Recap: Hacking Your Mortgage, Gift Of College GC Expanding & More

 

  • Reader Adam received this offer for $25 cash back for spending $500 on PenFed card. They received the same offer last month but didn’t complete it.

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Sarah
Sarah (@guest_417263)
June 8, 2017 16:35

OMG, no!

Using a house as a checking/savings account is a terrible idea. Sure, it looks good on paper but the problem is the line of credit is NOT guaranteed, the bank can close your HELOC at any time they feel like it. If they decide to do that then you “lose” all your money you have tied up in your mortgage and are unable to remove any equity from your property, that’s assuming you have any equity at all. This happened to people en mass in 2008-2009. The worst part of this is that is the bank is most likely to close your HELOC when you need it most, during a recession. A Reddit user told a story about a customer they had who did just this, the value of his house dropped during the financial crisis, and his HELOC was closed. Guy was absolutely devastated.

DH7
DH7 (@guest_417122)
June 8, 2017 11:43

In regards to the Gift of College GCs, there’s a great guide on reddit (below). Personally, the 1.1% fee to purchase online seems reasonable, since i’ve paid more for MS in a pinch (but obviously that’s subjective).

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/640mgv/guide_to_paying_student_loans_with_credit_cards/

J
J (@guest_417283)
June 8, 2017 17:19

Thanks for the share!

HoKo
HoKo (@guest_417071)
June 8, 2017 08:47

Can you elaborate on the Best Buy comment?

Mark O
Mark O (@guest_417074)
June 8, 2017 08:54

You may be able to buy them with best buy GC I would think

chaseaholic
chaseaholic (@guest_417083)
June 8, 2017 09:38

so possibly 1-1.5% off + 5x INK best buy > gift of college > pay student loans – the ~1% fee.

Michael M.
Michael M. (@guest_417091)
June 8, 2017 10:00

Dividend also has them as a quarterly 5% category for those that didn’t/can’t/won’t max out on drug stores.

DH7
DH7 (@guest_417119)
June 8, 2017 11:28

US Bank Cash+ seems to have 5% at electronics stores as an option as well.

I believe buying any gift cards at Best Buy with a Best Buy GC is highly YMMV