Chase Sapphire Reserve
Amazon Prime Visa
Costco Visa
REI Mastercard


Between those cards, I pretty much get 2-5% on everything. It adds up.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll look into them.

Citi double cash. Its an ugly card. But...

One card to rule them all. 2% on everything, no juggling this for gas that for groceries etc... amd no limit on cashback. No annual fee which is what the higher end ones do. I did a spreadsheet and the annual fee ones are a ripoff unless yoy spend big. I mean BIG

^^^^^

This. Absolutely.

I agree about avoiding cards with annual fees in general. My AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card that I referenced earlier has no fees and is the physical card that I use most often for reasons already explained. I was invited to "upgrade" to an AMEX Platinum card with $550 annual fee, but I declined. (No invitation for the AMEX Centurion card. )

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Amazon Prime Visa
Costco Visa
REI Mastercard

Between those cards, I pretty much get 2-5% on everything. It adds up.

Agree.

Amazon Card only on Amazon.
Costco Card on Costco and all gas.
Chase Sapphire Reserve on all else.

Chase SR is expensive at $525 for our 2 cards but has ton of benefits.
Mike

Cabelas. Build your points up and go buy a gun.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Rewards and credit cards in the same sentence is just wrong. Sorry, i will use one occasionally. But cc are not a good thing in my book.

It all depends on how you use it. I always keep some cash in my pocket for small purchases and “just in case”, but most of our spending goes on cards. They all get paid off in full, treated like a *charge card*, not a *credit* card, so there is never any interest. Used in that fashion, I don’t see the problem with cards.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Rewards and credit cards in the same sentence is just wrong. Sorry, i will use one occasionally. But cc are not a good thing in my book.

It all depends on how you use it. I always keep some cash in my pocket for small purchases and “just in case”, but most of our spending goes on cards. They all get paid off in full, treated like a *charge card*, not a *credit* card, so there is never any interest. Used in that fashion, I don’t see the problem with cards.

Same here. I always pay mine in full, never have paid a dollar in interest in almost 15 years and make over $1200 a year in cash back.

We just took our honeymoon;, nearly entirely for "free" with rewards from our chase venture card points. I don't like the new metallic card with no info on the front though, 2-3/5 merchants think it's fake. The rewards are nice though.

USAA. 2.5%. Haven’t found one to beat that.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
USAA. 2.5%. Haven’t found one to beat that.

That is great, will no purchase limit.

And, the USAA AMEX card. 5% on all purchases on military installations.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Rewards and credit cards in the same sentence is just wrong. Sorry, i will use one occasionally. But cc are not a good thing in my book.

Not if it is a card without a fee and you don't carry a balance.
Why not get some cash back.
Started using the Amazon Prime Card 2 years ago and average $70 a month back.
That is $840 a year I did not have prior.

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
We just took our honeymoon;, nearly entirely for "free" with rewards from our chase venture card points. I don't like the new metallic card with no info on the front though, 2-3/5 merchants think it's fake. The rewards are nice though.

I love the metal card!! Plastic cards crack and split so frequently for me.
People always say it is cool never thought it was fake.

About 5 years ago we took all five of our family on a 7 day Disney World trip. We had been collecting points on the Amex Green card for about 17 years at the time. It covered plane, hotel, and park hopper passes for the whole family. I did bring $1,000 for food in cash as we had used all the points for the trip. I came back with $200.

I vote for the Citi Double Cash card. One % rewards on purchases, plus another one % on payments.

Then Discover upgraded my long time card to 1% rewards on everything, and higher on quarterly categories, to include 5% on Amazon. After 12 months they match all of your rewards, so you are effectively getting 10% back on Amazon.

Some cards are offering bonus cash back on new cards. In addition to reward percentages, Capital One will give you $150 if you spend $500 in three months. I have opened several new cards in the past year to get about $900 in bonus cash.

I got approved for a new card with Wells Fargo. I called three times to activate it, yet it was always declined when I tried to use it. I recommend avoiding Wells Fargo. Discover, Capital One and Chase had great customer service. Citi had pretty crappy customer service. YMMV.

Not cash rewards, but the GM Card gives you 5% towards a GM vehicle on every purchase. Only valuable if you (or someone in your family

Credit cards offer a real advantage if there is fraud or a dispute with a merchant. You do need to pay them off every month or the interest expense can be significant.

Sam's club, 5% on gas anywhere. 3% on food and 1% all else, may be a few more perks but thats the main ones and I buy a lot of gas. sooooooooooooo!

For those unaware, you can use your Discover points on Amazon now.

In order of use:

Amazon Visa (by far)
Costco whatever replaced Amex
Discover

I have a silly amount of credit cards and will use whichever one will give me the best deal at the moment.

Currently I have a Citi Amex (I think) that I am paying off big purchase at 0% for 18 months so that actually has the largest use over the last year, usually Amazon Visa though.

Amazon Visa, shop a lot at Amazon so between the 5% and the Smile donation it works well.

Barclaycard Master Card for the travel points, pay all or most items on this one, including our UTV payment for the points. The points payed half our last two major flights and two rental cars.

Citi Double Cash card, used the 0% for 15mo to put the pups surgery on. Put our yearly auto and home insurance on this as well. Cash back and paying in full saves the monthly installment fee from the insurance company. Probably switch to Barclaycard as the Barclaycard is better for our uses.

Getting away from Amex Gold, a yearly fee of $95 and now they don’t offer the companion flight deal unless you go Platinum at $195 a year so Barclaycard is as good or better with a lower fee and easier to use points.

I suppose it really depends on your spending habits and goals.

To truly maximize my "rewards" I rotate through three cards. AE Platinum for travel, AE Blue for grocery, and a Citi card for gas and some other purchases. I really thought I was doing a pretty good job of the "points management" thing until I spoke to my neighbor about it.

He has a spreadsheet and rotates though 13 credit cards per month! He explained it to me in painful detail. I was both horrified and impressed.