We here at the Investor Junkie household have multiple accounts with Fidelity, and it is the primary account for our taxable investments. In addition, our low interest “fixed” rate credit cards suddenly skyrocketed to over 9% and are now at variable rate. It was time for a new credit card strategy, because low interest rate credit cards are going the way of the do-do bird. We primarily used the cards for their points anyways, and after thinking about it, %1 return wasn’t such a hot deal.
I thought it would be a good time to scout for a new credit card and focus on points since we primarily pay off our card monthly. I noticed that Fidelity offers two credit cards, one American Express based and the other is a Visa Signature Card. While the AMEX card offers 2% for all purchases, we already had an American Express with Costco. We also wanted a more widely accepted card so most transactions could go on the card. The Visa card offers:
- 1.5% cash back when spending up to $15,000 annually
- 2.0% cash back on any purchases above $15,000
- No limits on cash rewards
- No annual fee
- Direct deposit into any Fidelity account when the cash balance is greater than $50.00
Sign me up! We easily charge over $15,000 per year to our primary credit card. The card has a somewhat high interest rate (13.99%), which is fine for us since we pay it off monthly. We charge EVERYTHING on the card: daycare, telephone bills, home repairs, grocery shopping, etc.. Heck, I would even put our mortgage payment on it if we could. I realize that defeats the purpose of paying off the debt. I’m just saying…
Based upon my estimates, we should get approximately $1,000 annually into our Fidelity account.
We thought it was the best credit card with cash back, especially since we already use Fidelity. I am aware that Schwab offered a 2% cash rebate credit card. It looks like, unfortunately, that offer is no longer available. Right now, for us, this appears to be the best deal available that will deposit money directly into an investment account.
NOTE: there is a 3% foreign transaction fee (1% for the Fidelity AMEX card)
I just got one of these Fidelity Rewards Visa Cards. I applied on the web site and the cards showed up a few weeks later.
Now that I have used it for a few weeks it was time to go online any pay my first bill.
You may pay online (that part of the web site is powered by “CheckFree”). So the online payment part of the web site is not seamlessly integrated with your statement.
EEK – there is no provision to just simply pay the account balance in full each month. You can pay ad-hoc amounts or a fixed amount each statement period. But the “feature” for paying off the balance is not available for this card according to the fellow I talked to on the phone.
Balance alerts by e-mail also appear to be non-existent.
There are all sorts of features that seem nice (Virtual Numbers and extra points when buying through catalog links).
Perhaps I’ll write a note to Fidelity and let them know they can keep their points unless the alerting and auto-pay issues are resolved.
Bummer…
Hi Chuck,
Keep in mind Bank of America (actually it’s subsidiary) is the one issuing the card and the ones offering that feature. So it’s not directly Fidelity’s fault.
You can setup an automatic draw from your Fidelity account. This has to be done from the FIA card services website….I don’t think you can do it from the mini-screen that is linked directly from Fidelity. They also say it may take up to 2 billing cycles for it to be activated, which doesn’t really make any sense.
Bottom line, they want you to miss a payment or two, because that’s where they make their money. You definitely need to stay on top of it until you’re sure the direct draw is working.
Schwab card was unreal at simple 2% cash back. I’d take this 1.5% and 2% after $15k in purchases, but if BofA owns fia card services, will this card go away just like the Schwab card did?
Hi Ben,
Yes that’s a good question, I don’t know.
Similar to Chuck I found it surprisingly unprofessional that they do not provide an easy way to pay the balance in full each month. The standard links through Fidelity and FIA services only allow recurring payments but not payment in full. Through customer service they directed me to a separate url: fiacardservices.com/autopay which does allow setting up auto payment in full on the card, but extremely fishy and disappointing that they make you jump through so many hoops. I anticipate that it will take the same energy to ‘claim’ the rewards points (Bank of America also requires extra energy to claim reward points). If so they can say goodbye to my transaction fees too, I will stick with my Discover Card that makes recurring full payment and claiming of awards seamless.