Best reward card out there?

[Robs627]

Southwest when they had the 50,000 points with sign up. Got 4 tickets to Florida with points left over.

 

[calypso726]

It really depends on what you are looking for and what you value the most. We enjoy traveling and we prefer to do it comfortably. We won't pay the prices for international business or first class air fare or the nicer international hotels. Therefore, we "travel hack." We utilize the sign bonuses and spending categories on various credit cards to collect airline miles and hotel points. We've compared what we could do with cash back vs miles/points and we can do waaaaay more with miles/points so that is the focus. Some cards we keep as permanent cards and some we cancel before the year is out.

Our keeper cards that we use to pay for things regularly or strategically:

Starwood Preferred Guest Amex - Use for everyday normal spending. It earns 1.25 miles/$ and transfers to over 30 airlines most of them at 1:1.

Chase Sapphire Preferred - 2 points/miles per $ on all dining and travel. Points transfer 1:1 for United, British Airways, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, Ritz Carlton

Chase Freedom - 5 points per $ on quarterly bonus categories. Points can't be used for miles on their own but you can transfer to the Sapphire preferred account and then use them for miles or hotel points.

Chase Ink - 5 ponits/miles per $ on cable, phone, internet and office supply stores. We buy lots of gift cards (Whole Foods, Disney, Macy's etc) at the office supply stores to get the 5x/$ and then use the gift cards when we shop at other stores or pay for things.

Cards we don't use often but the benefits outweigh the fee for us:

Barclay Arrival - This is essentially a cash back card we use to diversify our travel hacking portfolio 2 points on all spending (2.2 if you redeem for travel purchases. We use this one to earn points that can be used on travel purchases that don't have a rewards program like Bed & Breakfasts etc. The card is chip & pin and has no foreign transaction fees so I will use this one for any international travel spending.

Club Carlson Premier Visa - Got an 85K bonus for applying for the card which comes with gold status. This means anytime I redeem points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, our last night is free. Each year you get a 40K point bonus. Can't beat that. We will use it next week if we order room service or something (10 pts/$ at hotel) while staying at the Radisson Blu in Edinburgh, Scotland for 3 nights on points

 

[platamama]

Take a look at the Citicard Double Cash Back card (2%).

DH just got a flyer for this card - it looks great! Will switch to it soon... But won't take it on international travel because of the 3% foreign txn fee. The difference between this one and the Barclay Arrival with its $89 annual fee is 1) $44,500 annual spending on Barclay to break even on the annual fee, and 2) no more free FICO score (a nice little benefit of Barclay's). Worth the switch I think, since one of our other cards has no foreign txn fee.

 

[jtopicz1]

Chase Sapphire Preferred for us!

2 points per $ on dining and travel, plus a 7% point bonus at the end of the year.

Points transfer at a 1:1 rate to Southwest, United, Marriott, and many others!

40,000 point sign up offers.

Option to take the points for cash (typically not the best value, but still an option...)

 

[platamama]

a 7% point bonus at the end of the year.

Chase is phasing this out. New applicants do not get this bonus. And the bonus ends for EVERY cardholder after 2015. Still a great card though!

 

[platamama]

I want to give a shoutout to the Upromise MC for online shopping. Most places give you 5% cash back going through the Upromise shopping portal, then if you use the Upromise MC to pay you get an additional 5% cash back. 10% cash back is sweet.

You can link the Upromise account to a Sallie Mae savings account to access the cash. Mine is linked to a 529.

I'm in the process of some furniture shopping, and will be getting $85 back from my morning's purchase. I will go pick up at the store when the item is ready.

Another little bonus tip here for online shopping - since I don't live in the city where the B&M store is, I pay less in sales tax this way too! A hidden 3% or 4% off! Due to state laws I still pay some sales tax on online shopping purchases but it's less than in-store.

 

[Gillyrose779]

I'm loving my Southwest card. Just got it a few months ago and, with the 50K bonus, I was able to get 4 RT tickets to MCO! Now I am on my way to try to get a companion pass for next year (you have to get 110,000 in 1 calender year and it gives you 1 free flight for a companion when you book a flight).

What is helping me get the most points is the shopping rewards site. I watch for point specials and jump on them. Finally ordered some blinds for my house on sale through JP Penney and got enough points for 1 flight then order toner for my office and got another flight!

 

[DisneyEater]

I'm loving my Southwest card. Just got it a few months ago and, with the 50K bonus, I was able to get 4 RT tickets to MCO! Now I am on my way to try to get a companion pass for next year (you have to get 110,000 in 1 calender year and it gives you 1 free flight for a companion when you book a flight).

What is helping me get the most points is the shopping rewards site. I watch for point specials and jump on them. Finally ordered some blinds for my house on sale through JP Penney and got enough points for 1 flight then order toner for my office and got another flight!

Clarifying for those who aren't familiar,

...and it gives you 1 free flight for a companion EVERYTIME you book a flight, INCLUDING AWARD FLIGHTS.

 

[LisaRN97]

Southwest seems great for a few of you....however they don't have direct flights up here for us. I'm considering the Chase Sapphire......