Help choosing a rewards credit card

[Jon 264]

Looking to add a card to the wallet and get rid of Capital One. The card will be used for large, quarterly purchases, and not much else. It will be paid off in full every purchase so interest rates are moot. I've never had a fee-based card but I'm thinking that's the way to go for this purpose. Any ideas?

[ryan_j 0]

Amex? I have two, a corp and a personal platinum card. Rewards and service second to none.

[Jon 264]

Needs to be a visa/mc. The merchant I make the large purchases at only accepts Visa/MC

[Brownie^HP 6]

I like my Cabela's Visa, it has a pretty good rewards program!

[cigarsnscotch 0]

Use mint.com and enter in what is most important to you (hotel stays, airlines miles, cash back) and mint will give you a list of cards matching your criteria. Then choose.

 

And it's a good personal finance site on top of that!

[cigarsnscotch 0]

Amex? I have two, a corp and a personal platinum card. Rewards and service second to none.

 

Yeah except they did not give a crap about their customers in the financial crisis and raised your APR even for customers with 10+ years. I have a corp Amex and a personal, just paid off the personal and will be using all my points and closing it. Not happy with Amex but I will agree that they take care of fraudulent charges and contact you about suspicious activity.

[M1152 713]

I was going to say Amex too but some folks don't take Amex so I then need to pull out the Visa. take a look here and look for Offer type, it may (or may not) help you decide

[Duppie 73]

Look into Capital one for the best points/miles per dollar spent payoff.Amex Sheraton and Marriot rewards for hotel rewards if you travel a bit..... the balance is up to personal preference in the short term.

[ryan_j 0]

Yeah except they did not give a crap about their customers in the financial crisis and raised your APR even for customers with 10+ years. I have a corp Amex and a personal, just paid off the personal and will be using all my points and closing it. Not happy with Amex but I will agree that they take care of fraudulent charges and contact you about suspicious activity.

 

REally? During the recession they mailed me out a letter saying they know people are in financial difficulty and they'd give me 6 months no interest. Mind you I didn't need it but they sent it out.

[iRONman 7]

Love my Amex gold rewards . If I don't

Pay off in full they give me extended payments. But I always pif

[ryan_j 0]

Needs to be a visa/mc. The merchant I make the large purchases at only accepts Visa/MC

 

For buying gas, I'd choose penfed. They have the best for purchasing gas.

 

All others, probably capital one.

 

Rewards cards used to be really good but since the recession hit they've become really crappy.

[ogfarmer 138]

I second the cabelas visa, also the $5 flat rate shipping when buying from them

[JrzyGuy30 0]

EDIT: Just read through thread and noticed only VS/MC is good..

 

If you travel, or enjoy vacations, HIGHLY recommend Starwood preferred guest AMEX (http://www.wisebread...merican-express) .. Next up, any AMEX card BLUE CASH if you don't really travel..

 

Wife and I have had a couple of nice free stays at Westin's and W's through the AMEX.. it is really great when you have weekend trips that can cost you a 300-600 to stay in hotels and its free because of the Amex... and they give us free upgrades etc and we've been told we can use the points for other things if need be (airplane tickets etc).

 

*This is our only reward card and we are truly happy, and Amex has the best customer service also plus extended warranties included for all purchases made on the AMEX.

[HINCHMAN 4]

Without question Amex.

I have a platinum card and a starwood card.

Both have EXCELLENT rewards programs.

Check it out

[cigarsnscotch 0]

 

REally? During the recession they mailed me out a letter saying they know people are in financial difficulty and they'd give me 6 months no interest. Mind you I didn't need it but they sent it out.

 

Yes, I've been an Amex holder for over 12 yrs and they increased my apr to 14.99% just because that's what they said they were doing to everyone because of the credit crisis. And my credit score is perfect. That sent me over the edge with them.

[Luso 6]

I know you said only visa and mc, but I concur with everyone. Platinum Amex is unparalleled in terms of rewards, and if you fly and use the other benefits (theft protection, fraud protection, extended warranty on all purchases) it more than pays for itself. Customer service is also great

 

outside of the high-end Amex charge cards, if I had to choose a 2nd company it would be the Discover line. Their cash back is great, I can personally vouch that their fraud protection is top notch (someone spent over 10k on my card with various purchases and they refunded 100% of it back and battle the merchant to make themselves whole) they never leave you on the hook for fraudulent charges. Have great American based customer service as well.

 

I never use anything besides these two cards. I use my Amex for every single purchase of "things" because of the great warranty program. Free insurance on rentals. Big ticket items (if you have good credit the spending potential is huge). I use discover for everything else as it cleans up on the cash back.

 

In addition, with the Platinum Amex, if you travel you can be reimbursed $200 annually from any one airline and their relevant charges. You get access to the Priority Club which gets you into tons of airport lounges around the world. Roadside assistance reimbursement. The features really are endless. Check it out

[checko 180]

I just got the chase freedom card. I have an amex gold rewards that I am very happy with. the 400+ per year charge is not worth it to me to upgrade to platinum. I've noticed various Companies are doing the 5% cash back thing.

[iRONman 7]

I can't justify the 400 a year fee on the platinum. I think the gold rewards has the best points, x3 on certain things

[Springfield1911 22]

If you are looking for strictly a Cashback card then Chase freedom would be the best one. They truly give you 2% back on all purchases with no limits. They also run the quarterly 5% cashback while shopping at certain retailers but with usual limits of 5% back on up to $1500.00 worth of purchases. Also Chase Freedom lets you apply your cashback bonus to your monthy bill if you want. Stay away from Citi. Their cashback cards suck. Years ago Citi had the best cashback rewards and they slowly but surly dwindled it down to nothing. If you are looking for "rewards" then you can't beat AMEX.

[bry@n 195]

It's hard to say. I use several and pay them in full.

 

Amex is the best for traveling and purchasing stuff with the extra warranty. I use a cabelas visa because of the rewards. I also gave a chase freedom card which has awesome rewards.

 

The chase gas different 5x rewards every 3 months. From gasoline to restaurants. I get 10 extra points for every transaction, plus an extra 10% on top of that each month.

[NJSigfan 218]

Okay, here are my .02

 

Having been an AMEX user for almost 10 yrs I will agree they have a good program, but given that you need to PAY them to use what other companies offer you for free is in my opinion not worth it anymore.

 

8 yrs ago the wife and I both cancelled our Amex cards instantly saving 800 a year. That alone pays for a cute weekend away every year for us. Having just had our first child we opened a Chase account under the Toys R US program have never looked back. We charge everything to this card, And i mean everything. From gas, to weekly groceries, car insurance, cell phones to doctor visits...everything. We earn 1% on each purchase and 4% at Toys R US. Over the course of the year that turns into roughly 600+ for us in gift cards to TOY R US which helps at Christmas time. Fraud prevention is top notch in my opinion. In three separate instances, Chase never question us and immediately closed the account, issued new cards and settle the dispute in our favor inside 1 business week.

 

Recently I've opened a Chase Freedom account to track my gun and ammo purchases and I have to say I'm digging how the point quickly stack up. The 5% on gas and other common purchases are a nice touch. It also offers a "freedom blue" option that allows you set certain merchant purchases on an extended payment plan while not subjecting day today purchases to interest charges.

 

My vote goes to Chase. They still have the Toys R US card and now the Freedom account so definitely check them out

 

 

[Maksim 1,504]

Chase sapphire rewards. Best non Amex card.

 

Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[tony357 386]

Their are no rewards...Unless you are a ceo of the credit card co...

[areacode201 4]

If you buy American cars look into the GM Mastercard.

[locochinoloco 0]

I think it really comes down to what rewards you're looking for? Cash or Miles?

 

I've had the Amex Gold, couldn't justify the Platinum and tried about 14 other rewards cards. I feel cash aren't worth it and miles is by far the best bet.

 

To maximize the miles, I have the following.

• Chase Checking Account
  
• Chase Freedom - 10% bonus and 10 points extra for having a checking account. And 5x points on 3 different categories every quarter.
  
• Chase Sapphire Preferred - 2x on travel and dinning, but $90 a year I think. I forget exactly how much just as much protection as the Amex Gold.
  

With the bonus 40k miles, I already have 139k miles since 9/2012. Enough for economy flight for 2 people from Newark, NJ to Paris, France in July. Which is worth about $3,000 if you cross reference with Expedia.com. There is no way I could have gotten that with other cash and/or rewards cards.

 

There is actually a method to this madness... check this guy out. http://thepointsguy.com/

 

You do have just try to maximize whenever you can with spending patterns. E.g. Shop through their portal or whatever, but I feel it's worth it.

 

And no, I don't ever carry a balance on any card. I also have a Cabela card, just to take advantage of the $5 shipping.

 

My two cents.

[TheMan 45]

What locochinoloco said! Depends what rewards your looking for. I have the blue cash preferred card because i get cashback on eligible purchases then i use the rewards to get statement credits. Had a 0% apr for the first year, but i pay balance in full anyway to avoid interest. My fiancee has the platinum delta skymiles card because she flys delta and checks first back for free and racks up miles. Neither one of us has ever had a problem with AMEX, we even opened up a high yield savings account with them. Try the blue cash preferred. Spend 1k in first 3 months you get $150 statement credit.

[bry@n 195]

I figured I'd add to this.

 

My cabelas card I spend the first 25k on the card so I can get 5x rewards from them. I also build up a little cabelas dollars in the meantime.

 

After that, I use the chase freedom rewards card. Gas, restaurants with 5% adds up.

 

In travel or purchases of things with warranties, I use Amex.

 

I don't believe there is one specific card that has it all. It's best to use them all to your benefit.

[locochinoloco 0]

In travel or purchases of things with warranties, I use Amex.

Chase Sapphire Preferred has the same warranties as the Amex and its just as good. ... also there is no foreign transaction fee another plus if you travel overseas a lot.

[Duppie 73]

Chase Sapphire Preferred has the same warranties as the Amex and its just as good. ... also there is no foreign transaction fee another plus if you travel overseas a lot.

Amex Platinum has no foreign transaction fees,travel and baggage insurance and free membership in Priority Pass, which allows you access to just about all of the premium airport lounges world wide.... Mighty handy for frequent flyers and long connections.

[njpilot 671]

I agree with the Cabelas. If you shop there regularly, it's nice to build points and get free or $5 shipping.

 

Also, if you travel much and fly United out of EWR, having their Chase card gives you, besides miles, the first bag free for you and another traveler, plus "Priority boarding" which is right after first class and lets you go through the short security line at EWR rather than stand in the real long line.

 

The card is $95 a year, but one round trip for 2 people will cost $100 in checked bag fees, so it pays for itself right there.