Best Rewards Credit Card

Originally Posted by Boile

Talk about splitting hairs.

I take great pride in our planet.

We have the AMEX Blue Cash now for a couple of years. No issues. Spend 6,500 and the cashback goes up to 5% for gas, groceries, and drug stores; 1.5% (I think - might be 1.25%) on everything else. I use it as much as I can and get a nice credit every February/March.

Ba dum BUMP-

Anyone have new recommendations for decent credit card offers? I prefer cash over managing gift cards, point exchanges, and other useless time wasters.

I just got a letter from Chase telling me the Freedom Rewards plan (which I'd been grandfathered in) is being revised with "new benefits". Oooh! now 10% bonus! But what that 10% "bonus" is calculated on is your newly revised cash-back rate. It's being reduced from 3% to 1%, and then they give you "10% bonus points". Woohoo!!! So that works out to about 1.1%...... gee, thanks Chase. Take your card and stuff it!

I was in the process of churning through a few American Airlines cards that give you 30k miles for signup, and no fee- but apparently they've caught on to people having multiple cards and no longer allow that strategy.

So I'm back to my Amex, at 3%/2%/1%, depending on the category.

Any new ideas?

I'm just loving this new credit card reform. As if those that can't afford credit cards in the first place need better access to credit...... didn't we learn our lesson in real estate?

Originally Posted by cagoguy

Ba dum BUMP-

Anyone have new recommendations for decent credit card offers? I prefer cash over managing gift cards, point exchanges, and other useless time wasters.

I just got a letter from Chase telling me the Freedom Rewards plan (which I'd been grandfathered in) is being revised with "new benefits". Oooh! now 10% bonus! But what that 10% "bonus" is calculated on is your newly revised cash-back rate. It's being reduced from 3% to 1%, and then they give you "10% bonus points". Woohoo!!! So that works out to about 1.1%...... gee, thanks Chase. Take your card and stuff it!

I was in the process of churning through a few American Airlines cards that give you 30k miles for signup, and no fee- but apparently they've caught on to people having multiple cards and no longer allow that strategy.

So I'm back to my Amex, at 3%/2%/1%, depending on the category.

Any new ideas?

I'm just loving this new credit card reform. As if those that can't afford credit cards in the first place need better access to credit...... didn't we learn our lesson in real estate?

You mean you're not happy with your Costco TureEarnings Amex for business members or are you looking for something that pays even more?

Originally Posted by Boile

You mean you're not happy with your Costco TureEarnings Amex for business members or are you looking for something that pays even more?

Amex isn't accepted everywhere. And more would certainly be better.

i was also bummed about chase's downgraded reward program. we now use a ge dick's mastercard. it's a flat 3% cash back on evthg. dicks wouldn't be my first choice, but i can't find a real card that will give me much better than 1% across the board (i'm not talking about quarterly promotion categories), so we're with it. we always need new running shoes, under armour apparel, baseball bats, soccer balls, etc., so it's all good.

I was gonna recommend the Schwab 2% cash card, but they just pulled it for new applicants.

citi MC is offering 1.5 miles/dollar spent until 1/31/2011.

I think Discover is maybe the best no nonsense program. 1% cashback on every purchase. Paid monthly. No limits or minimums. No annual fee.

Whatever card you decided just add me in it! Why bother look for 1 card? Get it all while you can ....

Originally Posted by the J-Man

I think Discover is maybe the best no nonsense program. 1% cashback on every purchase. Paid monthly. No limits or minimums. No annual fee.

It depends on what is valuable to you, getting one penny back for every dollar spent, or getting 1.5 miles. For example, in the off season, say April and May, I can fly RT to Europe for 40,000 points, which equals to $26,667 spent. Your Discovery card returns $266. From that example, I would rather fly RT to Europe by paying an additional $85 tax and fees than to receive $266+$85=$351. A RT tic to Europe is worth $351 to me.

personally i think AMEX is the best card out there. their customer service is probably the best and you can use the points for pretty much anything. plus if you get the ones without the limit you get to use the money manager or whatever its called to track your spending which is helpful if you use it. and they extend warranties on purchases with the card.

Originally Posted by Dave 330i

It depends on what is valuable to you, getting one penny back for every dollar spent, or getting 1.5 miles. For example, in the off season, say April and May, I can fly RT to Europe for 40,000 points, which equals to $26,667 spent. Your Discovery card returns $266. From that example, I would rather fly RT to Europe by paying an additional $85 tax and fees than to receive $266+$85=$351. A RT tic to Europe is worth $351 to me.

Are you sure you can fly to Europe for 40,000 RT? If so, please tell me how. With everything I've seen, you need at least 100,000 points for RT to Europe even in the off-season.

Originally Posted by heffdiddy

personally i think AMEX is the best card out there. their customer service is probably the best and you can use the points for pretty much anything. plus if you get the ones without the limit you get to use the money manager or whatever its called to track your spending which is helpful if you use it. and they extend warranties on purchases with the card.

The problem with AMEX points is the percentage return on your points converts to a cash value of .5%-.7%. The exception is home depot gift cards which give you a 1% return. There are plenty of cards that return 1% all day long straight cashback. With that said, I use my AMEX business card for most purchases since AMEX is the only company that keeps the business card off your personal credit report. I did use Discover for my business until they started reporting it to my personal credit report.

Any body have experience with this card?

Blue Cash from Amex
http://www201.americanexpress.com/ge...about/BlueCash

Seems good.

<$6500 Year to date purchases= 1% on everyday items, .5% on everything else
>$6500 Year to date purchases= 5% on everyday items, 1.25% on everything else
Everyday = Groceries, gas, pharmacy
No annual fees.

ok, so effing gemoney just downgraded the rebate on our dick's card from 3%. we just received our new fidelity visa card. it pays 1.5% on the first $15k and then 2% on evthg else. i know they have an amex card that pays a flat 2%, but i'm no fan of amex.

Originally Posted by hts

ok, so effing gemoney just downgraded the rebate on our dick's card from 3%. we just received our new fidelity visa card. it pays 1.5% on the first $15k and then 2% on evthg else. i know they have an amex card that pays a flat 2%, but i'm no fan of amex.

Can I ask why you aren't a fan of Amex? Because it isn't accepted everywhere?

I use Discover for everything. I'm not a big traveler so the mileage rewards of most cards aren't of interest. So we take my 1% rewards and buy Panera gift cards ($45 gets a $50 card) to feed my wifes habit.

Originally Posted by warpig

Can I ask why you aren't a fan of Amex? Because it isn't accepted everywhere?

yes.

AA CitiCard (VISA)
Earn 30,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $750 in purchases in the first 4 months
Earn an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases in the first 6 months

Originally Posted by Dave 330i

AA CitiCard (VISA)
Earn 30,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $750 in purchases in the first 4 months
Earn an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases in the first 6 months

I got a better one last month. Chase Sapphire Preferred. Use the card once, get 50,000 points. Points can be converted 1:1 with major airlines our you can convert them to a $500 gift card. Annual fee waived the first year. I had my wife and my son get one as well. SWEET!

Originally Posted by Z4luvr

I got a better one last month. Chase Sapphire Preferred. Use the card once, get 50,000 points. Points can be converted 1:1 with major airlines our you can convert them to a $500 gift card. Annual fee waived the first year. I had my wife and my son get one as well. SWEET!

Is there a fee to convert points to miles? I don't like that idea. And, I don't think AA is part of that program. I do not want to manage more than one airline so I sink everything into AA. I rather be fat in one than be lean in two. Yes, with citi card, first year membership is waived, and I normally get them to waive subsequent years or I quit. They don't like quitters.

just got a chase marriott rewards card with 70k points and no annual fee the first year. i only use it when i stay at marriott hotels (use my fidelity 529 card for everything else). except costco, then it's amex blue.

Citi AA VISA:

Originally Posted by Dave 330i

Citi AA VISA:

Collected 30K AA miles for meeting their purchased requirements, but I just dumped the AA VISA because they won't increase the credit line so I can make a big purchase to collect another 10K miles. Rep said I have to hold the card for 6 months before they can increase credit line. My mistake was I didn't transfer credit limits from my disposed AXM card with Citi with I accepted the VISA card. So, I told them they can close the account, and they did. Now, the MC card with Citi just tagged me a $85 membership fee. So, I told they they can keep that card too, but they decided it was in their best interest to waive the membership fee.

OK you guy who think closing out accounts would reduce credit score. I said, it's high enough that I don't care.