Credit Card Discussion

I have both. Another good one I don’t have but I’m considering is the BofA Cash Rewards card which gives you 3% back on online shopping. $200 bonus with $1K spend right now.

Then Chase Freedom and Discover IT both have 5% rotating categories.

Amex Cobalt is a great card if you frequent a lot of restaurants or make all of you spends on card. High annual fee but also high cashback figures.


I’m toying with the idea of getting a AMEX Platinum card due to the incredible benefits that come with it. But at $550 a year membership, and not the best rewards program out there, it’s a difficult decision.

The Chase Preferred card looks pretty nice as well. I’ve already got a Chase Slate card and asked about swapping over to the Preferred card. They said I could, but I wouldn’t get the welcome bonus unless I started a new account with them.

I like using my wife’s visa.

I should get a better credit card.

(My credit score is good enough to upgrade to something nicer.)

HAHAHA I bet you do! :smiley:

I’ve got some old cards I used when they were 0% APR. Now I use them instead of handing out my debit card everywhere because it’s safer, IMO. But I’m getting zero reward points. I figured I might as well get some kind of reward for spending money I was going to spend anyways!

Citibank Costco Visa card. 4% on gas, 3% travel and dining, 2% on everything at Costco, 1 % on everything else. Very good card IF you are a Costco member. Benefits come as a Costco rebate to be spent there. If you are a Costco shopper, you already know that isn’t hard to do.

If you travel a lot, Chase Sapphire is really good. Sapphire Reserve ($450 annual fee) comes with $300 annual travel credit.

From the Chase website:

Sidenote: Uber is also covered by the annual travel credit.

If you currently spend at least $300 a year on purchases that would be covered by the annual travel credit, the effective annual fee is $150.

I recommending checking for a nearby local credit union to see what they provide.
Not quite as likely to be a target for a massive data theft as, say, Capital One. or other big national targets.

a href=’https://www.highya.com/’\>highya is a goldmine for all sorts of that kinda stuff.

Best cards of 2019, best cash-back cards, best card-perqs, you name it.

Go crazy…

Good B’harni, 300, 400, 550bux annual fee?!?

I dumped one card when they were gonna nick me for 20bux instead of waiving it entirely.

The most valuable credit cards are those that issue airline points, but you have to play the game properly.

Here’s a typical situation: A card will give you 60,000 to 80,000 points that either are flexible and you can transfer to airlines (chase or amex partners), or go directly to the airline (united, southwest, aa, etc). The catch is you have to spend $3000 within 3 months to qualify for the bonus. Main goal here is to use your normal spending, NOT spend more than normal.

How much are those points worth? 80,000 points can get you a round trip flight to new zealand which is worth around $1500. Even more valuable if you want to fly business class, but i prefer to do more economy flights.

The key here is you want to apply in a certain order because some card companies are much pickier than others. (Chase for example has a rule that you can’t apply if you’ve done more than 5 cards in 2 years).

It’s incredibly valuable, you just have to set reminders on when to downgrade the cards (to no-fee versions) and make sure you hit the minimum spend bonus targets.

If anyone is interested PM me and I can point you in the right direction / refer you to some good cards, but I don’t want to spam the thread with the topic.

If you do it right you easily get that back and can cancel the first year. Here’s a sample of a card I did with $450 fee:

Chase Sapphire Reserve first year: $450 got me:

- 100,000 miles (worth roughly $1800 in flights)

- $300 free to spend towards transport

- $100 towards global entry

  • other perks

You can see that if you cancel the next year, I just got $2200 worth of value for $450. That was a particularly good deal, but most card offers you can get around $800 worth of value for a $100 fee or less.

That’s just it, I’m Johnny Cash and only use “plastic” online. Don’t fly or travel much, no need for CCs as I hardly ever use one.

Those who do travel, buy everything on credit, etc., would probably benefit from the perqs more, but still…

For 500bux, I’d want… well, I’m not gonna say it… :smiling_imp:

nquinn knows his stuff.

Credit cards are my field of expertise. Like you said, there is no “one card fits all”. You need to have a plan. What do you want? Travel to europe? Travel to asia? Get cashback to buy more flashlight? Get good insurance? Get good travel benefits such as lounge access and hotel status?

I recommend you the following websites:

www.flyertalk.com/forum

www.frequentmiler.boardingarea.com

I like your avatar, lotrbfme.

I hope it was chosen ironically.

my card is mostly amazon prime visa
it is free and ok if you spend a lot on amazon
the wife and kids do

anyway, the weird thing is, i buy stuff from aliexpress
and it would NOT work there

you cannot figure out why

no one can tell you

so i had to start using a card i didn;t plan to use, a kroger master card, which for some reason works with ali

weird

usually i just throw $50 on the account and don;t have to pay again for 2-3 months

latest $2.50 watch

Thank you! it sure is.

My Chase/Amazon card is a winner
I dumped every other account at Chase though.

Costco/Citibank rewards can be redeemed for cash at a store. (done it many times)

I don’t fly much, butt the Choice Hotel card is offering 50,000 points for 1st $1000 spent in 90 days.
(made it in 45) My credit rating took a small hit butt it’s rebounding now.

Spam away man! I appreciate the info :+1:

I think I found a solid pair of cards to cover most of my bases. I travel for work, and stay in a combination of Hilton’s and Marriott’s. But recently I have been just a few nights short of becoming Gold with either of these chains. I travel internationally sometimes weekly so I really need a card that has zero foreign transaction fees, wont get denied if I’m in a pinch (like trying to use a AMEX in San Pedro Sula, Honduras) and something that will rack up points/cash back.

I just got approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred which I plan to use for:

  • 2x points on dinning: I always pay for dinner for my crew and then they Venmo me. It’s easier than trying to split a check 4 ways. So free points for me!
  • 2x points for Uber/Lyft: I use them a lot
  • 2x points on airfare
  • 60,000 bonus points (which is currently higher than the more expensive Reserve card)
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • I’ll pretty much use this in lieu of my debit card and set up automatic payments

My next card (I think) is going to be the AMEX Platinum just for the benefits; primarily these ones:

  • Airport lounges (best card for this, and I will definitely use it)
  • $200 a year towards Uber
  • $200 airline fee credit annually
  • Global Entry/TSA PreCheck Credit
  • Gold status with Hilton and Marriott (means free breakfast every morning)
  • Status upgrade on Avis, National, Hertz (I rent a car at least once a month)

I only wish the Platinum had better rewards. It seems like I’m paying for a subscription service and the card is sort of a “proof of purchase.”