Update December 2022: You may not even remember that you filed a cash claim in the 2017 Equifax Data Breach Settlement, but the payments are finally being sent out. I nearly deleted the email as it ended up in my Junk Folder.

The settlement administrator has begun sending out payments for out-of-pocket losses, time spent claims, and other cash benefits. You will get your payment in the method you chose—by check, prepaid card, or PayPal payment.

Legitimate emails about the settlement will come from Equifax Breach Settlement Administrator (info@equifaxbreachsettlement.com).

Despite the information from that link quoted above, mine was from “Equifax Breach Settlement” and the email “EquifaxDataBreachSettlement@hawkmarketplace.com”. I also could not open the redemption link in my Chrome browser. It’s almost like someone doesn’t want you to claim the money… I got $21.06 via prepaid card and promptly used it to reload my Amazon gift card balance.

In addition, here is my previous post about the other ongoing benefits from the settlement:

Although the deadline to file a claim for the huge 2017 Equifax Data Breach Settlement has now passed, here is a quick reminder that there are still ongoing benefits available, including the ability to get a free credit report every other month:

Six (6) free Equifax credit reports per year. All U.S. consumers can now get 6 free credit reports per year through 2026 by visiting the Equifax website or by calling 1-866-349-5191. This is in addition to the one free Equifax report (plus your Experian and TransUnion reports) you can get every rolling 12 months at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Free identity restoration services. For at least seven years, you can get free identity restoration services. If you discover misuse of your personal information, call the settlement administrator at 1-833-759-2982. You will be given instructions for how to access free identity restoration services.

Reimbursement for identity theft expenses. You can still file a claim for any expenses you incur between January 23, 2020, and January 22, 2024, as a result of identity theft or fraud related to the breach, such as:

• Losses from unauthorized charges to your accounts
• Fees you paid to professionals, like accountants or attorneys, to help you recover from identity theft
• Other expenses you incurred while recovering from identity theft, like notary fees, document shipping fees, postage, mileage, and phone charges.

The Citi® Double Cash Card is a popular rewards credit card as it offers 2% flat cash back on all purchases, not just specific categories. As of March 2022, $1 in cash back rewards is also 100 Citi ThankYou points for potentially even better reward redemptions (details below). For example, if you value a Citi ThankYou point at 1.5 cents per point (by using the Citi Premier card and redeeming them as airline miles for free flights), then that is effectively get 3% value back! I’ve had this card for years.

• Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases.
• To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
• No annual fee.

There is a 0% APR balance transfer offer available, but I must warn you that if you transfer a balance, interest will be charged on your purchases unless you pay your entire balance (including balance transfers) by the due date each month.

• Balance Transfer Only Offer: 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 18 months. After that, the variable APR will be 18.99% – 28.99%, based on your creditworthiness.
• Balance Transfers do not earn cash back. Intro APR does not apply to purchases.
• There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).

Cash back details. Imagine you make a $100 purchase. 1 point per $1 spent is 100 points. You pay the $100 bill from your bank account, and get an additional 100 points. Final tally: 200 points = $2.00 back on $100 in purchases. In other words, still 2% cash back.

There is no longer a minimum redemption amount of $25 for direct deposits into your bank account or statement credit ($5 minimum for paper check). You can redeem as little as 1 point for 1 cent, cashing out down to the penny.

You can redeem for cash via statement credit, direct deposit to your bank account, or a paper check. The direct deposit works with any Citi bank account or verified non-Citi bank account. In the past, this just meant that you made two successful credit card payments from your non-Citi bank account.

Citi ThankYou point details. Since $0.01 in cash back rewards is the same as 1 Citi ThankYou point, it is very valuable that Citi lets you combine Citi Thankyou points across cards. From their FAQ:

Can customers combine points from multiple Citi accounts?
Absolutely, as long as all the Citi Accounts are owned by the same person. If they have one (or more) Citi credit cards participating in ThankYou® Rewards, Citibank consumer checking account and other linked banking products and services, an enrolled Citi Corporate Travel & Entertainment Card, they can combine the associated ThankYou® accounts into 1 ThankYou® Account. Please note that if they combine their ThankYou® Accounts, points are not separated based on which Citi Account they were earned and are displayed as a total among all Citi Accounts.

If you have the Citi® Double Cash Card AND the Citi Premier Card:

• By having the Citi Premier Card, you can transfer the ThankYou points earned on the Citi Double Cash to participating airline mileage programs on a 1:1 basis including JetBlue TrueBlue, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Etihad, Flying Blue by Air France and KLM, and Thai Airways.
• By having the Citi Double Cash, you can cash out the ThankYou points earned on the Citi Premier Card (which has the special feature of paying 3X points at Supermarkets, Restaurants, Gas Stations, Air Travel, and Hotels).

If you have the Citi® Double Cash Card AND the Citi Rewards+ Card:

• By having the Citi Rewards+ Card, you get 10% Points Back for the first 100,000 ThankYou® Points you redeem per year. For example, if you earn and redeem 20,000 ThankYou points, you’ll get 2,000 points rebated back to your account.
• The Citi Rewards+ Card automatically rounds up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase, so for example a $1 parking charge or $2 cup of coffee can earn 10 points. ).

If you have the Citi® Double Cash Card AND the Citi Custom Cash Card:

• By using the Citi Custom Cash Card, you get 5% cash back (5X Thank You points) on your top eligible spending category up to $500 spent each monthly billing cycle. (The Citi Double Cash card does not have any special categories.)
• By using the Citi Double Cash, you get 2% cash back (2X Thank You points) on all other purchases. (The Citi Custom Cash card only earns 1% cash back on all other purchases.)

You can combine all of your various ThankYou points account into one account by calling Citi ThankYou at 800-842-6596 or the number on the back of your card. Alternatively, you can try it online by logging into your ThankYou account and clicking on “Points Summary” in the top right corner where it says “Hi [Your Name]”. See below:

As you can see, Citi has been steadily improving their ThankYou point program to make it more rewarding to hold multiple Citi credit cards. It is good for the consumer to have competition with Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards points, and Capital One Miles.

Bottom line. The Citi® Double Cash Card lets you earn 2% cash back on all purchases: 1% when you buy plus 1% as you pay. Everyone should have a 2% cash back card in their purse/wallets, even if they have other cards with higher cashback in specific categories. I’ve had this card for several years now. You can also convert $1 in cash back into 100 Citi ThankYou points, which offers additional flexibility and potentially more valuable redemption options when combined with other Citi rewards cards.

• Citi® Double Cash Card application link

Here’s a reader question via email that comes up pretty regularly, and I’m surprised that I don’t have a dedicated post answering it. So here it is! 😁

Hi Jonathan,

I have been following you for a long time and appreciate your work. One question, for the credit cards that have an annual fee do keep them and pay the fee or do you cancel them before the fee is applied? I wa just approved for the citi premier card.

For most new credit cards with big bonuses, if the annual fee is not waived for the first year, it will be charged immediately on your first billing cycle. So with the Citi Premier card, you should see a $95 charge in your first monthly statement. You can’t avoid it if you want the sign-up bonus. Of course, the good news is that the sign-up offer is worth over $800. Now, after 12 months, another annual fee will be charged. What then?

I view credit card bonuses as a paid trial. The credit card issuer wants to make me their customer, in the hopes of making profits (transaction fees, interest, fees, etc) by providing me a service. As a consumer, I am lazy and don’t really want to go through the hassle of applying for a new credit card. I certainly wouldn’t do it for free. Therefore, the credit card issuer must offer an incentive. What do I owe the credit card issuer? I agree to give them a chance to earn my business by testing out the features for a full year.

Is it ever worth it? Yes, there are several credit cards that I have kept for at least another year and paid the annual fee because they earned my business. I felt the annual fee was worth it. As my professional and travel habits changed, some cards were dropped and others were added. Here are a few past and present examples:

• Delta Skymiles Platinum American Express (used for companion certificate)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve (until their recent annual fee hike)
• Chase Sapphire Preferred (Ultimate Rewards points flexbility)
• World of Hyatt card (free annual hotel night)
• IHG Rewards Club Premier card (free annual hotel night)
• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card (used to be frequent SPG/Marriott traveler)
• Chase United Card (free checked bags)
• Citi American Airlines card (free checked bags)
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred (6% back at grocery stores up to a limit and streaming).

Don’t think it’s worth it? Other times, it’s not worth it or circumstances change. Again, I usually wait a full year until the next annual fee is charged onto my statement. Then, I call them up and either ask to cancel or tell them directly the annual fee is too high and I don’t want to pay it.

• They might directly offer to waive the annual fee for another year.
• They might offer some sort of mini-hurdle like spend $1,000 on the card in 60 days and they will credit back the annual fee.
• They might offer to downgrade to another card version with no annual fee.
• They might offer you nothing and cancel your card on the spot.

If they close the account, that’s fine. I gave them a shot. End of agreement.

Still worried? The issue underlying this question is usually this: Doesn’t closing a credit card hurt my credit score?

For me, the answer is no, at least not enough for me to notice. For others, the answer is a bit more complicated. This post is old but still valid – How Opening and Closing Credit Card Accounts Affects Your Credit Score.

Here’s the short version: Closing a credit card will affect the following two factors in your credit score: Credit utilization ratio (percent of total available credit used as debt) and average age of accounts. So if the credit card in question has a credit limit of $10,000 and your only other credit card is brand new with a $500 limit, then closing it will likely lower your score quite noticeably. If you have multiple credit cards with a few years of history, pay off your balance each month, and don’t close the oldest credit card, then the effect will be much smaller.

If you think about it, you need to open up multiple credit cards over time in order to eventually build up a durable credit utilization ratio and average age of accounts. Otherwise, you’ll always be one forced/arbitrary account closure away from a credit score drop. Over time, I have multiple accounts that are decades old and no new credit card is ever more than 10% of my total available credit, so I don’t worry at all about closing a card that I don’t want anymore. If you are brand-new to credit, then you may wish to tread more lightly and find some quality no-annual-fee cards to open and keep to build up your credit profile.

Photo by Avery Evans, Unsplash

Follow-up: Although the initial scan did not find any hits (even though my data was on the sites), a subsequent scan did a better job and Discover removed my data from 33 different hits from the 10 people search sites. I randomly spot-checked them and confirmed that my information was removed. For a free service that didn’t take up my time, I am happy with this result. I would now recommend opting in and being patient. Screenshots below:

Full review:

Discover is offering their credit card and banking customers a new free service called Online Privacy Protection (press release). Essentially, it automatically submits opt-out requests at 10 selected “people search sites”. These are creepy websites that scrape your personal information from many different publicly-available databases and then makes money by selling access. I wrote about these invasive sites previously and you may be surprised at how much information about you is floating around out there – your age, current and past addresses, phone numbers, and the names of your parents, siblings, children, cousins, and in-laws.

Once catch is that you must access this feature via the Discover app. They are still rolling it out, so it may not be available to everyone yet. I used the QR code from the link and it seemed to find it directly after installing the app.

Initially, after signing up for the service, I was disappointed that my May 2022 scan didn’t find my name on any of the databases. I was hopeful that was because I already opted out of several of these sites manually a few years ago. However, I manually checked and did find some of my information some of the sites. So the service is not perfect.

Here are the ten sites they mention, although there are more out there (not linked on purpose):

• Addresses.com
• AnyWho.com
• InstantCheckmate.com
• InstantPeopleFinder.com
• Intelius.com
• Spokeo.com
• TruthFinder.com
• USSearch.com
• YellowPages.com
• ZabaSearch.com

The scan occurs every 90 days or so. On my August 2022 scan, the app did find a bunch of hits (often multiple profiles at the same site with similar info) and went to work removing my data. I manually spot-checked a few of them and am happy to report that my information was indeed removed.

I would recommend signing up for this service now, with the knowledge that a little patience may be required.

I mainly use my Discover card for the 5% cash back categories and the occasional Amazon Pay with Points promos, but I do appreciate these side efforts. Besides being one of the first to offer a free FICO score, they also have a free Social Security and Experian credit inquiry alert service.

Capital One credit cardholders can get 6 months of free access to 100+ museums worldwide via The Cultivist (valid for cardholder & up to three guests). Visit thecultivist.com/capitalone and input the 16 digits of your eligible Capital One credit card in the checkout process to receive 6 months of complimentary Enthusiast level membership (usually $40 a month, so technically a $240 value).

The Membership Offer is only available to Capital One cardholders, age 18 or older, with an eligible U.S.-issued, Capital One branded, consumer or small business credit card (“Eligible Capital One Cardholders”). Limit one Membership Offer per Eligible Capital One Cardholder. Offer provides one hundred eighty (180) days of complimentary membership for the enrolled Eligible Capital One Cardholder in ‘The Enthusiast’ level of membership with The Cultivist (the “Membership Offer”).

Warning: The ongoing monthly membership fee of $40 will be automatically billed after complimentary membership expires. Set a calendar reminder. You may cancel at any time. Since it only lasts for 6 months, you may wish to delay the activation of your 6-month free membership until later and also allowing you to cancel earlier.

Here is their full Museum list. The list is subject to change, but here are just a few examples:

• New York City – Guggenheim and The Met
• San Francisco – SFMOMA
• Chicago – Art Institute of Chicago
• London – National Portrait Gallery
• Paris – Louvre (7-day advance notice) and Musee D’Orsay

Even a single museum visit can save your household a good chunk of money. For some museums, you just have to show your Cultivist membership card at the entrance. For others, you must contact them and have them issue free, skip-the-line tickets for you. There are reports that they are a bit overwhelmed right now, so definitely put in your request as early as possible. Pack your patience, but if urgent consider giving them a phone call them to expedite.

If you have any sort of Capital One consumer or small business card, you can input your 16-digit card number and see if it works. Looks like I can wring yet another benefit out of my Capital One Venture X Rewards card! 🤑

Coinstar kiosks count your physical coins for you and take a pretty big 11.9% cut, unless you redeem for a gift card (where they still get a cut from the retailer). Walmart and Amazon are my favorite options, although I usually save up my coins for their occasional bonus promos. I just received this peculiar $15 BTC promo from them:

Curious about crypto? Try purchasing at a Coinstar Bitcoin ATM powered by Coinme. Through June 30, 2022, when you create a new Coinme account and purchase $100 or more of crypto at a Coinstar Bitcoin ATM you’ll get $15 in bitcoin!* Use the promo code CoinstarBTC and be sure to use the same email address when you create your new Coinme account.

Purchasing crypto at a Coinstar Bitcoin ATM is simple:

– Create a Coinme account
– Find a Coinstar Bitcoin ATM
– Purchase a crypto voucher with cash (coins are not accepted for crypto transactions)
– Redeem your voucher to instantly claim crypto with Coinme

Did you catch that? You can’t buy Bitcoin with physical metal coins. Even at a Coinstar kiosk, of all places! Why not? How are paper bills somehow different??

*Terms apply. Valid for new Coinme accounts only. The $100 crypto purchase must be made in a single transaction at a participating Coinstar location using your Coinme account. This offer begins May 16th and ends June 30th, 2022. If a qualifying purchase is made during the offer period, $15 in BTC will be deposited to your Coinme wallet within seven (7) business days of purchase. See Official Rules for more details.

In addition, there are some serious fees:

Each crypto purchase carries a transaction fee of 4% and a cash exchange fee of 7%.

So you put in $100 in paper bills (don’t even get to return coins back into circulation), only get $89 of Bitcoin plus $15 of bonus Bitcoin, but then when you sell you have to pay another fee. All this along with BTC high price volatility. And you have to sign up for another crypto broker. Pass.