets home from work each day, he heads straight for his mailbox. It does give me a rush, says the 29-year-old financial analyst from Orlando.
What he hopes to find is yet another offer for a new credit card. He and his wife together have 40 of them and have earned, so far, 1,492,500 rewards points. They have used the points in an almost-completed quest to visit each destination named in the chorus of the Beach Boys song Kokomo.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.s Chase Sapphire Reserve card until recently offered a sign-up sweetener of 100,000 rewards points, potentially worth thousands of dollars when redeemed for travel, as many collectors have done. The card, launched last August, proved so popular that 10 days later the bank ran out of the metal required to make them.
Citigroup Inc., American Express Co. and other rivals have enhanced their own cards to compete.
In an effort to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, Mary Xu made a card costume. PHOTO: MARY XU
Im kind of a credit-cardmaybe junkie is not the right wordbut Im a credit-card enthusiast, says Mary Xu, a San Francisco cybersecurity manager. In pursuit of points, she spends more than $1,000 a year on annual fees for high-end cards.
She was so disappointed to be rejected for the Sapphire Reserve last October that she spent hours constructing a costume of the card out of cardboard. She sent the bank a photo of herself dressed up, hoping for a second chance.
Washington, D.C., communications director Daniel Seaton, 31, signed up for a new card not available at home when he was on business in New York in February. It was his 29th new card in the past 18 months. Ive definitely kind of scolded friends for using a debit card, he says.
Ike Lee, 25, a student at Yale School of Medicine, has 16 cards and no income. When friends told him they needed furniture for a new apartment, he hatched a plan to pay for it himself with a card that offers 5% cash back on furniture purchases. He intends to give them a 3% discount when they reimburse him, netting himself a bit of cash.
When Levi Broderick, 32, and a friend recently moved to split the bill at a restaurant, both slapped down the same rewards-heavy card. He didnt say anything to me and I didnt say anything to him, but you could tell by the milling glances that we knew something was going on, says Mr. Broderick, a Seattle software engineer.
Benjamin Gowdy of Gorham, Maine, a 34-year-old real-estate investor, pitched his girlfriend on a four-hour road trip to nab a Chase sign-up bonus that required an in-person application. I dont really feel like blowing up a whole Saturday to sit in a bank, he recalls her responding.
Because he doesnt spend enough to qualify for all the rewards, he heads to a local mall and uses his credit cards to buy cash-equivalent prepaid cards, earning points in the process. Then he uses the prepaid cards to pay off his credit-card balances. He recently had to wait a long time to check out because someone ahead of him in line was doing the same, he says.
This article is insane. There is no way this won't be disastrous for most.
EDIT: Pasted parts of the article down below.
When Kyle Allen gets home from work each day, he heads straight for his mailbox. It does give me a rush, says the 29-year-old financial analyst from Orlando.
What he hopes to find is yet another offer for a new credit card. He and his wife together have 40 of them and have earned, so far, 1,492,500 rewards points. They have used the points in an almost-completed quest to visit each destination named in the chorus of the Beach Boys song Kokomo.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.s Chase Sapphire Reserve card until recently offered a sign-up sweetener of 100,000 rewards points, potentially worth thousands of dollars when redeemed for travel, as many collectors have done. The card, launched last August, proved so popular that 10 days later the bank ran out of the metal required to make them.
Citigroup Inc., American Express Co. and other rivals have enhanced their own cards to compete.
In an effort to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, Mary Xu made a card costume. PHOTO: MARY XU
Im kind of a credit-cardmaybe junkie is not the right wordbut Im a credit-card enthusiast, says Mary Xu, a San Francisco cybersecurity manager. In pursuit of points, she spends more than $1,000 a year on annual fees for high-end cards.
She was so disappointed to be rejected for the Sapphire Reserve last October that she spent hours constructing a costume of the card out of cardboard. She sent the bank a photo of herself dressed up, hoping for a second chance.
Washington, D.C., communications director Daniel Seaton, 31, signed up for a new card not available at home when he was on business in New York in February. It was his 29th new card in the past 18 months. Ive definitely kind of scolded friends for using a debit card, he says.
Ike Lee, 25, a student at Yale School of Medicine, has 16 cards and no income. When friends told him they needed furniture for a new apartment, he hatched a plan to pay for it himself with a card that offers 5% cash back on furniture purchases. He intends to give them a 3% discount when they reimburse him, netting himself a bit of cash.
When Levi Broderick, 32, and a friend recently moved to split the bill at a restaurant, both slapped down the same rewards-heavy card. He didnt say anything to me and I didnt say anything to him, but you could tell by the milling glances that we knew something was going on, says Mr. Broderick, a Seattle software engineer.
Benjamin Gowdy of Gorham, Maine, a 34-year-old real-estate investor, pitched his girlfriend on a four-hour road trip to nab a Chase sign-up bonus that required an in-person application. I dont really feel like blowing up a whole Saturday to sit in a bank, he recalls her responding.
Because he doesnt spend enough to qualify for all the rewards, he heads to a local mall and uses his credit cards to buy cash-equivalent prepaid cards, earning points in the process. Then he uses the prepaid cards to pay off his credit-card balances. He recently had to wait a long time to check out because someone ahead of him in line was doing the same, he says.
R - Young people are abusing the hell out of credit card rewards programs. They sign up for cards for the new member bonus and use specific cards at specific places to maximize cash back.
